Articles tagged with Jaromir Jagr

#68 goes to the rafters in Pittsburgh.

Watch the 47 minute ceremony below.

from Michelle Crechiolo@PensInsideScoop - Penguins Team Reporter

Leading into the ‘Celebrate 68’ festivities, many stories have been shared about Jaromir Jagr from those who know him best.

On Friday in the Rivers Casino ballroom, the Penguins legend himself took to the stage for a fireside chat with longtime Pittsburgh TV and radio personality Paul Steigerwald and former teammates Kevin Stevens, Phil Bourque, and Jay Caufield.

Jagr embraced the more intimate nature of the setting ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, which will take place in front of a sold-out crowd. He was relaxed and easygoing, cracking jokes, laughing easily and offering incredible amounts of insight – intriguing, touching, heartfelt, and funny – into different parts of his journey.

While they discussed many topics during the hour-long conversation, these are the stories that stood out the most.

Bourque talked about going over to see Jagr in Czechia, which was essentially the catalyst for all of this, as he helped his friend realize that Pittsburgh loves him – and said he’s going to feel that on Sunday. After a round of applause – which featured yells of ‘one more year!’ – Jagr shared his emotions surrounding his No. 68 being retired.

I never really played hockey for the trophies. To have a jersey retired was never my goal. Maybe that's the reason why I'm still playing (at 52). I don't think there's anything better in life than to not only play hockey, but if you do something that you love, I wish everybody could do it in their life. If your job is something you hate, and you just hate eight hours of your day, you’ve got 16 left, and you’re just killing your life. I was so lucky and so blessed that God gave me the ability to play, and my parents put me in that position and did everything for me to play hockey. So, that's why I kind of answered that I'm kind of afraid of it, they don't like me here. Plus, I don't really enjoy it… I don't know how to explain it. People will say, oh, he's crazy, why doesn’t he like that? I don't like that. I like to be on this side. I don't have to be seen. I just love the game. But on the other side, I'm so honored. When I think about it, I see how life goes by – people are just going to forget you in five years when you stop playing. That happens, because new guys come in. But this is going to be forever, you know? No matter if it’s 10 or 20 years later, when new fans come in, they’re going to look up and say hey, there was some Jagr that played here in Pittsburgh [laughs]. At least something is going to stay after I’m going to go.

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