Mikhael Pancak says ice hockey is a way of life. © Jana Mensatorova

Formerly a woman, now a man: As a transgender person in South Tyrolean hockey

What do Vera Pancakova and Mikhael Pancak have in common? The answer: They're one and the same. The Czech was once an excellent striker, now he's returning to South Tyrol as a respected coach. There, he once lived with Daniel Frank.

June 14, 2025

The Vinschgau Eisfix are bringing a new face to South Tyrolean ice hockey: Mikhael Pancak is taking over as coach in Latsch. There, he will not only coach the first team in the IHL Division 1 (formerly Serie C), but will also take over all youth teams, thereby rebuilding the junior sector. He is a man with an unusual life story to tell.

"Hey, are you a boy or a girl?" Mikhael Pancak heard this question over and over again as a teenager. He felt like a boy, he played with boys, he always wanted to be a boy. And so it happened that Vera Pancakova eventually became Mikhael Pancak. However, the now 47-year-old had to go through a difficult path until the transformation was complete.

Pancak hails from the Czech ice hockey capital of Litvinov. Initially, however, he had no money for ice hockey, so he only played on the street with neighborhood boys. He grew up in a difficult family environment. "Mom and Dad, those are concepts that don't exist for me," Pancak says today. His mother and stepfather kicked him out at 19. Acquaintances bought him groceries, friends offered him a place to sleep, and later, he shared a one-room apartment with his grandmother.

“Mom and Dad, these are concepts that don’t exist for me.” Mikhael Pancak

It was also his grandmother who gave him the long-awaited first pair of ice skates. "I was always a boy to her," Pancak says today in his fine German with an Austrian accent. For a long time, however, he didn't admit it to himself. "I was pretending, running away from myself."

Mikael Pancak used to play ice hockey only on the streets before receiving his first pair of skates at the age of 19. © Jana Mensatorova

During this escape, Pancak met a new family, "the ice hockey family," as he himself puts it. "I was a pretty decent player, so I got around a lot." Initially, he moved to Switzerland. At the Jaromir Jagr Ice Hockey Academy in his home country, he developed contacts with the billionaire Mantegazza family, who run HC Lugano. From a Czech prefab apartment building to a magnificent villa on Lake Lugano – the contrasts were stark.

At Daniel Frank's home

Later, Pancak continued to tour the Swiss ice hockey map before finally landing in Merano. The family of HCB captain Daniel Frank took him in, and he worked in Merano's youth sector while also waiting tables in a bar. "I coached Daniel when he was eight years old. We still have a great friendship today."

Like Frank, Pancak later ended up in Salzburg. As a forward, he competed in inline skating world championships; on the ice, he won championship titles in the Czech Republic and Switzerland, and he also won the European Women's Hockey League (EWHL) with Slavia Prague. In Salzburg, Pancak also coached the youth teams at the then relatively small Red Bull Academy. To make ends meet, he occasionally worked as a cleaner and sometimes delivered newspapers early in the morning.

As an active skater, Mikhael Pancak, then known as Vera Pancakova, was, among other things, three-time inline world champion with the Czech Republic.

Pancak doesn't complain, but says: "All that time, I was carrying a lot of baggage with me. I was trapped in my body. At some point, it was no longer possible." He finally summoned up all his courage and went to a plastic surgeon to have his breast removed. That was the beginning of the transformation. That was in the summer of 2016. In the two years that followed, nine more operations followed. Pancakova became Pancak. "The procedures were often associated with severe pain. But it still felt like a liberation," he says now.

“At some point it just didn’t work anymore” Mikhael Pancak

The youth coach was living in Salzburg at the time, and only gradually managed to tell those around him in the Czech Republic about his gender reassignment. "When my grandmother noticed on the phone that my voice sounded different, I initially pretended I had a cold." In Austria, he received a lot of support right away, but in Eastern Europe, his transformation quickly made him a big topic of conversation. Pancak became known beyond the ice hockey scene as a result.

Mikhael Pancak runs his own ice hockey school in the Czech Republic. © Jana Mensatorova

"Of course, I experienced rejection and hate, but almost exclusively online." As a transgender person, it wasn't easy to set up my own ice hockey school, "but the kids and parents liked the way I worked; they didn't judge me as a person, but solely on my skills on the ice. I thought that was great."

Pancak is now having similar experiences with the Vinschger Eisfix, for whom he is leaving his hometown and his ice hockey school behind. In Latsch, he will rebuild the youth program, develop young talent, and simultaneously serve as head coach in the IHL Division 1.

“We fully support him!” Eisfix official Magdalena Tappeiner

"We know about his past," says the newly elected Vinschgau Vice President Magdalena Tappeiner. "He himself has to decide how openly he discusses it with us. One thing is certain: we fully support him! Mikhael brings a wealth of experience, a high level of professionalism, and above all, tremendous enthusiasm." She is particularly impressed by the fact that Pancak traveled from the Czech Republic especially for the initial meeting and later presented a detailed concept. In addition to Czech and German, he is also fluent in Italian and English. "A stroke of luck for us," says Tappeiner.

Mikhael Pancak signing the contract with Vinschgau's Vice President Magdalena Tappeiner.

At home in Litvinov, Pancak recently looked after around 130 children. "That means I dealt with up to 260 parents," he says. That wasn't easy, because "the mentality there is completely different. In the Czech Republic, everyone dreams of the NHL; that's something that's drilled into seven- or eight-year-old young players at home." In Vinschgau, however, his primary goal is to convey to the children the joy of sport and teach them dedication and discipline. "A lot of things are being rebuilt in Latsch, and I'm really looking forward to it," says Pancak. "We want to make ice hockey popular again in Vinschgau."

“We want to make ice hockey popular again in Vinschgau” Mikhael Pancak

The new Eisfix coach has already visited his new home several times, visiting former friends and leading his first training sessions. "I saw incredible enthusiasm in the children's eyes; it was fascinating."

With his official start of employment at the beginning of August, a completely new chapter begins for Pancak – both personally and professionally. "My family, my girlfriend and her two children, are staying at home for the time being. I will have plenty of time for myself, for my new job, time to take the next steps on my very own path in life." By path in life, Pancak means ice hockey. "Whether as a player or later as a coach, regardless of whether I had money in my pocket or not – the sport always gave me stability." That's why Mikhael Pancak loves ice hockey. And Eisfix Vinschgau is also likely to benefit from this love of ice hockey in the future.