Jozef Kohut

Jozef Kohut
Born	(1975-01-27) January 27, 1975 Trenčín, Czechoslovakia
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Left
Playing career	1993–present

Jozef Kohut (born January 27, 1975) is a Slovak ice hockey player from Trenčín, Slovakia.

First decade

During the 93/94 season Kohut made his debut for the Trenčín senior team and his consistent performances in the juniors earned him a place on the 1993 Slovak European Junior championships team. A year later he was included in the World Junior championships team whilst continuing to make his mark in the Trenčín first team until his move Liga 1 side Senica in 1996. Where he put up more than 1 point per game, with the exception of a 1-year stay at HC Polygón Prievidza. In 2000 Kohut made the move back to Extraliga side HK 32 Liptovský Mikuláš where he struggled for points at the higher level.

Move to the U.K.

In 2004 Kohut arrived in Guildford to play for the Flames scoring at just under a point per game with 66 points. A year later he would top the team points standings with 74. The first two years with the Flames were played in shirt number 28, which was subsequently changed to 38 at his request for the 05/06 season. Over the next 3 years Kohut would become Guildford's most prolific goal scorer at over a goal a game, but despite injury restricting him to playing only 38 matches of the 05/06 season, he was still among the EPL's top ten points scorers. Once again injury restricted him to playing only 30 games for the Flames in 07/08, although this did not stop him scoring 56 points. He currently sits at 10th in the Flames All-time points-scorers. Although he was offered a contract for the 08/09 season, he rejected it,^[1] it is widely believed by Flames fans that the contract was on a pay per game basis due to Kohut's ongoing injury problems.

After Guildford

Kohut took sometime before finding a new club for the 08/09 season settling on Zagłębie Sosnowiec in Poland and scoring 1 goal and 1 assist in his first game. The season appeared to be going well for Kohut with 25 points in 27 games for the Polish club, but in December 2009 it was rumoured that the Swindon Wildcats were interesting in making a move for the player. On the 7th of January it was announced that Kohut had signed a deal with the club to stay until 2010.^[2] His first match was at home to his previous team, the Guildford Flames attracting 2,124 fans. The Slovak was an instant hit for the Wiltshire-based outfit, receiving the 'Best Forward of the Season' award despite only being at the club for the previous two months.

Return To Guildford

Kohut returned to the Flames for the second time in his career about midway through 2011/12 season and helped the team to the first of back-to-back League and Cup titles. He was released at the end of the 2014-15 season in which he was used in a limited role, suiting up just 29 times, but still managing to score 17 goals and 31 points. His Flames career ends with him lying 5th in all-time team scoring as one of only five players across 500 points; with a total of 532 thanks to 281 goals and 251 assists in 388 appearances. He left the club as the all-time leader in powerplay and shorthanded goals with 67 and 17, respectively, while also one of only three players to break 1,000 Flames career penalty minutes.

References