Miroslav Ihnačák

Miroslav Ihnačák
Born (1962-11-19) November 19, 1962 (age 62)
Poprad, Czechoslovakia
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
National team  Slovakia
NHL draft 171st overall, 1982
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 1985–2006

Miroslav Ihnačák (born November 19, 1962) is a Slovak former ice hockey player. He played 56 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. Since 2020 he is the head coach for HC Merano. Miroslav is the brother of Peter Ihnačák.

Career

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Ihnačák was involved in a true Cold War style spy movie escape from behind the Iron Curtain in late 1985. Just prior to Christmas he and his girlfriend had been smuggled into Vienna, sneaking out of Czechoslovakia in the middle of the night without even bringing any baggage after Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard spent over $100,000 to get the young superstar smuggled into Austria.[1] There they were awaiting contact from Maple Leaf team officials including General Manager Gerry McNamara who was supposed to be arriving on a commercial flight, but there were reports of terrorists shooting in the airport forcing the plane to divert to another airfield causing the Maple Leaf officials to take a two-hour bus ride to make it back to the Austrian capital. From there further concerns arose including suspicions that the Czechoslovak secret police and even KGB agents were searching for Ihnačák to bring him back home, where he would have been put in prison for three years for the defection attempt. Then problems arose with immigration officials who claimed that Ihnačák would have to spend up to two months in a refugee camp to first apply for asylum in Austria; all of this going on while he and his girlfriend were hiding out in an anonymous Vienna apartment. Then on New Year's Eve reports of the immigration issues were leaked to the press prompting public backlash resulting in two Canadian politicians getting involved to immediately get the Slovak hockey player out on the soonest possible flight. The first available flight was around the other side of the world and on January 4, 1986, Ihnačák and his girlfriend Eva arrived in Vancouver.[2]

Toronto had been off to a very bad start at the beginning of the 1985-86 NHL season and were one of the worst teams in the NHL with a record of 10-20-5. Leafs owner Harold Ballard naturally wanted to improve the fortunes of his team, while at the same time taking advantage of helping a persecuted athlete escape. Following the successful defection Ballard was quoted as saying, “Any communist that I could get out of there who wanted to be a Canadian, I'm very happy about it.”

Even after enduring such a stressful ordeal Ihnačák suited up and played for the Leafs during the second half of the season. He contributed as they attempted to make the playoffs playing in 21 games, scoring two goals and adding four assists. The Maple Leafs would end the season by qualifying for the final playoff spot in the Campbell Conference. While Ihnačák did not play in the postseason the Leafs upset the Norris Division champion Chicago Black Hawks and then gave the upstart St. Louis Blues everything they could handle before finally falling to them in seven games.

After retiring from hockey, Ihnaček became a coach. He has had head coaching stints at MHK Kezmarok, GKS Tychy, HK Spisska Nova Ves, HK Michalovce, HC Košice, TMH Polonia Bytom and Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák. He currently works as a head coach for HC Merano.

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1981–82 TJ VSŽ Košice CSSR 41 22 11 33 28 — — — — —
1982–83 TJ VSŽ Košice CSSR 42 20 17 37 32 — — — — —
1983–84 TJ VSŽ Košice CSSR 42 19 25 44 34 — — — — —
1984–85 TJ VSŽ Košice CSSR 43 35 31 66 68 — — — — —
1985–86 TJ VSŽ Košice CSSR 21 16 16 32 — — — — — —
1985–86 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 21 2 4 6 27 — — — — —
1985–86 St. Catharines Saints AHL 13 4 4 8 2 — — — — —
1986–87 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 34 6 5 11 12 1 0 0 0 0
1986–87 Newmarket Saints AHL 32 11 17 28 6 — — — — —
1987–88 Newmarket Saints AHL 51 11 17 28 24 — — — — —
1988–89 Detroit Red Wings NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1988–89 Adirondack Red Wings AHL 62 34 37 71 32 — — — — —
1989–90 Halifax Citadels AHL 57 33 37 70 43 — — — — —
1990–91 Halifax Citadels AHL 77 38 57 95 42 — — — — —
1991–92 BSC Preussen GER 26 8 12 20 24 — — — — —
1992–93 EV Zug NDA 7 6 2 8 8 — — — — —
1992–93 Mannheimer ERC GER 8 2 7 9 2 — — — — —
1992–93 TJ ŠKP PS Poprad CSSR 10 7 2 9 2 — — — — —
1993–94 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1994–95 HC Košice SVK 20 13 17 30 16 — — — — —
1995–96 ERC Selb GER-2 44 39 68 107 63 — — — — —
1996–97 ERC Selb GER-2 41 25 46 71 69 — — — — —
1997–98 ERC Selb GER-2 24 14 16 30 6 — — — — —
1998–99 HC VSŽ Košice SVK 42 12 19 41 20 — — — — —
1999–00 HC VSŽ Košice SVK 49 15 22 37 34 — — — — —
2000–01 HC Košice SVK 50 17 35 52 34 — — — — —
2001–02 HC Košice SVK 49 21 31 52 30 — — — — —
2002–03 HC Košice SVK 52 22 20 42 42 — — — — —
2003–04 HC Košice SVK 53 11 24 35 26 — — — — —
2004–05 HC ŠKP Poprad SVK 52 11 18 29 28 5 0 3 3 8
2005–06 MHC Martin SVK 10 1 2 3 6 — — — — —
CSSR totals 199 119 102 221 164 — — — — —
SVK totals 377 123 198 321 236 5 0 3 3 8
NHL totals 56 8 9 17 39 1 0 0 0 0

International

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Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1979 Czechoslovakia EJC
1980 Czechoslovakia EJC 5 4 4 8 0
1995 Slovakia WC B 7 7 1 8 2

References

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  1. ^ "Czech Defector Eludes KGB to Join Maple Leafs". Los Angeles Times. 1986-01-04. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  2. ^ "Czech Defector Joins NHL's Maple Leafs". The Washington Post. 1986-01-04. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
[edit]
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