Petr Nedvěd
| Petr Nedvěd | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||
| Born |
December 9, 1971 Liberec, Czechoslovakia |
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| Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||
| Weight | 196 lb (89 kg; 14 st 0 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Shot | Left | ||
| Played for |
Vancouver Canucks St. Louis Blues New York Rangers Pittsburgh Penguins Edmonton Oilers HC Sparta Praha Phoenix Coyotes Philadelphia Flyers HC Bílí Tygři Liberec |
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| National team |
 Czech Republic  Canada
|
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| NHL Draft | 2nd overall, 1990 Vancouver Canucks |
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| Playing career | 1990–2014 | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Representing Canada
|
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| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1994 Lillehammer | Ice hockey |
| Representing Czech Republic
|
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| World Championships | ||
 |
2012 Helsinki | Ice hockey |
Petr Nedvěd (born December 9, 1971) is a Czech Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Most recently he played centre for HC Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga.
Nedvěd was born in Liberec, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic) to Jaroslav and Soňa ("Sonia") Nedvěd. He left Czechoslovakia as a refugee on January 2, 1989 at the age of 17 after playing in an international midget tournament in Calgary. Nedvěd was the star of the tournament, with 17 goals and nine assists. He decided to defect to Canada because of the limited opportunities in Czechoslovakia under communist rule, which was very strict regarding athletes leaving the country to pursue professional careers elsewhere. He did not tell his parents about the decision, and with $20 and the help of another Czech who defected, whom Nedvěd refuses to identify even today, he declared his defection at a Calgary police station. In an interview in the Newark Star Ledger, Nedvěd said that the "fear of regret" was the overriding reason to defect. For ten months until the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution, Nedvěd's parents were forced to make calls imploring Nedvěd to come home.
Nedvěd married supermodel Veronika Vařeková in 2004. In early 2006, when playing for the Phoenix Coyotes, Nedvěd asked for a trade to an Eastern Conference team to be closer to Vařeková who worked primarily in New York City. However, during the summer of 2006, Nedvěd and Vařeková separated. He has since moved back to the Czech Republic. His brother, defenceman Jaroslav Nedvěd, is also a hockey player.
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