Vlado Jug

Vlado Jug was a Slovenian ice hockey defenceman who starred for Jesenice, Olimpija Ljubljana and the Yugoslavia national team in the 1960s and 1970s. A leading figure of the generation that shaped the top of Yugoslav hockey, he played at the 1968 Winter Olympics and at seven world championships. He died in Poreč, Croatia, on 5 October 2026, aged 79.

He was born on 6 April 1947 in Jesenice, then in the People's Republic of Slovenia within Yugoslavia, and grew up in the town's strong hockey tradition. He developed as a defenceman with the Jesenice club, which dominated the Yugoslav game for much of the period.

In 1968 Jug moved to Olimpija Ljubljana, where he was joined by Slavko Beravs, Rudi Hiti and Roman Smolej. The transfer of the group caused a great stir in Jesenice and is often seen as the start of the rivalry between the Ljubljana and Jesenice clubs that continues today.

As the leading defenceman of the Yugoslav team at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he scored a goal against Romania and added two assists as Yugoslavia finished ninth, its best Olympic result before the break up of the federation. He played at seven world championships between 1966 and 1974, appearing in 48 matches with 8 goals and 10 assists. At the 1973 Group B championship in Graz he was named the best defenceman of the tournament after recording four goals and three assists in seven games, and in 1974 in Ljubljana's Tivoli Hall he contributed a goal and four assists as Yugoslavia finished second in the group.

In 2000 the newspaper Delo named him in its ideal line up of Slovenian hockey players of the twentieth century, alongside goaltender Tone Gale, defenceman Viktor Ravnik and forwards Albin Felc, Rudi Hiti and Viki Tišlar. In 2007 he was among the first players inducted into the Slovenian Hockey Hall of Fame. His son, Tom Jug, born in 1970, followed him as a leading defenceman for the Slovenian national team in the first decade of independence.

Jug spent his later years in Poreč on the Istrian coast, where he died on 5 October 2026 in his eightieth year. His death was reported by Delo and RTV Slovenija, which described him as a legend of Slovenian hockey.