Dominik Hasek leaves the game with six Vezina trophies as the NHL’s top goaltender and two Hart trophies as the league’s MVP
DOMINATION: Hasek leaves with six Vezina trophies and two Hart trophies
The lure is right there on maps of the rink. It is clearly illustrated where the home team shoots twice, an enticement for fans to purchase seats on that side of arena so they can see their team score twice as much.
During the Dominik Hasek era, that was the end where folks in Buffalo didn’t want to be. He made it cool to sit on the opposite side, where fans would get two periods of the most competitive player in Sabres’ history. They were treated to an up-close look at glove stops and kick saves, baseball swings and blue-line dashes.
They were treated to The Dominator. The most accomplished player to wear a Sabres sweater officially retired Monday, as the 43-year-old goaltender ended his career in Detroit after 16 seasons in the NHL. Hasek has left the league twice before, but this time, it seems, he’s gone for good.
“Physically, I’m feeling great. I feel as well as I’ve felt ever,” Hasek said during a news conference in Joe Louis Arena. “But it’s all about patience, and it’s about motivation.
“I just don’t feel today that I am ready to compete on the highest level. Not because of the physical things, but because I need motivation every day, to go for a practice, to get ready for the season. Right now I don’t feel it’s there, and I don’t want to disappoint anybody. I don’t want to disappoint myself, but I don’t want to disappoint the people around me.”
Hasek departs as one of the best goalies of all time. He is the only one to own two Hart Trophies as league MVP, and they sit beside his six Vezinas as top goaltender. Those individual honors came during his nine-year run with Buffalo, which started with a lightly regarded trade in 1992 and ended with an acrimonious swap in 2001. He earned his biggest team honors in Detroit, leading the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2002 and winning a second this month while backing up Chris Osgood.
“He was the ultimate competitor,” Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said. “No matter who you were playing, you always thought you had a chance to win the game. I don’t know how many players you can say that about.”
Hasek finished his career with 389 wins, 81 shutouts and a 2.20 goals-against average. But when people think of The Dominator’s game, they don’t think of numbers or trophies. They think of an unorthodox style and a Slinky-like spine that twisted and contorted to keep the puck out of the net any way possible.
“The thing that stands out, for lack of a better term, was his uniqueness, both in his style of play and his personality,” Sabres General Manager Darcy Regier said. “He did a lot of things to revolutionize the game.”
Hasek could get bored making routine saves, so occasionally he’d sprint to the blue line. The crowd would gasp as he’d knock the puck from a forward who never saw him coming. Hasek’s signature move (he’d roll over while extending his arm to make a save) has become part of every elite goalie’s repertoire. He was always studying the position and came up with one of his more clever efforts while attending a Little League game. Soon, he was tossing the puck into the air and batting it to center ice with his stick.
Some of his most amazing performances came in empty arenas, as Hasek’s unmatched competitiveness carried from practices to games and back again.
“You’d count 70 shots in practice, and if they got two goals he’d want to do it over,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “A lot can be said, but at the forefront is his desire to not want to be scored against and his feeling that he should not be scored against.”
Some seasons, he rarely was. In 1998-99, the Czech Republic native had a goals-against average of 1.87 and save percentage of .937 to lead the Sabres into the Stanley Cup finals.
“Anytime the best player on your team is also your hardest worker, it’s a tremendous thing and filters down,” said Michael Peca, the former Sabres captain. “He was the backbone of our team.”
The Hasek era came to an end in Buffalo on July 1, 2001, exactly one week after Peca was traded. Hasek wanted out, saying the Sabres were not going to win the Stanley Cup. He was right — because his new team did. He engineered a lopsided trade to Detroit, and the Cup was soon his.
“Both teams were great memories,” Hasek said. “I spent a longer time in Buffalo, and it was an organization I became a starting goalie, I received many individual awards over there, and it came to the time to leave in 2001. I made the best decision. It was one of my best decisions of my life, at least in my professional hockey career, to choose Hockeytown.”
Most Buffalonians gave Hasek a rough ride during his returns with Detroit and Ottawa, but not everyone. He always had fans because of Hasek’s Heroes, an inner-city program he started with a $1 million donation. It began just months before his Sabres career ended, but it’s still going strong today.
“He is one of the most generous people I know,” Quinn said. “It didn’t always mean he gave big tips, but what he’s done with Hasek’s Heroes has been remarkable, especially in a community that he was leaving.”
Hasek was in a reflective, thankful and forgiving mood while saying goodbye Monday. He thanked former Sabres teammates ranging from Dale Hawerchuk to Miroslav Satan to Richard Smehlik. He thanked former coach and GM John Muckler, who gave him his first starting job. He thanked Quinn for standing by his side.
And, lastly, he thanked the fans, the ones who would sit behind him in the arena and stare awestruck at his ability.
“I will always remember the fans,” Hasek said. “Buffalo is a small market, but they supported us in huge numbers. I will never forget the many sold-out games in the old Aud and especially at HSBC Arena. They pushed the team forward and, in some ways, helped me make every save.”
