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| | Friday, February 4 | |||||
| TORONTO -- St. Louis Blues goaltender Roman Turek will start Sunday's NHL All-Star Game in place of Buffalo's Dominik Hasek, who opted out because of a groin injury.
The other goalies on the World All-Star team are Washington's Olaf Kolzig and Edmonton's Tommy Salo. Hasek, the Buffalo Sabres' five-time Vezina Trophy winner, hoped to make his fifth straight All-Star appearance after returning from a 40-game absence in Tuesday's 2-2 tie with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. But his agent, Rich Winter, told an Edmonton radio station Wednesday that his client has decided not to make the trip to Toronto. "He's a little sore today, as you might expect to be after your first game (back), but the main reason is that he doesn't want to risk aggravating the injury in a game that doesn't affect the standings," Winter told CHED Radio. "His primary focus is on helping the Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs, and as exciting an honor as being voted to the All-Star team is, he really feels that going would be taking an unnecessary risk."On Thursday, Turek was added to the World squad . He was named the starter on Friday. Like Hasek, Turek is a native of the Czech Republic. In his first season with the Blues, he is 26-11-5 with a 2.05 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Turek, 29, is second in the league in wins, shutouts and GAA. Despite playing only nine games, Hasek was the top vote-getter among goaltenders on the World squad for the 50th All-Star Game, outdistancing Arturs Irbe of the Carolina Hurricanes and Roman Turek of the St. Louis Blues. On Tuesday, Hasek made 29 saves in his first game in more than three months. "The Dominator" was his usual unorthodox self, twice charging out of the net to foil breakaways by All-Star Paul Kariya.Hasek reported no problems with the groin he tore in the third period of a 3-2 overtime win over Florida on Oct. 29. "When I stretched, I didn't have any problem," he said. "I felt pretty good."
| ALSO SEE Sabres' Biron makes case for keeping full-time job by beating Sens Hasek returns to tie Ducks but Hebert more dominant ESPN.com's NHL All-Star Game coverage AUDIO/VIDEO   Dominik Hasek shows his true form.avi: 750 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Steve Rucchin deflects the Oleg Tverdovsky shot.avi: 556 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1  | |||||