Jaromir Jagr
Jaromir Jagr
Jaromír Jágr; born February 15, 1972) is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger currently playing for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. He has formerly played in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers. After leaving the Rangers, he played for three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey Leaguewith Avangard Omsk before returning to the...
NationalityCzechoslovakian
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth15 February 1972
CityKladno, Czech Republic
We knew it was not going to be easy for him. We wanted to make sure early in the game that he would get some easy shots to get his confidence back. It's not easy when you don't play for such a great time. And he did a great job. And we did a great job, too. They didn't get that many chances. I thought we played good.
We made a bad change and he shot from the side of the net. It happened. I took the risk on one side and they scored on the other side. It's hockey. But we shouldn't be in this position - 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go, we shouldn't play overtime.
I faked the shot to see what the goalie was going to do and then I hit the net.
Well it doesn't matter how I feel. Sometimes it's a matter of luck. Sometimes you have so many chances and you can't score and other times you feel like every shot is going to go in. That's the way I have felt the last couple games.
In international competition, you're facing the best players on every line. I think the Olympics is tougher for the goalie. I've got a lot of confidence in the way he plays. This is the least concern in my mind right now.
I'm not angry, I'm upset. I've got no answer for it. The last two games we lost to teams we should beat. We're having such a good year, we don't want to give it away.
It's not good for us and it's not going to get better until we win. I'm hoping it's not too late to stop it. I thought we had a big chance today and we didn't do it.
It's not a good situation that we are in. Everybody knows how important these next four games are at home. It might be our season. That's the way I look at it. I thought we started playing better in the last two games. It's just that the results are not there.
Everybody says your health is the most important thing, and he's a perfect example. If he would have been healthy, he would break a lot of records. Maybe not all of them, but I'm pretty sure a lot of them. He was the best player I've ever seen. He was the most gifted at everything - size, strength, skill, how smart he was. There is no other player like him.
The biggest thing, he's not afraid, he's not scared. I don't think he's nervous when he goes to the penalty shot. I don't think he feels the pressure.
Nobody believed we could do any damage in this league and I think that worked to our advantage.
That guy, Mark Messier, he did so much for hockey. He truly deserves it. People will never forget that. If you give 100 percent, people will love you.
That is the last thing I want to do.
It was huge. We haven't played very well lately. But I'm happy we found a way to win.