Jaroslav JiÅ™Ãk
Jaroslav Jiřík ( born December 10, 1939 in Vojnův Městec, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; † 11 July 2011 in Brno, Czech Republic ) was a Czechoslovak ice hockey player who played 15 years for TJ ZKL Brno in the top division of Czechoslovakia as a right winger and participated with the Czechoslovak national team at nine world Championships. He was the first player an Eastern bloc state in the National Hockey League, as he completed three games for the St. Louis Blues during the 1969/70 season. Between the end of his active career as a player and his death, he worked as a hockey coach and players' agents.
Career as a player
Jaroslav Jiřík began his career in 1957 at the young Sokol Kladno. 1956, at the age of 17, he made his debut in the top division of Czechoslovakia. In the following four seasons he played Kladno and developed into a sure- striker before 1961 to Brno joined Rudá Hvězda Brno.
In the following five years he was Czechoslovakian Brno with series champion. Jiřík distinguished itself by a European player unusual playing style of by usually directly in front of goal lay in wait for Goalkeeping rebound, only to sink this goal. In the season 1968/69 he was top scorer with 36 goals in the league.
Due to his unorthodox style of play Jiřík also attracted the attention of North American scouts, so that he was taken in 1969 by the then assistant general manager of the St. Louis Blues, Cliff Fletcher, under contract. Besides Jiřík Fletcher undertook initially January Havel and Josef Horešovský, as these had received three permission to play abroad. Ultimately, the Czechoslovak government decided, however, that only Jiřík allowed to leave the country, as Havel and Horešovský as it deemed were too young. Before the season 1969/70 Jiřík participated in the training camp of the blues part, but managed not to jump into the NHL roster, but completed almost the entire season in the farm team, the Kansas City Blues, from the Central Hockey League. He scored 35 points scorer in 53 games before he came to three inserts in the NHL just before the playoffs. He got a contract offer for the following season, but returned instead to Brno back in 1970.
He played until mid-season 1974/75 for ZKL Brno, before he ended his playing career. In total, he scored in the Czechoslovak league 300 goals in 450 games, 242 goals in 362 games for Brno.
Internationally
Addition to his success at club level Jiřík was in the 1960 regular players of the Czechoslovakian national team. He participated in a total of nine world championships and three Olympic hockey tournaments, where he won a total of 11 medals, but never became world champion. For Olympic Winter Games he won a silver (1964 ) and one bronze (1968). In the Ice Hockey World Championship 1965 Jiřík was also appointed to the All- Star team. Overall, he completed 134 games in the National Jersey, in which he scored 83 goals.
Career as a coach
First experience as a trainer collected Jiřík in the season 1968/69, as the head coach of ZKL Brno, Slavomír Barton, in October 1968 seriously ill. Then chose the Mannschaftsrat of ZKL Jiřík as player-coach who led the team in the next two months on the ice. In December of the same year, then a new coach was hired with Josef stock.
After ending his playing career Jiřík immediately became assistant coach at ZKL Brno, before he took over the team as head coach in October 1975. He held this position until 1977, but since Brno finished only eleventh place and thus the worst position the club has long been reached, Jiřík was dismissed. Between 1977 and 1980 he was responsible for the Swiss national team as head coach.
When the TJ Zetor Brno 1980 in the sub-prime first NHL ( Czech National League ) descent, they picked Jiřík back to Brno and he led the team back in the top flight. In February 1982, he resigned as head coach of TJ Zetor Brno and trained from then on the juniors of the club. In the season 1984/85 Jiřík oversaw the Škoda Plzeň TJ and 1987/88 the SV Graz. He then moved to EV Stuttgart, he trained between 1989 and 1991. Between 1992 and 1994 he was head coach of AC Nitra, with which he ascended into the Slovak Extraliga. In 1994 he returned to Brno and was re- youth coach before he again took over the men's team between November 1995 and February 1996.
From 1997, Jiřík worked as a players' agent and agent, where he was responsible for, among other things Ladislav Šmíd, Stanislav Balan, Josef Duchoslav, Zdeněk Blatný and Vratislav Čech.
Jiřík came on 11 July 2011 by an ultralight plane crash at Brno killed.
Awards and achievements
- Olympic Winter Games in 1964: winning the silver medal
- Winter Olympics 1968: winning the bronze medal
- World Cup 1959, 1963, 1964 and 1969, winning the bronze medal
- World Cup 1960, 1965, 1966 and 1968: winning the silver medal
- All- Star Team of the World Cup 1965
- Czechoslovak champion in 1959, Kladno, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966 with Brno
- Winners of the European Cup: 1966, 1967 and 1968
Career Stats
1 Statistics for assists and penalty minutes incomplete