A left winger, but known as an excellent two-way player, Igor Liba was a Slovakian who played for 12 seasons in the Czechoslovakian League before finishing his career with two seasons in the Slovakian League. He also played one season in Finland, 1992-93 with TuTo Turku, and four seasons in Austria with EV Zeltweg. He also had brief forays in the Swiss and Italian Leagues. Liba was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 4th round of the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, but never played for them. After his rights were traded several times, he eventually played in 37 NHL games in the 1988-89 season with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings. Liba played for several different teams in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia but was mostly known for his years with VSZ Košice and in Slovakia, with HK Prešov. He was Czechoslovakian Player of the Year in 1984, winning the Golden Stick Award.
Liba was capped 211 times for Czechoslovakia, which included three Olympic appearances (1984, 1988, 1992), and six appearances at the World Championships (1982, 1984-87, 1991). He won Olympic silver in 1984 and bronze in 1992. At the Worlds he won a full set of medals, with gold in 1985, silver in 1982 and bronze in 1987. Liba also represented Czechoslovakia at the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cup. In 2005 he was inducted into the Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame.
Czechoslovakia
Slovakia