Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Hasek may soon hoist Cup
The Associated Press
DETROIT — Everything is going Dominik Hasek's way, with the Detroit Red Wings in control of the Stanley Cup finals and the cup so close he can almost feel it in his arms.
So nothing was going to upset his mind-set or his routine, the luck he feels going his way and the moment that soon could be his.
So when Hasek walked into a room filled with reporters and saw a stage and a microphone Tuesday, he shook his head and said, “No” — the same word he's been telling the Carolina Hurricanes for most of the series.
Hasek talked, but not in such a formal setting. To him, sitting on a stage and answering questions should be reserved for only one moment at this time of year, winning the Stanley Cup, and he wasn't about to push his luck.
“I am sort of superstitious,” Hasek said Tuesday, the first of consecutive off days before the Red Wings go for the Cup in Game 5 Thursday night. “I said this year, I will go on the stage — but not in the playoffs.”
Hasek might want to prepare himself because center stage at the Stanley Cup finals may belong to him very soon.
The goalie who has never won the cup but was seen as the one player the Red Wings needed to win it, Hasek is within one victory of lifting the one major prize in hockey he has never claimed.
He has an Olympic gold medal and enough individual awards that he would seem to be a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Yet, just like Ray Bourque a year ago, his portfolio will not be complete unless he wins a championship.
“The goal right from the beginning was to win the Cup,” said the 37-year-old Hasek, who asked the Buffalo Sabres to trade him after last season. “I believed this team, with my help, was good enough to be the best in the NHL. ... So my only goal was to win the Cup, because I believed this team was good enough to win it.”
If the way he played in Detroit's 3-0 victory in Game 4 on Monday night is an indicator, he is obsessed with winning it.
Hasek ranged far from the net to push passes up the ice — one set up the pivotal goal of the game, by Brett Hull — and to knock the puck off the stick of Carolina's Erik Cole on a breakaway. That play probably was the biggest gamble so far by any goalie in this season's playoffs.
Yes, there was luck, too, such as when Ron Francis' one-timer missed an open net, skittered along the goal line and deflected off the opposite post on a turning-point play that kept Detroit in the lead.
“Those are the things he can do, steal saves.” Brendan Shanahan said Tuesday. “From playing against him over the years, he has an incredible presence. It's not too often when you have a meeting about the other team, and the first guy you start talking about is the goaltender.”
That sounds like the meeting the Hurricanes had Tuesday as they tried to figure out how to get to the goalie who shut them out for 127-plus minutes over two games.
The Hurricanes don't have a goal since Jeff O'Neill scored in the third period of their 3-2, three-overtime loss in Game 3, and they have only three goals in the last 12 periods.
“It's been tough,” Cole said. “Hasek is out of his net quite a bit to play the puck ... he's out there throwing picks and moving the puck along. But it's part of the game, and we've got to find a way to fight through it.”
Clearly, to keep from losing Game 5 and the series before what certainly will be a revved-up, ready-to-celebrate-the-Cup crowd in Joe Louis Arena, the Hurricanes must find a way to get the puck past Hasek. They have gone into the third period of each of the first four games with a chance to win, yet have done so only once.
“We just have to go to Detroit and really play the best game of the series,” defenseman Glen Wesley said. “And if we don't, obviously we're going to be coming back.”
And he didn't mean with the Stanley Cup, either.
Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman and Hasek said the Red Wings want to wrap up the finals now, and not risk going back to Carolina for a Game 6 Saturday that could lead to a win-or-else Game 7.
“No doubt we want to close it out,” Hasek said. “We want to finish it here, and we want to do anything we can to win.”
Notes: Detroit was 3-for-3 in possible elimination games in the first three rounds. ... Carolina practiced at home Tuesday and will do so again Wednesday before flying to Detroit. ... The Red Wings will be without defenseman Jiri Fischer in Game 5. He was suspended for cross-checking Carolina forward Tommy Westlund in the mouth Monday night. Fischer usually plays alongside defenseman Chris Chelios.
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Hasek may soon hoist Cup
