NHL players of Yugoslavian descent

[Ivan13]

Not anymore, he had a contract until christmas, now played the Spengler Cup with Kloten but is without a contract now so this could be true.

Every EBEL team can make three changes to their roster during the course of the season, Medvescak just did their third one, so Nylander isn't going to sign in Zagreb.

 

[Gomez91]

Travis Zajac is Croatian.

 

[croAVSfan*]

Travis Zajac is Croatian.

Any reliable source to confirm it ?

 

[Ivan13]

Travis Zajac is Croatian.

He isn't.

 

[croAVSfan*]

He isn't.

He is Polish, 100% !

 

[Alpine]

He is Polish, 100% !

Except that he's from Winnipeg Manitoba

 

[IslesNorway]

What about Travis Hamonic? Surname at least sounds like something out ex-Yugoslavia

 

[croAVSfan*]

What about Travis Hamonic? Surname at least sounds like something out ex-Yugoslavia

Hmm...despite surname finishes on -ic, I think that surname is not from ex-Yugoslav(in particulary Croatia) territory.

Ryan Kinasewich, Medvescak player (now signed for Red Bull Slazburg) also has surname on -ich, but he is of ukrainian/polish descent.

If you look at some Belarus surnames you will also notices some "-ich" surnames.

 

[smitty10]

I don't really understand why this thread exists. There are plenty of players of Croatian descent, but they're almost entirely North American born and who have developed entirely in North America. Imagine their was a thread for "British NHLers"? They could claim half (or more) of the league yet very few of them even identify as British and likely none of them have ever played there, much like Croatia.

 

[ozo]

If you look at some Belarus surnames you will also notices some "-ich" surnames.

Actually "-ich" is good indicator of Lithuanian heritage, not Belarussian. But totally understandable that "-ich" surnames are pretty common in Poland and Belarus if you know a lick of history.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Actually "-ich" is good indicator of Lithuanian heritage, not Belarussian. But totally understandable that "-ich" surnames are pretty common in Poland and Belarus if you know a lick of history.

Actually while the "ich" surnames are predominately to be found in ex-Yugoslav countries they are not too uncommon in other Slavic countries as well. Might not have anything to do with Lithuan herritage if there´s a Belarussian/Polish person with such a surname.

 

[croAVSfan*]

I don't really understand why this thread exists. There are plenty of players of Croatian descent, but they're almost entirely North American born and who have developed entirely in North America. Imagine their was a thread for "British NHLers"? They could claim half (or more) of the league yet very few of them even identify as British and likely none of them have ever played there, much like Croatia.

Because many croatians that lives outside of Croatia (overall, not just sportsmans) have strong emotional connections to Croatia. Most of them...

 

[ozo]

Actually while the "ich" surnames are predominately to be found in ex-Yugoslav countries they are not too uncommon in other Slavic countries as well. Might not have anything to do with Lithuan herritage if there´s a Belarussian/Polish person with such a surname.

You're right, but I was primarily tried to rebuff idea that "-ich" is a common Belarussian thingy as well, when in fact it isn't.

 

[Alpine]

I don't really understand why this thread exists. There are plenty of players of Croatian descent, but they're almost entirely North American born and who have developed entirely in North America. Imagine their was a thread for "British NHLers"? They could claim half (or more) of the league yet very few of them even identify as British and likely none of them have ever played there, much like Croatia.

France could claim a fair number as well

 

[smitty10]

France could claim a fair number as well

Yeah many countries could. Sorry, I just don't understand this thread at all.

 

[Alpine]

Yeah many countries could. Sorry, I just don't understand this thread at all.

You don't understand because Canada and USA are immigrant nations.
We may value and celebrate our individual heritage but we are citizens of our nations.
About 99% of us can say our families came from somewhere else.
There's only so many Jonathan Tootoo's
We accept that those born here are North Americans but from afar it can be said that the lineage started here.
Confusing yes but yet..........

 

[IslesNorway]

Yeah many countries could. Sorry, I just don't understand this thread at all.

As far as I know most North Americans are to some extent interested in their ethnicity hence this thread.

 

[Ivan13]

What about Travis Hamonic? Surname at least sounds like something out ex-Yugoslavia

I've seen somewhere that he has Croatian heritage, but it wasn't exactly a reliable source.

 

[Ivan13]

I don't really understand why this thread exists. There are plenty of players of Croatian descent, but they're almost entirely North American born and who have developed entirely in North America. Imagine their was a thread for "British NHLers"? They could claim half (or more) of the league yet very few of them even identify as British and likely none of them have ever played there, much like Croatia.

A lot of them call themselves Croats, I know Cory Sarich considers himselfs both Canadian and Croatian, Frank Mahovlich always says he's a Croat, Sakic (he spoke only Croatian until kindergarten) is the same as Sarich, David Diehl (NFL offensive lineman) is a proud Croat, Milan Lucic calls himself both Canadian and Serbian etc.

Croats accros NA always gather in Croatian culture centers and vast majority of them is brought up in Croatian spirit. They all consider themselves Canadian or American, but they're also proud of their heritage and they cherish it.

Nationality isn't the same as ethnicity.

 

[Alpine]

A lot of them call themselves Croats, I know Cory Sarich considers himselfs both Canadian and Croatian, Frank Mahovlich always says he's a Croat, Sakic (he spoke only Croatian until kindergarten) is the same as Sarich, David Diehl (NFL offensive lineman) is a proud Croat, Milan Lucic calls himself both Canadian and Serbian etc.

Croats accros NA always gather in Croatian culture centers and vast majority of them is brought up in Croatian spirit. They all consider themselves Canadian or American, but they're also proud of their heritage and they cherish it.

Nationality isn't the same as ethnicity.

More descent than ethnicity as mostly what we are talking about here are white euro immigrants.
Now that we have the Caribbean (Subban) the Mid East Kahdri. Hockey is becoming a multi-ethnic sport in Canada.
One of the most annoying sports events I've watched was the the last Women's World Cup of Soccer. In Canadian broadcasters cheapness they just took the BBC feed. The commentators had to comment on the descent of every Canadian player.
Imagine Irish, Scottish. French. Carribbean, African,Asian descent on a Canadian team.
I found myself screaming at the TV..........Get with the 21st century...Canada is a multi-cultural society.

 

[Ivan13]

More descent than ethnicity as mostly what we are talking about here are white euro immigrants.
Now that we have the Caribbean (Subban) the Mid East Kahdri. Hockey is becoming a multi-ethnic sport in Canada.
One of the most annoying sports events I've watched was the the last Women's World Cup of Soccer. In Canadian broadcasters cheapness they just took the BBC feed. The commentators had to comment on the descent of every Canadian player.
Imagine Irish, Scottish. French. Carribbean, African,Asian descent on a Canadian team.
I found myself screaming at the TV..........Get with the 21st century...Canada is a multi-cultural society.

Yes Canada is very much a multi-cultural open minded society. That's why I love it. All of those players are obviously Canadian and their hockey development has little to do with Croatia (in this case), but people like to talk about someones heritage.

And we Croats as a small nation (almost as many Croats live outside of Croatia as there's Croats in Croatia right now) like to follow people of Croatian descent in NA sports (in this case).

 

[RTN]

I don't really understand why this thread exists. There are plenty of players of Croatian descent, but they're almost entirely North American born and who have developed entirely in North America. Imagine their was a thread for "British NHLers"? They could claim half (or more) of the league yet very few of them even identify as British and likely none of them have ever played there, much like Croatia.

Just to add some points to what others have said ...

The majority of Croatian immigration to NA occured in the 20th century (though there were Croatian sailors with Columbus!). So many people of Croatian decent are only first or second generation Canadian/American. It's silly to compare this to the Irish, Scottish, English, and French who largely immigrated centuries earlier. These people have very little personal connection to Europe. These people often consider themselves to be mixed (e.g. "I'm part English, part German, part Scottish, etc.). You'll find people of British decent, whose parents were born there, often have a stronger connection to Britain. Owen Hargreaves, for example, was the only member of his family to be born in Canada.

Another thing to consider is that it has always been common for Croatians to work abroad, especially during the communist period. You'll find large Croatian communities not only in Canada, US, SA, Australia, and New Zealand, but also in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and you could include Bosnia-Hercegovina, though part of it has always been considered Croatian. A number of these communities even have Croatian as an official/minority language (Burgenland, Molise, etc.). About half of all Croatians live outside of Croatia-proper. In some ways, Croatians are like Newfoundlanders.

It's not uncommon for these foreign-born Croatians to represent Croatia in athletic competition. If you look at the national soccer team roster over the years, you will see many players born in Germany, Switzerland, and Australia. I think if Croatia had a stronger hockey team (and it is improving), you would see many more Croatian-Canadians play for Croatia. For example, I would play for Croatia before Canada, but that might also be because I had bad personal experiences with Hockey Canada.

Actually, I would be surprised if half the NHL was of British decent. There's seems to be a lot of Irish, French, German, Croatian, Russan, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Norwegian, etc.

 

[RTN]

^Actually, if you look at the names of players, while the British are well represented, they don't dominate as much as you may think. Let's look at The Hockey News' top 10 hockey players of all time (looking at just the paternal line, since it's easier to look at last names):

1. Gretzky = Ukranian/Polish
2. Orr = Irish
3. Howe = Norse
4. Lemieux = French
5. Richard = French
6. Harvey = English
7. Béliveau = French
8. Hull = English
9. Sawchuk = Ukranian
10. Shore = British

3/10 are British. But that's a very small sample size and before the large influx of Europeans. If you look at more recent names on that list (players who were active at that time), you have Roy (French), Coffey (Irish), Jagr (Czech), Chelios (Greek), Lindros (Swedish), Hull (English), Fuhr (German?), Leetch (English), Yzerman (unknown, possibly Dutch or Jewish?), Sakic (Croatian), Hasek (Czech). It's possible that everyone has an English mother, though

I would guess that 10-20% of NHLers are of significant British decent. The tough part is figuring out how to deal with heavily mixed people and separating the British from the Irish. For example, James Neal is probably of English decent, but Neal might actually be from Neil or O'Neill, which is Irish. Is Erik Johnson British, or is he Irish or Nordic?

 

[mattihp]

Yzerman (unknown, possibly Dutch or Jewish?)

I doubt that there is specific jewish germanic names (there might be a few in yiddish?) but the Yzerman name is dutch

American friends of mine were stunned while watching a documentary on nazis.. A high ranking officer had the name Rosenberg and they were all like

:OOOOO

ISN'T ROSENBERG A JEWISH NAME?

 

[jekoh]

It's not uncommon for these foreign-born Croatians to represent Croatia in athletic competition. If you look at the national soccer team roster over the years, you will see many players born in Germany, Switzerland, and Australia. I think if Croatia had a stronger hockey team (and it is improving), you would see many more Croatian-Canadians play for Croatia.

You wouldn't, because most of these foreign-born Croatians would be ineligible for Croatia's national hockey team.

The tough part is figuring out how to deal with heavily mixed people and separating the British from the Irish. For example, James Neal is probably of English decent, but Neal might actually be from Neil or O'Neill, which is Irish. Is Erik Johnson British, or is he Irish or Nordic?

Is Jagr Czech or German?