9806110287
DETROIT FREE PRESS
980609
Tuesday, June 09, 1998
METRO FINAL
6D
MITCH ALBOM; NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA; JASON LA CANFORA;
HELENE ST. JAMES; DREW SHARP
Copyright (c) 1998, Detroit Free Press
HOW THEY PICK 'EM
MITCH ALBOM: It doesn't matter if the president is watching. It doesn't matter
if the vice president is watching. It doesn't matter if the secretary of
agriculture is watching. The Red Wings are on a mission, and no team from the
District of Columbia -- where ice melts, even in October -- will stop them.
Wings in 6.
NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA: When the Capitals won the Prince of Wales Trophy and
advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history,
they ended Washington's wait by parading the trophy proudly around their plane
and practice rink. The party hasn't ended, and by the time it does, this
series will be over. Like the Wings in 1995, the Caps are just happy to be
here. Wings in 5.
JASON LA CANFORA: Start counting the days; just nine to go before the Stanley
Cup comes home again. Steve Yzerman will hoist it to the rafters after Game 5
in Detroit. It might be coming back again next spring, too. Get used to this.
Washington will play hard, but the Capitals just don't match up well against a
team as deep as Detroit. Goalie Olaf Kolzig will steal one game, but any more
than that would be a stretch. He still might win the MVP award, but Yzerman
deserves it as much as any one. He'll have two trophies in the backseat of his
Porsche on June 18 -- the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe. Wings in 5.
HELENE ST. JAMES: What do the Wings have on the Caps? It would be easier to
list what they don't have: a bigger goalie. Chris Osgood hits Olaf Kolzig
somewhere around the latter's bellybutton, but hey, size isn't everything.
Maybe, just maybe, Kolzig can win a game for his mates and allow the Wings to
clinch at home. The Caps' other weapon -- and we're not talking stealth here
-- is Esa Tikkannen, one of the game's best and chattiest irritants. Other
than that, the Wings are deeper, faster, wiser, and they have more Russians.
Which always helps. Wings in 5.
DREW SHARP: The only chance Washington has of bringing the Stanley Cup to the
nation's capital would be an emergency congressional action to institute a
three-point shot. Chris Osgood, more effective against 90-inch shots than
90-footers, will stumble once again. But he'll pick himself up once again and
dazzle, just as he's done in each series. Wings in 5.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
HOCKEY;RED WINGS;PICK