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Stanley Cup Notebook Robitaille's sacrifices pay off with long-awaited Cup titlePosted: Friday June 14, 2002 12:08 AMUpdated: Friday June 14, 2002 3:46 AM DETROIT (AP) -- Luc Robitaille can be called many things: the NHL's all-time goal scorer by a left wing, a certain Hall of Famer and a former rookie of the year. He added another title Thursday night: Stanley Cup champion. The 36-year-old signed with the Detroit Red Wings in the off-season largely because of a chance to win the Cup. By spurning Los Angeles' offer of one year at a reduced salary to stay with the Kings, Robitaille was given a chance to win the Cup -- at a price. His wife Stacia and his two sons remained in Los Angeles for much of the season as the 16-year veteran scored 30 goals while playing a reduced role. All of Robitaille's sacrifices paid off in Detroit's 3-1 Cup-clinching win in Game 5. Prior to Thursday, Robitaille had never touched the Cup or had his picture taken with it, saying players needed to earn the right to touch the chalice. Million-dollar smileStanley Cup-winning goalie Dominik Hasek won more than his first Stanley Cup. He won $1 million. Hasek's contract calls for him to be paid $1 million if the Detroit Red Wings won the NHL title. "During the game and after, I didn't even think about it," said Hasek, who set a playoff record with six shutouts and turned away 16 shots in the Game 5 win. Vlady helps Wings celebrateThe call echoed through the locker room: "Make way for Vlady!" The dousing of champagne stopped momentarily as Vladimir Konstantinov made his way through throngs to his locker in Joe Louis Arena. Sitting quietly in his stall, clutching a bottle of champagne, he seemed content. Five years to the day after a limousine accident caused severe brain trauma and the end of his career, the former Red Wings defenseman can stand upright, move forward with a walker and stop when people approach him to chat or shake hands. After the Wings won the Cup on Thursday night, Konstantinov, with help, held the Cup aloft while seated in a wheelchair on the ice. Everybody loves a paradeDetroit Red Wings fans will celebrate the team's third Stanley Cup since 1997 with a parade Monday down Woodward Avenue, the main north-south thoroughfare in Motown. The parade will end up at Hart Plaza, the site of previous citywide celebrations, including Detroit's tricentennial a year ago. "The Red Wings are the pride of Detroit," Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said. "We want to honor the team for its championship spirit. Hockeytown is painted red today." Jiri in and Jiri outJiri Slegr spent most of the season with the lowly Atlanta Thrashers and most of the playoffs in street clothes. No matter. The defenseman will have his name etched on the Stanley Cup. Slegr suited up for Detroit's Game 5 win Thursday in place of defenseman Jiri Fischer, who was forced to sit out because of a one-game suspension he picked up for cross-checking Carolina forward Tommy Westlund during Game 4. Slegr, an eight-year veteran acquired in a deadline deal with Atlanta, had not played during the playoffs after a fallout with coach Scotty Bowman. "It's a dream come true to have my name on the Cup," Slegr said. "I was ready to play, but my time didn't come until tonight." Stevie YWhen the Detroit Red Wings -- a team assembled for the sole purpose of winning the Stanley Cup -- lost the first two games of their opening round series with Vancouver, Steve Yzerman led his team back. A spirited locker room pep talk after a 5-2 loss in Game 2 and some inspired play by a man known in Hockeytown simply as "The Captain" propelled Detroit to win the series in six games. Skating on a ravaged right knee that will require offseason surgery, the 37-year-old led the Wings to their third title in six years. "It's tough to measure what he means to our team because he means so much on the ice," Kirk Maltby said. "He's always in the right place, and he always makes the right play. "Off the ice, he leads by example, unless something needs to be said, then he'll say something." Yzerman, who starred for Canada's goal medal-winning team at the Salt Lake City Olympics and sat out stretches of the second half of the regular season because of the injury, has surpassed the number won by many of his superstar peers, notably Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic and Scott Stevens. Yzerman, who finished second in overall playoff scoring to Colorado's Peter Forsberg, assisted on Brendan Shanahan's second-period goal in Game 5. Let 'em goMuch has been made of Detroit's efforts in the offseason to construct a Cup winner through trades and free agent signings. Carolina coach Paul Maurice said he didn't mind that the Wings snapped up Dominik Hasek, Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull. "I was really happy because none of those guys were coming to the Eastern Conference," Maurice said. 'But you knew why they built this team in the manner in which they did. But we didn't spend a whole lot of time. "We were always looking at guys that were coming east instead of guys going west." Detroit's $64 million payroll is double that of the Hurricanes. One-timers: The last time Detroit had to play more than four games to win the Cup was in 1955, when the Red Wings beat Montreal in seven games. Detroit's finals wins in 1997 and 1998 were sweeps of Philadelphia and Washington. ... Carolina entered Thursday night's game 1-for-21 on the power play in the finals. The Hurricanes finally scored with a man advantage on Jeff O'Neill's goal at the end of the second period. ... Of the 19 Red Wings who played in Game 1, only five had never played in a finals game: Steve Duchesne, Jiri Fischer, Fredrik Olausson, Boyd Devereaux and Pavel Datsyuk. ... Thursday was the fifth anniversary of the limousine accident that left Detroit defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov with severe brain trauma and ended his career as a player. ... Chris Chelios became the first player since Wayne Gretzky in 1984-85 to lead the league in plus/minus in the regular season and the playoffs. Chelios was plus-40 during the regular season and plus-15 in the playoffs. |
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