Remembering Josef Vasicek, 1980-2011

Looking back, I guess the only advantage I had over Josef Vasicek was that I spoke better English. We were both rookies in the fall of 2000, him in the NHL and me covering the NHL, both feeling our way through all the usual blind corners and dark alleys.

Joe was once like me -- six years younger that fall, but learning his job just as I was learning mine. He left the Hurricanes in 2007; I left the Hurricanes' beat in 2008. When he was traded back to Carolina at the trade deadline in 2007, I reached him on the phone that night.

His first words to me? “I was so happy,” he said. “To come back to a place that I know, it’s great to be coming home.”

Vasicek, who died in the plane crash Wednesday that claimed his entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team only five days short of his 31st birthday, was unfailingly cheerful, a good guy by the standards of the game of hockey and the game of life.

When I went to Europe during the lockout, Vasicek told me to swing by Havlickuv Brod if I made it to the Czech Republic. I never got that far. I figured I’d get there eventually, and Big Joe would be waiting there when I did. I cannot comprehend that he won't be.

A few highlights from the N&O archives from my coverage of ol' No. 63 over the years:

ON HIS DAY WITH THE CUP

Aug. 4, Josef Vasicek, Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic: "I tried to show it to a lot of people in our city. I obviously wanted to spend some time with my family and parents and hang around with the Cup, too. There were a lot of people in the town square even though it was raining. I was kind of worried about that, but the square was full."

ON HIS TRADE TO NASHVILLE, JULY 19, 2006

In many ways, Vasicek was a witness to the growth of hockey in the Triangle, from his wide-eyed rookie season to the Stanley Cup championship. That is, he said, what he'll remember most about where he spent the first five seasons of his career, recording 126 points in 316 games.

"From when I played my first NHL game in there, the fans have been getting bigger and bigger and supporting us much more, " Vasicek said from his home in Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic. "When I got on the ice for practice [after suffering a major knee injury] they cheered for me and it was really nice. Obviously, winning the Stanley Cup, that's big. And Jimmy, he drafted me and gave me a chance to play. That was probably the biggest thing."

WHEN HE RETURNED TO THE ICE AFTER MISSING FIVE MONTHS WITH A KNEE INJURY, APRIL 4, 2006

RALEIGH -- Josef Vasicek spent five months waiting for this moment -- five months gritting his teeth in the weight room, five months tearing apart the scar tissue in his left knee, five months preparing to start his season over again.

Five months and 59 games later, his smile returned with him. And he wasn't close to finished.

Sitting on the bench, watching the replay of his first goal, Vasicek's joy was apparent for all to see. And the Carolina Hurricanes were pretty happy to see him back, too.

"After the last five months, all the time I've spent on the bike, it was really something special, " Vasicek said.

Ray Whitney scored the winning goal in Monday's 6-5 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals, his second goal of the game, on an overtime power play that capped a wild third period. But Vasicek announced his return with two goals and two assists, setting a career-high for points in a game.

ON HIS FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK, OCT. 29, 2003

RALEIGH -- Ask Josef Vasicek how he's feeling on any given game day, and he'll say he's feeling "pretty good."

Tuesday morning, the Carolina Hurricanes' 23-year-old forward had a different answer: "Really good."

How good, only he knew.

Vasicek did all the damage for the Canes in a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, picking up the first hat trick of his career as the Canes won at home for the first time this season and ran their unbeaten streak to six games (2-0-4-0).

"It was great, " Vasicek said. "I couldn't even describe the feeling. It was something special."

He's now the Canes' leading scorer with four goals and three assists and clearly enjoying life on the left wing.

The Canes moved him there this season after three up-and-down seasons at center. So far, the results have been spectacular.

ON THE HURRICANES' YOUNGER GENERATION, OCT. 7, 2002

Josef Vasicek purchased the Prestonwood townhouse in February. A month later, he had a roommate as well.

When Jaroslav Svoboda was called up from the minors in March, he spent one night in a hotel. The next night, he moved in with his Czech countryman. Now, the two 22-year-olds are inseparable, to the point where Jeff O'Neill needles them about it.

They carry on conversations with each other -- and defenseman Marek Malik -- in shouted Czech across the locker room.

They continue their native-language discussions in the three-story townhouse -- where the welcome mat in the garage says "Go Away, " Czech movies litter the coffee table, nutritional supplements fight for counter space with a stack of Svoboda trading cards and the pool table occupies a prominent place in the basement.

Malik gave them a set of snooker balls for the pool table and a sheet of rules scribbled in Czech. But those rules, at least on this quiet afternoon during the preseason, are open to interpretation.

"How'd you get 11 points all of a sudden?" asks Svoboda, a rare question posed in English.

"I got the blue one and two reds, " Vasicek says.

"Yeah, right, " Svoboda snorts.

They are living the good life in America. Their SUVs are parked in the driveway and, over the fireplace, sits a picture of the two of them in identical ecstatic poses celebrating a Vasicek playoff goal.

"Jaro" is loud, crazy, fond of $80 T-shirts.

"Joe" is quieter, often smiling shyly in the background while Svoboda talks.

Vasicek has a silent dignity about him, one that helped him become the first European named captain of a Canadian junior team -- no easy feat in that jingoistic environment.

In many ways, their play is critical to the Hurricanes' success this season.

Vasicek is tremendously talented but prone to midseason slumps. In this third NHL season, he has to find a new level of consistency and take a big step forward toward someday replacing Francis as the Canes' No. 1 center.

Svoboda was such an integral part of Carolina's playoff run it's hard to imagine the team without him. But he played in only 10 regular-season games. How he'll hold up over the long haul of an 82-game season is unknown.

What is known is that Svoboda has the potential to be a dominant player, shifty and difficult to knock off the puck. Despite his 23 games of playoff experience, he's still eligible for the Calder Trophy that goes to the NHL's rookie of the year.

Many consider him one of the top three candidates for the award.

Vasicek, however, considers him a tenant.

"He's tough, " Svoboda says. "The rent's got to be in on time."

Does he try to make you clean the place?

"He tries."

Friendship only goes so far.

CHECK OUT THIS CZECH / SMILING VASICEK HAS CANES SMILING, OCT. 18, 2000

RALEIGH -- The face is too gaunt for Josef Vasicek's 6-foot-4 frame, a narrow contrast to a hulking body that's all arms and legs flying everywhere.

No one notices because the face is so often hidden behind Vasicek's smile.

He smiles between drills during practices with the Carolina Hurricanes; he smiles when he talks about his visit to the State Fair; and he smiles as he tells fellow newcomer Tyler Moss how to set up a bank account.

The rookie even smiles as he takes shots after practice, the lights in the Entertainment and Sports Arena darkened and the crew waiting behind the boards to cover up the ice.

But nothing gets that smile quite as broad as when he talks about playing against Jaromir Jagr and the nine other of his Czech countrymen on the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh.

"Oh, yeah, " Vasicek said. "I'm really excited about that. To get to play against Jagr? It's really exciting."

Everything has been exciting to Vasicek, who has no excuse not to smile. He's 20 years old and playing in the NHL - the big surprise of training camp and the big surprise of the Canes' season so far.

It's not the big cities and fancy hotels that are making him giddy, but the sheer joy of playing hockey at this level. Still wearing the same anonymous No. 63 he was issued in his first training camp, he doesn't even see his paychecks - they go straight to his agent.

"You can tell he's a guy that loves the hockey part of being in the NHL - and that's different from a guy who loves being in the NHL and playing hockey, " Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "He likes the hockey part, and that's important."

Centering the third line with veterans Rob DiMaio and Martin Gelinas on either side of him, the rookie scored his first NHL goal and assist on Friday, then added another assist Saturday.

Carolina expected this kind of play someday from the native of the Czech Republic when the Canes drafted him in the fourth round in 1998. No one expected it this year. Maybe not even next year.

When Canes management sat down this summer to put together a depth chart for the season, Vasicek's name never came up.

He's so new that his name was pronounced wrong for the first four games of the regular season - VAHSH-ih-chek, instead of the correct WAHSH-ih-chek.

"This is not a guy who we said, 'We've got to make room for Josef Vasicek, ' " Maurice said. "Everything he's got, he's earned."

His exuberance and work ethic were what impressed initially, at the Canes' rookie camp in Ontario. By the time he got into training camp itself, his skills and maturity on the ice had him penciled in as a fourth-line center.

Then he played his way onto the third line with the way he handled the physical play of the preseason. There, he joined DiMaio and Gelinas, hard-working players who are tough to beat in the corners. The idea was Vasicek would use his lanky, 200-pound frame to create the same kind of disruption in the middle.

As it turned out, this dump-and-chase line found itself trying out a little more creativity once Vasicek made his skills known.

"For a young guy like him to read the ice so well and play so strong at a young age like that is unbelievable, " Gelinas said. "We're pretty fortunate to play with a talented kid like that."

That line has carried the Canes in the past two games, scoring once against Florida on Friday - Vasicek got his on an assist from Sami Kapanen - and the lone goal in Saturday's loss to Nashville.

The big game for Vasicek, though, is tonight, when his new profession and his ancestry will collide.

He grew up in Havlickuv, about an hour outside of Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia, and made a name for himself on the Czech junior national teams.

After getting drafted, Vasicek played in Canada for two seasons, becoming the first foreign-born player to captain a major junior team.

He spent last New Year's in Sweden, playing for the Czech team that won the World Junior Championships - a team coached by the father of New Jersey Devils star Bobby Holik.

All that patriotism will be welling up tonight when he faces the Euro-flavored Penguins, who got four goals from Jagr in an 8-6 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday. Jagr is one of 10 Czechs on the roster - the same as Canadians, Americans and Russians combined - with legendary Czech coach Ivan Hlinka behind the bench.

"Half the team, probably, " Vasicek said. "And the best coach from Czech is there, too."

Tonight, the Canes' best rookie from Czech will be there. Earlier than expected. And no doubt smiling.