Life on the Second Pairing – Jan Hlozek’s Career in Review

[Bojovnik 487]

Life on the Second Pairing - Jan Hlozek's Career in Review

 

A frustrated Jan Hlozek during Moscow's Game 7 loss against the Warsaw Predators in the S84 Conference Finals

 

 

All journeys don’t come to the happiest of conclusions. That was certainly the case for Czech defenceman Jan “Hollywood” Hlozek, who’s career came to an end with the Moscow Menace’s Conference Final defeat against the Warsaw Predators.

 

Hlozek joined the Menace ahead of S83 to add a veteran presence and solid depth scoring to compliment the team’s elite top line players. In his time in Moscow, Hlozek made a great contribution (apart from in the S84 Playoffs), but the Czech blueliner’s time in the Russian capital, and in the VHL in general, has come to a close.

 

With that in mind, it’s time to take a look back at a career that was:

 

Entering the fray

S76 – Saskatoon Wild | GP: 72 | G: 13 | A:46 | -5 | PIMS: 96 | Hits: 146 | SB: 93

 

Little was known about Hlozek when he joined the VHLM in S76. He announced his intention to join the league in the offseason ahead of S76. Hlozek joined a stacked draft class featuring the likes of Duncan Idaho, Reylynn Reinhardt, Aurelien Moreau, and Paul Atreides.

 

Among these high-profile players, Hlozek went about his business quietly, slowly building his draft stock.

 

The Topolna native, a diminutive, smooth-skating defenceman, ended up signing with the Saskatoon Wild, where GM Thomas Landry took him under his wing.

 

As with most players, Hlozek took time to settle in Western Canada after making the move over from his native Czech Republic. That being said, management put their trust in their new Czech signing, as Hlozek averaged almost 29 minutes of ice time per game.

 

Hlozek rewarded the team with a solid season on the second pairing. He contributed 13 goals and added 46 assists, while also adding some unexpected grit on the back end.

 

That being said, the Wild struggled to find consistency throughout their season. They were a way ahead of bottom feeders San Diego Marlins, but they could only muster fifth place in the Western Conference, meaning that they missed out on postseason play.

 

Hlozek’s play with the Saskatoon Wild was a major contributor to his rising draft stock. While behind the top names, Hlozek was one of the more intriguing players that was slated to go anywhere from 7^th to 12^th overall in the S77 VHL Entry Draft.

 

It would be the Riga Reign that would jump at the possibility to select Hlozek, despite there being several safe picks on the board. Many thought that Hlozek had a high ceiling, but there were certain risks over his future development that could scare some GMs away.

 

 

A Taste of Glory

S77 – Miami Marauders | GP: 72 | G: 20 | A: 43 | +22 | PIMS: 56 | Hits: 99 | SB: 88

 

Hlozek was one of the top names going into the S77 VHLM Dispersal Draft, off the back of his first round selection in the VHL. Hlozek would be one of the only top picks who would elect for a second full season in the VHLM, making him a tempting prospect for VHLM teams who were looking to mount a challenge.

 

After a season in the cold of Saskatoon, Hlozek moved to South Beach as a member of the Miami Marauders. In Florida, Hlozek would make another solid contribution to a team keen to make a run for the Founder’s Cup.

 

In Miami, Hlozek was tasked with greater attacking responsibility. He almost doubled his shots on goal numbers from the preceding year, and ended the season with 20 goals. His assist numbers went down, as did his hits and shot blocks, but Hlozek’s attacking prowess helped the Marauders achieve a second place finish in the Eastern Conference.

 

The Marauders would go on to make a historic playoff run on their way to the Founder’s Cup. The Miami side faced stiff competition from a resilient San Diego Marlins team in the first round, with the California side taking the series to six games. However, Miami would go on to sweep the Las Vegas Aces and runaway regular season winners Mississauga Hounds to claim the title.

 

Ahead of his jump to the VHL, Hlozek would also claim the World Junior Championship title as a member of Team Europe, the final major honour of his career.

 

 

The Development Curve

S78-80: Riga Reign | GP: 216 | G: 41 | A: 135 | -8 | PIMS: 132 | Hits: 225 | SB: 411

 

Hlozek was called up to the VHL ahead of the S78 season, where he joined a Riga Reign side in a period of transition. The Reign had several top end players, including Cabe McJake, Justin Lose, and Linus Zetterstrom, with the latter anchoring the Reign’s top pair.

 

As was the case for the majority of his career, Hlozek’s responsibilities lay on providing offence from the second pairing, and playing the role of a facilitator on the top powerplay unit.

 

In his debut season, Hlozek impressed registering 50 points (with 14 goals) in the regular season, the second most of any rookie (behind Hard Markinson’s 56).

 

Despite this, the Reign flattered to deceive throughout the regular season in a tough European Conference. The Latvian side finished level on points with the Malmo Nighthawks, but lost out in a place in the play-in on tiebreak.

 

A new season brings new opportunities, and Hlozek took to the ice in S79 desperate to make a contribution that would help his team make the postseason.

 

The Reign got better help in the net through the efforts of Zamboni Driver, and Hlozek also made a significant defensive contribution that made the Reign a tougher test in Europe.

 

The Latvian side managed to make the postseason as the third seed in Europe, and optimism was high heading into the Conference Semi Final clash with the Warsaw Predators.

 

However, the Reign were stymied by the Predators, whose attacking prowess proved to be too much for the Latvian side to handle.

 

The Predators scored seven times in both Games 1 and 3 and eventually took the series in five games, ending the Reign’s hopes of a playoff push.

 

A new season and new opportunities. With the start of S80, Hlozek would go on to have the best season of his career to date. After impressing with his defensive work, Hlozek showed the flashes of attacking talent that justified his eight overall selection.

 

The Czech blueliner registered his first point-per-game season, with 16 goals and 56 assists. With that said, the Reign as a whole struggled to find the back of the net consistently, and as in S78, the Latvian side finished in sixth place in the European Conference, leaving them on the outside looking in.

 

Another season of missing the playoffs left Hlozek reluctant to put pen to paper on signing an extension with the Riga Reign upon the expiration of his entry level contract. He fielded offers from a number of VHL clubs in both North America and Europe, and he would eventually make a move to the former.

 

 

Becoming “Hollywood Hlozek”

S81-82: Los Angeles Stars | GP: 144 | G: 33 | A: 140 | +19 | PIMS: 233 | Hits: 392 | SB: 366

 

Sunny California. That’s where Jan Hlozek chose to truly make his name in the VHL. The Czech defenceman arrived in Los Angeles to join a team that was desperate to overthrow the Vancouver Wolves, and his time on the West Coast can be considered to be the best period of his career.

 

This time, Hlozek found himself behind Tui Sova on the depth chart, but on a deep Stars roster, the Topolna native made a monumental contribution from the blueline.

 

In S81, Hlozek registered career high (to date) numbers in assists, points, shots, hits, and shot blocks. He added seven powerplay goals as he racked up 84 points in 72 games.

 

It was during this time that the “Hollywood Hlozek” moniker was coined by the team’s marketing staff, a nickname that stuck for the remainder of his career.

 

During the regular season, the Stars found themselves in the mix: far behind the Vancouver Wolves, but competing with the Seattle Bears, Calgary Wranglers, and Toronto Legion.

 

The California side eventually finished in 4^th place, putting them in a contest with the Toronto Legion for a Wild Card place.

 

Despite the team’s optimism, the Legion flew into Los Angeles and won both of the opening games on the West Coast. The Stars took Game 3 to stave off elimination, but the team from the Canadian capital took Game 4 to drive a dagger into the heart of the Stars team.

 

Hlozek would go on to have the best offseason of his career, and joined back up with a Los Angeles side that knew they had talent. Several of the North American Conference sides weakened throughout the summer, giving the Stars a true chance of being a contender on that side of the Atlantic.

 

For the second season in a row, Hlozek registered career highs in many key metrics. He racked up 89 points (20+69), which would go on to be the most amount of points he would register in his single season.

 

A superb season from the Stars’ other top players, including Dan Dan, helped the California side finish the season in 2^nd place in the North American conference.

 

Without the tricky prospect of a Wild Card contest, the Stars entered the playoff fray with a Conference Semi Final match up against the Calgary Wranglers.

 

In Game 1, the Stars took a 5-2 victory in which Hlozek registered 3 assists (also known as a Hloztrick), although the Wranglers would tie up the series with their Game 2 victory.

 

The two teams would go onto split the two games in Alberta, setting up a best-of-three series to book a place against the runaway favourites, Vancouver Wolves.

 

Calgary took Game 5, although heroics in the LA net by Rara Rasputin helped the Stars take a 5-2 victory in Game 6 (Hlozek bagging two assists). With that, Game 7 loomed in Los Angeles.

 

On a warm spring evening in California, the Stars put together their best performance of the season. Henri le Massif bagged a hat trick, and Hlozek added two assists as the Stars blew away the Wranglers 6-0.

 

What then followed was to be expected. Overmatched against the powerhouse that was the Vancouver Wolves, the Stars were swept to end the season.

 

As S82 came to a close, general manager Rory announced his intention to step down. Several of the Stars core players were also going to be leaving, either via retirement or free agency, signaling the start of a massive rebuild on the West Coast.

 

Hlozek, who indicated that he would not be open to staying in Los Angeles, would eventually be moved ahead of the S83 VHL Entry Draft to the Moscow Menace.

 

 

So close but yet so far

S82-84: Moscow Menace | GP: 144 | G: 46 | A: 113 | +70 | PIMS: 110 | Hits: 158 | SB: 289

 

Hlozek joined a Moscow Menace side that was fresh off the back of three finals defeats in the row. The Menace, a powerhouse in every sense of the word, were built on the solid foundations of Papa Emeritus in net, and top defenceman Hard Markinson.

 

Once again, Hlozek would find himself on the team’s second pairing behind one of the best blueliners in the league, a role that he would go on to thrive in.

 

In S83, Hlozek registered his single-season goal record of 26, as the Menace blew through the European Conference and finished as the top seed heading into the playoffs.

 

In the playoff campaign, Hlozek added 17 points in 18 games as they made it through the Prague Phantoms (in six games) and the Riga Reign (in five games), setting up a Finals clash against the Seattle Bears.

 

The teams split the opening four games of a series that was always destined to go to seven games. The Menace took Game 5 on home ice, although the Bears would strike a dagger in Game 6 with an overtime victory that snatched the Continental Cup from Moscow’s grasp.

 

In Game 7, Hlozek would go on to have the infamy of being in the box for two of Seattle’s powerplay goals as the North American side edged a 3-2 contest. For the Menace, their fourth finals loss in a row, and Hlozek truly felt the brunt of it.

 

“It was truly unacceptable. Of course, you always feel bad when the opponent scores twice while you were in the box. But to do that twice in Game 7 of the final. It sucks. I thought the refereeing wasn’t great throughout the entire postseason, but to get called twice like that and have them score both times on the powerplay is sickening. I still feel awful about it,” Hlozek said in an interview after the finals loss.

 

Ahead of S84, Hlozek denied that he would be hanging up the skates. Although, this was later revealed to be a diversion, as the Topolna native announced at the trade deadline that this season would be his last.

 

Despite having a large amount of miles on the clock, Hlozek still registered 71 regular season points and managed to make the All-Star Game for the first time in his career on the back of the public vote.

 

The Menace, with all their talent, would go on to win a second Victory Cup in a row, and went into the playoffs knowing that this could truly be their year.

 

Optimism was even higher after the Russian side swept HC Davos Dynamo in the Conference Semi-Finals, although their hopes and dreams would end up crashing down in the Conference Finals against the Warsaw Predators.

 

The Menace were down 3-1 in the series after Game 4, but the Russian side clawed their way back into the fray by taking Game 5 and Game 6.

 

However, an OT heartbreaker would send the Warsaw Predators to the Continental Cup Finals, ending Moscow’s hopes of a fifth straight finals appearance, and for Hlozek, the end of the line.

 

The Czech blueliner was notably frustrated with his play throughout the playoffs, as he failed to make a significant contribution on both the offensive and defensive side of the puck. Hlozek tallied just five points throughout the entire playoffs, perhaps a sign that his decision to hang up the skates was the right one.

 

 

 

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Not all endings are as we expect, and that was truly the case for Jan Hlozek. A career point-per-game player who went about his business quietly on the second pairing.

 

It takes a special kind of player to know the role he is best suited to, and to do it well. He could have chased points on the first pairing of a lower-quality team, but Hlozek toiled at the lathe throughout his even seasons in the VHL.

 

He may finish his VHL career without his name on the Continental Cup, and he doesn’t have a chance of making the VHL Hall of Fame, but he leaves the league as a respected figure who played the game his way: with pride, with passion, and with integrity.

 

 

 

 

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OOC: Having joined the league as a first gen, I just wanted to thank all the people who essentially made Hlozek’s career possible, by showing me the ropes, lending a hand whenever necessary, and giving me all the tools needed to succeed.

 

These include my first VHLM GM @Doomsday, who was the perfect VHLM GM for a first gen looking to contribute.

 

I also need to acknowledge my first two VHL GMs @hedgehog337and @rory , who all did their jobs fantastically, particularly as my activity waned during the middle of my career as I moved countries, switched jobs, and generally had real life get in the way of being anything other than a welfare clicker.

 

Special thanks has to go to @Spartan and the rest of the Moscow team. I was traded to, and then signed with Moscow pretty much with the expectation that I would click out the remaining of Hlozek’s career and then leave the league upon retirement. However, being part of the Moscow community has been a treat since joining, and they’ve played a big part in a spike in my activity since then.

 

It's been a fun ride, and I’m committed to be back for at least one more player, so let’s see how that goes.  

 

 

Spoiler

2,600 something words. Four week claim from 28.08 onwards.

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Bojovnik

[Spartan 4,531]

I'm really glad we were able to have you on the team, and it's even more awesome to hear that your interest in the league has been rejuvenated! Hlo was a fantastic player and you were great to have around the LR as well. Wishing you the best with your recreate and I'll see if I can draft you this time, or maybe we'll have to settle for a late career move again .

[Bojovnik 487]

Week 2

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Week 3

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Week 4 (and final)