Here’s a case for
Vladimír Dzurilla. If he appears later in the discussion, I’ll try to expand on him in more detail.
From a group of non-NHL European goalies, Dzurilla deserves to appear in the final ranking. He might be unfairly treated by some people who only glanced at his career and compare him head-to-head with Holeček. With the non-NHLers though, the peaks of the most noteworthy goalies do not overlap. That’s something we should keep in mind. Martin peaked in the early to mid 1960s, Dzurilla peaked in the late 1960-early 1970s, Holeček peaked in the mid 1970s, Tretiak peaked in the early 1980s.
Dzurilla’s talent was imminent. He
first played the Czechoslovak league game
in 1959-60 as a 17 y/o. He got into the National team next season in Nov. 1960 just after 9 league games that he had played so far. He would have started his international career at the 1962 WHC but Czechoslovaks and Soviets declined their participation so his first championship experience came one year later.
His
prime covers mainly
the 1965-1972 period (age 23-30). Dzurilla dominated the ’65 WHC (incl. a memorable 8:0 win over Canada). This was followed by good but not great 1966 season. He missed most of 1967 due to knee injury which required meniscus surgery.
Dzurilla suffered another knee injury at the first league game of the 1968 season. Fortunately it didn’t require another surgery, he got back into his game in time for the Olympics. He became a clear best Czechoslovak goalie again.
His play continued to improve as he
became one of the top European players through 1969. Won both politically charged games against the USSR. Dzurilla ended the 1st encounter with a shutout which I believe hadn’t happened before. Soviets scored (even if they lost) in every game against a European opponent in a major tournament between 1954-1968. Dzurilla was considered the most important contributor to these big wins since Jan Suchý missed the 2nd game due to injury.
Dzurilla may have hit his peak during 1970. He played his best domestically, crushed his goalie competitors and was one of the main challengers to Jan Suchý placement in the Golden Stick voting. Dzurilla’s SV% lead (
0.935) over the others was quite something. See below the 1st column (games played), 2nd column (goals allowed), 3rd column (saves),
4th column (SV%):
However, he faltered at the ’70 WHC. He was a disappointment there as if he ran out of energy. His backup was injured so Dzurilla had to play in each game anyway.
Dzurilla wasn’t a member of the National team over the course 1971 season. He did come back in 1972 where he became the NT starter at the ’72 Olympics, and backup behind Holeček at the ’72 WHC.
Dzurilla was considered a bit better than Holeček in this season (
finished 3rd in GS voting, Holeček ended 5th). He had a very good domestic season again (leading
0.931 SV%):
Dzurilla turned 30 at this point. He remained relevant in 1973 but wasn’t nominated for the Championship. Changed his club at the start of 1974 season. Everyone thought he’s quitely closing off his career at this point. In fact there was even a random fan question in the press around 74-75 directed at Karel Gut (CSSR coach) whether Dzurilla can return to the National team. Gut responded with a “no chance” statement and instead, the hockey association organized a retirement ceremony to Dzurilla in the mid-70s during one of exhibition games…
This is written to provide context for his
1976 comeback and to properly frame Dzurilla’s career. He’s the 1960s and early 1970s goaltender. Dzurilla’s 1976-1978 years represents something similar as.. to give a modern example.. as maybe Chris Osgood’s later Detroit runs in 08 & 09. Dzurilla recorded the league’s best SV% in the ’76 season narrowly over Holeček (0.924 to 0.923). When Dzurilla boosted his reputation in front of NA audience at the Canada Cup, he was half a decade past his prime in an age where a good chunk of his former 1965 national team players had already a good coaching career going on. Dzurilla was the starting goalkeeper of the Czechoslovak team when they won 1977 WHC gold medal.
It would be interesting to find out more about Dzurilla’s resurgence. There are some hints. After 1966 WHC, writers speculated that Dzurilla’s reflexes are too good for his own sake. They allow him to rely just on them for most of games so that he forgets about his technique which is subsequently exposed when he faces the Soviet attacks.
As he grew old, he must have polished his style. I imagine he put more structure into his aggressive driving out of the crease. In 1978, a former National team goalie (Vladimír Dvořáček) praised the, now 36 y/o goaltender, the most out of the league’s starters:
“Always delivers reliable performance, draws from his experience, excellent work with the stick, covering the space and glove saves.”
Canadian scouts always found liking in Dzurilla’s aggressive style, in his challenging of skaters either by cutting the angles or agitating them, shouting at his teammates to cover their spot, plus his exceptional stickhandling (no other Euro goalie came close this aspect). He had
plenty of opportunities to enter the NHL throughout his career. Compared to Holeček or Tretiak, he was more of a standup goalie. Butterfly was definitely not his way to run the business.
__________________________________________
Overall, he has 7-8 relevant seasons in which he was either the #1 goalie or at least #2 in Europe. Has
greater longevity than most of his competitors during the time he played. He guarded the net in front of Sven Tumba Johansson when he dressed the National team uniforms 1st time in 1960 against Sweden. He got to watch generations of Soviet players beginning with Sologubov, ending with Fetisov in 1977. He led the SC Riesersee club to the German league championship in 1981.
The other side of the coin? There are some empty seasons and
some poor games against top opponents (primarily against the Soviets). His highs were not as great as those of Tretiak or Holeček. There is more volatility of Dzurilla’s performance year to year.
Top 50-60 goalie.
