Jiří Dopita
| Jiří Dopita | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 2, 1968 Šumperk, Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) |
| Weight | 227 lb (103 kg; 16 st 3 lb) |
| Position | Centre |
| Shot | Left |
| Played for | HC Olomouc (CSSR) Berlin Polar Bears (DEL) HC Vsetin (CZE) Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) Edmonton Oilers (NHL) Pardubice HC (CZE) HC Znojemští Orli (CZE) |
| National team |  Czech Republic |
| NHL Draft | 133rd overall, 1992 Boston Bruins 123rd overall, 1998 New York Islanders |
| Playing career | 1990–2013 |
Jiří Dopita (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈdopɪta], born December 2, 1968 in Šumperk, Czechoslovakia) is former Czech professional ice hockey player who has played in the Czech Elite League most of his career. He briefly played in the National Hockey League. Dopita has primarily played center throughout his career.
Playing career
Early in his career, Dopita attracted little notice as a professional prospect. At age 23, Dopita was selected in the sixth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins, but never came to North America while the Bruins owned his rights. However, starting in 1993, Dopita joined the German Bundesliga with the Berlin Polar Bears, averaging over a point per game in the Bundeliga and with Berlin's later entry in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
Starting in the 1995–96 season, Dopita returned to his native Czech Republic and played with Vsetín HC of the Czech Extraliga. Dopita continued his scoring pace in the Czech Republic, averaging over a point per game every year in six seasons with Vsetín, compiling 315 career points, and being selected again in the NHL draft, this time in 1998 being selected in the 5th round at 123rd overall by the New York Islanders. However, once again, Dopita would not play with the Islanders. And at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, his right were traded to the Florida Panthers for a 5th round choice that year.
By the late 1990s, some, such as the Hockey News, considered Dopita the best player outside the NHL. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Czech team at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and was named Czech player of the year in 2001, the first non-NHLer to win the award since Roman Turek in 1994. When it became clear that Dopita still did not seem to have interest in coming to North America, his NHL rights were moved again at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers for a 2nd round selection that year, the Flyers made a concerted effort to bring Dopita to the NHL. The Flyers had convinced Dopita's former Vsetin HC teammate Roman Cechmanek to come to North America prior to the previous season and the 32-year old Dopita agreed to join him in Philadelphia for the 2001–02 NHL season.
However, Dopita's time in the NHL was to be disappointing. He recorded respectable totals getting limited ice time with Philadelphia, but a knee injury limited him to 52 games. After the season, his rights were traded to the Edmonton Oilers, where he was expected to be a top-two centre. However, Dopita had a terrible season, recording only six points in 21 games.
After only two years in the NHL, Dopita returned to the Czech Republic, this time with Pardubice HC. In his second year with Pardubice, at age 36, Dopita recorded less than a point per game in European competition for the first time since his time with Olomouc HC. For 2005–06, Dopita joined HC JME Znojemští Orli and has remained with the team for 2006–07 season too.
On 5 May 2006 Dopita became the majority shareholder of Olomouc HC.
Dopita now plays for HC Olomouc.
Awards and achievements
- Olympic gold medal winner for the Czech Republic in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano
- IIHF World Champion: 1996, 2000, 2001
- Golden Stick Award: 2001 (the highest trophy an ice hockey player can get in the Czech Republic)
- Czech Extraliga - Champion: 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005
- Czech Extraliga - Regular Season MVP: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
- Czech Extraliga - Play-Off MVP: 1994, 1996, 2001
- Czech Extraliga - Leading Goal Scorer: 1997, 2000
- German DEL - Leading Point Scorer: 1995
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1989–90 | Dukla Jihlava HC | CSSR Extraliga | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1990–91 | Olomouc HC | CSSR Extraliga | 42 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 26 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1991–92 | Olomouc HC | CSSR Extraliga | 38 | 22 | 19 | 41 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1992–93 | Olomouc HC | CSSR Extraliga | 28 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1992–93 | Berlin Polar Bears | Bundesliga | 11 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 49 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1993–94 | Berlin Polar Bears | Bundesliga | 42 | 23 | 21 | 44 | 52 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1993–94 | Olomouc HC | Czech Extraliga | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 12 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0 | ||
| 1994–95 | Berlin Polar Bears | DEL | 42 | 28 | 40 | 68 | 55 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1995–96 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 38 | 19 | 20 | 39 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 10 | ||
| 1996–97 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 52 | 30 | 31 | 61 | 55 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 22 | ||
| 1997–98 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 50 | 21 | 34 | 55 | 64 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 4 | ||
| 1998–99 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 50 | 19 | 32 | 51 | 43 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | ||
| 1999–00 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 49 | 30 | 29 | 59 | 83 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | ||
| 2000–01 | Vsetín HC | Czech Extraliga | 46 | 19 | 31 | 50 | 53 | 14 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 18 | ||
| 2001–02 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 52 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2002–03 | Edmonton Oilers | NHL | 21 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2003–04 | Pardubice HC | Czech Extraliga | 47 | 20 | 28 | 48 | 44 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 4 | ||
| 2004–05 | Pardubice HC | Czech Extraliga | 44 | 4 | 23 | 27 | 12 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 18 | ||
| 2005–06 | HC JME Znojemští Orli | Czech Extraliga | 43 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 26 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | ||
| 2006–07 | HC JME Znojemští Orli | Czech Extraliga | 48 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 62 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 26 | ||
| 2007–08 | HC Znojemští Orli | Czech Extraliga | 42 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2008–09 | HC Znojemští Orli | Czech Extraliga | 40 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2009–10 | HC Kometa Brno | Czech Extraliga | 51 | 20 | 21 | 41 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2010–11 | HC Kometa Brno | Czech Extraliga | 26 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 2011–12 | HC Olomouc | Czech First national hockey league | 32 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 22 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | ||
| NHL Totals | 73 | 12 | 21 | 33 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| CZE Totals | 771 | 286 | 383 | 669 | 564 | 144 | 52 | 79 | 131 | 126 | ||||
| Career Totals | 939 | 356 | 473 | 798 | 739 | 144 | 52 | 79 | 131 | 126 | ||||
International play
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Ice hockey | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 1998 Nagano | Ice Hockey |
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 1996 Vienna | Ice hockey |
| Gold | 2000 Russia | Ice hockey |
| Gold | 2001 Germany | Ice hockey |
| Bronze | 1997 Helsinki | Ice hockey |
| Bronze | 1998 Zürich | Ice hockey |
External links
- Career statistics and player information from NHL.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
- Jiří Dopita's profile at HC Znojemští Orli webpage
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jaromir Jagr |
Golden Hockey Stick 2001 |
Succeeded by Jaromir Jagr |
|