Petr Mrazek
Ottawa 67’s Alumni (2009-2012)
The Ottawa 67’s used their first round pick in the 2009 CHL Import draft to select Petr Mrazek 30th overall. The Czech goaltender shared time his first season and played in 30 games. In Mrazek’s first season he finished with a 3.0 GAA and a SV% of .905. His 3.00 GAA was good enough to win him the Dinty Moore Trophy as the OHL’s goaltender with the best GAA, also finishing 12th overall in the league.
Following his rookie campaign Mrazek was selected in the fifth round of the NHL draft 141st overall by the Detroit Red Wings. Mrazek returned to the 67’s the next season and followed up his impressive rookie campaign by finishing the season with the OHL’s best saver percentage with a percentage of .920. Mrazek would sign an entry level contract with the Red Wings following the 2010-2011 season, however his time as a Barber Pole wasn’t quite over.
Mrazek returned to Ottawa for his final junior season. The Czech net minder would have a very similar season in the OHL to the year before, finishing with an identical GAA of 2.84 and similar SV%, dropping slightly to 0.917.
During the 2011-2012 season, Mrazek would get the call and suit up for the Czech Republic at two international tournaments. The first being the World Junior Championship. Mrazek would play in six games for the Czechs taking the team as far as far as the quarterfinals. Despite not finishing with a medal, Mrazek was still named to the tournament’s all-star team as well as being named the best goaltender at the tournament. Mrazek would return to the 67’s for the remainder of the season. After the season, Mrazek would get the call to suit up for Team Czech Republic at the World Championships, the team would go onto win a bronze medal.
During the 2012-2013 season, Mrazek would make his professional team. Throughout the season, Mrazek played at all three levels of professional hockey in North America, spending time in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL. However, his time in the NHL and ECHL was very minimal and most of his time was spent in the American Hockey League. As a member of the Grand Rapids Griffins, Mrazek appeared in the AHL’s all-star game, the team won their conference and eventually went on to win the Calder Cup as champions of the AHL.
Over the next two seasons Mrazek would split time with between Grand Rapids and Detroit with his NHL role slowing growing and his AHL role slowly diminishing. It was finally during the 2015-2016 season that Mrazek would make the full time jump to the NHL. The former 67played in 54 games and posted a GAA of 2.33 and a SV of 0.921. Mrazek would play the following year with the club as well posting similar numbers. However, during his second full season in the NHL, Mrazek spent a lot of time with the Czech national team. Mrazek represented the nation at the Euro Hockey Tour, at the World Cup of hockey and the World Championship, a total of 10 games across the three tournaments for the Czech Republic.
This season Mrazek remains with the Red Wings and is currently under contract with the team until the end of the season. Mrazek has spoken of his fondness of the city of Ottawa and the fans of the 67’s and how together they made his junior years truly memorable.