When Jaromir Jagr played his first game for the national team in 1989, five of his current Czech Republic team-mates fighting for the world ice hockey title were not even born.
At 43 years old, the fourth player in the NHL’s all-time points list has six goals and three assists from eight games at what is probably his last world championship — but who knows?
As the Czechs beat Finland in the quarter-finals in Prague on Thursday, the Florida Panthers wing scored twice and offered an assist to Jan Kovar, his center born in 1990 — the year Jagr played his first world championship game at age 18.
“He’s playing incredible hockey,” said Czech coach Vladimir Ruzicka, who was Jagr’s center at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano which the team won after stunning Wayne Gretzky-led Canada on the way.
“He fights and he’s a great inspiration for the boys when they see him on the ice — then they give it everything too.”
“He just needs another twenty players who work hard, and Jaromir is their daddy of sorts.”
Czech fans adore him, chanting his name long before championship games in Prague’s packed O2 Arena sitting over 17,000 people, on the streets outside, and in the Prague underground on their way home.
A deafening yell storms the arena every time the announcers mention number 68, which Jagr chose when starting his NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990, in memory of the Soviet invasion of the former Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Jagr won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins twice, in 1991 and 1992, and added five Art Ross Trophies for the NHL’s top point scorer and one Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL’s most valuable player.
He is a member of the Triple Gold Club of players who have won the Stanley Cup and gold medals at the Olympics and world championships.
Jagr, who led the Czech Republic to world titles in 2005 and 2010, has announced an end to his international career several times, but he could not resist Ruzicka’s offer to play in front of the home crowd this year.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, the Czechs are facing star-packed Canada whom Jagr described as “playable”.
– Strength and stability –
“I play hockey because I enjoy playing,” Jagr said after the Finland game, suggesting he was far from hanging up the skates, at least in the NHL.
“It’s all about physical strength, skating and hockey intelligence,” added Jagr, himself praised by experts for his strength and stability.
Jagr has played for the Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils before moving to Florida this year.
He also spent three seasons at Avangard Omsk in the Russian-based Continental Hockey League in 2008-2011.
Jagr found a new lease on life with the move to Florida where he plays with 19-year-old Finnish center Aleksander Barkov and 21-year-old Canadian wing Jonathan Huberdeau.
“Since I moved to Florida, I have thought our line is one of the best in the league, they gave me two young players and the style we’re playing is all about speed,” said Jagr, who owns the Czech minor league club Kladno where he started his career.
“I will do my best to win the Stanley Cup, we have a fantastic team and I believe we can do it.”