Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr announced that his team Kladno will move its final Czech Extraliga regular-season home game to the larger O2 Arena in Prague, with ticket proceeds benefitting Ukrainian families who are currently seeking asylum in the Czech Republic after Russia’s invasion.
The Knights of Kladno were scheduled to host HC Sparta Prague on March 8 at their home arena, which seats around 5,200. Instead, the Knights will be the home team inside Sparta’s arena, which seats upwards of 18,000 fans.
On Thursday, Jagr announced on Facebook that he wanted to move the home game to benefit Ukrainian families, and polled Kladno fans to find out if they would still come to the game “to help those who need it the most at this time.”
On Friday, Kladno announced the game was officially moved to Prague and pointed fans to where they could purchase tickets.
“I am very happy to confirm that everything was successful even in such a short time. Now our only wish is to sell out the O2 arena. Buy a ticket and help those Ukrainian families in the Czech Republic!” wrote Jagr on Facebook.
No charities were specified by Kladno or HC Sparta, although Kladno does have a charitable foundation. Jagr chose No. 68 as his jersey number to remember the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, in response to the Prague Spring insurgency. His grandfather died that year, between the start of the uprising and the Soviet response to it.
“At least my grandfather died in freedom,″ Jagr said in 1998.
Jagr, 50, has played the last five seasons with Kladno, the Czech team he owns. He last appeared in the NHL with the Calgary Flames in 2017-18. In 1,733 career games, Jagr was third in NHL history with 766 goals — three more than Alex Ovechkin, who has 763 goals in 1,251 games.