Peter Mueller Re-Signs With Czech Champs
American forward Peter Mueller, 37, has re-signed to play another season with Kometa Brno, the Czech Extraliga club announced on Tuesday.
Mueller was a member of the Kometa team that won the Extraliga title last month, although the team sat 13th out of 14 teams when he signed in October, eight games into the season. Mueller had previously played for the team from 2018 to 2022.
'Peter has never hidden the fact that Brno is his second home,' Kometa sports manager Tomáš Vincour said when Mueller returned there last fall. 'He has a really strong emotional relationship with Kometa and its fans, which played a big role in his return.'
Originally from Bloomington, Minn., Mueller starred in junior hockey for the WHL's Everett Silvertips and was chosen eighth overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
However, he never lived up to his potential in the NHL. He recorded 54 points his rookie season in 2008-09, but was never able to reach that total again. In 297 NHL games over six season with the Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers, Mueller scored 63 goals and added 97 assists for 160 points with 98 penalty minutes.
Mueller has played in Europe almost continuously since 2013 – he returned to play the 2016-17 season with the AHL's Providence Bruins. Otherwise, in addition to Czechia, his career has taken him to Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Germany.
Kometa Brno Returns To Top Of Czech Extraliga Kometa Brno is once again the champion of the Czech Extraliga, defeating Dynamo Pardubice 3-0 in the seventh and decisive game of the finals on Tuesday night in Pardubice. It was the second series in a row that the team won a seventh game on the road.
Internationally, Mueller has represented the USA at two U-18 World Championships (winning gold in 2005), two World Junior Championships and two senior men's World Championships.
In his first tour of duty with Kometa, he was the Extraliga MVP in 2018-19 and led the league with 64 points in 2020-21. Last season, he had 36 points in 36 regular season games and then 13 points in 20 playoff games. Mueller's first-period goal in Game 7 of the finals against Dynamo Pardubice turned out to be the series-winner in a 3-0 Kometa victory.
In addition to Mueller, Kometa has under contract for 2025-26 25-year-old defenseman Filip Král, who played two games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2023-24 and whose NHL rights are currently retained by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Radim Zohorna Signs With Swedish Club Czech forward Radim Zohorna, 29, has signed a two-year contract with Färjestad BK,
the SHL club announced on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
24 minutes ago
Coco Gauff defeats Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 to reach her second French Open final
PARIS -- As popular as Coco Gauff is, she knew full well that nearly all of the Court Philippe-Chatrier fans would be against her during the French Open semifinals Thursday. That's because Gauff, an American, was taking on a French opponent — and one who came from nowhere, 361st-ranked Loïs Boisson. So the No. 2-seeded Gauff turned to a trick that 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic has talked about using: When the partisan crowd was loudly singing Boisson's first name, Gauff pretended they were chanting 'Coco!' Not that it mattered much, truly, because Gauff was by far the superior player throughout a 6-1, 6-2 victory that earned her a second trip to the final at Roland-Garros. Three years ago, Gauff missed out on a chance to leave with the trophy when Iga Swiatek beat her. This time, Swiatek won't be around for the championship match on Saturday, because her 26-match unbeaten run at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament ended earlier Thursday with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 loss to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka vs. Gauff will be the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 final in Paris since 2013, when Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, and just the second in the last 30 years.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Shohei Ohtani thought he was 'in trouble' before Dave Roberts gifted him a toy Porsche
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani cringes toward coach Chris Woodward after getting a hit on May 18 at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) The last time Shohei Ohtani thought he might be in trouble was when his name was linked to a federal investigation into illegal sports gambling in March 2024. His name was soon cleared by authorities, who charged and convicted Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in federal court with surreptitiously stealing more than $17 million from the Dodgers superstar to pay off an Orange County bookmaker. Advertisement Ohtani wondered if something was amiss Wednesday when manager Dave Roberts summoned him before the Dodgers' home game against the New York Mets. But not for long. Ohtani rushed into Roberts' office, saw a bright pink remote-controlled toy car on the ground and immediately started laughing. "I have a gift for you," Roberts told him. "Actually, for your daughter." "For my daughter? OK, thank you." Ohtani replied. "This is from my wife [Tricia] and me to you and your family and your daughter," Roberts said. "So, we have jokes always. This is a little bit of a joke. It's a Porsche. This is going to be your daughter's first car." Advertisement "Thank you, I love it," Ohtani said. He tapped the car with his hand and said in English, "I thought I'm in trouble. Some trouble," evoking laughter from Roberts and others in the room. Ohtani had gifted Roberts a tiny toy Porsche a year ago when he broke Roberts' franchise record of seven home runs by a Japanese-born player, placing it in the manager's parking lot space as a practical joke. When Ohtani signed with the Dodgers in December 2023, he gifted Ashley Kelly, the wife of pitcher Joe Kelly, a Porsche — not a toy — for Kelly giving up No. 17. Roberts kidded Ohtani about gifting him when the modest record was inevitably broken, and the new Dodgers slugger obliged with the toy. Advertisement It took Roberts — born in Naha, Okinawa, to a Japanese mother and American father — a year to reciprocate. Read more: Will Dodgers' pitchers ever get healthy? How the team is tackling its biggest problem "Shohei has been very gracious and we've got this long-running practical joke," Roberts said on video. "This is more of a sincere gesture, not necessarily a practical joke but I wanted to present it to him." Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, have not revealed the name of their daughter, who was born April 19. 'I am so grateful to my loving wife who gave birth to our healthy beautiful daughter,' Ohtani wrote on social media at the time. 'To my daughter, thank you for making us very nervous yet super anxious parents.' Advertisement Super anxious? Wait until she starts driving. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
40 minutes ago
American tennis star Coco Gauff reaches French Open final
Coco Gauff will get a second chance to win the French Open this weekend. Gauff, 21, defeated Loïs Boisson 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals Thursday, propelling her to the second French Open final of her career so far. The American tennis star, ranked No. 2 at Roland Garros, will face the No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the women's final on Saturday in Paris. The match on Saturday will be only the second No. 1 vs. No. 2 women's final at the French Open in the past 30 years, according to ESPN. The faceoff between Gauff and Sabalenka will be a Grand Slam final rematch for the pair. The two faced off in the 2023 U.S. Open final, which Gauff won to earn her first Grand Slam title at age 19. Saturday's final will be the third Grand Slam final of Gauff's career. She was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros in 2022. Sabalenka defeated Swiatek 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 in the semifinals at this year's tournament. Last summer at Roland Garros, Gauff made history during the 2024 Olympics, becoming the youngest American woman to win a singles match at the Olympics since Venus Williams in 2000, according to ESPN. Gauff also made history when she carried the flag for Team USA in the Games' opening ceremony, becoming the first tennis player to carry the flag for the U.S.
