Stanley Cup Notebook
Scotty taking a toehold on history
Posted: Tuesday June 09, 1998 01:45 AM
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Bowman has won 190 playoff games -- and eight Stanley Cups -- in his 26-year career () |
DETROIT (AP) -- Scotty Bowman is one Stanley Cup away from tying Toe
Blake for the NHL record for coaches. Still, Bowman doesn't see himself in
a class with him.
"I look at it this way. He coached 13 years in the league and won eight
Stanley Cups," the Detroit coach said at a Monday news conference. "I don't
know if anybody can equal that, or even get close to it. So I don't think
there is any comparison [because] I have coached 20-something years."
The two go way back, and Bowman has a sentimental attachment to the Hall
of Fame coach.
"I was in Montreal coaching the juniors when he was coaching the
Canadiens," Bowman recalled. "I used to watch him in those days. We didn't
have the statistics we have today. [But] he always knew who was playing
well. He was one of the first coaches in the league to match up against the
opposition and he was a fierce competitor."
Bowman remembered Blake's humanity as well.
"He had a good way about the way he communicated with the players,"
Bowman said. "He always seemed to say the right thing. If a player was
having a tough time, he never tried to second-guess anybody."
Capitals crush
Times have changed for the Washington Capitals. Now
that they're in the Stanley Cup finals, they're skating to packed houses --
even at practice. Before leaving for Detroit to start the finals on Tuesday
night, the Capitals practiced before about 750 fans -- some 700 more than
usual.
"The city's really taken to us," goalie Olaf Kolzig said. "
Maybe this is the turning point for Capitals hockey."
Moon shot
Washington Capitals coach Ron Wilson is not beyond using way-out
analogies to motivate his players -- say, like outer space.
In the Capitals' series against the Buffalo Sabres, Wilson told
his players that getting to the Stanley Cup finals would be tantamount to
Neil Armstrong reaching the moon. Now that they're in the finals, what
would Wilson say to top that?
"We've got to get him back from the moon," Wilson quipped at a news
conference Monday.
Rooming with Ozzie
Detroit captain Steve Yzerman
admittedly wasn't happy when he found out he would be rooming with
goaltender Chris
Osgood for the playoffs. For one thing, he would be giving up a single
room.
But he got to like it after a while "because I got to know him," Yzerman
said. "We don't usually run in the same circles -- he's 26 and I'm 28."
The remark got some chuckles from the press. Yzerman is actually 33.
Goon or Gretsky
Summing up Dale
Hunter's 18-year career in the NHL can only be described as the good,
bad and ugly of hockey.
He was once suspended for about one-quarter of a season for a vicious
cross-check from behind on the New York Islanders' Pierre Turgeon in
a playoff game. He has also been called the heart and soul of the
Washington Capitals' drive to the Stanley Cup Finals this year.
Asked at Monday's news conference how he would like to be remembered,
Hunter laughed. Teammate Adam Oates, sitting on
the dais with Hunter, had just whispered something in his ear.
"Oatesy said, `goon,' " Hunter said. " 'I said, `Gretzky.' Hopefully
somewhere in between that, anyway."
Sweeping the media
Washington's Olaf Kolzig hasn't paid any attention to popular opinion
that the Red Wings will sweep the finals.
"You guys can write `sweep,' but we don't believe that," Kolzig said
Monday. "It's the media's job to create frenzy, it's our job to prove you
guys are wrong. If you start believing everything you read in the
newspapers, you're not going to succeed."
NEWS BLACKOUT
A reporter at the Stanley Cup Finals was walking around polling Detroit
players about Washington -- the city and the government, not the team.
"Who is the U.S. secretary of state?" he asked Red Wings forward Doug Brown.
Brown thought a while, then said, "I don't know."
"It's Madeleine Albright," the reporter said.
"Sorry -- we haven't been studying her in our game plan," Brown quipped.
Officials announced
Seven officials with a combined 10,753 NHL regular season and playoff
games experience will work the Stanley Cup finals.
Named to the officiating crew are referees Terry Gregson, Don Koharski
and Bill McCreary, and linesmen Gord Broseker, Kevin Collins, Ray
Scapinello and Dan Schachte.
Scapinello is the senior member of the group, having worked more games
than any official in NHL history. Appearing in his 17th career Stanley Cup
final, Scapinello has officiated 2,090 regular season games and 345 playoff
contests.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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