It didn’t take suitors long to begin lining up for a chance to display the mementos from the Hall of Fame career of former Detroit Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek.
Last week, photos of a teary-eyed Hasek removing his artifacts from the shuttered Czech Hockey Hall of Fame went viral.
“I have to say that I didn’t expect the response it would cause at all,” Hassek said. “I was surprised.”
The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto was quickly in touch with the Czech goaltending legend, offering shelter for his suddenly homeless mementos.
“They wrote to me that they are very interested in the things and will immediately fly to get them at any time,” Hasek told isport.blesk.cz.
The Buffalo Sabres also put in a request to display some of Hasek’s artifacts. Among the items Hasek was removing from the closed-down Czech Hall were some of the Vezina, Hart and Lester Pearson Trophies that he won while puckstopping for the Sabres.
Hasek Uncertain What He’ll Do
At this early juncture, Hasek is wanting to take some time to digest all of the possibilities before he’ll be rendering any sort of verdict.
“So far it’s fresh,” Hasek said. “I have to absorb everything.”
Meanwhile, Alois Hadamczik, president of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, is going on the offensive. They’ve been an onslaught of social media pressure since the photos of Czech hockey icon Hasek packing his gear into shopping carts went public.
“Grief from your point of view, salvation from ours,” Hadamczik said. “We will save 15 million per year, which will go back into the development of hockey. The current costs are 18.5 million and the daily attendance is 20 people. We cannot afford such costs.
“We will open the modernized Hall of Fame in the center of Prague in March before the (IIHF World Championship).”
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