Tuesday night’s four-goal performance served as an introduction to Tomas Hertl for most Americans, but the Sharks rookie is a household name in his native Czech Republic.
Before he even played his first NHL game (he’s played just three to date), the 19-year-old was drawing comparisons to arguably the greatest Czech player of all time, Jaromir Jagr.
Jagr, who has been playing in the NHL longer than Hertl has been alive, posed for an iconic — and rather goofy — shirtless photo with then-girlfriend Andrea Veresova during his formative years in Pittsburgh. For a profile on Hertl published back in April, Sport Magazine in the Czech Republic decided to recreate the photo shoot — pitchfork and all — using the Sharks phenom and his girlfriend, whose name is Aneta Netolicka, according to Larry Brown Sports.
Netolicka was in attendance in San Jose for Hertl’s four-goal night — a feat it took Jagr 11 years to accomplish.
Check out young Czech and old Czech in the photos below.
Photo via Twitter/@jedli
