As Jarda was showing fans his home in and around Pittsburgh on social media, he was struck by a full-grown sugar maple tree next to the garage. “Take a picture of this tree to Čužák! This was a tree that…” Jágr said on the video, but he didn’t finish the thought. And so Blesk asked »Čužák«, i.e. Lubomír Rys (79), to unravel the mystery for readers.
Jaromír’s old manager and close friend didn’t even have to search his memory for long and blurted out: “He was giving him energy!It is said that Jágr was taught to draw strength from trees by a certain Ukrainian professor Ignatenko, who worked with Jarda for six years.
“He was also able to disperse the clouds, which he showed on German television, but also to us personally above the Kladno winter. Once there was a giant cumulus cloud and he split it in half within ten minutes and within twenty minutes the cloud was gone. I’m not lying to you!” “Čužák” swears.
But back to that Pittsburgh poplar. Rys gives one more funny story to the good. “It was April then, the NHL playoffs were being played, the sun was shining beautifully, and Jarda said: Let’s strip down to our shorts, put a pillow under our butts and go hug a tree. So we caught up there and then Jarda gave Washington two goals! But I caught a cold and got pneumonia… He probably sucked the energy out of me too!” “Čužák” chuckles.