Peter IhnaÄák
Peter Ihnačák ( May 3, 1957 in Poprad, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Slovak ice hockey player and current coach.
Career
Peter Ihnačák began his career in the youth teams of TJ Tatran Poprad before he played in the first league for Dukla Jihlava 1978. After completing his military service, he moved to Sparta Prague, where he was until 1982 under contract. Under the Ice Hockey World Championship 1982, he fled the team hotel in Helsinki and Stockholm came over to Canada.
Therefore Ihnačák was not selected until the age of 25 at the NHL Entry Draft in 1982 by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round to 25th place. He made the jump directly to the National Hockey League. Here he was able to convince in his first season 1982/83 and still holds the club record for most points as a rookie scorer with 66 points ( 28 goals and 38 assists). After six successful years, the now 31 -year-old has been mainly used in the farm team. After only five NHL games in the 1989/90 season he left America and moved to season 1990/91 to Europe.
He spent his first two seasons at Hedos Munich or the EHC Freiburg in the 1st Bundesliga. In Freiburg he met with Miroslav Fryčer again to a team-mate from his time in Toronto. 1992/93 he moved to Krefeld and stayed here - with a little interruption, he played a season with the HC Ajoie - until the end of his career in 1997.
The years 1998 to 2000 were spent as a coach at the Nuremberg Ice Tigers. Today he works as a European scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs.