When Jaromir Jagr debuted at the elite level in 1988, it was for a club called TJ Poldi SONP Kladno, in a country then called Czechoslovakia.
When tonight, 35 years later, he started his 36th elite season, the club (which is now owned by Jagr) has changed its name to Rytíři Kladno and the country in which the team plays is now called the Czech Republic.
Strnad put the return
But Jagr, apart from slightly grayer hair and beard, is quite similar. The Czech, who has only Wayne Gretzky ahead of him in the list of players with the most points in NHL history, was behind runner-up Kladno’s first goal in the match against league leader Padrubice. He received a puck in the center zone, took it into the offensive zone and fired a shot that was rebounded, a rebound that Jakub Strnad put into the goal.
Kladno then managed to both reduce and equalise, before Padrubice regained the lead. The match is still going on.
See Jagr’s goal in the player above