HOCKEY NEWS
05/22/98
Ftorek replaces
Lemaire as coach of Devils
Caps and Sabres meet
in goalie showdown
Ftorek replaces
Lemaire as coach of Devils
Robbie Ftorek, the New Jersey Devils' top assistant the past two years,
replaced Jacques Lemaire as coach Thursday. "There is no question in my
mind that Robbie is the right man for this responsibility," Devils
general manager Lou Lamoriello said at a news conference at the Continental
Airlines Arena. Ftorek, 46, has been the front-runner for the job since
Lemaire resigned May 8 after the Devils, who had the best regular-season
record in the Eastern Conference, were eliminated in the first round of
the playoffs by Ottawa. It was the second straight playoff embarrassment
for New Jersey, having lost in the second round to the New York Rangers
the previous season.
"I was hopeful," Ftorek said when asked if he expected
to get the job, "but certainly not expecting anything." Ftorek gave early
indications that the Devils would continue playing the neutral
zone trap that was the trademark of Lemaire's teams. "I believe in
Jacques' system, but there are small things that I believe in," Ftorek
said, noting he would like his team to be more aggressive in the defensive
zone. Lemaire, who took a job in the Devils' front office, left the choice
of his successor to
Lamoriello -- but let it be known that the hard-working Ftorek had
all the tools needed to be coach. "I would like to thank Jacques for all
the help he's given me," said Ftorek, who said he spoke with Lemaire before
the news conference. New Jersey won the Stanley Cup in 1995, the second
of Lemaire's five years with the team. But they missed the playoffs the
following year.
Ftorek coached many of the Devils' players during
his three seasons as the head coach at Albany of the AHL, New Jersey's
top farm team. He also has NHL head coaching experience, with a
little less than two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings in 1987-88
and 88-89, posting a 65-56-11 record in 132 games. Ftorek was the AHL's
coach of the year in 1994-95 and 1995-96. He led
Albany to the Calder Cup in 1994-95. Ftorek played for the 1972 U.S.
Olympic team before embarking on a 13-year career in the now-defunct WHA
and then in the NHL with Detroit, Quebec and the Rangers. The Needham,
Mass., native had 77 goals and 150 assists in the NHL. He was the MVP of
the WHA in 1977 when he had 46 goals and 71 assists for the Phoenix Roadrunners.
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Caps and Sabres meet
in goalie showdown
It's the goalie showdown of the year. Hasek vs. Kolzig. Dominator vs.
Godzilla. Gold medalist vs. rising star. Elastic body vs. standup giant.
In short, no one is betting on a goal-fest when the Buffalo Sabres and
Washington Capitals face off in Saturday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference
finals.
"It's probably going to be a low-scoring series,"
Buffalo defenseman Bob Boughner said. "And there are going to be some ugly
goals. You're not going to see too many pretty one-timers and that kind
of stuff. You're going to see some ugly bounces. Maybe that's the way we
have to win."
Buffalo's Dominik Hasek is riding the crest of an
incredible season , including an NHL-leading 13 shutouts and national hero
status in Prague after leading the Czech Republic to the Olympic title
in February. The favorite to win a fourth Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best
goalie and a second straight Hart Trophy as the league's MVP, he's posted
seven straight wins to get the Sabres to the conference finals for the
first time in 18 years.
Opponents simply can't decipher his scrambling form
and unbelievable reflexes.
"You look at Dominik Hasek," said Washington coach
Ron Wilson,
who was frustrated by the Czech goalie as coach of the U.S. team in
Nagano, Japan, "And you say, 'My God, he doesn't have a style. He's so
lucky.' You're not lucky for five years."
Olaf Kolzig can't match Hasek's hardware, but he
already has three shutouts in the playoffs and hasn't allowed a goal in
149:06. The goalie in the Godzilla mask leads Hasek in save percentage
(.951 to .943) and goals-against average (1.66 to 2.00) in the postseason,
and he confesses to a boring style in which he simply gets his 6-foot-3,
225-pound body in the way of the puck.
"Olaf Kolzig has been great in the playoffs," Hasek
said. "I know if I don't play well, we cannot beat the Capitals. I think
I have to play better than Olaf if we want to beat the Capitals."
The teams have had a week to prepare for each other,
to find some weakness in the other's hot goalie. So far, the not-so-secret
strategies have centered on two themes: traffic jams and psychology.
The traffic jams will be in front of the nets, where
both teams will try to keep a crowd of people in hopes of getting a garbage
goal or two. That could especially happen with a man advantage: Buffalo
has the top power play in the playoffs, while Washington is second.
"Being there means that if you're there, someone
else has got to be there covering you," said Capitals left wing Brian Bellows,
who has made much of his living by camping near the crease and tapping
in deflections and rebounds.
"That means there's two guys in front of the goalie,
and you can battle for the deflections, you can battle for rebounds, and
that kind of gives Joe Juneau and Adam Oates a little bit more room on
the perimeter. Of course, I'm sure they're sitting in their dressing room
thinking, 'Boy, we'd better get traffic in front of Kolzig or we're not
going to beat them. It's the same kind of thing."
The psychological part involves players stating
publicly over and over that they're not concerned about the other goalie
-- because theirs is so good.
"We shouldn't have to worry about their guy," Boughner
said, "because they're worrying like crazy about our guy."
"Our goaltender's playing as good or better than
Hasek right now," Bellows said. "So Buffalo's going to have to face that
fact that they're playing a real hot goalie, too."
But great goaltenders also play on the minds of
great shooters -- and the not-so-great ones -- who suddenly start holding
back to wait for the perfect shot. Wilson, whose team hasn't shot much
lately anyway, has seen players tense up when faced with Hasek.
"The same thing that's happening right now with
Olie," Wilson said. "Everybody's looking for a special spot instead of
just shooting it."
So, with few shots, and fewer goals, what can a
coach hope for to turn this series?
"I think you can go and hope to get Kolzig rattled
if you got a bunch (of goals)," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.
And how much is a bunch?
"A bunch on Olie right now is getting two," Ruff
said. "That's a bunch."
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