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Saturday, October 9, 1999
Twist of fate responsible for injuries?
The league this summer proposed that last season's Stanley Cup finalists -- the Stars and Buffalo Sabres -- kick off the 1999-2000 season with a rematch in Dallas.
But the Sabres, still angry about losing the Cup on Brett Hull's disputed goal in the third overtime of Game 6, strenuously objected.
The league responded by moving the Sabres opener to Detroit while Dallas played host to Anaheim.
Seventeen games worth of suspensions and two serious injuries later, it looks like the league should have stuck with its original game plan.
"The guys in this room didn't need it rubbed in our faces anymore (by having to watch Dallas raise its championship banner)," Sabres winger Dixon Ward yesterday.
"But it wouldn't have been a game like (the Anaheim fiasco). It would have been a game where we tried to prove something on the ice. This team's never been a team like that."
CAREERS THREATENED
Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek yesterday added his voice to Modano's, calling on the league and the NHL Players Association to rid the game of the mindless violence that is threatening careers.
"I agree with Mike (Modano), the Players Association should step up and work with the league because you can see some very dangerous things going on on the ice," Hasek said.
Ward suggested the loss of respect among players may be related to escalating salaries.
"I think with so much money involved now, it brings a lot of arrogance to the game that hockey as an event has never seen before," he said. "I don't think there's any fear of retaliation, either, now that we have the instigator rule.
"I remember when I first started, if I went out and took liberties on a star on another team I probably wouldn't finish the game without getting pounded."
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