Hockey great Jaromir Jagr and the Kladno Knights have successfully moved their final regular season game in the Czech Extraliga to the O2 Arena in Prague with all ticket sales supporting Ukrainian families in the Czech Republic following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Jagr, who has owned his hometown club since 2011, made the announcement Friday on his official Facebook page. Kladno is set to face Sparta Prague on Tuesday.
“I am very glad that we can confirm that everything was realized in such a short time,” said Jagr, translated from Czech. “Now we have one wish, to sell out the O2 Arena. Buy a ticket and help Ukrainian families in the Czech Republic.”
Jagr explained in a previous post that he hopes to maximize proceeds as Kladno’s arena only holds 5,200 fans whereas the O2 Arena, home of Sparta Prague, has a capacity of 17,383.
The 50-year-old Jagr has played the past five seasons with Kladno including 41 games this year scoring eight goals and 11 assists. Tomas Plekanec, who played in 1,001 NHL games with the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, leads the team in scoring with 17 goals and 37 assists.
Jagr sits second all-time in NHL scoring with 1,921 points including 766 goals and 1,155 assists over his legendary career. He wore No. 68 during his career to pay tribute to his grandfather, who refused to work for the Communists and was sent to jail after they took over his farm in the 1940s. His grandfather died in 1968, the same year as the Prague Spring liberation movement and subsequent invasion by the Soviet Union.
“At least my grandfather died in freedom,” Jagr told the Associated Press in 1998, shortly before helping the Czech Republic defeat Russia in the gold-medal game of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games.
Jagr, who was born in 1972, reportedly grew up learning under a Soviet-dictated education system and carried a picture of then U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s picture in his schoolbook as an act of rebellion.
“In school we were always taught the Soviet doctrine,” Jagr told Sports Illustrated in 1992. “The U.S.A. was bad and wanted war. Russia was our friend and was preventing the United States from bombing us. Even my father didn’t tell me the truth, because he was afraid I’d say something in school that would get us into trouble. But my grandmother, she told me the truth.”
Jagr to donate proceeds from Kladno game to Ukrainian families in Czech Republic
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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