Tag: Dawid Zabotny

Mens Hockey

Who is Next in Net for Poland?

The Witcher is one of the most popular television shows, novels, and video games of the past decade. It is amazing that a novel from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski was then later made into a best-selling game by Polish studio CD Projekt Red. The Witcher can hold value to people all over the world in many different forms of media. There are board games, card games, clothes, and an ice hockey goalie. 

Przemysław Odrobny is a legend in Polish Ice Hockey. While many nicknames in hockey are given due to a player’s skill or prowess on the ice, like “The Great One” for Wayne Gretzky or “The Grim Reaper” for feared enforcer Stu Grimson. Odrobny instead earned his nickname “The Witcher” due to his resemblance to Geralt, the lead character of The Witcher. Like his nickname, Odrobny has been a monster slayer for Poland, keeping them in games against hockey giants that they had no right to be in. In his 20 year plus career, the Gdansk native represented Poland at 15 different IIHF events. However, he has not appeared for the national team in a few years, especially as the pandemic took its toll on international hockey events. Odrobny has also not played hockey anywhere in 2022. 

Odrobny vs. Romania 2019 Photo credit IIHF.com

With the Witcher not being used at any of the recently Olympic qualifying events and not playing anywhere in 2022, it is very likely that this will be the first World Championship for Poland without him since 2010. Polish goaltending has been pretty steady since 2010. Only four goalies have appeared for Poland at the World Championships in that time span; Kamil Kosowski, John Murray Przemysław Odrobny, and Rafał Radziszewski. Kamil Kosowski retired in 2018 at the age of 31. Rafał Radziszewski retired from hockey after a 20-year career in 2020. This only leaves the current national team starter, John Murray. 

John Murray came to Poland during the 2014 season after bouncing around between the CHL, ECHL, and a stop in Slovenia. He would play two seasons from 2014 to 2015 and then leave for Kazakhstan for a single season before returning in 2017, and has played in Poland since. Affectionately nicknamed Jaszek Murasz due to how his English name sticks out on the Polish roster. He has led Poland to some of the greatest moments of Polish hockey this century. He currently is 34 years old, which does mean his national team career could end any year. 

So who is behind Murray and looking to be only the fifth goalie to play for Poland at the World Championships since 2010? The easy answer would be fellow import Ondřej Raszka. The Czech goalie has played in Poland for 11 years and played for team Poland at multiple non-IIHF events. At the past Olympic Qualifiers, he also backed up John Murray in three games. At 32-years-old, he is a veteran with plenty of time. The only problem though is earlier this season, Raszka was released by GKS Tychy after only four games. Since then, he has not played anywhere and was left off the roster for the upcoming training camp and exhibition games vs. Austria. 

The next answer is only the fifth goalie to make an IIHF appearance for Poland since 2010 in Michał Kieler. The 26-year-old got in on the action at the Olympic qualifiers stopping the single shot he faced after coming in late in a game where Poland was easily winning versus the Netherlands. He also saw action in exhibition games in Hungary and the Three Seas Tournament. He seems to be the easy pick for a backup national team goalie based on how team leaders have used him. But as a long-term starter, I’m not sure. At 26-years-old, he is still a backup in the import goalie-dominated PHL. In 16 games for JKH GKS Jastrzebie this season, he recorded a .898 save percentage. Fourth last among goalies in the with more than 10 games played. He is one of three goalies named to Poland’s roster for exhibition games against Austria. 

The options outside of Kieler are pretty slim, as zero of the other options in Poland have played a senior national team game. Dawid Zabolotny, 28, is an intriguing option. The Cracovia Krakow backup is back in Poland for the first time since 2018. He had spent the previous four years as a starter in Germany’s Oberliga. While he has been a backup to Russian goalie Denis Perevozchikov, Zabolotny’s .916 save percentage is the third-highest among all goalies with 10 games in the PHL. He also served as the backup for Poland at a few non-IIHF tournaments. Like Kieler, Zabolotny is also on the roster for exhibition games against Austria. 

The final goalie on that roster for games against Austria is GKS Tychy’s Kamil Lewartowski. Lewartowski has had a quiet few years after being the starting goalie for Poalnd at the 2018 U20 World Championships, and he has earned a larger and larger role with Tychy. This past year after Raszka was released, Lewartowski took on the starting role during the regular season. In 27 regular-season games, he would record a .910 save percentage. GKS Tychy would still add Czechia goalie Tomáš Fučík and Swedish goalie Mathias Israelsson before the transfer deadline. Fučík would win the starting job, and help Tychy reach the bronze medal series. At 24-years-old, Lewartowski sits in a similar spot with Kieler with when, or will, they win a starting PHL job?

Other options in Poland include KH Torun’s Mateusz Studziński (24), who has posted solid numbers the past two years as a backup. He was previously the starter of Polonia Bytom during the 2019 season. Robert Kowalówka, 28, has long been the backup in Krakow but moved over to Osciewim for the 2022 season. While the long-time backup primarily produced average numbers during his time. The Oswiecim native has been outstanding in his 11 playoff appearances. Michał Czernik, 25, has been the starter in Zaglebie Sosnowiec for two years but has posted the league worse and second-worst save percentages in those seasons on some very weak teams. 

In terms of players under 23, not many have played significant minutes in Poland’s top league outside of one. Paweł Bizub, 22, was the starter on Podhale Nowy Targ this year primarily out of necessity. He showed flashes of potential in limited minutes the previous year, but his .870 save percentage was .021 lower than any other PHL goalie in 2022. Oskar Polak backed up that same Podhale team while also leading Poland at the U20 World Championship. The 19-year-old was put in two challenging positions, and the results reflect that. Marcel Kotuła, 20, sits in a similar place, backing up a weak Zaglebie Sosnowiec team with poor results. 

Three goalies have really caught my attention for the future. Filip Płonka, 19, has shown a lot of potential with a shutout at the PHL level, but we have never seen him play more than one PHL game in the season. He was curiously left off the U20 team in 2022. With John Murray leading the charge, there are not many games left for a backup in GKS Katowice. Maciej Miarka, 21, has shined in those few games with a .942 SV%. He has also been almost perfect in his three Polish second league games. Filip Świderski, 20, was the second goalie in Sanok this year and recorded a .894 save percentage. While not eye-popping, it was very close to Sanok’s starting goalie and followed by a strong second league playoff run. Their young age means there is still plenty of time for growth, but it is beginning to be hard to see what their actual potential is with so few games. 

When we look outside of Poland, there is no immediate help either, but possibly more intriguing and high-risk options. French Canadian Michał Łuba, 27, came to Poland with the goal of representing Poland internationally. He did just that after a few years of junior hockey in Poland and Slovakia. In 2015, he earned best goaltender honors at the Division 1 Group B U20 World Championships, helping Poland to a bronze medal. After a few years of being the backup in Krakow and split starting one year, he left for France. Playing in France’s 2nd since 2020, he has been one of the best goaltenders in the league, earning end-of-the-year all-star team honors in 2021. In 2022, he posted his best career save percentage with a .925 mark. Who knows if Łuba will ever wear the red and white again, but his success in France definitely should earn him an opportunity. 

Poland’s former top goaltending prospect Sebastian Lipiński, 21, is the only other Polish goalie playing in a senior league outside Poland. Lipiński was hyped to be the next great Polish goalie after solid performances in the PHL for his age and leading team Poland at both the U18 and U20 World Championships. After playing just 5 games in the PHL in the 2021 season, Lipiński left the country. This year, he is playing in the NIHL 2, the third level of British hockey. While his numbers there are impressive, as he rocks a .927% save percentage, it is such a low level I’m not sure how it stacks up. It is crazy that there wasn’t a place in Poland for him to play a more significant role. 

The quick option would be to try and naturalize another player like Murray and Raszka. A player would have to play two consecutive years in Poland, or four years if they had previously played with a different national team. Tomáš Fučík, 28, would be eligible thanks to playing in Poland from 2017 to 2018, and whenever he has started for a PHL team, he has always been dominant. Patrik Spěšný, 26, has spent the last 4 years in Poland with stellar results in his first three years before a rough 2022 season. Clarke Saunders, 32, has played in Osciewim for three straight seasons and could be a stop gate. A reminder that all these players would have to undergo a lengthy process to try and receive Polish citizenship.

Poland was spoiled for years with how good John Murray, Ondřej Raszka, Przemysław Odrobny, and Rafał Radziszewski were. It propped up a Polish hockey program desperate for talent on offense and defense. While Murray appears to be the only active one, again at 34 years old, Poland needs to start looking at who is next. It doesn’t appear there is anyone up to the task or quality of what Poland has been used to this past decade. This is huge, given that Poland’s offensive and defensive talent is better now than what Odrobny and Radziszewski had most of their national team careers.

If you want to keep up with all the Polish hockey action, make sure to follow us on Twitter @PolandHockey, like our Facebook page, and add us on Instagram @PolishPuck_.

Mens Prospects

What Happen to The Last Polish U20 Team to Earn Promotion?

When a junior squad wins IIHF gold and thus promotion to the next level, it can be the start of something great for a national team. It could be a sign that their development system is starting to work, they have the core of their next national team, or they just got lucky.

Luck plays a big part in a team getting promoted as the biggest obstacle to getting promoted is the team that was relegated from the higher division the previous year. For Poland this has been their achilles heel at times. As seen when, one of the best Polish U20 teams in a long time felt short to Norway. It is amazing that teams with players like Alan Lyszczarczyk, Dominik Pas, Jan Soltys, and Patryk Wronka failed to earn promotion.

Poland recently released their first roster of the year for an upcoming grouping in Warsaw, this team features a lot of new players for the initial camp.  These fresh faces may be the key to Poland finally earning promotion after so many silver medals. With that in mind, today I decided to look back at the team that last moved Poland up to Group A. Did Poland get their future core, or did they just get lucky.

Goalies

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Dawid Zabolotny – The starting goalie was Polish-German Dawid Zabolotny. In five games, he recorded a .933 SV%. Zabolotny served as a starter and split starter over the next four years with JKH GKS Jastrzebie. He would eventually be pushed out of the role by the Ondrej Raszka and Tomas Fucik pairing. The 5’11 goalie has served as a starting goalie for various German teams in the Oberliga since 2017. He also continues to make sporadic national team appearances usually in a back-up role. He remains a large part of the national team’s future.

Mateusz Skrabalak – The back up goalie made two IIHF rosters, but never played a game. He had show flashes of potential with Sanok, but was always way too inconsistent. He did not play anywhere in 2020, after spending the last two seasons with KH 58 Sanok in the third Slovak league.

Defensemen

Arkadiusz Kostek – One of the finest player from Opole made his first appearance for the Polish U20 squad at 2013 tournament. He would play the next six years with Opole, until financial reasons eventually made him leave the club. Since joining JKH GKS Jastrzebie, he has gained a lot of momentum. He is now starting to make consistent national team appearances, including at the past Olympic qualifiers.

Dariusz Gaczoł – A product of the Podhale system, he made his only U20 appearance in 2013. He played one year with the senior club in 2014. Gaczoł retired in 2016, after two years with PPWSZ Podhale Nowy Targ.

Jakub Gimiński – The 5’11 defensemen made his second appearance for the U20 squad. He would captain the U20 team the following season. He bounced around between Krynica and Torun before setting in nicely with Jastrzebie. Jastrzebie has been his home for the last five seasons, and he has re-signed for the 2021 season. The stay at home defensemen has made a few senior team appearances at non-IIHF events.

Łukasz Bułanowski – The big 6-5 Warsaw native seemed to have a bright future. He had the size and was developing a strong two-way game. Early in the 2016 season, he was given a doping suspension that ended his year. Upon his return to training in 2017, he suffered major injury and retired from hockey.

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Łukasz Sznotala – Another Opole product that made the squad, which seems so weird  to say in 2020. Sznotala had switched over to Cracovia Krakow playing full time in the PHL. This led to a three assist performance at the U20s, which was enough to lead Polish defensemen in points. He would later return to Opole in 2015 and played there until 2019, when he retired.

Marcin Kołodziej – This was the Zaglebie Sosnowiec’s product first appearance for Poland U20, and his last as he would retire after the season.

Piotr Huzarski – The Torun born defensemen was making his second appearance for the Polish team recording a goal and assist at the tournament. He later would help Torun earn promotion to the PHL. He played one season with KS Torun in the PHL, but then mostly left hockey besides a handful of games with Ponzan in the second league from 2016 to 2018.

Forwards

Adam Domogala – The Polish forward with German heritage appeared to have quite the ceiling. He had 41 points with 47 games in Germany’s third league the Oberliga as a 19-year-old. He finished tied for second on team Poland in points with eight. Since then the forward has yet to reach his potential, but spent two years in the DEL2, along with five years with Cracovia Krakow. He would win two PHL championships with Krakow. He made his senior IIHF debut at last year’s World Championships recording two goals.

Damian Zarotynski – Zarotynski was making his second appearance on the U20 squad and did quite well recording five points. He followed this up with a 24 point 2014 PHL season with Podhale, but retired after the srong year.

Dawid Majoch – The Zaglebie Sosnowiec forward was making his second appearance for the Polish U20 squad. He recorded one point in five games. Since then he bounced around the PHL in bottom six roles. He spent the 2019 season in the Slovak third league, but didn’t play anywhere in 2020.

Filip Starzyński – Another of the big three forward trio, Starzyński was the team’s captain and coming off a strong rookie year in the NAHL. He recorded eight points at the tournament. The following year he doubled his NAHL point total. and committed to the University of Alabama-Huntsville. He ended up transferring to Northern Michigan. In three years at Northern Michigan, he posted 12 points in 101 games. He returned to Poland after college, and played with GKS Katowice the past couple years. He is solid in the face off circle and defensively, but his offensive skill set just isn’t there. He was a member of team Poland at the 2019 World Championships, and at last year’s Olympic qualifiers.

Filip Stopiński – Stopiński has remained a polarizing player to this day. This was his first U20 appreance. The following year, he would play in Germany’s Oberliga and with Opole. He served as the U20 team’s assisant captain when the team was relegated from division 1A. He would spend the next four seasons with Opole. He was really putting together a break out 2018 season til a injury ended it. He returned to the Oberliga the following season and has played there since, besides one game for Janow in the PHL. This year with ERC Sonthofen he recorded 40 points in 46 games. I still believe Stopiński could be a late developer, but injuries and inconsistency have hampered him a lot.

Jakub Stasiewicz – Stasiewicz made his one and only apperance for the U20 team recording an assist. Since the the tournament, he has bounced around the bottom lines for a few PHL teams, mostly staying close to Gdansk. He spent last year with Lotos PKH Gdansk recording 12 points in 44 games. He is one of the few players from PKH Gdansk to sign with Stoczniowiec Gdansk for the 2021 season.

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Kacper Guzik – Guzik is the final part of the big three forward trio on the team that never really reached their expected ceiling. He spent most of his career in American junior leagues, even reaching the NAHL. He went professional right away after returning to Poland. He became a key part of GKS Tychy over the next two seasons, including a point per game regular season. He led team Poland at the event with 11 points. Since then Guzuk has always struggled with injuries and inconsistency. He spent the 2020 season in Podhale, recording two goals and an assist in 14 games.

Karol Szaniawski – Szaniawski served as the assistant captain for the U20 squad in his second run with the team. He would retire in 2015 after a couple of seasons with Legia Warszawa.

Łukasz Nalewajka and Radosław Nalewajka – The Jastrzebie twins are both a valuable part of JKH GKS Jastrzebie playing crucial roles in the line up at times, along with both serving as captain for the team. Both have received sporadic national team chances since their U20 team days, but neither have developed into top PHL players.

Martin Pawelski – Pawelski has spent his entire career in Slovakia with HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas. He still plays for their B team. The B team currently plays in the fourth level of Slovak hockey.

Michał Kalinowski – Kalinowski is the one of the best players recently to come out of Torun. In 2013, he played for Katowice, Polonia, and Tourn. He also recorded three points at U20s.  Since the 2013 season, he has spent six of the seven seasons with KH Torun. He also has recorded three 20 goal seasons in the PHL during that time, including a career-high 25 goal season last year. This was second among all Polish players in the PHL.

Patryk Malicki – Malicki was one of the youngest players on team and making his first of three appearances for the U20 squad. A strong two-way game and decent size made him an intriguing prospect. The 24-year-old has spent his entire career with Unia Oswiecim, besides a short loan to Janow. He remains a valuable part of the team’s bottom six forward group contributing around just over ten points a year.

The Conclusion

It is not a great sign for the future when you can only call a couple players on this team national team regulars. There is kinda a shocking amount of them who no longer play hockey at all. I did some quick checking around for similar teams and country, and while quite a few players do retire young each time. This Polish squad definitely had quite a few above the average.

For Poland, this class of young players didn’t live up to their potential. There is also still a lot of time for players in the class to make or break it. Arkadiusz Kostek, Adam Domogala, David Zabolotny, Filip Starzyński, Filip Stopiński, Jakub Gimiński, and Michał Kalinowski all appear to at least be great national team depth or have a chance to be a solid contributor to Poland. The team had a lot of players in junior and pro leagues that young Polish players struggle to get into now. They also are the only Polish team to win gold and promotion to Group A. With that amount of talent and accomplishment, you would have hoped to get a few key national pieces.

If you want to keep up with all the Polish hockey action, make sure to follow us on Twitter @PolandHockey and like our Facebook page.

Free Agent News

Dawid Zabolotny Moves to New Oberliga Squad

Dawid Zabolotny will be staying in the Oberliga for a fourth straight season. The Polish-German goaltender has signed on with the EC Hannover Indians on a one year deal. Hannover finished fourth last season in the North division of the Oberliga.

The former JKH GKS Jastrzebie starting goalie has played in the third tier of German hockey since 2017. Last year with Deggendorfer SC, he recorded a .879 sv% and 3.46 GAA, while among the leaders for goalies in ice time and shots faced. The 26-year-old goalie has been named to a few non-IIHF Polish senior team rosters but has yet to face in-game action.

In the team’s press release, Head coach Len Soccio commented on the signing, “With David we were able to guide our dream player to Hanover for the position of the goalkeeper. We have been watching him for a long time and had it on the slip. I am very happy that he will join our team in August.” (Translated from German).

Hannover had a desperate need for goalies after both of their previous netminders departed this offseason in free agency. The team announced in the same press release they also signed 23-year-old German goaltender Lukas Schaffrath. Schaffrath served as a back up on Herner EV 2007 last season playing nine games.

Zabolotny is the third Polish goaltender that will be playing aboard this season. He joins Ondrej Raszka and Michael Luba. Raszka recently signed with Trinec in the Tipsport Extraliga but is expected to play in the Chance Liga Luba is signed with Cholet in the second tier of French senior hockey.

If you want to keep up with all the offseason news, make sure to follow us on Twitter @PolandHockey and like our Facebook page.

Free Agent News

David Zabolotny Not Returning To Deggendorfer SC

Deggendorfer SC announced they will not be re-signing Polish goaltender David Zabolotny. He posted a .879 save percentage in 35 games, 17th among goalies in the Oberliga with at least 10 games played.

Zabolotny is most known for his own goalie a few years ago in the PHL, but the soon to be  26-year-old has played in, Germany’s third league, the Oberliga for the past three years. He spent the first two years with EV Lindau, but switched to Deggendorfer SC for the 2019-20 campaign. The season was of course cut short by the coronavirus, but Deggendorfer SC sat third in the Oberliga Süd. The club would have been primed for a long playoff run. There is currently no word on were Zabolotny will head next.

If you want to keep up with all the offseason news, make sure to follow us on Twitter @PolandHockey and like our Facebook page.

Free Agent News

3 Polish National Team Members Leave Their Oberliga Club

The offseason is starting to be in full swing now and that means contract extensions or departures for players. Today, we have news of three Polish players leaving their clubs in the Oberliga. The Oberliga is the third level of hockey in Germany.

Dawid Zabolotny is the biggest player of the three. The 25-year-old goalie signed in Germany last season after five seasons with JKH GKS Jastrzebie in the PHL. He joined the club EV Lindau and would play 20 games. His play was good enough to earn a contract for the 2018-19 season, though Zabolotny had received some higher offers it meant less playing time. His contract did have an opt-out clause if he chose to pursue a stronger challenge. Zabolotny would spend the entirety of the season in the Oberliga and thrive. In 44 games, he would post a .916 sv% that ranked third among all goalies with at least 10 games played. It now appears though, that Zabolotny will be pursuing a new stronger challenge as in their release about his departure they mentioned that Zabolotny will be signing in the DEL2, the second level of German hockey, or the Alps Hockey League, a somewhat new hockey league made up of clubs from Austria, Itlay, and Slovenia. As for his national team career, Zabolotny has played and started for Poland at the U18 and U20 IIHF world championships, as well as being named to multiple national team rosters. He has yet to make his senior national team debut, but at 25-years-old while most of his roster competition in their 30s, we should start to see him more. He was not one of the three goalies selected by Tomek Valtonen to play at the World Championships.

The next player was a teammate of Zabolotny on EV Lindau, Filip Stopinski. Stopinski was in the midst of a career year with Orlik Opole during the 2017-18 season with 17 points (8G, (9A) in 20 games. Unfortunately, an illness would end his season, and a contract dispute would lead to him leaving the PHL altogether. He would return to the Oberliga where he played in 2013-14 with Füchse Duisburg. It was a rough season for Stopinski, who failed to carry his previous year success over to the Oberliga only recording 19 points (7G, 12A) in 50 games. “Filip, despite his skating skills and a solid work in the defensive sector, unfortunately, could not meet the expectations set in him,” said Sascha Paul, the team’s sports director. It is unknown of his plans for the next season. Stopinski made his senior team debut in 2016-17 playing one game at a Euro Ice Hockey Challenge. He was not selected to any of Tomek Valtonen’s national teams’ rosters this year.

The final and the most recent release was Thomas Ziolkowski. Ziolkowski kinda came out of nowhere and raised some eyebrows when he was announced as part of Tomek Valtonen’s roster for the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Poland, along with some exhibition games. Ziolkowski a Polish-German defenseman has played in the Oberliga most of his career with a few seasons in the DEL2. This year with the Hannover Indians, he managed 25 points (2G, 23A) in 41 games. In the team’s release, they mentioned that the 30-year-old had signed with an unnamed Oberliga competitor. Despite, Ziolkowksi inclusion on a lot of Valtonen early rosters, mainly thought to be due to the protest of Polish players wanting better conditions, he was left off the roster for the World Championships. It could also be in part due to the fact he by IIHF rules Ziolkowski maybe not eligible to play for Poland. His IIHF status is currently unsure.

Update 4/27. Thomas Ziolkowski new team has been unveiled. Last night,  Herner EV 2007 announced the singing. Herner EV 2007 finished 6th in Oberliga Nord last year.

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