I recall that Crha played a style not unlike fellow Czech Hasek's style. Both were deep in the net and played much of the time on their knees. And I seem to remember both had the habit of just dropping their goal stick when attempting to cover the puck.
That's who I was thinking of also, obviously he wasn't as good as Hasek, but he kind of played that style.
I hate it more when goalies post sub 900 save percentages, on a team that should have made the playoffs. This season alone, a starting goalie with a sub .900 is right at the bottom of the list.
The comment about playing in Toronto was very telling. You either hate playing in Toronto or you love it. I am not going to say that he is a dick for saying that he hated to play in Toronto. He did not like it, no big deal.
Barry Melrose used to tell that story about when he was playing on the Leafs when Crha first came over and they pulled the goalie with a minute to go and Crha jumped on the ice and skated to the Leaf goal because he thought the starting goalie (I would imagine Palmateer)was injured
Interesting that Jiri C. dropped off the radar the next season, only playing 2 games for Cincy in the AHL in 81-82, then only 1 game for St. Catherines the next season before heading back to Europe. Was he injured or something? I don't recall.
Just came across this when looking for Jiri Chra info.
As previously mentioned, the Leafs never lost 4-1 to the Blues in 80-81, They only lost one game 4-1. It was to the Oilers on Sat, Jan 3, 1981. It's not Chra in net. Someone says Vincent Tremblay. He did wear a helmet and cage. There is no name on back of the goalie's jersey.
On a serious note though, Gustavsson is not an NHL calibre goalie. Adequate AHL starter maybe.
I seem to remember him posting a 1.14 GAA and a .950 sv % when he played for the marlies....adequate AHL starter my ass, the guy is a backup NHLer at very minimum
He was either a good goalie, who Harold could lowball (with a
complete denouncement of communism), or he was done, meaning
Harold could pay low once again.
Shand is a moron. Jiri Crha was hardly great but he had the best stats by far among the five goalies who played for the Leafs the only season Shand and Crha played together (80-81).
Jonas Gustavsson is the worst goalie in the world.
Gustavsson was one of the best goalies we've had since the previous lockout. Which tells you everything we need to know about how atrocious our goaltending has been.
Hardy Astrom would be second, at least if Cherry is anyone to go by. Considering how much Don likes to mention that he thought Hardy was a great guy otherwise, and how bad he seems to feel sometimes about telling everyone how bad he was, I think I believe him.
One thing I noticed on the list of worst goals against averages ever was the large amount of Toronto Maple Leafs from the early 1980's. I ended up having a bit of a flashback, seeing as this was my childhood of my hockey fandom. The first Leaf doesn't make the list until 16th place with Rick St.Croix and a 5.11 GAA in 1983-84, but they make up ground in a hurry with a total of ten (10) goalies of the worst 62 all-time. Ten goalies over an eight year period had goals against averages of over 4.50...this was my childhood. Along with St.Croix, there was Tim Bernhardt (5.07), Mike Palmateer (4.88), Ken Wregget (4.84), Don Edwards (4.78), Michel Laroque (4.69), Jim Rutherford (4.65) and Vincent Tremblay (4.52). These were guys who were once good, if not very good goalies nearing the end of their careers (St.Croix, Palmateer, Edwards, Larouque, Rutherford) or guys who never really panned out (the others), although Wregget won a Cup with Pittsburgh, he ended up below .500 on his career. This group of early 80's Leaf goaltending ineptitude doesn't even include Allan Bester or the barely memorable Jiri Chra. Again....these were my formative years as a hockey fan. For this reason, I am immune to any current trials and tribulations of my beloved Maple Laffs.
That would be the student from Nigeria in my university chemistry class who never even saw hockey let alone play it. He was the star player on the varsity soccer team but wanted to play/learn hockey. He volunteered to play goalie for our intramural hockey team. He tried hard but was so bad it was hilarious. Of course, not be able to skate didn't help.
