Former Flyers’ goalie Roman Cechmanek, a franchise leader in several key categories, died on Sunday at age 52, according to Czech sports site DenikSport. The cause of death has not been reported.
Cechmanek, born in Gottwaldov, Czech Republic, played just three seasons for the Flyers, but is first in save percentage (.923) and GAA (1.96) in 163 games, posting a record of 94-43-22. He had 20 shutouts for the Flyers. A gold medal winner as backup goalie (behind Dominik Hasek) with the 1998 Czech Republic Olympic team at the Nagano Games, the Flyers drafted Cechmanek in the 6th-round in 2000 and the 29-year-old started his NHL career as rookie in the 2000-01 season.
He had an impressive campaign for the Flyers as he helped the team to a 100-point season in the year Eric Lindros missed following a concussion suffered after a notorious hit by New Jersey Devils captain Scott Stevens in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. Cechmanek went 35-15-6 with a 2.01 GAA and finished second in Calder, second in Vezina and fourth in Hart Trophy voting. He had a remarkable 10 shutouts, including a 36-save effort in a scoreless tie against Tampa Bay.
Cechmanek had an unconventional style – as noted by Frank Seravalli, he liked to stop the puck with his head. He earned major style points by making routine saves look spectacular, but he stopped an awful lot of them.
And it’s true, from a goaltending standpoint, Cechmanek’s game can positively be described as unorthodox, while critically described as lucky or unsustainable.
No one would ever try to teach goaltending the way that Cechmanek played net. Other than his gear and cool chrome Sphinx mask, there was nothing aesthetically pleasing about his game. Unlike his 1998 Olympic Gold Winning teammate, Dominik Hasek, there were similarities to the two Czech goalies in a bizzaro sort of way. Both played the position with whimsical flaring and spasms stopping pucks in impossible ways that was starkly different than the robotic butterfly blocking style that was made prominent by the Quebec goalie factory at the time.
While Hasek is the natural comparable to Cechmanek their legacies can speak to their differences. Hasek is a top three goalie of all time, Cechmanek on the other hand…
Part of the frustration of the Cechmanek experience whether you understood what he was trying to do or not, you understand that he made some saves that no other human (including Hasek) could possibly make while also giving up goals that a learn to play goalie wouldn’t give up. Part of the reason and biggest difference between Hasek and Cechmanek can be summarized in the flexibility of their gloves.
Hasek wore gear that literally made him more flexible and allowed for the most amount of movement possible. Cechmanek on the other hand (pun fully intended) wore a glove that literally couldn’t be closed. Think back and rewatch any Cechmanek video you can find and you will never see him make a glove save where he closes his actual glove. Go back and watch. The puck may go into the webbing of his glove but the glove never closes and it’s quite frankly impressive the way he was able to cradle the puck much like a lacrosse stick.
Cechmanek played much more similarly to Hasek, but he was just a much more animated Patrick Roy in that he wanted to block pucks and his glove was symbol to that and was just a funny looking blocker.
Cechmanek was The Great Goalie Hope, briefly filling the void in the Flyers’ long search for an answer in the net. Unfortunately for him and the Flyers, he didn’t have much success in the playoffs as the team lost to the Buffalo Sabres in six games in 2001, including two overtime losses and an embarrassing 8-0 loss in the final game. Cechmanek was perhaps unfairly blamed in a 5-game series loss to Ottawa in 2002 in which the team scored just two goals, as he was replaced by Brian Boucher for Game 5. He went on to play two more seasons with the Flyers and shared the 2002-03 Jennings Trophy with teammate Robert Esche and Devils’ legend Martin Broduer. Imagine that, Flyers goalies competing on even ground with Martin Brodeur!
Cechmanek played just one more year in the NHL, joining the Los Angeles Kings in 2003-04 before going back home and playing five seasons in the Czech Extraliga.
