If you walk around this city and look at the many posters plastered on kiosks, if you open a local newspaper, if you watch television, you almost never are going to see Dominik Hasek.
He is an immensely popular man in his native country, a fact he accepts but does not wish to profit from and does not quite relish. He cannot walk around anywhere in the Czech Republic unnoticed, unless, he said, it is in the woods and at night.
People approach him at grocery stores, at the cinema, at restaurants, and when he is crossing the street. Most of the time it is for money, often it is because they want him to sign something.
He hopes this will change. He is trying to make it so, keeping his public appearances to almost zero. Since he retired from the NHL in June, 11 days after leading the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup, he has met with Czech media in Prague to discuss the end of his hockey career, and he later emerged to celebrate with the Cup.
No more parties
But his party in Pardubice, where he was born and grew up and never wanted to stray far from, was his farewell for the year.
“The next four or five months, no more media, no reporters, no TV, just very quiet,” he explained over Coca-Colas at a clubhouse in Litvinov.
“I am keeping myself very quiet. No invitations–I have said no to everything. This is what I was waiting for 20 years for, and now I want to do it this way.”
Hasek, 37, said no to making $8 million when he left the Wings, and he has said no to endorsements in the Czech Republic. His image graces the rare department store as advertisement for his clothing line, Dominator, but otherwise his face is nowhere to be seen. His own company doesn’t even use his image.
Politically correct
This is not to say Hasek will become a recluse. He has laughed off suggestions he challenge Vaclav Havel for the Czech presidency when elections come around next year. But listening to him talk about his immediate plans, it is hard not to wonder if some time in the future he will aim for political office.
When he is asked about the subject, he almost winces, as if he isn’t sure of the answer himself.
“Just to come and say, `I want to be politician,’ that sounds very, very stupid,” he said. “I don’t want to say no, but right now I don’t feel like doing anything. You know, I was away for 10 or 12 years. It’s different if you come here just for vacation than being here whole year.
“I don’t even know what is going on in Czech Republic. I have to talk to people, spend time with them, go for dinner to understand better the people. If you want to be a politician, you have to understand everyone–you have to understand the people who are homeless, you have to understand the rich people, you have to understand teachers and doctors and workers.
“I don’t mean I am going to talk to all people–I am not just going to go up to people and say, `I want to talk to you,’ but to my friends, to teachers from when I was a kid, to many people.”
Glad he retired
It is clear that whatever doubts he has about his long-term future, he has none about his decision to retire.
“It was weird,” he said. “I said to myself, `No more house. No more car.’ But I promise myself I will return, and there are two things that should keep me close to the United States. One is the charity youth hockey program in Buffalo, and the other thing is I hope we can start Dominator business in North America.”
Hasek plans to return to Detroit soon, actually, because he wants to be on hand for the banner-raising ceremony at the Wings’ home opener Oct. 17. On that same day he hopes to meet Curtis Joseph, the man who replaced him in goal.
“I want to wish him good luck,” Hasek said. “I want to talk to him and tell him now it’s his time.’
When Joseph skates to the crease that four months earlier was Hasek’s, when his old teammates begin playing and he is watching from the stands, even then, Hasek said, it is unlikely he will feel sentimental.
He has kept all his equipment from the Stanley Cup finals but said he didn’t think he would ever put it on again. An active man, he pursues squash now, and, in another month, will start playing right wing with the old-timers in Pardubice.
“They already gave me a jersey,” he said, smiling. “And when I get back to Detroit, I will ask Brett Hull for advice. I was never a very good shooter.”
Lack of motivation
Hasek did not tire of hockey, simply of playing it professionally at the only level acceptable to him. The motivation is gone, and without it, he could not see himself continuing.
“I know it’s hard for people to understand,” he said. “It’s hard for people in the United States. It’s hard for people in the Czech Republic. But not for me. I am very particular person.
“If I am going to do something, I want to do it not for 99 percent, I want to be 100 percent. It makes me nervous if I miss something. And I knew that I didn’t have motivation in hockey, and I didn’t believe myself that I can do it.
“For me, I feel like I finished my challenge in the United States and in the NHL, and now is a new challenge for me. I have enough money. It doesn’t make a difference if I have whatever, 5 or 10 or 12 million, it doesn’t matter at this point.”
What matters now is helping his children, 12-year-old Michael and 7-year-old Dominika, adjust to school. Both grew up in the States, and both speak better English than Czech.
“My wish is to see them stay cosmopolitan,” Hasek said. “To love the United States as much as they do and be happy in Czech Republic also..
“It was hard for them to leave, but we had prepared them for it for years. We told them we were going to go back some time. For Dominika, it was more difficult to understand because she is younger.
“For Michael, I am sure school will be tougher here. I bet I will spend every day, sometimes a couple of hours, with him, to help him with history and Czech language and maybe other subjects.”
Learning English
It was partly his inability to do so in the United States that helped convince Hasek to retire. He would try to explain Michael’s homework and find he didn’t know the words in English.
The ever-present language barrier bothered Hasek to the extent he hired his own tutor in Buffalo, which he left in the summer of 2001 for Detroit. He had been there nine years and never stopped trying to speak more fluently.
“I am not talented probably for the languages,” he said. “But I tell you, it was so frustrating when I try to explain something to my teammates and I couldn’t do it.”
The demands on Hasek when he does make himself public are immense. At the Prague airport for the news conference welcoming the Stanley Cup, in Litvinov for compatriot Jiri Slegr’s party, and at his own event in Pardubice, he was constantly in demand.
With the Cup gone from the Czech Republic, he wants to be Dominik Hasek, homework helper, businessman and part-time right winger. And perhaps, one day, Dominik Hasek, politician.
