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| 1982 NHL DRAFT PICK |
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Miroslav Ihnacak
Selected in
ninth round
No. 171 overall by Toronto Maple Leafs
Born
February 19, 1962
 | Position:
Right Wing
Height: 5-11 Weight: 175
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| BEFORE THE DRAFT |
Last Team:
Kosice (Czechoslovakia)
Birthplace:
Poprad, Czechoslovakia
Hometown: Poprad, Slovakia |
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| PRE-DRAFT
STATISTICS | | Year |
Team | League |
GP | G |
A | TP |
PIM | | 1978-79 |
Poprad | Czech. |
-- | -- |
-- | -- |
-- | | 1979-80 |
Poprad | Czech. |
-- | -- |
-- | -- |
-- | | 1980-81 |
Poprad | Czech. |
-- | -- |
-- | -- |
-- | | 1981-82 |
Kosice | Czech. |
41 | 22 |
11 | 33 |
28 |
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PRE-DRAFT AWARDS AND HONORS
European Junior
Championships: 1979 (gold), 1980 (silver)
European Jr.
Championships All-Star First Team: 1979
Miscellaneous: Not selected in 1980 or 1981 NHL drafts despite being
eligible both years. ... Was late cut from 1981 Czechoslovakian World Junior Championships
team because Czech hockey officials feared he was intending
to defect at the tournament in Minnesota. |
| NHL CAREER |
Debut: January 10, 1986 (Toronto at Buffalo)
Numbers:
27 (Toronto); 35 (Detroit)
Stanley Cup: Never won.
Playing Status:
Active (Slovakia) |
| CAREER NHL STATISTICS | | Years |
Teams | GP |
G | A |
TP | PIM | | 1986-1989 |
Toronto, Detroit | 56 |
8 | 9 |
17 | 39 |
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| CAREER NHL PLAYOFF STATISTICS | | Years |
Teams | GP |
G | A |
TP | PIM | |
1987 |
Toronto | 1 |
0 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
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NHL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous: Scored goal in first NHL
game. The power-play goal beat Buffalo goaltender Tom Barrasso at 14:32 of the third period, cutting
Buffalo's lead to 9-5 in a game the Sabres won 9-7. ... Played on
line with Miroslav Frycer and Peter Ihnacak for Toronto in 1985-86. ...
Released by Detroit in September 1989. ... Signed with Quebec as a free
agent on Oct. 6, 1989, but never played for parent team.
Ihnacak Defects:
Because his older brother Peter had defected during the 1982 World
Championships, Czechoslovakian hockey authorities confiscated Miroslav
Ihnacak's passport and refused to let him play for the national team in any
tournaments outside Czechoslovakia or the USSR. Fearing that the younger Ihnacak might
follow his brother's footsteps and defect when the team was on another
country's soil, the Czechs had kept a close eye on a player they knew the
Toronto Maple Leafs were hoping to bring to the NHL. After four long years
of trying to get out of his country, Ihnacak finally managed to defect while
Czech officials were distracted during the 1985 Christmas holidays. At great
personal risk, the 23-year-old and his fiancee, Eva Olach, secretively
crossed the Czech border into Austria, to meet with Toronto general manager Gerry McNamara in Vienna.
Reports said that the Maple Leafs had made Ihnacak's defection easier by
spending up to $150,000 to pay off authorities who might otherwise have been
able to catch Ihnacak before he left the country. The Leafs wasted no time bringing Ihnacak to Canada
on Jan. 3, 1986, but landed in a brief contract dispute. The
dispute involved bonus clauses in Ihnacak's three-year deal for
$145,000 per season. The contract, signed in Vienna on Dec. 28, 1985, also
included a $100,000 signing bonus,
but Ihnacak was not able to play his first NHL game until the dispute over
the bonus clauses had been settled seven days after his arrival. |
| NON-NHL CAREER |
Post-Draft Teams:
Kosice (Czechoslovakia); St. Catharines (AHL); Newmarket, Adirondack,
Halifax (AHL); Berlin Prussians (Germany); Mannheim (Germany); Poprad
(Slovakia); Zug (Switzerland); Milwaukee (IHL); Heilbronn (Germany); Kosice (Slovakia);
Selb (Germany)
World Championships: 1995 (first place, Pool B)
NON-NHL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Slovakia Championship:
1995, 1999 (Kosice)
Slovakia All-Star Game: 2002 (Kosice)
Czechoslovakia Points Leader: 1984-85 (Kosice) (66 points)
1985-86: Played first half of season with Kosice team that went on to
win Czechoslovakia championship, but defected before postseason.
Slovakia Playoffs Points Leader: 1995 (Kosice) (20 points)
Slovakia Playoffs Assists Leader: 1995 (Kosice) (14 assists)
Miscellaneous:
Married a Yugoslavian woman in 1983 with hope that he would be allowed
to leave Czechoslovakia. Czech officials refused to let him leave, and
marriage was annulled. ... Played on line with Igor Liba and Jan Vodila
for Kosice in 1984-85. ... Ranked No. 2 behind Igor Liba in Czech
scoring race when he defected to North America in December 1985. ... Served
as Kosice (Slovakia) captain in 2003-04.
Personal:
Also known as Miro Ihnacak during his playing days. ...
Younger brother of former NHL player Peter Ihnacak. The Ihnacak brothers
were the first pair of European brothers, and the first pair of non-twin European
brothers, drafted into NHL in the same year. ... Uncle of college hockey
player Brian Ihnacak. |
| HOW HE GOT AWAY |
| FREE AGENCY: Toronto bought out the remainder
of Ihnacak's contract in August 1988, making him an unrestricted free agent.
He signed with Detroit in October 1988. |
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|
SNAPSHOT '82 | | Total Selected: |
252 | | Forwards: |
152 | | Defense: |
82 | | Goaltenders: |
18 | | Major Junior: |
129 | | Tier II/Jr. B: |
27/4 | | College Players: |
20 | | High School: |
37 |
| Canadian: |
152 |
| Euro-Canadian: |
3 | | USA Citizens: |
62 | | U.S.-Born: |
62 |
| European: |
35 |
| Reached NHL: |
109 |
| Stanley Cup: |
18 | | Hall of Fame: |
0 |
| All-Star Game: |
14 |
| Year-end All-Star: |
4 |
| Olympians: |
37 |
| Picks Traded: |
50 |
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