UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (07/18/99)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Matvichuk, Hrkac among shining Stars

There were nights during the 1999 playoffs when the Dallas Stars were Joe Nieuwendyk's team - and he has the Conn Smythe Trophy to prove it. There were other nights, like when the Stanley Cup was awarded after the second-longest game in the history of the final, when it was overtime hero Brett Hull's team.

Then there were nights when it was Mike Modano's or Ed Belfour's or Jere Lehtinen's or Pat Verbeek's or Derian Hatcher's or Guy Carbonneau's or Mike Keane's. Heck, there was even a night when it was Craig Ludwig's. One could make a case that on any given night, it belonged to coach Ken Hitchcock.

But as the Stars captured the organization's first Stanley Cup on Hull's goal at 14:51 of the third overtime period - with a thrilling 2-1 win and six-game series victory over the Buffalo Sabres at 1:30 a.m. EDT on June 20 - there was but one man with proprietary rights to this club.

The cup-winning Dallas Stars are Bob Gainey's team.

"Not only did Bob put the team together piece by piece," said Bobby Clarke, Gainey's close friend and GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, "the Stars play the way he did. They play hard and smart, they're as good without the puck as they are with it. There's a strength of character there. That's Bob's team, all right."

In 1999, finally, the man with five cup rings, a Conn Smythe Trophy and four Selke Trophies as the league's best defensive forward has a new label: architect of a champion.

Once a winner, always a winner - through it has been 13 long years since Gainey last won it all, as captain of the Montreal Canadians in 1986. Three years ago, his now cup-contending Stars lost in the opening round to the Edmonton Oilers. Last year, with Nieuwendyk going down with a knee injury just minutes into the first playoff game, the Stars fell victim to eventual champion Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference final. There were times when many wondered if the Stars were destined to be a championship team.

Bob Gainey was not one of them.

"I knew if we could get a full team on the ice we would have our chance (to win the cup)," Gainey said. "Last year, Joe (Nieuwendyk) was out, and this year we were able to add Brett. There weren't as many holes as there were in other years."

The Stars are champions - only the 14th time in NHL history the Cup was won in an overtime game - but never let it be said they made it look easy. Three of their four series wins came in overtime.

While they swept the Oilers in the first round, every game was a one-goal decision. They beat the St. Louis Blues in six games, but four of them went into overtime. And they fell behind 3-2 in the Western Conference final against the Colorado Avalanche before rallying for a seven-game victory.

Aainst the Sabres, it was more of the same. Close, taut, hardfought hockey. Old time. Rarely during the final- five minutes and five seconds in the 430 minutes and 39 seconds of the series, to be precise - was there more than one goal separating the teams. In fact, throughout the playoffs, the Stars played 89 percent of the time either tied or in a one-goal game either way. The Stars were like a contending boxer who won bout after bout without ever scoring a knockout.

The final was the best for the NHL since 1994, when the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. The Stars-Sabres series ended the ignominious streak of four straight Stanley Cup final sweeps.

The final was interesting, at times even compelling, because of its sheer intensity. The battles for the puck and space fairly raged; ultimately, it was a victory of grit over goals.

The Buffalo Sabres were valiant finalists.

Coach Lindy Ruff's playoff record as Sabres' coach stands at an impressive 24-12. The Sabres, throughout their playoff run that included victories over the Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, showed great resiliency, especially in their Game 4 victory and the Game 6 triple-overtime heartbreaker. "There was no quit in that Sabre team," Hitchcock said.

The Sabres' payroll of about $26 million is $20 million less than the Stars, who under owner Tom Hicks haven't hesitated to sign core free agents such as Hull, Belfour and Verbeek, not to mention veterans like Dave Reid and Shawn Chambers.

To suggest, though that the Stars are the best team money can buy would be an insult to Gainey, who patiently and steadfastly stuck with a program even through the dark days of recent playoff failures. Only one Star player - Modano, the NHL's No. 1 pick in 1988 - dated Gainey in the organization. Some, such as Hatcher, Ukrainian defenseman Richard Matvichuk and back-goal tender Roman Turek, were drafted when Bobby Clarke was the Stars GM and Gainey was the coach. But Gainey oversaw the drafts that netted Jamie Langenbrunner, Jere Lehtinen and Jon Sim, with many more fine young prospects on the way.

Gainey also realized when it was time for him to move on as coach. "I had run out of energy as a coach and the team had run out of energy with me as coach," he said of stepping down midway through the 1995-1996 season installed Hitchcock as coach. "We needed a change," he said.

Almost overnight that change gave the Stars an added dimension, and Hitchcock has emerged as one of the pre-eminent bench bosses in the game today.

Mind you, one of Gainey's strengths is his dogged determination to avoid change. He doesn't believe in renting players. He still clings to the notion of one player playing for one team, as outdated as that has become.

And he likes players who are capable of playing the game the way he played it: responsibly and at a high level when the chips are down. It was almost as if he were building a team in his own image, and though the Stars were lacking the ultimate success, he never really wavered.

"There are no guarantees, no matter what you do," Gainey said. "You chart your course and sail it. I think it's important to be consistent, be persistent and just believe in what you're doing. There's no magic recipe. You always just try to get a little better."

If that's so, then it was simply a matter of this being the right time for the Stars to succeed - as long as everyone knows it was no overnight success story.

"When I came to the organization (in 1991)," Ludwig said, "it was a .500 club, but I knew that was never going to be good enough for Bob.

"Bob has an aura about him and he doesn't even have to be present for you to feel it. His office window overlooks our practice rink and not a day goes by that we're not aware of him, whether he's looking out or the shades are drawn. There are no pom poms with Bob, but when he speaks, he's heard. It was like when he was a player. He wouldn't say much, but when he did, you stood and saluted. He has instilled in every guy on this team, in one way or another, what it is to win because he himself is a winner."

A Stanley Cup winner - again. A Stanley Cup architect - finally.

(Quotes courtesy of Bob McKenzie of The Hockey News. Thanks.)

Ukrainian player profiles: Stanley Cup winners

HRKAC, TONY: Born July 7, 1966, Thunder Bay, Ontario ... 5-11/185 ... Shoots left ... Full name: Anthony J. Hrkac ... College: North Dakota.

Transactions/career notes: Selected by St. Louis Blues as underage junior in second round (32nd over all) of NHL entry draft in 1989 ... Traded by Blues to Quebec Nordiques in 1989 ... Traded by Nordiques to San Jose in 1991 ... Traded by Sharks to Chicago Blackhawks in 1992 ... Signed as free agent by Blues in 1993 ... Signed as free agent by Dallas Stars in 1997 ... Claimed on waivers by Edmonton Oilers in 1998 ... Traded by Oilers to Pittsburgh Penguins in 1998 ... Selected by Nashville Predators in NHL expansion draft in 1998 ... Traded by Predators to Dallas in 1998.

Honors: Won Hobey Baker Memorial award (1986-1987) ... Won WCHA Most Valuable Player Award (1986-1987) ... Named to IHL All-Star first team (1992-1993).

MATVICHUK, RlCHARD: Born February 5, 1973 in Edmonton, Alberta ... 6-2/190 ... Shoots left ...

Transactions/career notes: Selected by Minnesota North Stars in first round (eighth over all) of 1991 NHL entry draft ... North Stars franchise moved from Minnesota to Dallas and renamed Stars for 1993-1994 season ... Tore knee ligaments and underwent knee surgery in September 1994 ... Tore anterior cruciate knee ligament in January of 1998.

Honors: Won Bill Hunter Trophy (1991-1992).

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