Cup Missing Despite All of the Toasts

The post-Olympic whirlwind was so frantic and the resumption of the NHL grind came so quickly, goaltender Dominik Hasek wasn’t fully aware of the feelings he stirred among his compatriots when he carried the Czech Republic to a gold medal at Nagano last February. Not until last summer, when he was on vacation in his homeland, did the impact of his triumph become clear.

“I couldn’t go anywhere. I’d go to a restaurant, go out to buy some food, and people were coming up to me and asking for autographs,” he said. “People were coming to my house, and I always said, ‘No, I don’t give autographs in my house, sorry guys.’

“But one day a 60-year-old or so man came to my house and I told him I don’t give autographs, and he started to cry. I feel so bad. He said, ‘I don’t feel bad because you don’t give me an autograph, I feel happy because of what you did at the Olympics.’ ”

If his 20-save shutout of Russia in the gold-medal game was astounding, if his acrobatics in stopping Canadian snipers Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk, Eric Lindros and Brendan Shanahan in a semifinal shootout were incredible, the real test for Hasek may be just starting.

How does he follow his own superb act?

Hasek, whose Buffalo Sabres face the Mighty Ducks tonight at the Arrowhead Pond and face the Kings Thursday at the Great Western Forum, compressed a career’s worth of achievements into last season. Besides winning his country’s first Olympic gold medal, he was voted the NHL’s most valuable player for the second successive season, the first goalie to win the award twice. He compiled the NHL’s best save percentage for the fifth consecutive season, at .932, won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie for the fourth time in five seasons and recorded a league-leading 13 shutouts, the most since Tony Esposito had 15 for Chicago in the 1969-70 season.

“When Dom is at his best, he’s controlling the game. He’s the best goalie I’ve ever seen,” said King right wing Donald Audette, who was Hasek’s teammate until a contract dispute spurred the Sabres to trade Audette last month. “You can just go and play because you know he’s going to keep you in the game. The maximum he’s going to give is two goals. Even when the team is behind by one goal, he never gives up a bad goal.”

With few other goalies good enough to challenge him, Hasek has challenged himself. And he reached an even higher plane before hitting a bumpy stretch last week in which he gave up 14 goals in three games, including seven goals by the Ducks in a 7-2 New Year’s Day rout at Buffalo.

“In the first 33 games he has topped himself. We hoped he’d reach the level he has, at least until the last few games,” said Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff, who attributed Hasek’s slip to the mental fatigue of starting 33 consecutive games. “He prides himself on being better. That’s the scary part. He wants to get better and he finds ways to get better.”

Despite Hasek’s lapse, his statistics are better than last season. His 1.92 goals-against average is second to the 1.88 compiled by the Dallas Stars’ Ed Belfour, and he leads his peers with 19 wins, seven shutouts and a .937 save percentage. Wayne Gretzky has frequently called him the best goalie in the world; Tampa Bay Coach Jacques Demers didn’t think that was praise enough after Hasek stymied the Lightning, 2-0, two weeks ago.

“This guy is God. He’s on a different planet,” Demers said.

Such superlatives embarrass Hasek, who has played nothing but goal since he was 4 years old and the kitchen doorway served as his goal posts while his father or grandfather shot a ball at him. Hockey, he said, “is a collective sport, not an individual sport. It’s all about winning as a team.”

That’s true. But as Audette said, “As Dom goes, that’s how the team goes.” And if he’s playing better than last season, the Sabres have a better chance of improving on their performance, which ended with a six-game loss to Washington in the Eastern Conference finals.

“I had a great season last year. The only thing I haven’t won is the Stanley Cup,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t know if I can have a better season. I will wait and think about it. My focus now is more on the regular season. That’s my next goal, to win the Stanley Cup.”

“I don’t want to say we are the favorite team, but we are a strong team. I think our team is better than it was. We are scoring more goals and we are a more physical team. There is a chance for us. I don’t want to say how good, but you only need a chance.”

Hasek gives them that chance, and more.

“He’s one of the best goalies in the league. I think there’s other good ones, but in Buffalo they rely on him a lot,” said King goaltending coach Don Edwards, who played six of his 10 NHL seasons with the Sabres. “He’s the main factor in their success. Without him they’d probably struggle. There are other goalies in that elite group, but he certainly has had the biggest impact on his team the last couple of years.”

Edwards--who praised the quickness, flexibility and sound instincts that allow Hasek to succeed while playing an unorthodox and scrambling style--held the Sabres’ record of 156 victories from 1982 until Hasek broke it in November.

“I’m surprised it took him as long as it did,” Edwards said. “Records are made to be broken. That’s the challenge of the game. Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ record, but Mark McGwire’s record will fall someday. Records only become goals to try and achieve. I compliment him on it. He’s been able to stay healthy enough to get in there and compete every night.”

Hasek’s competitiveness is legendary. He plays soccer, tennis and squash during the summer and acknowledged he will “get crazy” if he’s idle for more than a few days. “Whatever I do, I do 100 percent, not 99.9 percent,” he said. He even invites teammates to shoot at his head during practice, daring them to make him stop shots with the cage that protects his face.

“Most goalies, you’ve got to beg to stay out there. He not only stays out there, he wants to stop every shot,” Ruff said. “On game-day skates he stays out there until he feels right. When he’s not on the ice, he’s always doing something for his conditioning. He’s always biking or lifting weights.”

Lifting the Stanley Cup may be the only way he can top what he did last season. With the Sabres boasting a well-schooled defense, speed up front, toughness everywhere and a goalie who is considered a deity, it’s not impossible.

“It’s not even half of the season, so we’ll see. There are 40, 50 games left,” he said. “I have to concentrate on these games. I just want to help my team during the season. I believe in the playoffs, I can still play a little bit better and maybe bring the Stanley Cup to Buffalo.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dominik Delivers

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Name, Team GP GA AVG Ed Belfour, Dallas 28 49 1.87 Nikolai Khabibulin, Phx. 24 43 1.88 Ron Tugnutt, Ottawa 18 33 1.92 Dominik Hasek, Buffalo 33 61 1.92 John Vanbiesbrouck, Phila. 27 55 2.02 Byron Dafoe, Boston 30 60 2.02 Steve Shields, San Jose 13 26 2.07

*--*

Win Record

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Name, Team W L T Dominik Hasek, Buffalo 19 7 5 Ed Belfour, Dallas 18 5 4 Martin Brodeur, New Jersey 17 9 4 Curtis Joseph, Toronto 17 12 2 Nikolai Khabibulin, Phoenix 15 6 2 Chris Osgood, Detroit 15 13 0 (Three tied at 13)

*--*

Saves Record

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Name, Team GA SA PCT Dominik Hasek, Buffalo 61 914 .937 Nikolai Khabibulin, Phx. 43 573 .930 Byron Dafoe, Boston 60 791 .929 Guy Hebert, Ducks 72 937 .929 Arturs Irbe, Carolina 57 711 .926 Ron Tugnutt, Ottawa 33 410 .926 Steve Shields, San Jose 26 291 .918

*--*

(All statistics through Monday)

Tonight’s Game

Buffalo vs. Mighty Ducks

Time 7:30

TV: FSW2

Radio: XTRA (690)