June 27th 2010

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic—
15 year-old female hockey phenomenon Denisa Křížová took top honors just behind Eva Holešová, in winning the Zlatá hokejka or Golden Hockey Stick Award . The award was announced in Karlovy Vary on June 27th at a gala nationally televised event.

Denisa Křížová a native of Pelhřimov, plays for HC Slavia Praha and the Czech U18 National Team. She burst onto the international scene at the IIHF U18 World Championships in Chicago last March turning heads and bringing positive attention to the young crop of Czech players coming up through the ranks.

“We are very proud of Denisa and excited that she earned such a great honor at such a young age,” said Karel Manhart, head coach of HC Slavia Praha Women’s Team.

The Czech Women’s Team struggled for the past few years just missing the 2010 Winter Games Olympics in Vancouver, but has drawn a lot of attention with the influx of exciting young players like Křížová.

Aside from being a tremendous young hockey player, Denisa is a solid kid, a great student and comes from a wonderful family. This is one of those players coaches dream about having on their team”, said Czech national team assistant coach, James Craig.

There were no surprises on the men’s side when the winner of the Golden Stick Award went to goaltender Tomáš Vokoun who finished way in front in the annual poll of sports journalists. The Florida Panther player was simply outstanding at the World Championship in Germany this year, and was instrumental as the Czech Republic claimed an unexpected gold medal.

Jaromír Jágr, who came second in this year’s Golden Hockey Stick voting, said that without Vokoun the Czechs wouldn’t have won the World Championship. Jágr seemed delighted in Vokoun’s success despite missing out on his 10th Zlatá hokejka. The last goaltender to win the award was Dominik Hašek who won after a steller performene that resulted in a gold medel at the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano, Japan.