from Tal Pinchevsky of ESPN,
Named Vaclav after his grandfather and father but called Vashi much of his life, he took to the street shortly thereafter and began chanting, "Canada! Canada!"
"That was kind of dangerous," Vashi said. "They said, 'No, you can't say anything about that.'"
By then, their phones were already tapped and secret-police surveillance came daily. Typical treatment in Cold War-era Czechoslovakia for one of the world's best hockey players.
What followed was the first true defection in hockey history and one of the sport's most surreal careers. It's a story that hasn't been told completely but will in an upcoming documentary called "Big Ned," with Vashi serving as chief storyteller alongside his father.
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