http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news/20021225/yearendnhl.html
*Hockey 2002: Go north, young man - and woman*
December 25, 2002
By Daren Smith
SportsTicker Hockey Editor
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) - It's been almost a decade since a
Canadian team captured the Stanley Cup. But make no mistake, Canada was
the center of the hockey universe in 2002.
Canada reclaimed its hockey supremacy during two rollercoaster weeks in
February in Salt Lake City.
The 2002 Winter Games did not begin well for a country that had gone a
half-century since its last Olympic men's hockey gold medal. Canada was
whipped by Sweden in its first game, looked unimpressive in a win over
Germany and settled for a tie with the Czech Republic to complete the
preliminary round.
That did not sit well with the folks back home. So Team Canada general
manager Wayne Gretzky pulled a page from his nation's rich hockey
history and launched into a vitriolic defense of the team that conjured
memories of Phil Esposito's sweat-drenched plea during the 1972 Summit
Series.
"I just felt that the team was feeling a little bit stressful, a little
bit tight, and I just felt I had to step forward and get all the focus
off the guys and turn the focus in a different direction," Gretzky
explained later.
The pieces began to fall into place as the Canadians edged Finland, 2-1,
then blitzed overmatched Belarus, 7-1, to earn a spot in the gold medal
game. Tiny Belarus had pulled one of the great upsets in Olympic hockey
by eliminating the Swedes.
Awaiting Canada was the United States, the only unbeaten team in the
tournament. History appeared to rest with the Americans, who were
unbeaten in 24 consecutive contests on U.S. soil.
But Gretzky had a secret weapon. Before the Olympic tournament began,
ice maker Trent Evans, an Edmonton native, buried a "loonie" - a $1
Canadian coin - under the faceoff circle at center ice.
"The Greeks built good luck hero statues of Hercules and Adonis, the
Irish have the Blarney Stone and four-leaf clovers and the Canadians
have the Salt Lake Loonie," Hockey Hall of Fame curator Phil Pritchard
said.
The loonie earned a spot in the Hall of Fame thanks to Canada's 5-2
victory in the gold medal game.
Eight months after leading the Colorado Avalanche
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/col/> to another Stanley Cup, Joe
Sakic <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/7/7/> scored two goals and
set up two others for Canada. He got the go-ahead goal on the power play
with 1:41 to go in the second period, assisted on Jarome Iginla
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/1/1453/>'s insurance tally late in
the third and capped the scoring on a breakaway.
"We're a hockey power in the world," proclaimed goaltender Martin
Brodeur <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/6/686/>. "Winning the gold
kind of reassures Canada."
Two days before the Canadian men ended their drought, the women avenged
their only loss in major international competition with a 3-2 triumph
over the United States.
The U.S. defeated Canada to win the inaugural women's hockey gold medal
four years earlier in Nagano. But Canada got even on American soil.
Hayley Wickenheiser, the Gretzky of Canadian women's hockey, put her
team in front just over four minutes into the second period, and Jayna
Hefford scored the back-breaker just a second before period ended.
The NHL took off nearly three weeks to allow its players to participate
in a second straight Winter Games. Once the break was over, the Detroit
Red Wings <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/det/> resumed their march
to a third Stanley Cup title in six years.
Boasting a roster with no fewer than eight future Hall of Famers, the
Red Wings coasted to the Presidents' Trophy. They survived a scare
against Vancouver in the first round of the playoffs and stormed back
from a three games to two deficit against archrival Colorado in the
Western Conference finals.
In the Stanley Cup Finals, Detroit dispatched the underdog Carolina
Hurricanes <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/car/> in five games.
The turning point was Game Three, when 41-year-old Igor Larionov
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/7/737/> - the NHL's oldest player -
scored 14:47 into triple overtime to give the Red Wings a 3-2 win in the
third-longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history.
Detroit took Game Four, 3-0, then returned home and won its 10th title
with a 3-1 triumph.
Moments after winning his record ninth Stanley Cup, Hall of Fame coach
Scotty Bowman announced his retirement. Less than two weeks later,
goaltender Dominik Hasek <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/2/260/>
also retired.
But the Red Wings don't rebuild, they reload. Free agent Curtis Joseph
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/2/290/> was signed to replace
Hasek, and Detroit ends the year in its familiar spot atop the Central
Division.
The Red Wings were able to afford a player of Joseph's caliber because
they are - according to Forbes magazine - the NHL's most valuable
franchise at $266 million.
The rest of the league's financial fortunes are not nearly as bright,
however.
Buffalo businessman Mark Hamister recently won tentative league approval
for the purchase of the Sabres for $65 million, some $27 million less
than the team's value, according to Forbes.
The sale was necessitated by the financial and legal problems
surrounding owner John Rigas.
And while Canada might be at the top of the hockey world following its
exploits at Salt Lake City, four of the NHL's six Canadian-based
franchise were at the bottom of the Forbes list, with the Canucks at
$110 million, the Ottawa Senators
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/ott/> at $95 million, Calgary Flames
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/cgy/> at $94 million and Edmonton
Oilers <http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/edm/> at $86 million.
Those are the teams with the most to lose as the league struggles to
reach 2003-04, when its collective bargaining agreement with the NHL
Players Association expires.
And that's the story that figures to dominate the headlines as hockey
begins the new year.
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