Buffalo Sabres Round Table: Favorite Player Of All Time

Jan 13, 2015; Buffalo, NY, USA; Buffalo Sabres former goalie Dominik Hasek gets his number retired at a ceremony before a game against the Detroit Red Wings at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Adam Savard, Contributor, Buffalo Sabres Goalie – Dominik Hasek

It’s terribly cliche to say, but my favorite Sabre is Dominik Hasek.  Not just for his highlight reel saves or his Vezina and Hart Trophies.

I began watching hockey at five years old and played pick-up games in the driveway at six.  I never learned to skate but that didn’t stop my friends or I from pretending to be our favorite players.  Or any players for that matter. I was always the goaltender.  Unwillingly at first but I grew to enjoy it and be pretty good for where I’d compete.

I can remember first pretending I was Mike Liut because of the Hartford Whalers jersey.  Same reason I liked Don Beaupre in his Capitals sweater.  Eventually I evolved into Mike Vernon, Curtis Joseph and the man Hasek played behind in Chicago, Eddie “The Eagle” Belfour.

I was still in high school when Hasek began his run of dominance with the Sabres, still remembering that Grant Fuhr played here and I could pretend to be him because he wore the crossed swords on his chest.  But Hasek was unlike anything I, or any of us, have ever seen.

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There were stand up goalies and butterfly goalies, but nothing like the “Dominator”.  Whether seeming out of control making saves with every part of his body or charging at unsuspecting players breaking in alone, It wasn’t just that Hasek was great at what he did.

He was new, fresh and exciting.  He was the nail that stuck out that you just couldn’t pound in because he took your will to swing the hammer.  In a league where 100 point seasons for players was still normal, Hasek was the anti-hero.  The best player in the world didn’t score goals.  He prevented them.   And he was ours!

I’ll admit I was frustrated when it ended.  Mad, actually.  For all he had done for us there was a part of me that felt betrayed by his departure.  I had mixed feelings when he hoisted the Stanley Cup for Detroit and felt that old conflict again when his number was retired against those same Red Wings.  I was jealous because I wanted to cheer that with Hasek here, not be happy for him in a different uniform.  I struggled with that greatly.

But I was also in the First Niagara Center when Dominik Hasek was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.  My young children were with me, ages six and nearly five.  They asked me who was on the ice and why was he talking.  And I’m trying to pass this great game down to them through my Buffalo Sabres memories.

They don’t appreciate his highlights yet, but they will.  They don’t understand what he meant to the league.  To the Buffalo Sabres.  To all the fans.  His legacy is something I can use to pass this game on, to spend time with my family, to build a lasting relationship from my youth through theirs and into the rest of their lives.

Common ground with the greatest goaltender of all-time.  That’s why Dominik Hasek is my favorite Sabre.  Because my memories of him will become part of our family history, and this great game part of our fabric.

Next: Jacob Strozyk, Contributor - SabreNoise