Jaroslav Jiřík

Jaroslav Jiřík (10 December 1939 – 11 July 2011) was a Czech professional ice hockey right winger. He became the first player that an Eastern Bloc country released to play in the National Hockey League when he appeared in three games with the St. Louis Blues in the 1969–70 season.

Playing career Jiřík played seventeen seasons in the Czechoslovak Extraliga, scoring 300 goals in 450 games. and he was a member of the Czechoslovak national team that won the bronze medal at the 1964 Winter Olympics and the silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics. He scored 83 goals in 134 international games for Czechoslovakia. St. Louis called him up late in the season, and he played three games with the club, going scoreless. He was invited to remain with the organization for the 1970–71 season; however, Jiřík decided to return to Czechoslovakia instead.

Post-playing career After his playing career, Jiřík coached several Czechoslovak clubs and ran the Swiss national team from 1977 to 1980.

On 11 July 2011, Jiřík, an experienced pilot, died in a plane crash near Brno.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1956–57 HC Kladno CZE 4 0 — 0 — — — — — — 1957–58 HC Kladno CZE 22 14 0 14 — — — — — — 1958–59 HC Kladno CZE 22 16 0 16 — — — — — — 1959–60 HC Kladno CZE 22 14 0 14 — — — — — — 1960–61 HC Kladno CZE 24 23 0 23 — — — — — — 1961–62 Rudá hvězda Brno CZE 31 28 11 39 — — — — — — 1962–63 ZKL Brno CZE 28 22 10 32 — — — — — — 1963–64 ZKL Brno CZE 6 3 0 3 — — — — — — 1964–65 ZKL Brno CZE 30 23 13 36 — — — — — — 1965–66 ZKL Brno CZE 35 26 13 39 — — — — — — 1966–67 ZKL Brno CZE 34 16 8 24 — — — — — — 1967–68 ZKL Brno CZE 28 16 15 31 — — — — — — 1968–69 ZKL Brno CZE 32 36 7 43 — — — — — — 1969–70 St. Louis Blues NHL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1969–70 Kansas City Blues CHL 53 19 16 35 11 — — — — — 1970–71 ZKL Brno CZE 31 25 12 37 — 8 6 0 6 — 1971–72 ZKL Brno CZE 22 12 6 18 34 — — — — — 1972–73 ZKL Brno CZE 26 13 2 15 16 — — — — — 1973–74 ZKL Brno CZE 34 9 4 13 — — — — — — 1974–75 ZKL Brno CZE 15 4 4 8 — — — — — — CZE totals 446 300 — — — — — — — — NHL totals 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1959 Czechoslovakia WC 8 6 2 8 — 1960 Czechoslovakia OLY 5 1 3 4 2 1963 Czechoslovakia WC 7 4 3 7 9 1964 Czechoslovakia OLY 7 3 1 4 6 1965 Czechoslovakia WC 7 8 4 12 6 1966 Czechoslovakia WC 7 4 1 5 2 1967 Czechoslovakia WC 6 5 3 8 2 1968 Czechoslovakia OLY 4 3 3 6 0 1969 Czechoslovakia WC 5 2 3 5 0 Senior totals 56 36 23 59 27