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'Rested' veterans make run at Cup
One year after the NHL lockout, some of the league’s aging stars appear to have some extra zip in their skates.
"There's two groups that benefitted as I see," ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose said Friday. "You’ve got the Rob Blakes, the older guys that had a year off. (Scott) Niedermayer said that was one of the best things that happened to him. They play a ton of hockey. You start playing 120 games a year, with travel . . . it's killer. People can't believe how hard it is. To get a year off just rejuvenates your body."
Melrose said some of the league's younger stars also benefitted from the lockout, those that gained experience and confidence from playing in the American Hockey League.
"The real young and the real old are the guys that benefitted from the year off," Melrose said.
Former Colorado Avalanche player Teemu Selanne seems to be one of those players sipping from the fountain of youth. Selanne, 36, regained his scoring touch during the regular season with 40 goals. He scored only 16 goals in 78 regular season games with the Avalanche during the 2003-04 season.
"He doesn't even look like the same game," Melrose said. "The Teemu Selanne now does not look like the guy that played in Colorado, none whatsoever. If he was like this, you wouldn't have let him go in Colorado."
The Avalanche lost 5-0 in Game 1 of its Western Conference semifinals series against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Friday. Melrose acknowledged the effective play of Colorado's defensemen in the quarterfinals series against the Dallas Stars -- in particular, their ability to score.
"For years, Dallas arguably has been as good a defensive team as there has been in the NHL," Melrose said. "They looked very, very inadequate defensively against Colorado -- not holding leads, things like that. I think in today's game, with the penalties and everything, you have to be able to skate. That's the defensemen too. The teams that have that are being successful. The teams that don't are falling by the wayside."
Melrose lauded Mighty Ducks coach Randy Carlyle's decision to go with young goalie Ilya Bryzgalov over playoff-tested Jean-Sebastien Giguere .
"Certainly, you would have loved for Giguere to start, play well every game and go to the Stanley Cup finals again," Melrose said. "But I give Randy Carlyle a lot of credit. He went away from the $5 million goalie and went to the other guy. The other guy didn't let him down. That's what coaching is all about, making tough decisions at key times. Edmonton did it, changing its defensive system against Detroit. That's what coaching is all about. If Bryzgalov struggles, for Game 2 you might see Giguere back in net."
NOTEWORTHY
It's just one man's opinion, but the decision by Denver Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke to let go of Kiki Vandeweghe sent a signal that he wants a general manager who will be more familiar with the type of player George Karl prefers on the roster. The Nuggets probably should consider someone with a prior working relationship with Karl, someone the likes of Bob Whitsitt, who was with Karl in Seattle when the Sonics rose to prominence in the Western Conference. Whitsitt, who earned a nickname "Trader Bob", also was GM of the Portland Trailblazers. He drafted Jermaine O'Neal out of high school, but also took heat for some of the players he acquired through trades -- Rasheed Wallace
, Damon Stoudamire and J.R. Rider among them.
Do you dig the 'long ball'? Then you might want to be at Coors Field on Sunday. The top hitters from the World Softball League will put their power on display during the "Long Haul Bombers" home run contest that will take place at 12:30 p.m., prior to the start of the Colorado Rockies-Houston Astros game.
The University of Colorado is one of five schools featured in ESPN's "All-Access College Football Spring Preview" series which begins May 8, during the network's SportsCenter broadcasts.
It sounds as if Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will ask for the NBA championship trophy if his team wins the Western Conference championship. "We went 15-0 at home against the Eastern Conference. They don't even count," Cuban said recently on FSN’s Best Damn Sports Show Period. "There's four or five teams who could win 65 games from the West if they were in the Eastern Conference. Memphis could win 55-60 games if they were in the Eastern Conference."
The Colorado Rockies moved three wins closer to a milestone after their come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Friday night. The Rockies now have won 497 games at Coors Field since the ballpark opened in 1995.
The "A-List" poll asking which local pro team would you purchase season tickets -- if given the choice of one only -- yielded the expected for first place, that being the Denver Broncos (57 followed by the Avalanche (29 percent). What was interesting is that the Rockies gained more votes than the Denver Nuggets.
Broncos' Pro Bowl safety John Lynch is the cover boy for this month's issue of Mile High Sports magazine.