Former Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek visits Ukraine

Former Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek has made no bones about voicing his opposition to Russian players participating in the National Hockey League and earning contracts following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of lastyear. He even went so far as to say that Russian superstar forward Alex Ovechkin is a a "chicken s**t" for his response to the invasion. 

Hasek himself recently traveled through the war-torn country, arriving after having driven through Poland and then taken a train given the fact that air travel into the country isn't an option right now. 

“I went to support Ukraine and Ukrainian hockey,” Hasek told isport.blesk.cz. “So that it can be played this year and next winter, so that new halls can be built.”

“Half of the stadiums are closed or destroyed,” Hasek said. “Half of the fourteen stadiums are out of order, closed because there was no power, or they are destroyed. Others were taken over by the Russians. Only seven of them work. The worst thing is that they had a program in Ukraine where they wanted to build thirty stadiums in five years."

“The places on the outskirts of Kiev where the fiercest fighting took place and where they stopped the Russians,” Hasek listed as one of the areas he visited. “The greatest damage was there, and at the same time they eliminated them there as well.’

“Every city is different. Kharkiv is located in the east thirty, 40 kilometers from the front. As recently as last year, 1.3 million people lived there, then two hundred thousand remained. Dead town. But when the Russians were driven out in September, people began to return."