The Kladno Konnection

Jaromir Jagr doesn't remember posing for the photo. It was 17 years ago, when he was 22 and already one of the best hockey players in the world. The NHL was in the midst of a work stoppage at the time, and Jagr, then with the Pittsburgh Penguins, had returned to his hometown of Kladno, Czech Republic, where adoring fans greeted him. How many photos did Jagr take with those admirers back then? How many hands did he shake? How many kids did he meet who dreamed that they were No. 68?

But what was trivial to Jagr became a talisman to the other person who appears in the picture: a then-5-year-old who also grew up in Kladno, an industrial town of around 70,000 about 17 miles west of Prague. The picture was taken at Zimní stadion, an arena with a capacity of 8,600 opened in 1949. It was snapped after a practice of HC Kladno, the local hockey team Jagr was skating with that day. The kid was still learning how to skate; in the photo he's holding a hockey stick and standing next to Jagr, the man many considered to be the best player in the NHL at the time. The kid, who's now 22, doesn't remember if he spoke to Jagr that day, but he has held onto the evidence of their encounter as if it were a precious relic.

That's probably not surprising, given how much Jagr meant to the kids of Kladno. Jagr is so revered in his hometown, in fact, that Winnipeg Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec, a 24-year-old who also grew up in Kladno, remembers just seeing the picture during his childhood.

There's a difference, though, between the kid in the photo and almost everybody else who grew up idolizing Jagr - the ones who witnessed him earn millions and grow into a player rich enough to purchase the hometown hockey club. The difference is that kid is Jakub Voracek. And today, the 22-year-old is living out a dream, one that's akin to a kid from Philly somehow joining an NBA roster alongside Allen Iverson. It's not just that the fourth-year NHLer is one of the key pieces in the Flyers' youth movement. It's that in the wood-paneled dressing room of the Flyers' practice facility in Voorhees, he sits three lockers down from where Jagr hangs his skates each morning.

A quick summation of the history of Jagr and Voracek's native country could be understood, in part, by looking at the numbers on their backs. Jagr wears No. 68, in homage to 1968, when Czechoslovakia experienced 8 months of political liberalization from communist rule known as the Prague Spring. The freedom soon ended when the Soviets invaded the country and restored totalitarian rule, and Czechoslovakia did not experience independence for 21 more years, when the Velvet Revolution overthrew the communist regime in November 1989. Four years later, in 1993, Czechoslovakia split into two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Look up Voracek on the roster, and you'll see he wears No. 93.

The different political climate each man grew up in played a role in how each arrived in the NHL. Though Jagr joined the NHL without having to defect - he arrived a year after the onset of the Velvet Revolution - he still grew up under communist rule, fresh from the Czech League, where no one spoke English.

When Jagr arrived in the United States, at age 18, the Penguins provided him with an English tutor and housed him with a Czech family. Still, the language barrier made it tough for him to communicate with teammates and to make friends. To help the transition, the Penguins traded for veteran Czech player Jiri Hrdina. "He talked to [Jagr]; he was his roommate on the road," said Flyers assistant Joe Mullen, who was Jagr's teammate in Pittsburgh. "He told him things he had learned as far as talk as much English as you can. Talk more English than Czech if you can. Go out with the guys. Don't shy away from them."

Such issues were never a problem for Voracek. Voracek played junior hockey in Canada, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a 17-year-old unburdened by the NHL spotlight. He was afforded time to mature, to learn the language, to adjust to the lifestyle. It was tough at the beginning, Voracek admits, but he found ways to communicate and he was young enough to adapt.

"It definitely helped to get comfortable in North America," Voracek said. "It was one of the best decisions I ever made."

By the time he shook NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's hand as the No. 7 overall pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2007 draft, Voracek already appeared comfortable. He beamed in front of the hometown crowd and conducted interviews in English.

"For us, me and Jake, we came to juniors first. It's different stories," Pavelec said. "For [players before Jagr], it was a different time in Czechoslovakia. They had to leave the country. They had to leave their family just to play here."

By the time Voracek joined the Blue Jackets in 2008, the then-19-year-old had already spent two seasons in Halifax, and his language skills were good enough to serve as an interpreter for a Czech teammate when speaking with Halifax reporters.

"He can be without a Czech," Jagr says. "I couldn't. I needed someone to speak with."

There are two indisputable hockey icons in the Czech Republic: Jagr and famed goalie Dominik Hasek. In Kladno, though, no one compares to Jagr. His reputation was made not just because of his talent and longevity, but because of the historical precedent he set. He arrived in the U.S. just as the NHL was adjusting to the influx of Eastern Europeans. In 1995, he became the first European-born player to lead the league in scoring. Of the nine winners since (Jagr topped the list four more times in his career), five were from Europe. Yet Jagr remains the only Czech.

"He was one of the first guys who made a huge jump here and showed good players are from the Czech and Europe as well," said Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Tomas Kaberle. "It's still showing."

When Voracek grew up in Kladno, he could watch 2 hours of NHL highlights every night, and he got to see Jagr in person during both the 1994 and 2004 NHL lockouts, when Jagr returned to Kladno to play for the hometown club. But a lifetime watching Jagr taught Voracek something important: not to try to be like Jagr. He realized he needed to develop his own style, which is heavy on playing along the boards and setting up opponents. He's not as proficient of a goal scorer, evidenced by the fact that Voracek has more than twice as many assists as goals.

"I don't think it's possible to model his game," Voracek said. "He's special."

Other players from Kladno shared the inspiration that Jagr provided. There are nine players from the city in the NHL, although the prohibitive cost of hockey actually means more kids in Kladno play soccer. Over there, like here, hockey is no longer a working-class sport.

"You've got to have rich parents," Jagr says. "People who don't make much money, they can't get the stuff for their kids. Plus, when the kids grow, you got to change it all, other size of skates and all that stuff."

Voracek's father owns restaurants in Kladno, and his mother does not work. The city's work force was once dominated by employees of the Poldi steel factory, but blue-collar jobs are not as prevalent anymore. There are many small businesses, with the international airport in Kladno serving the central Bohemian region - including Prague - helping employment. The economy almost prompted HC Kladno, the town's hockey club in the top league, to relocate. Jagr rescued the club during the summer, purchasing a majority share, finding a title sponsor and revamping the logo.

"The last couple years, the team went down," Pavelec said. "Everybody knows it's about the money. Nobody liked the situation back home. It was the one chance to save the team. It was a big thing. The team is in the right hands."

Still, if HC Kladno were somehow playing at the same time as the Flyers on television, most fans would watch the Flyers, Voracek says.

That means they'd also be watching Voracek. With Voracek establishing a name for himself in the NHL, more people are stopping him in the streets in Kladno and viewing him the way he once looked at Jagr. But Voracek knows any notoriety he gets is nothing compared with the reverence people have for his teammate. When Pavelec was asked which current Czech NHL player is most similar to Jagr, he searched for a name before coming to his senses: "There's only one Jagr," he says.

Both Jagr and Voracek were officially signed by the Flyers on July 1, arriving in Philadelphia amid an offseason overhaul.

Jagr spent the past 3 years playing in Siberia - literally - in exile from the American grandeur that he last experienced while a member of the underachieving New York Rangers from 2005 to 2008. Although his signing appeared a conspicuous attempt to try to resurrect a former rival of the Flyers, Jagr's undergone a renaissance in the twilight of his career. In the final week of October, the NHL named Jagr as one of its three stars after leading the league with five goals. He now has 15 points this season while morphing into a locker-room leader. The post-goal salute to fans that used to induce vitriol now draws ovations. A few months shy of turning 40, Jagr now sports closely cropped hair instead of his once-famous mullet, and is convinced he can still play better.

"I'm more relaxed and probably more comfortable with teammates and the organization and everything here," he says. "Don't forget, it's a totally new organization, totally new league for me. The last few years I did something else. It was a big change."

Voracek's acquisition was based more upon potential than past production. The Blue Jackets believed Voracek needed to improve his conditioning, which was holding him back from becoming an elite player. He's listed at 6-2 and 214, a new body that's the byproduct of bypassing Prague's club scene during the offseason and instead spending 2 1/2 months in Montreal during the summer training.

There's still signs of youth - his flowing blond hair spills out of his helmet, with occasional scruff showing an aversion to daily shaving - but Voracek is focused on a 1-year contract this season. The Blue Jackets parted with Voracek only to acquire former Flyers keystone Jeff Carter, whose hefty salary needed to be moved for the Flyers to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren believed that the Flyers could uncover in Voracek whatever was missing in Columbus. Entering his fourth season, Voracek is at the point in his career when players often hit their prime. He entered the season with 134 points, 30 points more than Vancouver's Henrik Sedin scored in his first three seasons and 37 more than Sedin's twin, Daniel. Both players have since developed into all-stars.

After 3 years in the league, Voracek insists he's finally comfortable. He scored the game-winning goal in the season opener against the Boston Bruins, the defending Stanley Cup champions, but he's been inconsistent since then, even if he doesn't think his points reflect what he's capable of doing.

"As long as I feel comfortable with myself on the ice and the puck on my stick, the points are going to come," Voracek said. "I'm not worried about that."

Coach Peter Laviolette has watched recent game footage and has seen the tools that caused the team to be enamored with Voracek in the first place. Laviolette conceded that there's a transition process required, particularly for a young player.

"As you become more familiar, you start to do it faster," Laviolette said. "And he's a fast player with a terrific skill set, and it's really starting to show."

Voracek needs only to look to Jagr to see the benefits of being patient. His teammate drew early-season criticism for a lack of production before beginning a hot streak that helped propel him near the top of the team in scoring.

But there's no need to tell Voracek to look to Jagr for guidance. Whenever Jagr walks the hallways of the practice facility or the corridors of the Wells Fargo Center, Voracek is watching, soaking up an experience that has become the envy of every Czech player of his generation.

"It would be amazing," said Carolina Hurricanes forward Jirí Tlustý, a 23-year-old from Kladno. "It would be nice to enjoy playing besides [Jagr] and see how the best player from Czech Republic [does] out there, and be in the same locker room, just enjoy those moments with him."

The first time Jagr and Voracek spoke in earnest was at a soccer match in Kladno 3 years ago. By that point, Voracek was already a budding NHL player and the two were preparing to play on the Czech Republic national team together.

"I knew he was good," Jagr said. "He was drafted so early, you need to be good."

Now, sitting in the Flyers locker room, Voracek nods to his left, where minutes later the idle space will be filled by his idol. Worship is not a natural disposition for a 22-year-old millionaire, but this arrangement is rare, and Voracek's deference is palpable. A few days later, at a morning skate in the Wells Fargo Center, Voracek considered whether his 39-year-old teammate is a friend or a mentor.

"He's both," Voracek said. "Obviously, he can give the best advice and try to help me as a hockey player and as a person. It's a great thing for me."

Last month, after Jagr scored two goals in a win over the Maple Leafs, Voracek embraced his hero no differently than any of his other teammates filing off the ice after the win. Maybe he's become used to seeing Jagr after playing together. Or maybe it's because Voracek is now an equal, even though he's still the child in the picture providing the reverential nod to an idle space about to be filled by his idol.