Tomáš
Klouček, a former pro hockey defenseman who
played 141 NHL games,
died as the result of a ski accident on Sunday in his native Czechia
at
age 45,
according to multiple Czech media reports.
The
news was confirmed in an Instagram post by his wife, according to
Hokej.cz.
“We
were hit by sad news – Tomáš Klouček died following
a tragic accident,” Oceláři
Třinec, one of his former teams, tweeted on X.
“The tough defenseman
played a total of 90 games
for us.
We wish his family and loved ones a lot of strength. Our sincere
condolences.”
According
to reports, Klouček skied into a power pole on the edge of the slope
and died from his injuries on the spot. The incident occurred in
Špindlerův
Mlýn, a
popular ski resort in the north of the country near the border with
Poland.
Klouček
was born in Prague and grew up playing for local club Slavia. He was
drafted in 1998
in the fifth round, 151st
overall, by the New York Rangers, then went overseas to play
for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the QMJHL.
Between
2000 and 2006, Klouček
played
141 NHL games for the Rangers, Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers, scoring two goals and adding eight assists for 10 points
with 250 penalty minutes. He spent the rest of the time playing for
those teams AHL affiliates in Hartford, Milwaukee and Chicago.
A
large, physical defenseman, Klouček
was
6’4” and weighed 245 lbs.
From
2007 until his retirement in 2017, Klouček
played
in Czechia, in the KHL and in Slovakia, finishing with his last two
seasons for Epinal in France.
Read the full article here