Dominik Hasek retired from professional hockey today, for what seems like the fifth time in the past six years. The announcement is playing second fiddle in the Detroit papers today, because the Pistons have also announced this afternoon that Michael Curry has been hired to replace Flip Saunders as coach.

Since I was living in Turkey for most of the nineties, I missed the first two Red Wing championships of the modern era (that is, the first two cups they won after the 1950s). I saw the third one, though, in 2002, when Hasek played strong through the playoffs and led the Wings to their third championship in six years. Watching the 2002 Stanley Cup finals with my brother at his home in Los Angeles remains one of my favorite sports memories of all time.

This year, Hasek traded goaltending duties with Chris Osgood all season long, but was our starting goalie going into the playoffs. After a couple of wins against Nashville (I still can't believe the NHL actually has franchises in places like Nashville, Tampa Bay and Carolina), Hasek dropped a couple of games and was replaced in net by Osgood. Osgood played well throughout the playoffs and Hasek never appeared in another game.

Good luck, Dominator! Thanks for the memories!