“I shed a tear when I had my wife and my mother here. It was something wonderful and sad,” said Lukeš and congratulated the fans. “Amazing atmosphere, the marketing managed to make such an excellent event, when I saw all the guys, it also brought tears to my eyes.”

Hübl was also moved. “They shoot a person next to legends here, what more could you ask for at the end of a career. I wouldn’t do a big event on my own, maybe meet the guys somewhere for a beer or some tennis, but they prepared it wonderfully. I have to smile and thank you again. Unreal work. They organized a beautiful event and everyone enjoyed it, ”Hübl thanked the representatives of Litvínov.

“There were expectations, but it exceeded them all. We were happy to have the guys back from this title team and the others with whom we spent part of our career here. Great, I’m satisfied,” Hübl said. .

golden helmets

The two also performed in special golden helmets. “We suspected something when Guma (Jiří Šlégr) told us not to take our helmets, that they had a surprise. It’s something good to keep in mind,” said underlined Hübl.

Their farewell was also followed by goaltender Pavel Francouz, who starred with them in the North Bohemian club’s historic Extra League triumph in 2015 and won the Stanley Cup with Colorado last June.

“Both are exceptional in what they’ve achieved, how long they’ve played together here, they’ve played blindfolded, they’ve shown a lot of great plays and great goals. I’m happy to be able to be here. I left a piece of my heart in Litvínov, I’m happy to come back here, they played, we have good hockey here and I like to come back even outside of hockey,” said the Frenchman, who played in Litvínov for three years.

Two weeks ago he enjoyed his day with the Stanley Cup in his hometown of Pilsen, the organizers of the exhibition created at least a model of the famous trophy. “It was a surprise for me. A nice accessory. It was funny and nice, I’m for a joke, it was something great,” laughed the Frenchman.

In the selection of the 2015 champions, along with Hüble and Lukeš, who will defend the colors of the second division Chomutov from the new season, the former striker and three-time world champion and Olympic champion Martin Ručinský also donned the shirt. Another Lithuanian legend with an equally large collection of the team’s most precious metal was Robert Reichel. Triple Gold Club member Šlégr and fellow defenseman Martin Škoula, a Stanley Cup winner with Colorado in 2001, were also present.

Lukeš, 39, also played against his 13-year-old younger brother Karlovy Vary goalkeeper Štěpán in the exhibition. Hübl, who is four years older, again against his cousin Jaroslav, who catches in Germany’s third highest competition for Weiden. During the second break, the Hübl girls, Viktorie and Valerie, added variety to the program with their performance in figure skating.

“It was arranged like that, so that we could say goodbye and thank the families and reunite them with the children. Like I said about the players, that I was happy to see them, he also wants to have his closest relatives to such an event. Everything went well,” said Hübl.

In agreement with my son

In the third period, the main characters joined the Star Team and Lukeš’s ten-year-old son František joined them in attack. “He wanted to play the whole game, but he’s too small for that. At least 20 minutes. I’m glad he could play the third period with me,” added Lukeš.

Hübl said goodbye to top-level domestic competition as the record holder for the number of matches. Last season he surpassed defender Petr Kadlec and took the record to 1276 games. With 902 points for 402 goals and 500 assists, he is second in the historic ranking behind Petr Leška, who reached 909 points (281+628) in 1156 games. Hübl spent 19 of his 24 Extra League seasons at Litvínov and holds attacking club records as well as partial Extra League records. He also played for Slavia and České Budějovice.

In the national top flight, Lukeš worked exclusively in the shirt of Litvín and in 16 seasons in the extra league he scored 626 points for 255 goals and 371 assists in 847 duels. His most famous match was the decisive seventh extraliga final in 2015 at Trinec, in which he scored both goals in a 2-0 win.