Mike Buckna

Natural born coach, great player and kind person. Mike (Matej - as he was called in Czechoslovakia) Buckna was a son of Slovak parents, that emigrated to Canada. In Autumn 1935 he came to Czechoslovakia to see the country of his parents. He bound his career with LTC Praha (as a player-coach). First season he was playing with czechoslovak star Josef Malecek. In the three following seasons he was leading the second formation of LTC Praha. In 1938 he was appointed as a head coach of Czechoslovak national team. After winning bronze medal in 1938 he said, that he have team of good men, that want to battle for their coutry and that he is proud of them. After WC in 1939, his work was interrupted by WW2. After it, in 1946 he answered the call from Czechoslovakia to come back from Canada and coach national team once again. He led Czechoslovakia to gold medals in 1947 and to silver medals on Olympic games in 1948. In February 1948 his work for national team was interrupted once again. Communists made the coup d´état and in Czechoslovakia started the years of dire terror. Buckna came back to Canada. He was returning occasionaly to Czechoslovakia in 1970´ and 1980´. He died January 6, 1996 in Milwaukee, USA. (Jan Jech)