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Dramatic play No overtime, but emotion fills Cup finals
DENVER (AP) -- After consecutive Stanley Cup finals dominated by very long games -- remember Brett Hull's skate in the crease two years ago? -- they finally played a finals without any overtime. Except, of course, by those in the NHL drama department who thought all this up:
By then, his fans in Colorado and Boston were anxious -- and he was, too -- to see whether his 22-season career would wind down with his greatest victory or his most agonizing defeat. "I couldn't breathe the last 30 seconds, and it wasn't because I was tired," Bourque said of the Colorado Avalanche's 3-1 victory against the defending champion New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. "I was trying to hold back the tears, the emotion." He couldn't, of course, especially after the only 40-year-old to score a goal in the finals took the Cup on the victory lap of a lifetime. Maybe Bourque hasn't been the ambassador for the game that Wayne Gretzky was, or the most charismatic of stars, but on this night, everybody loved Raymond.
As it turns out, Bourque wasn't the only player on the ice who hadn't handled the Stanley Cup before. "I'd never seen, never touched it before," Tanguay said. And his impressions of it? "That thing is really heavy," he said.
Sure, Ray Bourque, this was your Cup, but it also was Avalanche coach Bob Hartley's, too. Asked how many of the 10,000 residents in his hometown of Hawkesbury, Ontario, would be watching Game 7, Hartley said: "Maybe only the newborns will not watch."
Colorado seemed ready to make a short series of it by winning 5-0 in Game 1, only to have New Jersey rebound for a dull but effective 2-1 victory in Game 2. Then, with Colorado nearly ready to take a 3-1 series lead, star goalie Patrick Roy wanders out of the net, gives up the tying goal and New Jersey goes on not just to win that game, but the next to lead the series 3-2. Then, before a noisy, pumped-up home crowd eager to celebrate New Jersey's second consecutive Cup, the Devils forget to show up for Game 6, lose 4-0 and go on to be outscored 7-1 in the final two games against the NHL's regular-season champions. The Devils were the second team in as many seasons to fail to defend the Cup -- they won it from Dallas a year ago -- but the first since the 1971 Chicago Blackhawks to squander a 3-2 series lead. "It's heartbreaking," Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said. "We gave it away. We just lost it." And, Roy, the antihero of Game 4? He bounced back to win a record third Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP.
Robinson attempts to use the parade as a motivator for his team. However, the remarks drift back to the Avalanche, who, while perhaps not all that riled up by them, take note and go on to score the first three goals in Game 7.
Even if the Devils had won, Vanbiesbrouck might not have had his name inscribed. Because goalie Martin Brodeur started a record 97 games, and Vanbiesbrouck didn't play in the finals, his name wouldn't have been on the Cup. "Unfortunately some guys don't get their name on it, and I'm one of those guys," he said. Now, the Avalanche and Devils have only a couple of months to get ready for the new season that opens with training camp in early September. The Avalanche are uncertain if Bourque will retire or if they can re-sign captain Joe Sakic and Roy. The Devils probably will re-sign restricted free-agent forward Petr Sykora, but could lose unrestricted free agent Alexander Mogilny. "Right now, Sept. 1 doesn't seem that far away," Colorado's Dave Reid said.
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