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From the Locker Rooms Hard to tell Devils and Stars apart ... on and off ice
Posted: Friday June 09, 2000 07:57 PM
By Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Long after midnight had come and gone, 116 minutes of hockey from the drop of the evening's first puck, Game 5 finally came to a close. At last the Stars got a shot past the seemingly impermeable Martin Brodeur. The instant the puck glanced off Mike Modano's stick and ricocheted between Brodeur's weary legs, all of the glorious stomach-churning tension that had sustained the crowd abruptly left the arena. The Stars and this Stanley Cup final had life. The Devils' loyalists, who had spent much of the night clamoring for the Cup, filed solemnly out of the building. There were young, unshaven men disgruntled at having been without beer for hours. There were children asleep in parents' arms. There were couples departing hand in hand, heading out toward suburban homes and babysitters asleep on the couch. The players, too, moved slowly, and once in their locker rooms they peeled off their heavy, sweat-soaked uniforms and stood glassy-eyed before the cameras. "We still have a hill to climb," said Dallas forward Grant Marshall. "We still have two games we have to win." Said Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko: "We still have a 3-to-2 lead. We're not going to get down now."
In their ways and miens, the players on both teams were so similar. Exhaustion has a way of smoothing features, of rounding voices. Winners or losers, Stars or Devils, these men were first and foremost relieved to be at rest. They talked about the many missed opportunities in the 1-0 game. "Each team could have won the game many times," said Stars center Guy Carbonneau. They talked about their goalies. "I have never been in game where the goaltending was this good for this long," said the Devils' Jason Arnott. They talked about all the water and more water they drank between the overtime periods, and about how they tried to keep their equipment dry. Even Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock, always verbose and insightful, had a weariness about him. "It's hard to believe we just scored the goal," he said. A few moments later he added. "I have never seen players give so much as they are giving now." Soon they will have to give again: There will be less than 42 hours between the end of Game 5 and the beginning of Game 6. The Devils are younger and seem to be skating on fresher legs. The aging Stars will at least have the return of forward Jamie Langenbrunner, who missed this epic with an injured knee. Dallas also has a great and for now inexhaustible player in Modano. He was the difference on the ice in Game 5 and he was the exception to the post-game rules. He scored the game-winner on his 60th shift of the game, in his 44th minute of ice time. This just one day after his 30th birthday. After Modano scored he raised his hands in joy. Then as he came off the ice he stopped to talk to those television viewers who had stayed awake across the land. There was a sparkle in Modano's eyes as he spoke, and a smile that tugged irrepressibly at his lips. He was happy and he was relieved. Soon Modano would be in the locker room among his teammates. They too were relieved though they had a little less sparkle in their eyes and they were, to a man, thinking about getting to bed.
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