The individual awards for the Czech Extraliga 2008-09 have been given.  Martin Straka was chosen as the player of the season and Lukas Mensator as play-off MVP

There weren’t many surprises during this year’s award ceremony for the Czech Extraliga, which saw 9 different players receive rewards. Also the coach and referee of the year were chosen and five legends were inducted into the Czech hockey hall of fame.

Martin Straka’s return to Extraliga was highly anticipated and he did not disappoint. Even though he did not lead the league in scoring, his presence as player and general manager of HC Lasselsberger Plzen was very strongly felt. During the play-offs he led his team to the semi-finals, when every game he was the best player on his team. He was also given the award for having best personality in the league.

However HC Energie Karlovy Vary won the league thanks to the excellent play of goalie Lukas Mensator. He was rewarded for his outstanding effort by being given the play-off MVP award and by being given the opportunity to become the starter for the Czech national team during the upcoming WC. He also was chosen as the best goalie of the Extraliga during this season.

Jaroslov Bednar of HC Slavia Praha was the most productive player during the regular season with 68 points in 46 games and he continued his scoring prowess into the play-offs where he tied for the point lead with his teammate Roman Cervenka with 24 points. He also received the award for the best player of the match, being chosen 14 times as player of the match.

Another of his teammates, David Hruska, scored the most goals during the past when he tallied 31 goals. In the past seasons he has been a very proficient scorer but he has always closely missed the league lead until this year.

This year, the defenseman of the year award was given to the experienced Jiri Slegr of HC Litvínov. The very strong defenseman had his second most productive season in the Extraliga even with recurring back problems.

Jakub Stepanek, who plays for HC Vitkovice Steel, took over the starting goaltending position from the former national team goalie, Marek Pinc. For his play, he was chosen as rookie of the year.

The coach of the year was Vladimir Ruzicka who is the coach and general manager of Slavia and also the current head coach for the Czech national team.

Awards at a glance:
MVP: Martin Straka
Play-off MVP: Lukas Mensator
Most productive: Jaroslav Bednar
Best scorer: David Hruska
Player of the match: Jaroslav Bednar
Best goalie: Lukas Mensator
Best defenseman: Jiri Slegr
Best rookie: Jakub Stepanek
Most gentlemanlike: Jakub Sklenar
Best personality: Martin Straka
Best coach: Vladimir Ruzicka
Best referee: Vladimir Sindler
HOF inductees (players): Jaroslav Holik, Vladimir Kobranov, Jaroslav Pouzar, Frantisek Vanek
HOF inductee (builder): Rudolf Bata