Hasek Hopes More Gold Is in Czech Fate

Dominik Hasek and his Czech teammates were the darlings of the Nagano Olympics.

While the U.S. and Canada sent players whose egos were as inflated as their NHL salaries, the Czechs chose a team that included nine non-NHL players. In a classic David vs. Goliath story, the Czechs withstood the best the U.S., Canada and Russia threw at them and won gold.

Hasek’s acrobatics in goal were astounding, especially in the Czechs’ semifinal shootout victory over Canada and 1-0 victory over Russia in the final. He became a folk hero back home in Prague, where 70,000 people celebrated in the streets that night and more than 120,000 fans greeted the team upon its return.

But when the Czechs gather in Salt Lake City in February to defend their title, they won’t be able to sneak in under the radar screen.

“Now, there are much bigger expectations,” Hasek said. “Before, we were underachievers. Now, they talk about us like Canada or America. It will be much more difficult.”

Hasek seems to be preparing for that challenge. He recorded his first shutout of the season for the Detroit Red Wings on Friday and ranks among the NHL leaders with 11 victories. His goals-against average through 16 games is 2.41, with a .909 save percentage. “I know he wants to get his save percentage up and his average down,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said, “and I’m sure that’s going to happen.”

Hasek was traded from Buffalo to Detroit July 1, shortly after he won his sixth Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. A virus hospitalized him much of the summer, but he has regained his stamina. “Since training camp I feel good,” said Hasek, who will be 37 Jan. 25. “I can work hard in the practices, which is important.”

But will his hard work be enough for the Czechs to repeat? Their lineup will change: Martin Straka broke his leg while playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, depriving them of speed, creativity, and comic relief.

But with Milan Hejduk having matured since he joined the Colorado Avalanche and with the explosive Jaromir Jagr on their side, a repeat is conceivable.

“I don’t want to talk about winning,” Hasek said, smiling. “Winning the medal at Nagano was difficult, and the teams will be at least as good as they were. And the U.S. will be at home. It will not be easy.”

Did She Go to Traffic School?

Olympic super-giant slalom gold medalist Picabo Street was kicked off a run at Copper Mountain Ski Resort earlier this month after she was stopped for skiing too fast.

Resort officials said Wednesday Street and other members of the U.S. Ski team were on a run limited to race training Nov. 3 when she went onto an intermediate run. She was stopped by the ski patrol and asked not to ski the rest of the day.

“She wasn’t out of control,” said resort spokeswoman Beth Jahnigen. “Given the number of people in a small area, they felt it was too fast. The patrol who stopped her didn’t even know who she was.”

Safety during training has been a concern since France’s Regine Cavagnoud suffered fatal injuries in a collision with a German coach Oct. 29. “The thought of something like that happening in our camp is far-fetched,” Street said in praising U.S. team officials’ vigilance.

Street has returned to the resort to continue training. “She was in the wrong and the action that was taken was appropriate and we apologized to the mountain,” U.S. Ski team spokesman Tom Kelly said.

Rough Sledding

Bonny Warner’s path to Olympic gold has taken an odd turn.

A three-time luge Olympian, Warner switched to bobsled for the first women’s Olympic competition. She teamed with former sprinter Vonetta Flowers last year and rhapsodized about their medal chances just a few weeks ago.

However, Flowers refused to go to Germany for season-opening races last weekend because Warner wouldn’t guarantee her the brakeman spot at Salt Lake City. Warner replaced her with Gea Johnson, who had no bobsled experience but has an interesting resume.

Johnson, the 1990 NCAA heptathlon champion at Arizona State, served a four-year suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids in December 1994. She filed a $12-million lawsuit against U.S. and international track authorities in which she claimed her urine sample had been mishandled, but later dropped the suit.

A bodybuilder and fitness pageant contestant who was the first USA Miss Fitness, Johnson was second in the U.S. heptathlon rankings from 1989-93 but missed the Olympic team in 1992 and 1996. She made the U.S. weightlifting team in 1998 and posed for a fitness magazine wearing strategically combed long hair and nothing else--probably not an ideal outfit for bobsledding.

“I am very aware of Gea’s past,” said Warner, a member of a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency advisory panel. “Before teaming up with her, she and I had extensive discussions. Though her past may concern some, I am very comfortable with her future. We are both sure there will be no questionable drug test results.”

Warner and Johnson, who were fifth in their first race and fourth in their second race, will race this weekend in Konigssee, Germany.

Here and There

Figure skater Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, distraught over the death of coach Elena Tcherkasskaia, was advised by family and friends not to attend Tcherkasskaia’s funeral Wednesday in Moscow. They feared the service might upset her too much for her to compete next week at the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg.

Tcherkasskaia, 64, died Monday of cancer that began in her pancreas and spread to her liver.

Amber Corwin of Hermosa Beach finished second at the Golden Spin competition last week in Zagreb, Croatia.

The U.S. alpine ski season is scheduled to start today at the Loveland Ski Area in Georgetown, Colo., with a four-day World Cup tuneup featuring competitors from 15 countries. The top U.S. finisher in Saturday’s women’s slalom races will win a spot on the Olympic team and a $10,000 bonus.... Warm weather at Western ski resorts sent U.S. ski jumpers and Nordic combined athletes to Finland to train this week. They open their World Cup seasons Nov. 23.

Russia’s Maria Zasypkina, who shared a team silver medal at the recent world gymnastics championships, broke her neck during a practice last weekend at a gym near Moscow. Zasypkina, 16, fell on her head after a vault and reportedly has limited movement in her arms and legs.

Igor Larionov, who centered Russia’s great “KLM” line and won gold medals in 1984 and 1988, is tempted to make an Olympic comeback. He refused to play for Boris Mikhailov at Nagano, but the hiring as coach of Viacheslav Fetisov, his teammate in Russia and Detroit, might change his mind.

“I told him if I feel fresh and I can help, maybe I will do it,” Larionov said. “I will be 41 before February so I’ve got to play at 100%. It would be nice.”

Art Berglund, director of player personnel for the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, has been impressed by forwards Mark Parrish, Brian Rolston and Craig Conroy, and goalie Tom Barrasso as he scouts potential Olympians.

Only 85 days until the Salt Lake City Winter Games.