He was one of the best goalkeepers in world football.
Now Petr Cech has made his Premier League ice hockey debut – and he’s 41 years old.
“When I got this opportunity, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
As a footballer, Petr Cech won the Premier League and Champions League and earned 124 caps for the Czech Republic. When he hung up his gloves a few years ago, he did so as one of the best soccer goalkeepers of the 21st century.
Since then, Cech has switched to goaltending in ice hockey. He’s stayed there in the lower divisions – until now.
Earlier last fall, he was loaned to Belfast Giants, the champion team in the EIHL, from his club side Oxford City Stars.
Now he has to start his professional career at the age of 41.
“It happens once in a lifetime”
With about five minutes remaining in Belfast’s league match against Glasgow Clan, he replaced the injured Tyler Piskorovani. In the minutes Cech was on the ice, he blocked every shot he received and kept a clean sheet as Belfast won 5-1 in front of around 6,000 spectators.
– When I got this opportunity, it felt like something that only happens once in a lifetime. “To have this opportunity at the top level in football and ice hockey is very special for me,” he told the Belfast Telegraph before the game.
I looked at Hasek
He says in the same interview that he looks up to the legend of Czech goalkeeper Dominik Hasek and that he prefers playing ice hockey to playing football.
-I want to play hockey, but we can’t buy equipment. My dad took me to soccer practice because he knew I just needed a pair of shoes and that was it. Then I started playing goalkeeper, so I needed a pair of gloves anyway, he says.
-I tried both for a while, but when you get to a certain age, you don’t have the time.
