This is the Jeff Merrick Show on the Sports Net Radio Network.

Okay and welcome to it.

Glad to have you board today once again for the program and the festivities and the rewind and the preview and also the news and the

latest news from around the hockey world and we'll do more on this over the course of the

program today is the passing of Peter Klima. Now Peter Klima was a

troubled athlete at times. Peter Klima was an elite athlete at times. I can

remember you know a little 14 15 year old Jeffy getting all excited

because Peter Klimo was coming to North America gonna play for the Detroit Red Wings

this is back in the era where players,

uh, players, European players, specifically Soviet players,

Russian players, Czech players, etc.

You didn't see them. They didn't come over. You saw them at the Olympics.

You saw them on barnstorming tours, etc.

But you never saw them mixed with N. H. L. L. And Peter Klam Light, more than him in a couple of moments.

Peter Klima was the first Czechoslovakian player to defect to play in the N. H.L. and defected to an American team. Now previous

in the 70s a couple of players most notably Vasslav Natomanski, who's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, defected to Toronto to play with the

Toros, Richard Farda, who history seems to have forgotten, but Richard Farda as well was another Czech hockey player who defected,

and ended up playing the Toronto tours of the WHA.

It was much safer landing pad going to Canada than the United States,

but it was Jim Lights, along with Nick Polano,

the Detroit Red Wings, Jim was a senior executive there who helped Peter Cleam in

defect and got him to North America and got him to Detroit.

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