One of the Premier League’s greatest ever goalkeepers has successfully forged a new career in ice hockey since hanging up his gloves. Petr Cech is best known for his 11-year spell at Chelsea, winning every available trophy during his time at Stamford Bridge, and is widely recognised as one of the best shot-stoppers to grace the English game.
Cech also played over 100 games for Arsenal before retiring from football in the summer of 2019 and taking up a directorial role at Chelsea, which he left in 2021. He is now a professional ice hockey player and has proven to be very handy in transferring his skills from the football pitch to the ice rink.
The 41-year-old joined the Guildford Phoenix as a goaltender in late 2019, wearing the No 39 jersey in honour of Czech legend Dominik Hasek. He represented the Phoenix until 2022, helping them to win an impressive treble in his final year before signing for the Chelmsford Chieftains in England’s third tier.
Cech moved to the Oxford City Stars earlier this year and was quick to stamp his authority in his first few months with the team. He was named as the player of the match in Oxford’s narrow win over the Streatham Red Hawks after making 62 saves to earn victory for the Stars, who were under the cosh for the majority of the contest.
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The former Chelsea stopper has also trained with the Chicago Blackhawks and recently featured in a one-off charity match for the Belfast Giants in a bid to raise money for the continuation of ice hockey in Ukraine. He went on to join the Giants on loan earlier this month to provide emergency injury cover, making his debut last week in a 5-1 win over the Glasgow Clan.
Coming off the bench for the last five minutes, Cech pulled off a fine save to help the Giants leapfrog their rivals into fifth place in the top-level Elite Ice Hockey League. He will be hoping to keep impressing on the ice for as long as he wants to continue playing, although at the age of 41 it seems unlikely that he will be able to hit the heights of his football career.
Cech revealed upon his move to the Giants that although ice hockey was his preferred childhood sport, he chose to pursue a career in football as it was significantly cheaper to play due to sky-high equipment costs.
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“The reality is I wanted to play ice hockey but the reason was because I couldn’t afford the equipment,” he told the Belfast Telegraph. “My dad took me to football practice because he knew it was just a pair of boots and that was it! Then later I started to play goalie so I needed gloves, too.
“I tried to do both but when you reach a certain age you can’t, you don’t have the time. I was practicing both sports four days a week and it was impossible. I stayed in touch with my friends and I would go back and play whenever I could, but whenever I was playing in France and especially in England, there’s no break, not even a winter break.
“That was the moment I stopped completely. Seven years ago I put it back in my routine for fitness, just to break up my routine of gym and running. As I got better, I got involved in playing and it went from there.”
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