Cech Named ‘Man Of The Match’ On Ice Hockey Debut, Saves Two Penalties
Former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech produced a man-of-the match performance on his ice hockey debut for Guildford Phoenix against Swindon Wildcats in the National Hockey League on Sunday.
Cech fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing ice hockey when he joined Phoenix last week as the team’s third-choice goalkeeper despite also holding a role as Chelsea’s technical director.
The game ended 2-2 in regulation time with Cech making some eye-catching saves, and with no further goals scored in overtime, penalties were needed to separate the sides.
In what was his first penalty shootout encounter since the 2012 UEFA Champions League final, Cech saved Swindon’s first and last penalties to seal victory for Phoenix.
After the game, Cech said: “It was a childhood dream for me to play even one game of ice hockey. “I’ve done that now and nobody can take that from me.
“If you have a dream, you chase it and you do everything to make it happen. I’ve done that in football and all my dreams have come true.
“I said, ‘this might be the last dream I was hoping to (achieve)’. But I worked hard for it. I think it can act as something for the young players to know that if you chase your dreams, then good things might happen.”
Cech, who holds the record for the goalkeeper with the most Premier League clean sheets (202), retired from football at the end of last season.
Cech won 13 major honours during his time at Chelsea including four Premier League titles and the 2012 UEFA Champions League.
