STORM BLITZ ISSUE #45 Thursday 12 June 1997 If you have any comments on Storm Blitz, please feel free to e-mail into.the.storm@poboxes.com any time. --------------------------------------------------- In this issue : * Two Swedes for Storm * Red Wings win Stanley Cup 4-0 * Steelers have money problems * Sebastian leaves Storm * Swindon Ice Lords in doubt * Download back issues of Storm Blitz * How to unsubscribe to Storm Blitz --------------------------------------------------- > TWO SWEDES FOR STORM As reported here last week, Stefan Ketola has signed for Storm and has been joined by another Swede, Mikael Viklander. Viklander has played at Brynes and Timendorf (Germany) with Stefan Ketola and also in the Swedish Elite League. Stefan Ketola is described as "The Eric Cantona of ice hockey". So, prepare for "Ooh Aah Stefan Ke-tolaaaaa"?? > RED WINGS WIN STANLEY CUP 4-0 Detroit Red Wings are the Stanley Cup winners defeating the Flyers 2-1 to win the series 4-0. Conn Smythe Trophy winner Mike Vernon came within 15 seconds of his second playoff shutout and Nicklas Lidstrom and Darren McCarty scored their first goals of the series for the Red Wings, who ended hockey's longest current championship drought with their first title since 1955. "We finally got it and to win at home is unbelievable," said the Red Wings' Steve Yzerman, whose continuous tenure as a team captain is currently the longest in the NHL. It was the seventh Stanley Cup title for Scotty Bowman, who became the first coach to win the Cup with three different organizations. He captured five championships with Montreal (1973, 1976-79) and one with Pittsburgh (1992). It was the third consecutive Finals sweep, only the second time in history that has happened. The Wings were swept in the Finals two years ago by New Jersey and were eliminated by eventual champion Colorado in the Western Conference Finals after recording the most regular-season wins (62) in league history last season. Those two series were not lost on Bowman. "I feel real good about this one because it's been such a long time since the Red Wings won the Cup," said Bowman. "Experience of the last two years obviously was huge. I think our team was more prepared to play against different teams. I think it was 13 players tonight that really went through some big agony the last two years, but that is a step sometimes you have to take." Bowman even laced on the skates to carry the Cup around the ice for the first time. "I always wanted to be a player in the NHL and skate with the Cup," said Bowman. "How many chances you get? I said, 'If we win, I will go for it.' ... I have always dreamt about doing it, like a player. But I couldn't play." The capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena spent much of the third period celebrating after Detroit had built a two-goal cushion. It was quieted momentarily when Eric Lindros scored off a rebound with 15 seconds remaining, but erupted as time ran out. The Red Wings mobbed Vernon after he was announced as the most valuable player in the playoffs. Vernon, a backup to Chris Osgood during the regular season, made 26 saves in the series clincher. Vernon started all 20 playoff games, allowed two goals or less 16 times, surrendered just 12 goals in 10 home games and -- unlike Philadelphia's goaltenders -- came up with big saves whenever the Red Wings needed them. Vernon became the fifth goaltender to win Stanley Cups with two different teams. He claimed his first in 1989 with the Calgary Flames and his 1.76 goals-against average in this year's playoffs was the lowest in postseason history. Philadelphia never came up with an answer for the Red Wings' impressive speed and smothering defense and was swept in the Finals for the second time in franchise history. Ron Hextall made 26 saves but gave up yet another easy blue-line goal. "We have got a lot to learn from these four games," said Flyers coach Terry Murray. "I think it has been a tremendous experience for our hockey club, for our young guys, for all of us, for me -- my first time here. There has been mistakes that have been made. But you do have to get a taste of it. Once things are over, the easiest thing in the world to do is second-guess." Philadelphia may have played its best period of the series in the first, but still trailed, 1-0. Standing at the blue line, Lidstrom one-timed a pass from Kirk Maltby between the pads of a startled Hextall with 32 seconds left in the period. Detroit got an insurance goal late in the second on a sensational move by McCarty, known more for his muscle than finesse. He took an outlet pass from Tomas Sandstrom and skated in 1-on-1 against Janne Niinimaa, one of the Flyers' best defensemen in the series. McCarty deked around the rookie, went from his backhand to forehand to draw Hextall to the ice and easily tapped the puck in with 6:58 left in the period for his third playoff goal. Detroit Red Wings 2, Philadelphia Flyers 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- PHILADELPHIA 0 0 1 1 DETROIT 1 1 0 2 FIRST PERIOD -- SCORING: 1, Detroit, Lidstrom 2 (Maltby), 19:27. PENALTIES: LeClair, Phi (holding), 3:23; Larionov, Det (Obstr interference), 4:31; Lindros, Phi (Obstr interference), 9:22; Falloon, Phi (holding stick), 13:21. SECOND PERIOD -- SCORING: 2, Detroit, McCarty 3 (Sandstrom,Yzerman), 13:02. PENALTIES: Konstantinov, Det (Obstr interference), 9:27. THIRD PERIOD -- SCORING: 3, Philadelphia, Lindros 12 (Desjardins), 19:45. PENALTIES: Samuelsson, Phi (high sticking), 1:32; Podein, Phi (high sticking), 11:54; Draper, Det (slashing), 14:39. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- PHILADELPHIA 8 12 7 27 DETROIT 9 10 9 28 POWER PLAY: Phi - 0 of 3, Det - 0 of 5. GOALIES: Philadelphia, Hextall (28 shots, 26 saves; record: 4-3-0). Detroit, Vernon (27, 26; record: 16-4-0). Referee: B McCreary. Linesmen: Bonney, Broseker. Attendance: 19,983 > STEELERS HAVE MONEY PROBLEMS The Sheffield Star reports that Sheffield Steelers lost around 120,000 pounds last season and so are unable to offer players decent contracts next season. Steelers want the Sheffield Arena to help them out by bringing the rent down. > SEBASTIAN LEAVES STORM Rumour has it that Jeff Sebastian has left Storm and has signed for Nottingham Panthers. It is also reported that ex-Storm favourite, Shawn Byram, is set to sign for Basingstoke Bison. > SWINDON ICE LORDS IN DOUBT The Swindon Evening Advertiser reported on Sat 7 June that Swindon Ice Lords have folded, throwing a huge question mark over the future of senior ice hockey in the town. The shock announcement, which will be a massive dissapointment to the sport's growing following in Swindon, was made last night by the Ice Lords board. It comes just two weeks after the club were thrown a lifeline by the offer of financial support from Swindon-based Nationwide Building Society. They had pledged an undisclosed figure which was not enough to secure the main sponsorship, but was though to have saved the Ice Lords' immediate future. The Ice Lords board of directors have listed five reasons for the club folding. The board claims their was a lack of support from the local authority with the fee for using the Link rink rising by 400 per cent. The business community, with the exception of Nationwide, also gets a pasting for not comming up with the cash to back the most successful team ever at the Link. The media is blamed for running stories on the rival bid to run ice hockey in Swindon, claiming this was disruptive. The rival bid from Bob Thomas also comes under fire and the board blames the collapse on its own inability to secure funding. Since that was written, it is looking likely that Swindon WILL have an ice hockey team next season, although whether it will play in the Premier League or the English League is not clear. The team is likely to be called the Swindon Steamers. > DOWNLOAD BACK ISSUES OF STORM BLITZ All previous issues of Storm Blitz are still available. If you didn't get them, or want them again, you can now download them from the Internet individually, in bunches of 5 in a .zip file or all at once in a .zip file. There will soon be a Web page to access them all from but currently you can get them by entering the individual URLs : http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/blitz01.txt (replace 01 with the number that you wish to see). To get the groups of 5, go to http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/b01-05.zip (other files are b06-10.zip, b11-15.zip, etc up to b36-40) or you can download all of them from http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/ball.zip. When accessing the individual .txt files, you will be better off saving the Web page to your hard disk and then opening it in NOTEPAD as the Web browsers don't seem to word wrap .txt files. > HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE TO STORM BLITZ Easy! 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