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give you respect, you have to earn it." —Guy Carbonneau |
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The moment I cried the hardest during the ’99 playoffs came in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, and they were tears of astonished disbelief. "This is good news for Dallas fans," said ESPN’s Gary Thorne, "Guy Carbonneau is back on the bench." And there he was, looking utterly unscathed in spite of what had just transpired before the longest intermission of my life. Minutes before, the skate of Colorado’s Dale Hunter had landed full force on Carbo’s calf, leaving him writhing in agony on the ice and clutching at the pant leg of trainer Dave Suprenant. During that horrible intermission I wondered if I had just perhaps watched the last shift of Guy Carbonneau. How could he be back? But what I had failed to notice was which leg Dale Hunter had landed on. It was the right. The leg which still wore a brace from that unfortunate MCL sprain. A brace which had miraculously stood between Guy and the skate blade which otherwise would have surely ended his playoffs if not his career. He’d paid the price of a three week layoff in the early rounds, only to be spared to play the toughest stretch of all. The irony of it all made one shiver. It also made one wonder if there weren’t some important work in store which Carbonneau was meant to do. |
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We already had seen what some of that work entailed in the course of the series. After Colorado beat Dallas in overtime in Game 1, Carbo approached Coach Hitchcock and asked to be given the assignment of shadowing the Avs’ Peter Forsberg. The scenario was similar to 1993, when Guy had asked Canadiens’ coach Jacques Demers to put him on Wayne Gretzky after a Game 1 loss. Montreal had won the next four games. Hitchcock agreed, and when Dallas faced Colorado in Game 2, Guy ended up being named 2nd star of the game for his defensive success. Forsberg, after having had a goal and an assist in Game 1, was held to one shot. Dallas outshot the Avs 15-1 in the third period and won the game 4-2. Then, in Game 3, Carbo’s skills on defense, faceoffs, and the penalty kill were likewise key elements of Dallas’s shutout victory. The Stanley Cup Finals at last looked within the Stars’ grasp…but just as quickly began to slip away. Game 4 had spared Guy’s calf, but it ended up an OT loss. Then Game 5 back in Dallas proved to be the strangest contest of the playoffs, an uncharacteristic scoring spree which Dallas lost 7-5. Now the Stars needed back-to-back wins to avoid elimination. |
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Two wins against the terrifically talented Avalanche? I felt resigned to failure, much as I had a year earlier in Game 5 of the 1998 Conference Finals versus Detroit. But that was the battle in which Guy had his amazing shift to tie the game—and in 1999 his resolve was the same. "Nobody is going to just give you respect, you have to earn it," said Carbo. "To earn respect, we have to win big games like this and we have to win the Stanley Cup. This is just sitting out there for us to take." Perhaps he had been spared as much for his courage as his skill on the ice. |
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Game 6 in Denver was a complete turnaround. The Stars took control and bent the game to their will, making it the defensive style which was their forte. Final score: a 4-1 win. Said Carbonneau, "Everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve suffered through, everything that’s made us closer, that’s what we used tonight. And hopefully, this was our second-best game of the year." The Stars would bring their best one to Game 7. I was strangely calm all that day…perhaps I finally took Guy at his word. In the pregame coverage on TV I saw his picture was on that evening’s ticket…another good sign (nothing brings out the superstitions like playoff hockey!). At last the puck was dropped, and my premonitions confirmed: the Stars took charge, and Guy was en fuego. Commented Ken Hitchcock later, "Carbonneau had a lot of feistiness in him." Indeed, he and Forsberg tangled late in the first, and Carbo was sent to the box (unfairly, some might say), where he bounced his helmet in rage. |
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No matter; the Avs had no shots during their power play, and no shots for the 13 minutes after that. Carbonneau held Forsberg to one shot in the second and third periods. The renowned sniper Mike Keane scored two goals, the whole team worked like a defensive machine, and that terrifying Game 7 ended up another 4-1 victory. Once again, as in 1998, Carbonneau had stared down the odds, and his team stood with him. And this year it turned out differently: in 1999 Dallas advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. Okay, I’ll admit I cried a bit that night too. And once more, let’s thank that leg brace. |
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"Carbonneau teaches Forsberg to respect his
elders" by Keith Gave for The Dallas Morning News |
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