If you haven't read my 5-13-00 Diary "It's Not on Paper," please do...meanwhile a Denver columnist confirms what Guy and the Stars had already taught us about our team and what makes them champions...

Stars earned all the right bounces
by Bob Kravitz, The Rocky Mountain News, 5/28/00

Let's not hear again about bounces. Good bounces, bad bounces, lucky bounces, bounces that make the difference between two evenly matched clubs in a Game 7. In seven long, hard, wonderful games, the better team tends to get the better bounces, and that's why Dallas won Saturday night and why Dallas won this series.

Here is the bottom line on the Avalanche's season-ending 3-2 loss to the Stars: You cannot play 15 minutes of top-quality hockey in a 60-minute game and expect to win. You cannot fail to show up for the better part of two-plus periods, and then spend the post-game post-mortem grousing about how the Stars got all the lucky bounces.

That explains one game, maybe two.

But over seven games? I stand corrected. The better team won this series.

"Luck," Ken Hitchcock said, a wry smile hiding his annoyance. "We work too hard for it to be luck. We've been lucky for three years."

The talk of the grim post-game Colorado room was the same as it has been most of this series: They got the fluke goals, and we didn't. They pointed to Dallas' three goals. And ultimately, they pointed to an Adam Deadmarsh deflection of a Ray Bourque shot with 12 seconds left in the game, the puck rolling past Eddie Belfour and hitting the post.

"A half inch to the right," Deadmarsh said. "A half inch to the right, and it's a goal."

True enough.

But you know what? Enough already.

Play 15 minutes of smart, passionate hockey in a 60-minute game, you deserve to lose.

"The first period," Dave Reid said. "That's what got us beat."

The first and second periods, when the Stars' special teams were extraordinary, the Avs' special teams were inept and Colorado found itself down 3-zip to a team that lives for those kinds of leads.

For a second consecutive time, and the third time in four Western Conference final appearances, the Avalanche did not show up — at least not until it was too late. When it mattered most, the Avalanche failed to raise the bar the way the Stars did. A championship-worthy team plays the first 45 minutes with the same desperation as the last 15. The Avalanche didn't deserve this title, after all.

"There's no sense looking for excuses," Avalanche coach Bob Hartley said.

They were just outplayed, outsmarted, beaten by a team that invested its heart and soul into the last four games. "We sunk everything we had," the Stars head coach said.

But did Colorado? Really? Does the late two-goal rush really exonerate the Avalanche from failing to play the first 45 minutes? Some folks will say the Avalanche just ran out of time, storming Belfour's net at the end of the game. But again, 15 minutes doesn't knock off a defending champion.

The list of culpability is almost endless.

Joe Sakic never made a dent in this series. He had chances, yes. But the standard is higher for superstars. Chances don't matter. Goals do.

Patrick Roy wasn't awful this series, but he paled in comparison to Belfour, who talked big and played even bigger. Roy? He is now 2-5 in Game 7s, the only real blot on an otherwise spotless record of achievement. Midway through the third period, Roy got an earful from the Dallas fans: "Ed-die's better." And he didn't have those Cup rings in his ears to block out the noise.

Sandis Ozolinsh? Hartley said after the game Ozolinsh was badly limited by a bruised foot, but it didn't escape notice that Richard Matvichuk was a big-time impact player less than 48 hours after suffering a concussion.

Then there's Hartley, who was given everything he could ever need to win a Stanley Cup. Last year, it was Theo Fleury. This year, it was Ray Bourque. And while he deserves credit for taking his team within 60 minutes of the Finals again, that's just not good enough with this group. Bottom line is, this marks two consecutive years that Hartley's team has been horrible and strangely flat for its most important game of the season. Just don't expect any dust-settling any time soon.

Finally, look long and hard at the Avalanche's special teams, or what passed for the Avalanche's special teams. Give Dallas credit: Its penalty-killing unit is the best in the history of hockey. But the Avalanche mans its power play with a bunch of future Hall of Famers. How is it possible to go without so much as a shot on the power play with that much talent?

"Special teams," Hartley said. "They were the difference in this series."

It's this simple: The Avs let the Stars off the mat in Game 4, just the way it let the Stars off the hook in Game 6 last year. You don't give a champion a second chance. And you don't show up and play just 15 minutes of good hockey and cry about how bad bounces got you beat.

Maybe the Stars were the luckier team over seven games.

They were the better team, too.

Maybe the Avs will get some good bounces on the fairways.