Height: 6-2
Weight: 210
Shoot: L
Born: 14 Mar 1944, Hodonin Czechoslovakia
| 
| 
|
Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Toronto | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Toronto | |||||||||||
| 1976-77 | Birmingham | |||||||||||
| 1977-78 | Birmingham | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
• Winner, Paul Deneau Trophy (Most Gentlemanly), 1975-76.
• Member, Czechoslovakia Olympic Team, 1968 & 1972.
• Member, Hockey Hall of Fame.
|
Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Big Ned didn't loom too large in 1974-75 in the opinion of most Toronto Toro fans, but the fact remains he ended up with 41 goals and 40 assists, the third best total among Toros. He must have been doing something properly. Nedomansky left Czechoslovakia, where he had been an international star for years, to join the Toros. His reputation, his size (202 pounds, 6-foot-1) and his often relaxed play added up to considerable scepticism on the part of the fans. Nedomansky was his own critic when he was slow to score. "Out of three good chances, I feel a competent player should score," he said. "Ihere have been games in which I've had four or five chances and haven't scored. But the important thing is that you are making chances." The challenge of pacing himself over the long professional schedule, with the travelling to which he was unaccustomed, may have caused Ned as much trouble as any part of the game itself. Certainly, he knows Toros expect more, more often, in 1975-76. |
|
Excerpts from Zander Hollander Complete Hockey Handbook, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis)
Czechoslovakia's greatest hockey player ... Came to Toros in series of intriguing international moves ... Nicknamed "Big Ned" ... Played eleven seasons with Czech Nationals and was named MVP in 1973 World Tournament ... Played soccer in Czech National League and is former Czechoslovakian junior tennis champ ... Wrist shot is considered as hard as anybody's in hockey ... Drove an economical little compact for a while in Toronto, then succumbed to temptation and bought a big Thunderbird ... Leading scorer for Slovan Bratislava in 1973-74. |
|
Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1976-77 (by Dan Proudfoot)
If Vaclav Nedomansky, the Czech star who left his homeland to turn pro, had been with a contending team in 1975-76, he might have been the top goal scorer in the WHA. As is, stuck with the Toros and their state of depression, he still hit for 56 goals, third highest in the WHA. Ned was responsible for lifting the team out of the doldrums, however briefly, when he scored his 50th goal. His teammates came storming off the bench to congratulate him, a moment remarkable only because Toros made a practice of seldom showing any enthusiasm or team spirit. The big center is especially accurate with his wrist shot, so that he's deadly when he gets the puck in the goal mouth. In one game he shot five goals, something only two other WHA players equalled. "We like to play him with Richard Farda, his old teammate from the Czech nationals," says manager-coach Gilles Leger, "because they throw short passes around so well. What we want as the third man on the line is a winger who's good at digging the puck out of the corners." |
_______________________________________
Home • Book • Credits & Legal Stuff
(c) Scott Surgent