Soldan, David

BORN IN 1968 in Gottwaldov Czechoslovakia, his hometown is today's Zlin and although best known as the home of BATA Shoes, it is a small city with a big tradition in first division ice hockey. The only child of Jiri and Vlasta, he began skating around the age of 6, joined the local junior team, and spent Grades 5 and 6 in a school dedicated to the sport. It had been set-up by the government when a local side made the first division.

By the summer of 1981, the year he defected with his parents at the princely age of 13, he was already a young master of the game, intent on joining friends of the family in Toronto, Canada. Instead, as fate would have it, the family arrived in Perth Australia where he was disappointed to find the entire state served by one or two half-sized ice rinks and no proper boards. There were, however, little rays of sunshine. A new Olympic-size rink nearing completion in Perth's northern suburbs had the state secretary and Canadian captain, Guy Grant, recruiting a team to compete in a new League. Introduced by mutual Czech friends, he remembers Grant as the most competitive and driven sportsperson he had ever met.

At Left Wing with the Wildcats he went on to win the 4-team league on 8 occasions, and the play-offs 6 times. The Wildcats were a perfect blend of eager young locals and the occasional overseas visitor, led by a master motivator in Grant. A short while later, in the mid-80’s, a resources boom attracted many North Americans to the League. He played 10 seasons (1983 to '92), the last as the renamed Panthers at a new rink in the southern suburbs. Increased travel time to the southern rink, a loss of teammates and a loss of passion, all contributed to his decision to leave the sport at the end of the 1992 season, still just 24 years of age.

The League had all but fractured, but in that time he had represented his state 10 times. In the Tange Trophy (U18) in '84 and '85; the Brown Trophy (U21) which his state won in '83 (1982 to '88); and the Goodall Cup in 1985. He was selected for the Tange All Star Team ('84) and he was twice Brown Trophy MVP (1986, '87) and twice Runner-up (1983, '88). He was also nominated four times for the title of Western Australian Junior Sports Star (1983, '84, '85, '86).

He represented Australia in the National Youth Team (U17) at the Asia-Oceania Championship in Seoul in 1985 and Adelaide in 1986. Voted Australia's Best Player on both occasions, the next year he played with the National Junior Team in the World Junior C-Pool Championships in Esbjerg, Denmark, then the National Senior Team in the Thayer Tutt Trophy at Eindhoven and Tilburg in Holland in 1988. Among the highlights of a playing career spanning 18 years were being named runner-up MVP on the winning WA Brown Trophy Team at 14-and-a-half; receiving a Seiko watch as MVP of the the Asia-Oceania tournament in 1985; and meeting the Edmonton Oilers in their prime during the 1987 C-Pool Tour, one of the greatest dynasties in NHL history.

After retiring from hockey in '92, he married Viera, had a son Jackob and daughter Emma, and pursued his other sporting passion of tennis at weekend pennants. He coached his sons’s soccer team for 3 years, plays golf occasionally and works as Load Controller with DNATA Ground Handling Services at Perth International Airport.