KLADNO–For a few games Jaromir Jagr’s plan to help Kladno’s playoff fun was off to a good start. The Legend had four points in this first two games and was playing close to 20 minutes per game. A hit from behind in the 50th game of the 52-game campaign forced him out of action for the rest of the regular season after a check from behind bounced Jagr’s head off the board and caused more damage to his right knee when he crumpled to the ice and went to the hospital for observation.
Fortunately Kladno wrapped up third place in the regular season. After two games of their best of seven playoff series with Prostejov the Knights hold a 2-0 lead.
Jagr was not seen at practice since the injury but any hopes of him helping Kladno play in the extraliga next year means he must participate in 15 games before the extraliga qualifier. If Kladno wins two playoff series they would participate in the four team battle to play in the higher league next year.
But Jagr qualifying will take good luck in two series that run at least five games with Kladno winning.
Far from healthy and having a medical exemption denied by league officials forced Jagr to play in both of the playoff games on a bad knee. Kladno found a way around that without aggravating the injuries further. Jagr played single shifts in each of the first two playoff games for a couple of don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it cameos for Kladno: 7 seconds in the first game and 4 ticks of the clock in the second.
The question remains–How is Jagr’s health?
After 10 days of silence Jagr updated the Czech media on his status after Game 1. Translate on your browser as necessary. The knee injury is more complex than thought but Jagr hopes he can return to full duty in a month and hopes to resume training in 10 days. Game 2 of the playoff gives him 7 of 15 games played needed to qualify for the extraliga qualifier. He looks forward to an evaluation by the famous Czech sports doctor Professor Kolar, with a goal of not having surgery and playing as soon as possible if a treatment plan can be developed to facilitate that ambition.
Seeing Triple
Three of the Travelling Jagrs from North America came to Kladno for the regular season finale and the first two games of the playoffs. Like in the USA and Canada, the ambassadors the trio enjoyed Prague and the surrounding area and soaked up the hospitality of the Czech people, saying they felt very at home in the Republic.
They said they look forward to Jagr getting healthy and were present to “have his back” if necessary. Above all Trevor Freeman, also known as Dallas Stars Jagr, said their visit was a scouting mission for trips in the future where they hope as many as 12 members of the group will come to the Czech Republic some day and do on a grander scale what they did here over the last five days.
46 candles
Earlier in the month Jagr celebrated his 46th birthday on Feb. 16, the only time all year jagrometer.com will mention that number.
From the Kladno team page, a video celebrating the career of Jagr.
ESPN celebrated the occasion with an update to their 68 Jagr facts list.
A message for our Czech readers.
Assorted Jagr-related links:
Thanks for visiting JAGRometer.com, home of the Jagr-O-Meter, tracking Jaromir Jagr since he returned to the NHL from Russia and now following him in the Czech Republic s he tries to position Kladno to earn its way into the Extraliga and rehab an injured right knee. Subscribe free and get the latest edition as soon as it is released. Please share with your friends.
Link for Rytiri Kladno
http://www.rytirikladno.cz/cz/rytirtv
Kladno fanshop ships to the USA and offers top quality keepsakes for the Knights.
http://www.hokejfanshopkladno.cz/
Jagr may also play some games for Trinec of the Extraliga
http://www.hcocelari.cz/index.asp?cover=nezobrazit
If he does, fans may order Jagr jerseys from the fanshop.
The NHL has several outlets to distribute news on the game and maintains player profile pages which include video highlights.
nhl.com and @nhl on twitter are two great options. Sign up for your favorite teams and get regular reports with them.
nhl.tv is the official page for the subcription service offered by the nhl. Never miss a Jagr game!
Canadian hockey outlets include
@sportsnet
@tsn
American hockey outlets include
@thehockeynews
@puckdaddy
@NBCSports
@theAthletic
Calgary Flames Website:
Some Jagr-related social media accounts:
@68Jagr on twitter. This is the real site, the one and only official Jaromir Jagr twitter account. Postings are rare, but worth the wait.
The two best Jagr facebook pages are:
https://www.facebook.com/68Jagr/?fref=ts
This is the page Jagr posts on, if he is going to post at all. With 700,000+ followers, he doesn’t monitor the page that closely or answer messages, so don’t be offended.
Another good facebook page is one produced by someone in the Czech Republic. It has more than 100,000 likes. This is not the official page, but it is very good.
https://www.facebook.com/JaromirJagrfan/?fref=nf
@NHLFlames is the official twitter of the Calgary Flames.
@EricFrancis writes for the @Calgaryherald.
@DidJagrPlay–Fan updates this post which monitors Jagr’s games played as he chases Gordie Howe’s all time games played record.
The following Flames Bloggers should have some Jagr content this season:
@FlamesView
@FlamesBlog
@NateDawgFTF
@FlamesLifeBlog
@GrimeBlogFlames
@BlogTheFlames
@Zdenek_Janda Czech reporter who covers the NHL and reports on other news for the people of the Czech Republic, sometimes from the USA.
@Jsmidcro Jan Smid was a US-based Czech reporter who collaborated on “Jagr”, an autobiography in the late 90’s detailing Jagr’s early life and career in the NHL. Smid now covers international affairs but has remained friends with Jagr through the years. A good follow for his international news. The book is till available on Amazon and ebay, tells the early story of Jagr’s life and career through 1996. Comes with a nice replica autograph inside so don’t be fooled by claims that the book is hand-signed by Jagr unless there’s a second, smaller signature somewhere.
@NHLHistoryGirl This hockey lover shares interesting informational tidbits about hockey and the NHL in general from scholarly research on hockey. She gets an A+ and First Star from us. How does she do it?
@MyRegularFace She’s another gem. Watches lots of games and gets up GIFs faster than nhl.com or anyone else out there.
Quant Hockey: Career stats updated game by game by a hockey lover in Europe. Site enables you to find career leaders in any offensive category by clicking on the category you are researching.
http://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/records/nhl-players-all-time-points-leaders.html
@rytiriKladno The Kladno Hockey Club: Before coming to the NHL Jagr played for this team in the Czech league as a teenager. Now he owns the team. It’s in Czech but some devices can translate to English. Follow them at:
@HockeyCzech National organization for hockey in the Czech Republic.
@hokej.cz is another Czech hockey site
@deniksport very interested in Jagr and have several reporters who file stories on the Legend.
@radioprague
@CzechTV
Tomas Pokorny is a Czech hockey reporter and worth a twitter follow: @topicek
TRAVELLING JAGRS links
@68isgr8 is the twitter for The Traveling Jagrs. Clad in different Jagr jerseys and hair styles from 68’s career, they gained league-wide recognition when they caught Jagr’s attention during a pre-game skate of a Dallas Stars game in Canada during the 2012-2013 season. Since then, they convene at games in Western Canada and make a road trip or two every year, playing street hockey with locals, posing for hundreds of pictures, and having a good time with fans while honoring an all-time NHL legend. This is the official site for the group but is the personal twitter for Dallas Stars Jagr, aka Trevor Freeman
Speaking of pictures or any other inquiries–write to the Travelling Jagrs directly at thetravellingjagrs@gmail.com.
The group also has a website: http://www.travellingjagrs.com. Follow them on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/695821573799933/
Ray Haluska aka Kladno Jagr, curator of the Jagr-O-Meter
Stay with Jagrometer.com as THE LEGEND CONTINUES
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