Day at a Glance: Behold, the Cup!
Fans in Dallas meet and greet Lord Stanley before Game 2
Posted: Thursday June 10, 1999 01:35 PM
By Denise Maloof, CNN/SI
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In the Crease
| | Sports Illustrated contributor Pierre McGuire
, a former coach of the Hartford Whalers, dissects strategy for
CNNSI.com throughout the Stanley Cup finals.
Game 1 was all Dominik
Hasek . He was not only strong in all phases of the game, he
was also his team's best penalty-killer. Anytime that you are forced
to kill 10 penalties, including two in OT, and win, you know the goalie
was special.
However, don't discount the way the Buffalo defense was led by
Jay McKee and
Alexei Zhitnik .
While they play with different partners, both men were a thorn in the
side of the Dallas attack. If the Sabres are to have follow up
success in Game 2 it will be imperative for them to continue the
attacking style they showed in the third period and in overtime. Winning
offensive-zone faceoffs and working on their cycle game are two main things
the Sabres must concentrate on. Along the way they better remember to
bring a little bit of self-discipline with them to Reunion Arena, because
putting Dallas on the power play that many times in one game is like
playing with fire.
The Stars hit a wall Tuesday because of Buffalo's penalty-killing
prowess. The Sabres use a passive forecheck when they are shorthanded, so
it will be important for the Stars to tinker with their power-play
breakout. Mike Modano
and Joe
Nieuwendyk are going to have to carry the puck more into the
offensive zone rather then shooting it in. Once the attacking zone is
established, the Stars need to get more people in front of Hasek. Pat Verbeek and Jamie Langenbrunner
need to camp out in front of the Dominator to limit his vision. Don't
be surprised to see Derian Hatcher get a
chance to play up front on the power play, if for no other reason
than to get a big presence in the slot area.
For 40 minutes in Game 1 the Stars were the superior team, but they
stopped attacking and went into a defensive shell in the third period.
In Game 2 the Stars need to get back to controlling the boards on the
forecheck, and get back to winning big faceoffs -- especially in their own
zone. Guy Carbonneau
will have to come up with a big face-off game.
| | | Heading
into Game 2 of the Cup finals, it's the tweeks that matter, not wholesale
reassembly. Game 1 allowed the Stars and Sabres to introduce themselves;
now the true battle begins. In this installment of the Day at a Glance, we
go off-ice for a brief history lesson, then stock up on last-minute,
off-day tidbits.
DALLAS -- Big D residents got a free Hockey Hall of Fame crash course
with their visit to the city's Museum of Art this week.
Resting in second-floor exhibit space normally reserved for ancient New
World artifacts, the Stanley Cup and a collection of 17 other trophies and
historical items reflected the glare of camcorders and TV lights for three
days. NHL officials reported that over 7,000 people waited in line for an
average of two hours Wednesday to glimpse the 106-year-old icon.
"I'm Cup crazy," said Hall of Fame employee Walter Neubrand , who,
along with his boss, Phil Pritchard , are its white-gloved
guardians.
He wasn't kidding. Neubrand flew a red-eye from Denver to Washington last
Saturday night to chaperon the Cup through its Sunday morning appearance on
"Meet the Press." Then he and the Cup arrived in Dallas on Sunday evening
to rejoin the rest of the exhibit, which departs Dallas on Thursday for
another three-day exhibit that begins June 13 at Buffalo's Walden Galleria.
"It's a thank-you to the fans for their support of these teams," said
Ken Chin , the NHL's director of special events.
It's also a chance to expose new Sunbelt fans to hockey history. The Cup
makes an annual pilgrimage to each season's four conference finalists
cities, and Chin said there's no comparison to last season's turnout in
Dallas; a final 1999 count of over 10,000 converts at the Dallas Museum of
Art wasn't unimaginable.
"They look at these trophies and say, 'There's Wayne Gretzky 's name;
there's Gordie Howe 's name,' " Chin said. "And there's the legacy
of the game right there."
It was for old friends Marianne Forrest and Etta Hawkes ,
who played hookey on Monday to view the Cup. The two host watching parties
for Stars games, complete with takeout and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and
seeing the Cup was almost as fun as postgame chocolate-caramel.
"We didn't touch it the other night during Game 7 [of the Western
Conference finals] until they won," Hawks said of the ice cream.
They didn't touch the Cup, either. Monday was a "no-touch day," according
to Neubrand, who confessed that those are rare; perhaps a respite from
never-ending contact. And Forrest and Hawkes weren't the only
hookey-playing Dallas-ites to peer at it over velvet-rope barriers.
Attorneys Paul Underkofler and John Rosenberg also
tiptoed out early Monday afternoon to join the exhibit crowd.
"I was looking at all these other trophies, and then I saw the Cup, and it
was like, 'Boing, that's where I need to be,'" Underkofler said.
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Storylines We're Following |
Ken Hitchcock vs. Lindy Ruff
Has anyone else
noticed that this was the All-Star Game coaching matchup? Is anyone
surprised? Ruff handled the World team while Hitchcock guided the North
Americans.
Stars' legs
They're older and perhaps more
susceptible to fatigue.
Michal Grosek
Ruff called the Buffalo defenseman
questionable for Game 2 (He banged up an already tender back in Game 1).
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| NHL's Three Stars
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| Each day throughout the Stanley Cup finals, we'll
take a look at three key individuals.
1. Stu Barnes .
Endured a horrible start after being traded from Pittsburgh, but showed his
Stanley Cup experience by scoring Buffalo's first Game 1 goal. 2.
Vaclav Varada .
Another great tongue-twister from the Buffalo roster. 3. Jamie
Langenbrunner . Needs to revive conference finals' offense for Stars'
sake.
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Bandwagon |
| Dan Craig |  | The NHL's ice consultant,
who has weathered heat, aged equipment, and -- at times -- myopic media
attention |
| Reunion
Arena traffic jams |  | What rotten timing for
construction around the building |
| Wimpy, white
towels | | It's Dallas -- where are
the cowbells? |
| No whining zone
| | Buffalo players
acknowledging, with a minimum of complaint, that their Game 1 penalty
epidemic was largely deserved |
| The Eagle's
nest | | He's done it all season,
but Dallas goalie Ed
Belfour continuing to spring for playoff seats for the Dallas-area
Make-A-Wish Foundation |
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