Press Box
THE PASS to the defenseman was perfect and he wound up and blasted a shot past one of the best goalies in the world. Hard to beat excitement
of hockey in OTEnd of game. End of series. And for one team, end of season.
Darius Kasparaitis of the Pittsburgh Penguins was the veteran enforcer who scored on Buffalo's Dominik Hasek in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on May 10 -- in sudden-death overtime.
Here was a player who had only scored one other goal in 55 career playoff games, but with one shot he achieved instant folk-hero status.
The scene that followed Kasparaitis' series-ending goal was enough to cause goose bumps.
The man known as one of the most intimidating hitters in the National Hockey League was so excited by his goal that he took off toward center ice jumping up and down, then did a head-first dive across the ice on his stomach as his teammates piled on top of him in celebration --all the while with a huge, goofy grin on his face.
There's nothing like overtime Stanley Cup playoff hockey.
Unlike the overtimes in other sports, you simply cannot afford to take your eyes away from the action on the ice for a single moment. It only takes seconds for the decisive goal to be scored. In one of this spring's near-record 25 overtime playoff games that I was watching recently, I looked away for no more than half a minute, and when I looked back I saw a major pile-up of players celebrating. In that brief moment, I had missed the ultimate play.
The action moves so quickly in hockey. The puck changes ends in a matter of seconds. One rush down ice is all it takes. One bad pass in the defensive zone, one fumbled puck at center ice, one misplayed rebound by a goalie, a quick slap shot and it's all over.
And it gets even better when it happens in the decisive game of a series. Some of the most memorable moments in recent NHL history have involved series-ending OT goals.
David Volek scored in OT of Game 7 against the Penguins in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1993 to lift the New York Islanders to a stunning upset of the two-time defending champions who had won a record 16 straight games during the regular season. Uwe Krupp ended a magnificently played Game 4 of the 1996 Cup finals against Florida with the contest's only goal in the third OT to give Colorado its first title. Brett Hull scored a controversial goal in triple OT of Game 6 in 1999 against Hasek and Buffalo to give Dallas its first championship.
And, on May 10, a most unlikely defenseman joined the list of overtime heroes.
Maybe someone else will join the group before these Stanley Cup playoffs are finished.
BESIDES THE EXCITEMENT of OT, two other reasons make playoff hockey great.
One is that the teams are playing for the coolest trophy in North America -- the Stanley Cup. It dates back to the 19th century, and stories about how teams have celebrated with the Cup have become legendary.
Finally, after beating each other up and knocking each other around for an entire series, the two hockey teams do a rather remarkable thing after the final seconds of the last game have ticked away.
They line up and shake hands.
Tim Crouse can be reached at tcrouse@starbulletin.com.