Jan Benda

Jan Benda (born 28 April 1972) is a German ice hockey coach and retired player. He appeared in a total of nine National Hockey League games for the Washington Capitals[1] and participated in three Olympic Winter Games with the German national team.

Jan Benda
Born (1972-04-28) 28 April 1972
Reet, Belgium
Height 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
Weight 216 lb (98 kg; 15 st 6 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
Cze team
Former teams		 HC Plzeň 1929
BK Mladá Boleslav
Zlín ZPS HC
Litvínov CHP HC
Cherepovets Severstal
Khimik Voskresensk
Kazan Ak-Bars
Jokerit
Ässät
Washington Capitals
Portland Pirates
Sparta Praha
Slavia Praha
Binghamton Rangers
Richmond Renegades
Munich Hedos
EHC Freiburg
National team  Germany
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 1992–present

Career

Born in Belgium to Czech parents, Benda started his career in the OHL with the Oshawa Generals, where he played with future NHL stars such as Eric Lindros, Jason Arnott, and Stephane Yelle. In his final year with the Generals, he would finish with 35 points in 61 games. After playing 2 seasons in Germany, Benda would return to North America for the 1994-95 ECHL season to play for the Richmond Renegades. He would finish the season with 60 points in 62 games, which ranked fifth on the team that season. That season, he also briefly played for Binghamton Rangers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers. The next two seasons, Benda would play for HC Sparta Praha.

Benda would later return to North America for the 1997-98 season, where he was assigned to the Washington Capitals AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. He was later recalled to play for the Capitals, where he would score three assists in nine games. Upon completion of the 1997-98 season, Benda would return to Europe. He would play the next three seasons in SM-Liiga, where he would lead his team in points during the 1998-99 season (with Ässät Pori) and in 1999-2000 (with Jokerit). Benda would leave SM-Liiga in 2001 to sign with Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague. He would spend the next three seasons in Kazan and would split his final year between Khimik Voskresensk and Cherepovets Severstal.

Benda played in the Czech Republic for BK Mladá Boleslav, whom he joined in 2008 where he was the captain. Before joining BK Mladá Boleslav, he had played with HC Litvínov from 2006-08.

Benda has represented Germany at the 2002 World Championships, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and the Winter Olympics in 1994, 1998, and 2002.

Benda played for HC Plzeň 1929 and scored 35 points in 51 regular season games during the 2009-10 season.

In 2011, he returned to Germany, joining the Nürnberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga on a short-term deal, before signing with EHC München for the remainder of the 2011-12 season.[2]

He then spent the 2012-13 campaign with the Dresdner Eislöwen in Germany's second-tier league DEL2.[3]

The 2014-15 season saw Benda score 10 goals and dish 29 assists in 42 games for Deggendorf Fire in the German Oberliga. For the 2015-16 season, he moved to ECDC Memmingen, a member of the Bayernliga in Germany. Along with his playing duties he served as a coach in the club's youth program. When ECDC head coach Alexander Wedl was sacked in January 2016, Benda took over head coaching duties on an interim basis.[4] His playing career ended in June 2018 at age 46.[5]

Following his playing days, Benda worked for ECDC Memmingen as an assistant coach and youth coach.

References
  1. "Jan Benda Stats and News". NHL.com. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  2. "Jan Benda ist ein bunter Hund". ‚‘derwesten.de". 23 December 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. "Statistik Jan Benda". ‚‘Rodi-DB". 26 April 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  4. "ECDC Memmingen trennt sich von Coach Alexander Wedl". ‚‘memmingen-sind-wir.de". 6 January 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  5. Franz, Michael. "Ein Großer verlässt das Eis: Jan Benda beendet seine Spielerkarriere". www.memmingen-indians.de (in German). Retrieved 5 October 2018.
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