Jiří Crha

Jiří Crha (born April 13, 1950 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) is a retired Czech professional ice hockey goaltender who played two seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jiří Crha had a full career in his homeland that included nine seasons in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League, four World Championships (1973, 1974, 1975, and 1978) and one Olympic Games (1976) before he crossed the ocean to pursue a career in the National Hockey League. Crha signed a free agent contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 4, 1980 and after seven games in the minors, he was playing at the NHL level.
Crha, who was known to teammates as "George" suited up for 15 games with Toronto and managed to win 8 of them. Crha impressed the Leaf brass enough for them to deal away long time starter Mike Palmateer and hand the reins to him. With Palmateer in Washington, Crha played 54 games in 1980–81 and managed an even record of 20–20–11 despite the fact the team was nine games under .500 on the season.
Despite his success with the struggling Maple Leafs Crha played just three more games in North America after the 1980–81 season, and they were all in the minors.
By 1983 Crha had headed to Germany to continue his playing career. In all Crha would play eight seasons in Germany before retiring in 1991.
With his playing days behind him Crha stayed involved with the game by becoming a player agent with players from the Czech Republic making up his client base. 
==Playing career==
Crha signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 4, 1980.
==NHL Career statistics==
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, SO = Shutouts, GAA =Goals Against Average
YEAR 	TEAM 	GP	W 	L 	T 	SO	GAA
1979–80	Toronto Maple Leafs 	15	8 	7 	0 	0 	3.61
1980–81	Toronto Maple Leafs 	54	20	20	11	0 	4.07
NHL 	Regular Season Totals	69	28	27	11	0 	3.84
==External links==
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Category:Born in 1950
Category:Cincinnati Tigers players
Category:Czech ice hockey players
Category:Czechoslovak ice hockey players
Category:New Brunswick Hawks players
Category:Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia
Category:St. Catharines Saints players
Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players
Category:1976 Olympian
Category:SV Bayreuth players
Category:Freiburg EHC players
Category:Retired in 1991
Category:Dukla Jihlava players
Category:HC Pardubice players
Category:Retired in 1993