Some of Jaromír Jágr’s top moments playing hockey in his home country have come at Prague’s O2 Arena, but Tuesday night’s Czech Extraliga game might be one that he’d rather forget. Rytiří Kladno – the team Jágr plays for and co-owns – lost 5-2 to Sparta Prague. Jágr pulled himself out of the game after the 3-0 goal, which was scored shorthanded with Jágr on the ice.
Sparta entered the game on top of the Extraliga standings while Kladno sat 13th in the 14-team league, so the odds were against Jágr’s boys. Sparta led 2-0 after one period but Kladno went to the power play 44 seconds into the second, with a chance to cut the lead in half. Controlling the puck at center ice, the 52-year-old was forced off the puck, resulting in a shorthanded breakaway for Miroslav Forman, who scored to make it 3-0.
Apparently disgusted with himself, Jágr returned to the bench after the goal, sat down, and removed his gloves. His stats for the game read no points, no shots on goal, no penalty minutes, and minus-1 in 5:07 of ice time.
“He just said he wasn’t playing anymore,” Kladno assistant coach Václav Skuhravý was quoted after the game. “I don’t want to comment on whether it was due to health or if it was an impulse.”
After the 3-0 goal, with Jágr sitting on the bench, Kladno battled back with a couple of goals to make it 3-2 but ultimately fell 5-2.
“He sat on the edge of the bench next to backup goaltender Daniel Jansa, his gaze mostly fixed on the ground or on the scoreboard above the ice,” Filip Ardon described for Czech website iSport.cz. “He stood up from time to time, leaned on the boards and encouraged his teammates.”
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It was the third straight loss for the “Knights”, who had previously won six out of eight.
All things considered, it hasn’t been a bad season for Jágr, who turns 53 on Feb. 13. He has played in 29 of Kladno’s 41 games, scoring four goals and adding eight assists with 14 penalty minutes. Although that falls short of his pre-season goal to play in all of his team’s games, it’s already the most regular-season games he’s played since 2021-22.
Last season, Jágr played only 15 regular-season games, scoring no goals and providing four assists. Injuries forced him back into the lineup for three games of a promotion-relegation series at the end of the season, during which he scored once and added an assist.
This is Jágr’s 37th season playing professional hockey and it’s widely assumed to be his last. Kladno has 15 games left, and if the team doesn’t finish anywhere from 11th to 13th place, its last game of the season will be March 4 at Mladá Boleslav. Kladno is five points out 10th, which is the last playoff spot, currently held by Bilí Tygři Liberec, and is two points ahead of last-place Vítkovice in the race to avoid another promotion-relegation series.