Culture
Dominik Hašek vs. the NHL: Why a legendary goalie shunned the Global Series spotlight
PRAGUE — The NHL opened its regular season in Prague last week with two Global Series games between the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils. Czech hockey legends were prominently featured. Jaromir Jagr dropped the ceremonial first puck ahead of the game on Friday. Patrik Eliáš, the Devils’ all-time leading scorer, was around the team all week and dropped the puck for the second game of the series.
But one Czech hockey great was notably absent. Dominik Hašek, the Hall of Fame goalie who helped lead the Czechs to an Olympic gold medal in 1998 and one of the greatest players in Sabres franchise history, did not attend the games or participate in any promotional materials in the lead-up to the games. Last Thursday, Hašek released a statement on his X account condemning the NHL for allowing Russian players to play in the league while Vladimir Putin continues Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Friday afternoon, hours before Jagr dropped that ceremonial first puck, Hašek met with The Athletic to discuss his ongoing issue with the NHL.
Dear citizens, dear hockey fans,
The new season of the NHL will start tomorrow in Prague.
Which, as a person for whom human lives are the first place on the imaginary scale of values, I cannot remain indifferent. Unfortunately, I have to state that this will be the third…
— Dominik Hasek (@hasek_dominik) October 3, 2024
“My motivation is huge,” Hašek said. “I consider everything I do on this topic to be vitally important. What is happening now in Russia, that is, the Russian imperialist war in Ukraine and other crimes connected with it, is very similar to what Hitler did in the 1930s. And we all know how that turned out. This must not happen again. And that is why I am trying to publicly explain to people all over the world what is important and how to act so that the Russian war of aggression does not spread and ends as soon as possible. And of course, the main motivation is saving human lives. For me, human life always comes first.”
Russia escalated the war between the two nations in February 2022 when it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That month, the NHL released a statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and announcing it had suspended relationships with partners in Russia. Hašek has made his feelings clear since the day Russia invaded. He wrote an email to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and said he got only a brief response. In the years since, Hašek said the league has made no effort to have a dialogue with him. The NHL declined to comment for this story.
During that time, Hašek has called for the NHL to pay billions of dollars to Ukraine as compensation and was outspoken about Russian athletes being allowed to participate in the Olympics. Russians participating in the NHL serves as an advertisement for what the country is doing and improves morale in Russia, he says.
Hašek also ran for senator in Czechia this year. In September, Hašek failed to advance past the first round of voting. He’s taking the downtime to determine his next step, but he wants to stay involved in politics.
It wasn’t until 1989, when Hašek was 24, that the Czech Republic became separate from the Soviet Union. Hašek is intimately familiar with life under authoritarian rule. He doesn’t want his children to know what that’s like. Hašek has a soon-to-be 3-year-old son, Honza, with his current partner, and two adult children, Michael and Dominika, with his ex-wife. Hašek returned to the Czech Republic after retiring from the Detroit Red Wings to raise his children in his home country.
Hašek also played the final year of his career in the KHL back in 2010-11. Putin has been either the prime minister or president of Russia since 1999, making him the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin.
But while Hašek majored in history in college, he didn’t become interested in politics until after his playing career ended. He has since become more outspoken on certain issues, including this one.
Many in Czechia share Hašek’s fears and views, and for hockey fans, it extends beyond the NHL. In 2023, Rytíři Kladno, the Czech Extraliga team owned by Jaromir Jagr, signed goalie Julius Hudacek, who was born in Slovakia but had spent the previous season playing for a Kazakhstan-based team in the KHL. Fans threatened to protest games, and Kladno released Hudacek days later.
This is the second time the NHL has come to Prague since Russia invaded Ukraine. The San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators played here in 2022, and each team had a Russian player on its roster. While neither the Devils nor the Sabres brought a Russian to the Global Series, Hašek still didn’t want to be part of it. He thinks the NHL needs to speak publicly on the issue and not “bury its head in the sand.”
The NHL’s initial statement after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 said, “We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia. We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.”
The fact the NHL has not changed its position since that statement is disappointing to Hašek.
Russia’s war in Ukraine will likely become a more prominent NHL storyline as Alex Ovechkin chases Wayne Gretzky’s goal record. Ovechkin still has a photo with Putin as his Instagram profile picture and has not made any strong statements against the war. He hasn’t spoken about the war since 2022.
“I’m Russian, right?” Ovechkin said in 2022. “Something I can’t control. It’s not in my hands. I hope (the war)’s going to end soon. I hope it’s going to be peace in both countries. I don’t control this one.”
Hašek said he believes only Russians who condemn the war should be allowed to play in the NHL. However, he understands the difficult position Russian players are in. Hašek lives in a free country and is not an employee of the NHL, which he says gives him the freedom to speak his mind. It is more difficult for those who fear for their safety or their family’s safety, Hašek added. Or even those who could face job loss or other economic repercussions based on their words.
Hašek does not place the blame on the individual Russian players for not speaking out.
“Rules need to be set so that Russian players have an incentive to come out publicly,” Hašek said. “Some players could make the best peace ambassadors. Unfortunately, the NHL does not help the Russian hockey players one bit.”
The New York Rangers’ Russian star Artemi Panarin has been outspoken against Putin in the past. Hašek also cited Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov, a Russian who spoke out against the war when he was a member of the Calgary Flames in 2023. He posted “No War” on his Instagram account with the caption “Stop it!!!” He also did a two-hour interview with Russian journalist Yury Dud on YouTube in which he explained his opposition to the war. Hašek felt the NHL didn’t offer him enough support.
“It must be said that this is a topic that people are very afraid to talk about publicly,” Hašek said. “In the Czech Republic, there is great fear of Russia, which our parliament has designated as a terrorist state. With Russia, we have experience in this direction and, unfortunately, also victims. People don’t know how the situation will develop and if Ukraine falls, we are one of the other possible victims.”
Hašek said he would like to hear more ex-players speak out on the topic, because they are no longer dependent on the NHL for work. He knows these aren’t easy situations to navigate. He admitted to what he now views as a mistake of his own last year.
Last season, Hašek came to Buffalo as part of an annual visit to do charity work with his foundation, Hašek’s Heroes. While in town, he went to a Sabres game and participated in the start of the game by banging the drum to excite the crowd. He still loves Buffalo and considers it one of the best hockey towns in the United States. But he realized that even participating in that way went against what he had spoken about. Days later, he apologized on X.
Statement on my participation in the event 01/18/2024 and to the public and the media inquiries: On my annual visit (business, charity) to Buffalo USA, I accepted an invitation from my friends to the @NHL game (1/18/2024). At the same time, (continue)
— Dominik Hasek (@hasek_dominik) January 23, 2024
“I consider my participation in the match and its opening as my huge mistake,” Hašek wrote. “Hereby, I want to apologize to all Ukrainian soldiers and all Ukrainian people who are heroically defending not only their homeland, but also the whole of Europe against the imperialist enemy. And further to the fans who supported me and continue to support me and to everyone whom I disappointed with my act. I find this personal failure of mine very difficult to excuse. I will try even harder to fix it. At this moment, I can promise you that a similar situation will not happen again. And that I will fight to the maximum and help defend everything that the Russian state-controlled terrorist regime attacks. And criticize all those who support it with their actions.”
Last week, Hašek did meet with Sabres coach Lindy Ruff and a few others he knows from his time in Buffalo. He also met with the video team for the Sabres’ website to help them with a project they are doing on his upbringing.
“I have no interest in breaking ties,” Hašek said. “I am interested in helping the NHL as much as possible with my behavior, and nothing is changing about that. Otherwise, of course, I will not participate in any of the two matches, nor anything related to the start of this year’s NHL. The reason is clear. I don’t want to be part of an event that is an advertisement for the Russian war.”
(Photo: Petr David Josek / AP Photo)
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
A famous poet once observed that it is difficult to get the news from poems. The weather is a different story. April showers, summer sunshine and — maybe especially — the chill of winter provide an endless supply of moods and metaphors. Poets like to practice a double meteorology, looking out at the water and up at the sky for evidence of interior conditions of feeling.
The inner and outer forecasts don’t always match up. This short poem by Louise Glück starts out cold and stays that way for most of its 11 lines.
And then it bursts into flame.
“Early December in Croton-on-Hudson” comes from Glück’s debut collection, “Firstborn,” which was published in 1968. She wrote the poems in it between the ages of 18 and 23, but they bear many of the hallmarks of her mature style, including an approach to personal matters — sex, love, illness, family life — that is at once uncompromising and elusive. She doesn’t flinch. She also doesn’t explain.
Here, for example, Glück assembles fragments of experience that imply — but also obscure — a larger narrative. It’s almost as if a short story, or even a novel, had been smashed like a glass Christmas ornament, leaving the reader to infer the sphere from the shards.
We know there was a couple with a flat tire, and that a year later at least one of them still has feelings for the other. It’s hard not to wonder if they’re still together, or where they were going with those Christmas presents.
To some extent, those questions can be addressed with the help of biographical clues. The version of “Early December in Croton-on-Hudson” that appeared in The Atlantic in 1967 was dedicated to Charles Hertz, a Columbia University graduate student who was Glück’s first husband. They divorced a few years later. Glück, who died in 2023, was never shy about putting her life into her work.
But the poem we are reading now is not just the record of a passion that has long since cooled. More than 50 years after “Firstborn,” on the occasion of receiving the Nobel Prize for literature, Glück celebrated the “intimate, seductive, often furtive or clandestine” relations between poets and their readers. Recalling her childhood discovery of William Blake and Emily Dickinson, she declared her lifelong ardor for “poems to which the listener or reader makes an essential contribution, as recipient of a confidence or an outcry, sometimes as co-conspirator.”
That’s the kind of poem she wrote.
“Confidence” can have two meanings, both of which apply to “Early December in Croton-on-Hudson.” Reading it, you are privy to a secret, something meant for your ears only. You are also in the presence of an assertive, self-possessed voice.
Where there is power, there’s also risk. To give voice to desire — to whisper or cry “I want you” — is to issue a challenge and admit vulnerability. It’s a declaration of conquest and a promise of surrender.
What happens next? That’s up to you.
Winter Olympics venue near site of 20,000 dinosaur footprints, officials say
Chrome rolls out AI podcast feature on Android
Commentary: Republicans don’t have a healthcare plan, just a plan to kill Obamacare
Reiner family tragedy sheds light on pain of families grappling with addiction
Retired, they moved from 6 bedrooms to a tiny L.A. ADU built in 3.5 months
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Louvre reopens partially after workers extend strike in aftermath of heist
Trump’s BBC lawsuit: A botched report, BritBox, and porn
Video: Prosecutors Charge Nick Reiner With Murdering His Parents
HHS probes Minnesota’s use of billions in federal social service funds amid fraud concerns: report
Thousands of dinosaur footprints discovered on rock faces in northern Italy
-
Iowa2 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Washington1 week agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa1 week agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Iowa4 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Cleveland, OH1 week agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
World1 week ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
-
Maine19 hours agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Technology6 days agoThe Game Awards are losing their luster
