Upper body injury leaves Jagr’s status uncertain for Czech quarterfinal against Finland

Jagr’s status uncertain for Czech quarterfinal

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Jaromir Jagr has an undisclosed upper body injury that could prevent the Czech Republic’s star forward from playing in the Vancouver Games men’s hockey quarterfinal against Finland.

Following a 3-2 overtime win against Latvia on Tuesday, coach Vladimir Ruzicka said he believed Jagr will be able to play Wednesday, but cautioned that he was “unsure how long he will last in the game.” Ruzicka did not provide any other details on the nature of the injury, which forced Jagr to miss most of the final two periods and overtime against Latvia.

Jagr completed serving his hooking penalty to start the second period and then played only 52 seconds before leaving the game. He took a weak shot at the side of the Latvian net and then was spotted on the bench stretching his neck back and forth before heading to the dressing room.

A Czech team official said Jagr left the arena and was driven to the Olympic athlete’s village by the time the game ended when David Krejci scored 5:10 into overtime.

The playoff qualification game against Latvia came after Jagr was flattened by Alex Ovechkin in the third period of a 4-2 loss to Russia on Sunday. Jagr didn’t miss a shift following the hit, and created a scoring chance on his next time on the ice.

Forward Tomas Plekanec said the Czechs could’ve used Jagr’s scoring punch.

“He could’ve scored some goals at an important time there,” Plekanec said. “We missed him definitely, but we won.”

The Olympics marked Jagr’s return to North America after he left the NHL two years ago to sign a two-year contract to play in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

In three games, Jagr has two goals and an assist.