Jaroslav Jiřík

Who was Jaroslav Jiřík?

Jaroslav Jiřík was a Czech former 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.

Jiřík played seventeen seasons in the Czechoslovak Extraliga, scoring 300 goals in 450 games. Jiřík was named an all-star at the 1965 World Ice Hockey Championships, 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.

Jiřík was first noticed by St. Louis Blues assistant general manager Cliff Fletcher in 1969. Fletcher actually signed three Czechoslovak players: Jiřík, Jan Havel, and Josef Horešovský, all of whom were given permission to transfer to North America by the Czechoslovak government. However, the government changed its mind about Havel and Horesovský, because they were still in their twenties. Jiřík, 30 at the time, was the only player allowed to go.

Jiřík spent most of the 1969–70 season with St.