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Theo Fleury still remembers his first glimpse of Sasha Lakovic.

Then captain of the Calgary Flames, Fleury had just returned from the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, missing the annual training-camp introductions while skating on the international stage.

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Lakovic was auditioning for a job as a physical forward and tough guy at the Saddledome.

“My first day back at the rink, I was walking towards the ice surface and there was Sasha,” Fleury recalled. “He was bald and he looked kind of crazy and he had a bunch of tattoos. And I said to the trainer, ‘Is the WWF in town tonight?’

“That’s how I met Sasha. But I had lots of great times with him.”

The hockey world is mourning the loss of Lakovic, a former NHL enforcer and father of four who died last week after a battle with brain cancer. He was 45.

A memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday in Kelowna.

Lakovic only suited up 19 games for the Flames, all during the 1996-97 campaign, but that was plenty of time for ‘Bull Dog’ or ‘Sasha the Masha’ to emerge as a fan favourite at the Saddledome.