Sasha Lakovic

Sasha Lakovic
Born (1971-09-07) September 7, 1971
East Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Calgary Flames
New Jersey Devils
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 19922004
Website sashalakovic.com

Sasha "The Basha, Pitbull" Lakovic (Serbian: Саша Лаковић / Saša Laković) (born September 7, 1971) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for 17 different professional teams during his career. Lakovic also played for four roller hockey teams in the mid-1990s.

Lakovic has attempted to start a career in acting, landing a small role as Russian ice hockey player Boris Mikhailov in the 2004 Walt Disney movie Miracle.

Cancer diagnosis

On October 12, 2016, Lakovic publicly announced that he was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer and was given only 3 months to live. [1]

Playing career

Lakovic, nicknamed the "Pit Bull" for his aggressiveness, turned pro in 1992–93, playing for three separate Colonial Hockey League teams, as well as the American Hockey League's Binghamton Rangers. Lakovic bounced around the ECHL, Central Hockey League, International Hockey League and AHL for a few more seasons, including an incident where he got on all fours and barked to the crowd after destroying Barry Potomski in a fight as a Las Vegas Thunder enforcer. Lakovic moved on to National Hockey League's Calgary Flames in 1996–97. and was dealt to the New Jersey Devils a year later. Lakovic would play only 37 NHL games before finishing his career with stops in the West Coast Hockey League, and finally the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey before retiring following the 2004–05 season.

Lakovic became known as an enforcer, registering 397 penalty minutes in his first pro season. He peaked at 416 penalty minutes in just 49 games in 1996–97 as a member of the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder.

During the hockey offseason, Lakovic played roller hockey for three Roller Hockey International teams from 1993–97, and in the Major League Roller Hockey in 1998.

Battle of Alberta

Lakovic gained widespread attention on November 23, 1996 when playing in his first, and only, Battle of Alberta game between the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. Late in the game, played at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, a drunken fan reached over the glass, dumping his drink on the head of Flames assistant coach Guy Lapointe. Lakovic immediately jumped over the glass attempting to get at the fan. Held back from climbing over by his teammates, Lakovic was suspended two games for the incident.[2]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1992–93 Chatham Wheels CoHL 28 7 5 12 235
1992–93 Columbus Chill ECHL 27 7 9 16 162
1992–93 Binghamton Rangers AHL 3 0 0 0 0
1992–93 Brantford Smoke CoHL 5 2 1 3 62
1993–94 Chatham Wheels CoHL 13 11 7 18 61
1993–94 Toledo Storm ECHL 24 5 10 15 198
1994–95 Tulsa Oilers CHL 40 20 24 44 214 4 1 3 4 88
1995–96 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 49 1 2 3 416 13 1 1 2 57
1996–97 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 10 0 0 0 81 2 0 0 0 14
1996–97 Saint John Flames AHL 18 1 8 9 182
1996–97 Calgary Flames NHL 19 0 1 1 54
1997–98 Albany River Rats AHL 30 7 6 13 158 13 3 4 7 84
1997–98 New Jersey Devils NHL 2 0 0 0 5
1998–99 New Jersey Devils NHL 16 0 3 3 59
1998–99 Albany River Rats AHL 10 1 1 2 93
1999–2000 Albany River Rats AHL 51 10 16 26 144 5 0 0 0 14
2000–01 Rochester Americans AHL 51 3 9 12 161 4 1 1 2 32
2000–01 Long Beach Ice Dogs WCHL 8 3 6 9 29
2001–02 Bakersfield Condors WCHL 30 5 13 18 147
2001–02 Anchorage Aces WCHL 2 0 1 1 6
2002–03 St. Jean Mission QPSHL 15 0 4 4 51
2004–05 Sherbrooke Saint-François LNAH 2 0 0 0 16
NHL totals 37 0 4 4 118

See also

References

  1. Slattery, Jill (October 12, 2016). "Former NHL player Sasha Lakovic diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer". Global News. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  2. Francis, Eric (2003-09-03). "The uncivil war: Calgary @ Edmonton". Calgary Sun. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.