Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek of the Detroit Red Wings is unique. He stops pucks like no other goalie in the National Hockey League (NHL). Hasek's style is unorthodox, but he has led the NHL in save percentage every year he has been a starting goalie. Six times he has won the Vezina Trophy--given to the league's best goaltender--and during the 1996-97 and 1997--98 seasons he captured the ultimate prize. Hasek became the first goalie to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in consecutive seasons after he carried the overachieving Sabres to the playoffs.

Growing up

Double jointed

Dominik Hasek (HA-shehk) was born January 29, 1965, in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia. The country was run by a Communist government when he was born. (Communism is a governmental system characterized by a classless society and the common ownership of production methods.) Today Pardubice is located in the Czech Republic.

Hasek...