The Prince George Citizen -Tuesday, June 2,1992 -11

Don Schaffer 562-2441 S p o r t s Sports Editor Local 517 Mario super as Penguins sweep

L e m ie u x Shootout n a m e d strategy S m y t h e backfires CHICAGO (AP) — The Chi­ cago Blackhawks tried to do their w in n e r best imitation of the Pittsburgh by CHRIS CARIOU Penguins. Canadian Press It turned out to be a poor sec­ CHICAGO — His fans and the ond. news media call him Super Mario. “ I f they want to play us like His teammates call him Ace. that, we’re going to score more Now, mostly because of Mario goals than them running and gun­ Lemieux, some are calling the ning any night of the week,” said Pittsburgh Penguins a dynasty Pittsburgh goaltender Tom Bar- waiting to happen after they rasso after a thrill-p.-minute 6-5 swiped a second consecutive Stan­ victory Monday night that clinched ley Cup. the second straight Stanley Cup for the Penguins. “ They played a little Lemieux was stopped on three more desperately, but we felt con­ or four breakaways but scored a fident.” goal and two assists as the Pen­ The Blackhawks had had little guins beat the Chicago Black­ success with the Pengyins in tight- hawks 6-5 Monday night to sweep checking games earlier in the ser­ the best-of-seven N H L champion­ ies — losing 3-1 in Game 2 and ship series. 1-0 in Game 3. No. won the Conn Smythe 66 Monday night, they decided to Trophy as the most valuable player open up their offence and go for of the playoffs for a second broke. straight year, and claimed the post­ season scoring title despite missing It worked to a certain extent against the Penguins, who led the six games. N H L in goals during the regular He suffered a broken hand season and the playoffs. against the New York Rangers, butNHL president John Ziegler hands Pittsburgh captain Mario Lemieux the Stanley Cup after the Penguins beat Chicago 6-5 Monday. The Blackhawks, who had come persevered. into the final with the best defen­ As a team, there was no stop­ally exciting for everyone in­first three. On their last breth, theChicago’s Jeremy Roenick, withChicago’s hopes after coming into volved.” Blackhawks opened up offensively his first two points of the series, the series with11 straight victo­ sive record in the playoffs, ping the Penguins after they over­ matched the Penguins goal for The Penguins arc the first team and dared the Penguins to show scored twice for the Blackhawks, ries. came a 3-1 series deficit to elim i­ goal — until the final period when to repeat as champions since thetheir stuff. who last won the Stanley Cup in “ You can’t afford to give up a nate the Wasnington Capitals in Larry Murphy and Ron Francis put Edmonton Oilers won it all in They did, with Chicago goal­ 1961. game at all in the Stanley Cup the first round. Pittsburgh ahead for good. 1987 and 1988. And they did ittender Ed Belfour’s help. He let inChicago coach Mike Keenan playoffs.” Last autumn, they endured the “ They went to the well and with a flurry, tying a league record goals by Jaromir Jagr and Kevin was solemnly gracious in defeat, loss of beloved coach Bob John­ In other Stanley Cup trivia; gave it everything they had,” Chi­ with 11 straight playoff victories. Stevens on Pittsburgh’s first fourbut said the four-game sweep son, who died during the season cago coach Mike Keenan said of shots and was yanked in favor ofdidn’t reflect the true nature of the■ Pittsburgh’s Bryan Trottier be­ following brain surgery, and they The Blackhawks had set the his team. “ We just have to be re­ Dominik Hasek. series. came the 12th player in N H L his­ struggled under rumors o f thestandard before their dump, chase spectful of the ability of the Pen­ team’s sale. Scotty Bowman, whoand slam attack was rendered Coming o ff a 1-0 loss, the “ They have a collection of coretory to win six Stanley Cups. guins. was moved from the front office tocompletely ineffective against Hawks the needed scoring and theyplayers that make a difference,” ■ A ring from the silver body of “ They have great players and replace Johnson as head coach, Penguins. got three goals in the first fromhe said. “ Once they win the Cup the Stanley Cup w ill be placed inthey played extremely well as a was a difficult adjustment. ‘ ‘I think we showed character,” gritty captain Dirk Graham. His once, they’re hungry for it on a re­ the Hockey Hall of Fame and team.” a But as Lemieux always says said — Lemieux, calm and measured first two were sandwiched around peated basis. new ring inserted to bear theThe Blackhawks’ different style and certainly as he and the Pen­as usual despite the occasion. Stevens’s ‘ ‘I in a 30-second span, a “ They have a combination ofnames of the 1992 winners; thewas a bit of a surprise to Penguins guins have proved in the last twothink we had a lot of confidence championship series record for youth, experience and great talent,ring being removed had 237 names coach Scotty Bowman. years — talent wins in the end. we could win the Cup again. fastest three goals. and the they have the moston it from the 13 teams that won “ There were so many good talented and best player in the “ It’s the greatest feeling in the“ We certainly have a lot of The period ended 3-3 and the the cup from 192840. chances (in the first period) and world,” said the greatest player talent, in a lot of young guys that aresellout Stadium crowd of 18,472 game right now plus excellent the goalies couldn’t do much,” he the world. ‘ ‘We’ve been playing in their prime and want to win buzzed with anticipation, but Rick goal tending.” ■ It was the 99th time the Cupsaid. “ They were going to the net. all our lives to have a chance Stanley to Cups. We certainly have Tocchet, a Larry Muiphy and Ron Keenan said losing Game 1 byhad a been won and the first time an“ They changed their game plan get there. good chance at it.” Francis, with the winner, showed 5 4 score — the Hawks led 4-1 N at H L game had been played completely in and we had to get onto ‘ ‘When it finally comes, it’s re­ Game 4 was unlike any of thePittsburgh’s scoring depth. one point — was a harsh blow toJune. i t ” RAIN DELAYS FRENCH OPEN D evo unveils hom er pow er

M INNEAPOLIS (AP) — Home runs are all get beat Tonight, we made the mistake and gotTop women on form alike to Devon White. M o r e b aseb all, page 20 beat” PARIS (AP) — Jolted by losing sets for the first time in the tour­ Righty or lefty, over-the-wall or inside-the- Duane Ward (3-2) pitched two innings and nament, Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini stormed back against park, leading o ff the first or breaking a tie in“ Getting it in the first at-bat is nice,” Gaston allowed one hit and Tom Henke gave up a hittough opponents today to advance to the semifinals of the French the 10th. They all count the same. said. “ But that just means you’re one run up.”in one inning for his ninth save. Open tennis championships. White hit two homers Monday night — one White took care of that, too. With the scoreTrailing 1-0 in the second after White’s first Sabatini, seeded third, seemed on the brink of defeat after drop­ batting righty, which went over the wall to lead3-3 since the sixth inning, he came up with onehomer, Kent Hrbek answered with a 428-foot ping the first set to Spain’s Conchita Martinez and trailing 0-3 in o ff the game, and the other batting lefty, whichout in the 10th and bounced a line drive pastshot into the second deck in right-centre. Chili the second. Suddenly, the seventh-seeded Martinez folded and stayed inside-the-park and broke a lOth-inning diving left fielder Shane Mack and over centreDavis and Pedro Munoz followed with singles Sabatini won nine straight games en route to a 3 -6 ,6 -3 ,6 -2 victory. tie — as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minne­fielder Kirby Puckett. and, one out later, Jeff Reboulet walked to load Graf, a two-time French Open champion and the second seed, sota Twins 5-3 in a matchup of baseball’s Mack confessed to misplaying the ball, goingthe bases. Mack followed with a looping two- battled past Natalia Zvereva of Belarus 6-3, 6-7 (7 4 ), 6-3. run single in front of Carter in right field to American League division leaders. all out when he should have kept it in front of “ I needed to have a tough, close match,” Graf said. make it 3-1. “ That’s what makes a good team,” saidhim on the crazy pinball surface at the Metro- In other quarter-finals, Monica Seles, the top seed, was to play White, who’s known to his teammates as Devo. Meanwhile, Twins starter John Smiley retired dome. The miscue made a loser of Carl W illis No. 5 Jennifer Capriati; and No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was eight straight and 12 of 13 before Roberto Alo­ “ Coming up with new ways to score.” ( 1-2), who also gave up an insurance run on paired with unseeded Manon Bollegraf of the Netherlands. How­ mar’s one-out single in the sixth. Carter fol­ Several of the ideas on that topic have comeJoe Carter’s single and Dave W infield’s RBI ever, rain began as Sabatini completed her victory, delaying the lowed with his10 th home run to tie it. from White. double. start of the next matches. Despite not getting a decision, it was Smi­ It was the third time in his career he has“ White’s hit just found a big hole,” said “ The court was a little bit dangerous,” Sabatini said. “ It was ley’s second consecutive strong start. After run­ homered from each side of the plate and heW illis, is who had retired all six batters he faced very slippery.” ning up a 5.68 ERA in his first nine starts, he the 56th player in A L history to accomplish theto that point. “ Unfortunately, with the turf, it Graf hopes to regain the title from Seles, the two-time defending allowed one run Wednesday against the feat. took the big hop. champion, and also atone for a humiliating 6 -0 ,6 -2 loss to Sanchez White, who has five homers this season, has“ Ninety per cent of the time, that’s a double. Yankees, and Monday he gave up three runs on five hits, a walk and four strikeouts in seven in­Vicario in last year’s semifinals. also opened a game with a home run sevenOnce it got by, I knew with Devo’s speed it Zvereva, a finalist in 1988, has lost all nine of her matches with times. nings. wouldn’t be a good outcome.” Graf. This was only the second time she had extended the German Dave Stieb, coming back from back surgery, So, everything carefully considered, doesThe victory in Toronto’s first visit to the to three sets. White like to hit them early, to give his team a scattered seven hits in seven innings, allowing Metrodome since last year’s A L playoffs was Top-seeded Jim Courier of the United States was scheduled to boost, or late, when the game’s on the line? the Blue Jays’ fourth in a row and snapped three walks and two strikeouts. It was his sixth consecutive start of seven or more innings. face hard-serving Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia in the opening men’s “ You always want to score first, and con­Minnesota’s four-game winning streak. quarter-final today. Third-seeded Pete Sampras was to follow tinue to do so,” White said. * “ It’s just like last year,” Twins manager against 1 lth-seeded Andre Agassi in an all-American showdown. His manager, Cito Gaston, was equally am­Tom Kelly said. “ Whenever we play the BlueThe Jays visit Minnesota at 5 this after­ Despite the seedings, Sampras believes Agassi is the favorite. bivalent Jays, whoever makes the mistake is goingnoon to on TSN (cable 16). “ The fact that I ’m in the quarter-finals — I don’t think to many people expected me to be here,” said Sampras, a hard-court spe­ cialist, after beating Carl-Uwe Steeb of Germany 6 4 , 6-3, 6-2 Martinez pitches well again for Montreal Monday. * HOUSTON (AP) — Dennis Martinez likes tohis 11 starts this season, including twoond baseman Craig Biggio said. “ He keeps you Coverage begins at 6 a.m. Wednesday on TSN (cable 16). finish what he starts and dislikes letting complete the games. “ I don’t want to go out andoff-balance all the time. bullpen finish his work. pitch five or six innings. “ He’s a quality starter.” The Montreal Expos ace went the distance “ The way I approach the game is I want toDarryl Kile (2-6) allowed three runs and four again Monday night, allowing only four hits in pitch nine innings every time out I f you comehits in five innings, walked four and struck out a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros. out after five or six innings, you can get in thetwo. CASH in a FLASH He struck out a season-high eight and walked habit of doing that.” Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the Uso your boats, cats, tools.' only one as Montreal improved to 5-5 underMartinez retired the final seven after Alou third after loading the bases on singles by SpikeCancer can snowmobiles: trucks, new manager Felipe Alou. advised him that he was coming out. Owen and Martinez and a walk to Marquis equipment or wtint have you 'c “ He’s a different bird,” Alou said of Mar­ “ I was very happy to see him let me keep tinez. “ I don’t understand him. Grissom. K ile then walked Delino DeShields, pitching,” Martinez said. “ I felt very good.” forcing in a run, and Stairs hit a sacrifice fly. SHORTTERM MONEY! “ He’s one of the guys who always wants to be beaten. Rookie Matt Stairs of Stanley, N .B ., drove in For cash lociay call: pitch nine innings and give the bullpen a rest I Montreal made it 3-1 in the fifth when Gris­ three runs for the Expos. went out in the seventh inning and told him som doubled, took third on DeShields’s sacri­ Please support our (Astros catcher Eddie Taubensee) would be hisAstros manager Art Howe said Martinez wasfice and scored on Stairs’s double. April campaign 564-2214 tougher than he was in Olympic Stadium. last hitter. And he pitched two innings after Montreal sewed three times in the sixth when NORTHERN that He came in after getting Taubensee “ out He had better velocity and his breaking Dairen ball Reed singled, Owen tripled, Xavier Her­ C A N A C U N I s o c r r t looked sharper,” Howe said. grass? and said he felt fine.” nandez’s threw a wild pitch, Grissom and De- LIQUIDATORS “ That’s just the way I am,” said Martinez, “ He’s a tough pitcher because he neverShields walked and Stairs sinled. Bret Barberie who has gone seven or more innings in eightpitches of a guy the same way twice,” Astros added sec­ a sacrifice fly in the ninth. 1755 - 1st Avo. Prtnco Goorr.o Supported by the Prince George Citizen V2L2Y8

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