In his childhood Otto Cimrman would often spend his time skating on frozen ponds late into the night. Cimrman was a natural talent on the ice and soon started to play ice hockey where he excelled. He spent his career with Chomutov in the Czechoslovak league, playing with them from 1951 until 1964, where he scored an impressive 446 goals in 567 games. Despite his domestic talent he only played in three matches for the Czechoslovakia national team when he competed at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics.