Jaromír Jágr in the jersey of the Czech national team Source: SITA/AP/Jacques Boissinot
© List/ ČTK, Športky
PRAGUE – Legendary Czech ice hockey forward Jaromír Jágr began his national team career, which culminated in gold at the <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/lenc-nagano-was-unique-it-would-be-nice-if-we-could-create-such-a-euphoria-for-the-nation-again/" title="Lenc: Nagano was unique. It would be nice if we could create such a euphoria for the nation again”>1998 Olympics in Nagano, on November 2, 1989, in a friendly match against the Soviet Union.
“The greatest attention was attracted in Prague by the youngsters Jágr, Reichel, and Holík, whose ability to create pressure on the opponent’s goal is admirable.” wrote the Czechoslovak press office at the time about the match, which took place in Prague’s Sports Hall and which the Czechoslovak team lost 1:2.
In the fall of 1989, the representative career of the 17-year-old Czech hockey talent was just beginning. He scored his first goal in February 1990, two weeks before his 18th birthday, in Stockholm, where the Czechoslovak team defeated the home Swedes 4:3. Performances for Kladno and the senior national team brought Jágr to fourth place in the Golden Stick poll in May 1990, two months later he signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL and his work in the national team became rather sporadic.
A key figure in the Tournament of the Century
Photo gallery (18) Source: SITA
After several fiascos at the head of the 1996 World Cup, he became one of the key figures in the sensational Czech triumph at the “Tournament of the Century” in Nagano. In 2005, even with a broken little finger, he won gold from the World Championships, thus joining the select company of players who have won the World Cup, Olympic Games and the Stanley Cup.
Jágr also lifted the world champion’s cup five years later, at the age of 39 he was named the best striker of the championship for the first time in his career. His representative career ended definitively after the championship in 2015 in Prague. He played a total of 152 matches for the national team and scored 55 goals.
He came to the NHL as an 18-year-old
He headed to the NHL at the age of eighteen, when he was drafted fifth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the colors of Pittsburgh, Jágr, alongside star Mario Lemieux, lifted the Stanley Cup twice over his head, and also played in other clubs. In the regular season of the NHL, he played 1733 games, in which he collected 1921 points for 766 goals and 1155 assists. That ranks him second in productivity behind the elusive Wayne Gretzky.
Photo gallery (18) Source: iihf.com
The current owner of the Knights from Kladno, despite frequent injuries, led by chronic groin problems, has been one of the mainstays of the team in recent years, which he has already led back to the extra league twice. In September of this year, he broke his own record as the oldest scorer in the history of the hockey extra league. The legendary striker scored at the age of 52 years, seven months and five days.
Photo gallery for the article Number of photos: 17
- Author: © List/
- Source: ČTK, Športky
