Read: Ovechkin’s Hit On Jagr
Before the USA’s upset of Canada, the biggest highlight of the day was Alexander Ovechkin‘s center ice hit on Jaromir Jagr early in the third period of the Czech Republic loss to Russia.
The hit caused Jagr to turn the puck over and led to Evgeni Malkin‘s second goal of the game which gave Russia all of the momentum.
See the the after the jump
At Sports Illustrated Michael Farber has a write up of the hit and its effect.
Jagr again spoke with John Dellapina of NHL.com and said this about Ovechkin and the play:
Of course I saw him. I wanted to make a play. It was just a bad turnover – a bad mistake. The hit doesn’t hurt. The mistake hurts because they scored a goal on that play. It’s a bad feeling. But I have to come back.
…I cant stress enough, if you haven’t seen the hit and you are at work, DON’T WATCH THE VIDEO. You will jump out of your chair or scream “ooooooo”. It’s that type of hit.
It was clear at that moment that Russia was going to take the game. It also seemed like one of those passing of the torch moments but not in the right way. Jagr still played well after though he was on the bench for a little while. Jagr isn’t a young man anymore and he got right back up, but those type of big hits are what he has to expect if he returns to the NHL.
