Petr Cech makes match-winning saves on his Ice hockey debut

Petr Cech was probably one of the most beloved players of his generation. The Czech Republic keeper was loved fondly by all sets of fans. He spent the best days of his career playing for Chelsea and was one of the Blues’ key players in their golden era. 

The twilight of his playing career was for Arsenal, one of Chelsea’s biggest rivals. The interesting thing is that fans of Chelsea and Arsenal both love him to this day. In fact, finding a hater of Cech across all fan-bases would be a very difficult task.

The legendary keeper retired from football at the end of the last season from Arsenal. Now aged 37, he is an Ice hockey professional and made a debut to remember. He was the hero for Guildford Phoenix as he made two penalty saves in the shootout victory on his debut. The former Chelsea and Arsenal stopper, now working as the technical advisor for the Blues was an instrumental part of the Phoenix side that beat Swindon Wildcats 3-2 at the Guildford Spectrum.

The Czech goalkeeper joined the fourth-tier Ice hockey outfit earlier this week, returning to the sport he used to play as a youngster. The Phoenix are the reserve side of British National League side Guildford Flames and had drawn the game 2-2 in the normal time with neither side finding a winner in overtime. Jacob Rondeau-Smith gave Pheonix the lead early in the second period, but they trailed 2-1 heading into the third period. Despite that, an equaliser from Taylor Wootton took the match into the over-time, ultimately ending with a shootout.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Petr Cech showed that he has still got it when the time came and won his team the shootout. The former Premier League and Champions League winner became the hero on his first appearance for the club, making two saves during the shootout. Cech saved the opponents’ first and last efforts to help his side secure the victory. He was named Man of the Match for his phenomenal debut performance.

Cech had a special mask created ahead of his move to the rink, the helmet is dedicated to Cech’s adopted home of London. It featured a Union Jack, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the London Eye. He also paid his tribute to both Chelsea and Arsenal with the badge of both of his former clubs on either side of his helmet. He also wore the number 39 jersey in the homage to the great Dominik Hasek, who is a hero in the Czech Republic and also wore the same number. What an absolute legend!

Cover image credits: Everything Standard