Sports fans were hit by shocking news regarding a former Slovak ice hockey player. Richard Stehlík (41), former player of Liptovský Mikuláš, played 90 matches in the Slovakian national team jersey, now works as assistant coach of HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš. A native of Skalice also lives there. As the website reports, his life was marked by tragedy these days.
People learned this at the moment when the hockey match between Liptovský Mikuláš and Poprad started with a minute’s silence on Sunday. Everyone fell silent at the memory of Stehlík’s 13-year-old stepson Martinek. The nine-time national team’s son was supposed to die last week. He raised him together with his wife.
“It’s like a bad dream for us, we still can’t believe it. I’m sorry, it’s a very sensitive matter, and therefore we would like to ask all the media to respect privacy,” the assistant coach of Liptovský Mikuláš told the sports portal.
On Sunday, October 12, before the start of the match in the city of the same name, the management of the hockey club HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš published the boy’s photo with the dates of birth and death on a cube above the ice surface. “He played hockey for school hockey categories in Liptovský Mikuláš, but he was not allowed to continue playing hockey…” were emotional words next to the photo.
“It’s a family tragedy. They say that time heals everything, but it’s very difficult. Rišo needs any support from us. When the time is right and he himself feels that he wants to be with us, we will be happy if he comes back. The victory over Poprad was for him,” Lipták’s head coach Aleš Totter said in the Markíza report.
