Josef Mikoláš

Josef Mikoláš was born to a single mother and had three younger siblings. When he was a small boy, he suffered from several serious illnesses, including pneumonia and rickets. When he was five years old, he still could not walk. Despite this he later attended a coal mining apprentice school in Ostrava and worked as a coal miner after he finished it. He lived in Ostrava and started his ice hockey career here.[3]

Josef Mikoláš started playing for ice-hockey team Pracovní zálohy Ostrava in 1956, but soon he came to another Ostrava team, VŽKG Vítkovice, who were playing in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League, the highest league in former Czechoslovakia.[3][4] He quickly got recognition for both his goaltender's skills and courage with which he faced the shots, although he was not wearing any head protection in that time.[2][3]

In 1959 he was elected the best Czechoslovak goaltender of the season. His career culminated in 1961, when he was nominated into the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team for the World Ice Hockey Championships in Geneva, Switzerland. The team won most of the matches and surprisingly beat even the Soviet Union 6–4. They drew with Canada 1–1 and finally took silver due to Canada's better overall score. For his performance Josef Mikoláš won the trophy of the Czechoslovak Sportsperson of the Year.[2][3] In 1962 the World Championships took place in Colorado Springs, USA, but the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia boycotted the tournament.[5] In 1963 they took bronze at the World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.

Soon after the World Championships in Sweden Mikoláš's career started declining. In 1965 he got divorced and moved to Chomutov, where he got married again and played for VTŽ Chomutov until 1968.[2] Then he returned to Ostrava but in 1970 he finally finished his ice hockey career and worked as a sports journalist.[2][3] He had three daughters.[2] On 20 March 2015, he died after an illness.[6]