Wednesday, April 7,1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Detroit on roll after recent trades
New acquisitions add nastiness, talent to lineup
DETROIT — Since picking up four players hours before the March 23 trading deadline, Detroit has been unbeatable.
That can only mean trouble for the rest of the NHL — the Red Wings were pretty good to begin with.
Good, but not great.
Good, but not great.
The Red Wings, winners of the last two Stanley Cup championships, had losing streaks of three, four and five games. But since acquiring Chris Chelios, Wendell Clark, Ulf Samuelsson and goalie Bill Ranford at the trade deadline, the team has won seven straight games.
"It has really revived everybody," said goalie Chris Osgood, who has won five of those seven games, one of them his third shutout of the season. "We're a totally different team the last two weeks. We're excited again."
two weeks. What the newcomers appear to have added was a bit of nastiness. That was on display early in Monday night's 3-2 win against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks when Darren McCarty drew two minutes for roughing just 35 seconds.
McCarty, who had missed the 10 previous games with an injury, has never been a wallflower. But until the new guys showed up, the Red Wings couldn't afford to use him as an enforcer.
into the game.
"We've proved in the past that you have to use the regular season to set things up for the playoffs," McCarty said. "Right now, we're gearing ourselves up for the postseason."
The Red Wings are attempting to become the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders won four straight (1980-83).
straight (1950-60) and Detroit (41-30-6) is the No. 3 team in the Western Conference with almost no chance of overhauling first place Dallas. That means the Red Wings probably will draw Anaheim or St Louis in the first round of the playoffs.
"I think that's a bit of a slap at the other guys who were here," Hartsburg said. "They were a pretty good hockey team before the trades.
Mighty Ducks' coach Craig Hartgarsburt wouldn't mind if it was his team. He respects Detroit, but Hartgarsburth thinks maybe too much is being made of the Red Wings' recent acquisitions.
"But, if we come back here for the playoffs, maybe we'll have learned something about how it's going to be. They've been on a roll, no question about that."
It has been almost storybook stuff since the new players arrived. Clark has scored four goals, including the winner against Philadelphia on March 28. Chelios, who has been paired on defense with Nicklas Lidstrom, has played almost 25 minutes a game. And he added a goal in the Red Wings' 6-1 victory against Tampa Bay on March 28.
Ranford, 5-18-3 for the season, has won both his starts since coming to Detroit as Osgood's backup. Samuelsson, recovering from a broken foot, is expected to be ready for the playoffs.
Big trades don't always work. Sometimes the new guys don't fit in. Yet Detroit's four new-comers were made welcome at once.
"You can never tell, but the guys have helped out," said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman, who is shooting for an NHL-best ninth Stanley Cup. "It's given us a chance to play different guys, where we might not have had that luxury before."
"These guys are not just average guys." Detroit forward Martin Lapointe said. "They are world-class players. They adapt to pressure well. They would fit in well on any team."
well. They would have Lapointe noted that Clark, Chelios and Ranford all earned the respect of the others on the very first day by working hard in practice.
"You should see Billy in practice," Lapointe said. "You can't measure that."
Norman's psyche still tender
Inconsistent play priority questions cause concerns
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The shoulder is surgically mended, although still relatively untested. A bout with stomach flu ended just in time for the Masters, and his swing guru says he's hitting the ball better than ever.
So why is Greg Norman being treated as little more than an afterthought on the eve of his 19th Masters?
It shows in his golf game, which has been maddeningly inconsistent since his comeback from shoulder surgery. And it shows
Simple. Three years after his spectacular Sunday collapse at Augusta National, Norman's scared psyche still seems to have room to heal.
on his face as he talks more about the new life he discovered while recuperating and less of his chances of finally winning a green jacket.
green jacket.
"Yes, I want to win the Masters, absolutely," Norman said. "But it's not a priority. There are other priorities that I enjoy doing. I don't have a sense of urgency anymore."
Sitting on the same podium where he bared his soul after blowing a six-shot lead in the final round to Nick Faldo in 1996. Norman had no problem yesterday talking about his latest swing changes, rebuilt shoulder or the stomach alliment that made him appear gaunt after losing a half-dozen pounds or so last week.
But he struggled when the subject centered on the motivation of an extremely wealthy 44-year-old whose failures have always loomed larger than his many successes.
"I'm very happy. I even enjoy
playing the game of golf." Norman said. "it know it's a matter of time before I'll get back there in the winner's circle. But now I don't want to force it. I'm very easy about things. I'm very relaxed about things."
That relaxation showed as Norman strolled a few minutes later to the practice tee, greeting old acquaintances and signing autographs. Once on the course, he shared laughs with playing partners Steve Elkington and Shigeki Maruyama.
Having fun in practice and being tournament tough, though, are two different things. And Norman concedes he hasn't played enough coming into the Masters. He missed the cut in The Players Championship and had to withdraw from the Bell-South Classic in Atlanta because of his illness.
It showed on the second hole as Norman pulled his drive way left into the trees from the new tee box, then almost hit Maruyama
with a sand shot as both practiced from the left greenside bunker.
"He just needs a little dose of confidence," Norman's coach, David Leadbetter, said. "He needs to play rounds under pressure."
Leadbetter tinkered a bit with Norman's swing during his seven-month layoff after last year's surgery on his left shoulder. Norman is swinging a bit more upright with a wider takeaway and is working on keeping his legs less active.
the results have been mixed. He played Tiger Woods tough in a match that went 18 holes during the Presidents Cup, only to collapse in the Match Play Championship against Eduardo Romero, blowing a three-up lead with five holes to play.
He went on and lost the Australian Masters to a birdie by Craig Spence on the 72nd hole, and he did not play particularly well at Doral Golf Resort before missing the cut at The Players Championship.
Mountain biker peddles hard for 2000 Olympics
The Associated Press
Alison Dunlap would love to be a biology professor. If only bicycles didn't keep getting in her way.
At the relatively ancient age of 30, Dunlap is on her second life as a bike racer. A member of the U.S. Olympic road-race team at the 1996 Olympic Games and a bronze medalist at the 1994 World Championships, she now is at the top of the World Cup mountain-bike circuit.
After two victories and a runner-up finish in March, Dunlap heads to Australia this week for races on the hills outside Sydney where the 2000 Olympic mountain-bike medals will be decided.
Although she would like to race both on and off the road at next year's Summer Games, Dunlap is focused on the sturdy bikes with the fat knobby tires that splash through mud and zoom between rocks and trees.
"I love mountain biking," she said. "There's no cheating and no hiding like there can be with road racing. We're all out on our own. The strongest rider almost always wins the race."
This season, Dunlap has been by far the strongest rider.
She won a mountain-bike stage race in Monterey, Calif., then took the first World Cup race of the season in Napa, Calif., winning by 20 seconds against Gunn Rita Dahle of Norway. Dunlap and Dahle are 1 and 2 in the women's standings going into the Sydney races Saturday and Sunday.
Dunlap also has kept pace on the roads, winning one stage and finishing second overall in the Redlands Bicycle Classic last month.
All this came about because Dunlap wasn't good enough to play college soccer. The last player cut from the Colorado College team as a freshman,
"I love mountain biking. There's no cheating and no hiding like there can be with road racing. We're all out on our own. The strongest rider almost always wins the race."
Alison Dunlap
World Cup mountain biker
by the time she graduated in 1991 with a degree in biology, Dunlap had won two national college road championships. She joined the national team program, won a World Cup race in Okinawa, Japan, in 1995 and finished in the middle of the 58-rider pack in the 96 Olympics.
Duniap stopped by a campus cycling club meeting and was hooked.
Looking for a change but not ready to retire from racing, she switched to mountain bikes and won a World Cup title in Budapest, Hungary, in April 1997 in only her fourth race.
"The switch wasn't hard, but it was kind of scary," Dunlap said. "All of a sudden there were new sponsors and people on the team. I didn't know what to expect. But I told myself, 'If I can do road racing, I can do this.' It has worked out very well."
After that, it might be retirement and that long-held goal of a biology professorship.
The trip to Sydney will help Dunlap's preparations for the Olympics, letting her experience the bumps and hollows of the Olympic course and giving her confidence once she switches her focus to the games next spring.
"But the 2001 World Championships are in Vail (Colo.)," she said. "It would be awfully hard to pass that up."
Oklahoma forward announces transfer
The Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. — Ryan Humphrey, the highest-profile recruit in Kelvin Sampson's five years at Oklahoma, will be finishing his career elsewhere. The sophomore forward has been granted a release that will allow him to transfer to another school.
another school.
"I've enjoyed my two years at the University of Oklahoma," Humphrey said Monday in a statement issued by the university's sports information office. "I wish my teammates and the coaching staff the best. They've been very supportive of me. The people of Oklahoma have given me something to remember, and I'll never forget it."
Humphrey, a Parade and McDonald's All-American while at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Okla., was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 1998 after averaging 9 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.
This past year, he averaged 11.1 points and 7.5 rebounds while playing nearly 27 minutes per game. He averaged two blocks per game and compiled 119 blocks in his career, third most in school history.
"This is something he wanted to do," Sampson said. "We talked about it, and he sat on it for a couple days, then came back and said that's what he wanted to do.
"When a kid wants to do something, I just don't think a head coach should hold that over him or not give him his wishes. Ryan wanted to transfer."
Humphrey's father, Al, told The Daily Oklahoma that he, his son and Sampson had met last Tuesday to discuss the matter.
"It was something all of us agreed on," Al Humphrey said. "It was a mutual agreement. Ryan felt it was time for a change. He wanted to go out and find his niche. At this particular time, it was best that he move on and Coach Sampson supported his decision."
he said Ryan would remain enrolled at Oklahoma through the spring semester.
"There was not great shock value in our office "a bout Humphrey's decision. Sampson
Sampson said the idea of transferring had been broached previously.
said. "There's a little disappointment and maybe some shock when it does happen. But at the same time, you've got to think this is what the kid wanted, so don't be selfish about it.
"This happens. This is part of programs."
rie said the departure wouldn't affect Oklahoma's recruiting plans for the spring signing period, which begins today.
"We had four big guys coming back, and that included Ryan," Sampson said. "We're going to sign an up-front guy during this April signing period, and that will leave us with four again."
Dispute threatens next WNBA season
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Another labor dispute could delay the start of another basketball season.
The WNBA has given its players until Saturday to reach a contract agreement with the league.
At the center of the disagreement is salaries, just as it was when the NBA locked out its players for six months, nearly half the season.
The union wants a minimum salary of $45,000 for the three-month summer season. The WNBA is proposing $20,000, according to the union.
"The whole purpose of having a women's professional basketball league in the United States is because women are tired of going overseas." Coquese Washington, a guard for the New York Liberty and also a lawyer, told USA Today. "We want to make a career out of something we are very good at."
worth $60,000 a player.
WNBA president Val Ackerman said the league had offered a 30 percent increase in player salaries, year-round health, dental and maternity benefits and off-season career programs. The league said the compensation package was
The two sides also are at odds about the number of players from the defunct American Basketball League that should be allowed in the league. The WNBA wants 52 of the 90 eligi-
able players and wants to expand rosters to accommodate them. The union wants 24.
Ackerman told USA Today that the WNBA didn't think t here
should be restrictions on the number of ABL players.
"They will all go into the (April 27) draft together," Ackerman said. "Our plan is to allocate an additional player to (expansion) Minnesota and Orlando so that they'll end up with two allocated players, like everyone else did to start their rosters."
The WNBA has a tryout camp April 15-17 in Chicago. That camp could be jeopardized by the stalemate in negotiations.
Visual Arts Education Club
Come and join us for appetizers, drinks and conversation. Door prizes will be awarded. Bring copies of your best lesson plan to share with the group. Prizes for the best 3 lesson plans.
Last meeting of the semester
Come join VAE club at
Carlos O'Kellys
on Sunday April 18th at 5:30pm
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