Czech hockey player Martin Erat: biography and career in sports

Martin Erat - famous Czech hockey player, who became known for his performances in the NHL, "Nashville Predators" and "Washington Capitals". As part of the national team became the winner of the Olympic Games and World Championships.

Biography

Martin Erat was born in August 1981 in the small Czech town of Trebic. Like many boys, he tried a lot of sports, but chose a hockey game. This is not surprising, because the elder brother Martin also trained in this section.

From a young age Erath showed excellent speed and technique in the future help him to make a brilliant career both as a player the NHL, and as part of the Czech team.

career Start and move overseas

First professional club for the young hockey player Martin Erat was the Czech "Zlín", acting in the Extraliga. Here, in the 1998/99 season striker he managed to play 4 matches, but a small amount of playing time has not allowed him to distinguish productive actions.

In 1999, Martin Erat at the NHL Entry Draft was chosen by a team of "Nashville Predators". Without hesitation, the young striker went overseas, in the United States. Thus began his brilliant career.

A career in the NHL

His debut in the strongest hockey league in the world Martin Erat had to wait several years. At first he was sent to gain experience in the Western Hockey League, where he played for "Saskatoon Blades." In the first season Erath demonstrated good performance - 27 scored goals and 26 assists in 66 exact matches. After three years of playing for the farm club, Martin finally made his debut in the NHL. And he did it just fine - in 80 games of the regular season, he scored 9 of goals and 24 assists. These figures make it the best newcomer "Nashville Predators" command.

In time, Martin Erat firmly entrenched in the "Mustard cats." In the 2003/04 season he has updated his bombardirsky record, gaining 49 (16 + 33) points in 76 games.

During the lockout, the NHL hockey again played for the Czech "Zlín", which for the year was the real star. In 48 games, he scored 43 (20 + 23) points.

The team from Nashville Martin Erat played until the end of 2012. Total for "Predators" Czech hockey player has spent 723 matches, scored 163 goals and 318 times assisted teammates.

The following command to Martin Erat was "Washington Capitals". The capital club striker spent the end of the season 2012/13, and most of the next regular season NHL. In early 2014 he moved to the exchange of "Arizona Coyotes", advocated by the half of the season and scored 37 (11 +26) points in 92 matches.

The return to Europe

In 2015, Martin Erat left the NHL and signed a contract with the club of the KHL, "Vanguard". For the season, held in Omsk team, Czech forward 40 times out on the ice, scored 5 goals and 19 times assisted partners. After the completion of the championship Erat left the location of the "Vanguard" and moved to the Czech club "Comet".

A career in the national team

Like many young and promising players, Erath first began to be called in the age team of his country. In the junior team, he became a member of the World Cup, and in the youth - the winner of the world championship.

For the first time in the national team of the Czech ice hockey Martin Erat was called in 2006. At the Olympics in Turin, his team has sensationally qualified for the semi-finals and the match for third place and beat Russia won the bronze medal. The "small" final was Martin Erat opened the scoring, scoring goal against Evgeny Nabokov.

On the next two games in Vancouver and Sochi, he was also involved, but, unfortunately, remained without awards.

That same year, the Czech Republic has become the second in the world championship. Martin Erat took part in all 9 matches and scored 8 (3 + 5) points. Six years later, he again became the winner of the world championship in 2012, his team became third.