Quietly, like a stagehand moving behind the curtain, Scotty Bowman has ascended to the throne room, sliding gingerly into the marble chair, waiting only for the crown to be placed on his head. He has been in the castle so long, few people even noticed.Bowman will, when this championship is officially handed to Detroit -- quite possibly Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena -- be all alone in hockey history, more Stanley Cups than any coach before him, more NHL finals victories than any coach before him, more everything, pretty much, than any coach before him.
It could have all been different. Tonight, when the Red Wings and Hurricanes skate out for Game 3 in Raleigh, the first Stanley Cup final in North Carolina, and the building explodes and the Wings are roundly booed and the Hurricanes are cheered so loudly you'll need concrete in your ears, it could have all been reversed for Sergei Fedorov.He could have been on the side of the angels.
Thwack-thwack. The sound of stick meeting puck meeting stick. It haunted the Red Wings all night Thursday, the way a heartbeat haunted that guy from that Edgar Allan Poe story. Thwack-thwack. Every good shot. Every wide-open chance. Power plays. Rushes. From behind the net. From right in front. Thwack-thwack. The echo of futility. The Carolina Hurricanes were blocking the Wings like some whack-a-mole game gone berserk. Nearly 30 Red Wings chances never got past the opposing Hurricanes player.
bmitch6> It's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, and here's what Tomas Holmstrom will be doing tonight: Slam, shove, bang, poke, prod, smash, fall, get up, fall, get up, poke, jab, punch, shoot, elbow, glove, down, get up, down, get up, stick, fall, jab, fall, kick, push, stick, bash, whack, jam, down, get up.And if you think that's bad, you should see him try to get out of bed Friday morning.
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
