An archive image of Šťastný brothers; from left Marian, Peter and Anton. (source: TASR)
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"It seemed like everything we touched that game went in," former Slovak-Canadian ice-hockey player Peter Štastný said after a game in which he and his brother Anton Štaštný set an NHL record by getting eight points each in a road game.
That was 43 years ago. The record still holds to this day.
That night on February 22, 1981, the former scored four goals and four assists; the latter scored three goals and set up five others. Interestingly, both brothers assisted each other on their respective goals. The game ended as an 11-7 victory for Quebec Nordiques against Washington Capitals.
What makes it even more remarkable is that just two days prior, both brothers scored NHL hat tricks, crucial to their team's 9-3 win against Vancouver Canucks. Then they had to fly over to Washington which took most of the day between the games.
The Šťastný brothers made a name for themselves just a few months after they defected to North America and joined the Canadian team. A year later, they were joined by Marián and together formed one of the most feared trios in the league.
Escaping with the help of Canadian embassy and Austrian police
Natives of Bratislava, the three brothers were born to the family of Stanislav and Františka Štastný. The couple had six children in total, only one of which was a girl. Stanislav worked for a state-owned company that built hydro-electric dams, while Františka stayed at home.
Marián, Peter and Anton started their ice-hockey career playing for Slovan Bratislava, greatly contributing to the team's first title in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey league, in which the team was one of the three based in Slovakia, in addition to Dukla Trenčín and VSŽ Košice. Already at that time, the communist regime tried to lure the brothers to the party. They refused, as they were against the regime.
Quebec Nordiques executive Gilles Léger had heard about the three brothers and wanted them to play for the Canadian team. Actually, the Nordiques drafted Anton in 1979. During the winter Olympics that took place in February 1980 in Lake Placid, US, the Nordiques executives wanted to contact the brothers, but due to safety measures it never happened.
However, after secret talks in the following months, an opportunity presented itself at the 1980 hockey tournament in Innsbruck, Austria. The fact that Peter's wife had been pregnant and had issues with the authorities also helped to make the decision; Peter didn't want to bring up his children under the regime. One night in August, they were rushed to Vienna. Then with the help of the Canadian Embassy and Austrian police, they were escorted from a hotel full of Czechoslovak secret agents to the Schwechat airport.
"We were told not to talk to anyone. People were sent to pick us up in the vestibule, literally a commando that was supposed to protect us from any danger. Believe me, if someone threatened us, they were ready to shoot," Peter Šťastný said, describing the escape years later.
"On the way to the airport, the police escort was in front and behind us, along with police motorcycles. We were protected better than the leader of the communist Soviet Union at the time, Leonid Brezhnev."
Marián stayed in Czechoslovakia. Slovan Bratislava dropped him and he was under surveillance. Still, he managed to devise a plan to emigrate together with his wife and three children. A year later, he joined his two brothers in the Nordiques.
Leaving a mark
Already in their first season, Peter and Anton made a huge name for themselves, especially Peter.
In addition to the record 8 points - which he scored as a rookie to boot - he is the first player in NHL history to score over 100 points in his rookie year (109). He also shares the record for 70 assists by a rookie. Finally, he also holds the record 14 points in two consecutive games.
In his first few seasons, Peter belonged among the elite players; he scored more than 100 points in six consecutive seasons, with 139 points maximum.
In addition to Quebec Nordiques, he wore the jerseys of the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues, from which he retired in 1995. In 997 games he scored 450 goals, 789 assists and 1,239 points in total, proving his productiveness on ice. For this, he earned the nickname "Peter the Great". In fact, he was the second highest scorer of the 1980s behind the legendary Wayne Gretzky.
For this, he was selected to play for Canada at the 1984 Canada Cup. His teammates included legendary players such as Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Mike Bossy, and, of course, Wayne Gretzky.There, Peter played against Czechoslovakia, merely four years after he emigrated. Before the game, he had a nightmare in which he played against the Soviet Union in Prague and was afraid of being put behind bars. In the game, he even scored a goal. but interestingly, his name was never mentioned in Czechoslovak papers.
Anton played his entire NHL career for the Nordiques; in 650 games he scored 252 goals, 384 assists and 636 points in total.
Marián's NHL career was the shortest; the three brothers played together for four seasons in one line. He then signed with Toronto Maple Leafs for the 1985-86 season and after that moved to Switzerland where he retired.
In 2019, Quebec City unveiled a sculpture commemorating the three brothers.
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