roscoe36
03-28-2007, 06:06 PM
I love this guy
Hasek crazy like a champion (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/SPORTS0103/703280384/1004/SPORTS)
So far, in his third stint with the team, the six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goalie – twice named the league’s most valuable player – is doing just that. After Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Anaheim – Hasek’s seventh shutout this season and the 75th of his career – he leads the NHL in goals-against average (2.09) and ranks fourth in wins (36). Those numbers fairly match his totals from 2001-02, when he helped lead the Wings to a championship, cementing his place in history as one of the game’s greats.
"For me, there's some things that I'll never forget," Holland said. "Obviously, I'll never forget what Dom did in helping us win the Cup in '02. But just as important with me was, when he walked into my office in January 2004 -- January 5th, I think it was -- and he said, 'Ken, I'm not here for the money. If I can't play, don't pay me another cent of my salary.'
"He walked away from $3 million. How many people would walk away from $3 million? I mean, he had it coming to him. I never forgot that."
"I never, ever asked someone to be the goalie. It was always me."
Why?
"I don't know exactly," he said. "But this is what I always liked about it: Even if your team doesn't play great, you can be the one who can win the game for the whole team. And I like for people to depend on me: 'Dom is there, and he can do it for us.' "
That's the mentality, perhaps, that drives Hasek's almost maniacal practice habits.
"I don't want my legacy to be about the numbers, or how many trophies I won," Hasek said. "I want it to be that I was a competitor, and that my teammates believed in me.
"That's what's most important to me. That my teammates know, when I'm in the net, I'm the man, I'm the right person for them. And that I never gave up."
He's freaking 42 years old in a league where this season's MVP will probably be age 20.
Hasek crazy like a champion (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/SPORTS0103/703280384/1004/SPORTS)
So far, in his third stint with the team, the six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goalie – twice named the league’s most valuable player – is doing just that. After Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Anaheim – Hasek’s seventh shutout this season and the 75th of his career – he leads the NHL in goals-against average (2.09) and ranks fourth in wins (36). Those numbers fairly match his totals from 2001-02, when he helped lead the Wings to a championship, cementing his place in history as one of the game’s greats.
"For me, there's some things that I'll never forget," Holland said. "Obviously, I'll never forget what Dom did in helping us win the Cup in '02. But just as important with me was, when he walked into my office in January 2004 -- January 5th, I think it was -- and he said, 'Ken, I'm not here for the money. If I can't play, don't pay me another cent of my salary.'
"He walked away from $3 million. How many people would walk away from $3 million? I mean, he had it coming to him. I never forgot that."
"I never, ever asked someone to be the goalie. It was always me."
Why?
"I don't know exactly," he said. "But this is what I always liked about it: Even if your team doesn't play great, you can be the one who can win the game for the whole team. And I like for people to depend on me: 'Dom is there, and he can do it for us.' "
That's the mentality, perhaps, that drives Hasek's almost maniacal practice habits.
"I don't want my legacy to be about the numbers, or how many trophies I won," Hasek said. "I want it to be that I was a competitor, and that my teammates believed in me.
"That's what's most important to me. That my teammates know, when I'm in the net, I'm the man, I'm the right person for them. And that I never gave up."
He's freaking 42 years old in a league where this season's MVP will probably be age 20.