“Not because of the physical things, but because I need motivation every day … Right now I don’t feel it’s there, and I don’t want to disappoint anybody.”Born in Pardubice, Czech Republic (then known as Czechoslovakia), Hasek had an interesting start in hockey. He didn’t have real skates; instead he had the blades that screw onto a pair of shoes. He was tall for a six-year old, so they stuck him in a group of nine-year olds who needed a goalie.As a sixteen-year old, he joined the top league in Czechoslovakia and played for his hometown HC Pardubice of the Czechoslovak Extraliga and won two league titles in 1987 and 1989. The year after, he was drafted by the Czech Army to play for Dukla Jihlava.He then played for the Czech national team. He was named the top player in the Czechoslovak Extraliga three times: 1987, 1989, and 1990.
Hasek was also the Goaltender of the Year from 1986-1990.Because the Iron Curtain was still in place, NHL teams were fairly reluctant to draft players who were unwilling to leave their country or were banned by their government from doing so. As a result, Hasek was selected in the tenth round (199 overall) in the 1983 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, the seventeenth goalie selected.He didn’t even know he’d been drafted until a few months later.The Blackhawks offered him a contract prior to the 1987-88 season, but Hasek rejected it, saying that he didn’t feel ready to leave for the U.S.When communist rule ended in 1989, Hasek emigrated to the United States and began his career with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL. He finally suited up for Chicago in 1990, eight years after they drafted him.In Chicago, he was the back-up goalie to Ed Belfour, and only played 25 games over two seasons. After Chicago lost to Pittsburgh in the finals, Hasek was traded to the Buffalo Sabres.In Buffalo Hasek was the back-up again, first to Tom Draper, and then Grant Fuhr.
When Fuhr was injured partway through the season, Hasek stepped in and quickly developed into a top goaltender.In 1994, he won the first of six Vezina Trophies as well as sharing the William M. Jennings Trophy with Grant Fuhr.The 1996-97 season was a another successful season, but is more likely to be remembered for his conflicts with then-coach Ted Nolan. In game three of the first round against the Ottawa Senators, Hasek removed himself and was replaced by Steve Shields. Hasek had suffered a right MCL sprain, and was pronounced day-to-day by the team doctor.Several in the media, and even his teammates, suspected Hasek was using the injury to bail out on the team. When Jim Kelley of the Buffalo News approached Hasek after the game five loss in that series, Hasek attacked him.
