Putting the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche in the same playoff series is like giving Wile E. Coyote a stick of dynamite. Bad things are quick to happen and they will again beginning tomorrow.
As sure as Patrick Roy has wanted to drop the gloves with every Detroit goalie since Mike Vernon, there will be slashes and crashes, fits and ferocity, blood and sutures. This will be a match-up whistling on the brink of mayhem the way it always has, from Claude Lemieux's jaw-buster on Kris Draper to Marc Crawford pointing fingers at Scott Bowman. Ask almost anyone on these two teams how deep their loathing is for the other side and rest assured it will take the Jaws of Life to pry their fingers from your throat.
And yet it's the strangest thing. Locked in the middle of all that madness, like a couple of chess masters competing in a daycare full of screaming kids, are two players who would never dream of stooping so low as to drive an opponent's face into the side boards. Why do that when you can break 20-plus hearts by scoring a goal, or setting one up? Why waste time making threats when actions always speak louder than words?
That's how Joe Sakic plays and that's how Steve Yzerman plays and, if you didn't know better, you'd think they were the same guy. Captain clones. That they both wear the C for their respective teams is no surprise considering how much character and consistency they possess. Say something nice about the one and you're really talking about the two of them.
"Hey, that Sakic could make a puck sing and dance if he wanted to, and some nights he does." Ditto, Yzerman.
"Hey, that Yzerman is so respected he could lead his team through a prison riot." Ditto, Sakic.
That's the beauty of these two. They have statistics, great glowing statistics, the kind that keep growing until one day they'll end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but there's more to these two-time Stanley Cup champions than multiple-goal games, and it goes back to the C words, character and consistency. The glue that binds. When was the last time you saw Sakic losing it, going after an official with his mouth flapping and his eyes ballooning like a fish out of water? When was the last time you saw Yzerman rolling on the ice trying to draw an extra-long penalty for the pug who put him there?
According to Kelly Hrudey, the former NHL goalie and Hockey Night in Canada commentator who has watched it all this spring, the answer to both questions is, "I can't remember" -- and that amazes him.
"It's clear to me they have a lot of respect for their opponents and the game itself. They're quiet, focused, driven leaders on the ice. They're not crybabies. They're not sideshow guys. It's all about winning the game for the team," Hrudey said. "And isn't it great that two of our finest players have the least amount to say to the officials on the ice?"
Maybe that's because Sakic and Yzerman have the least amount to say about anything. To NHL media types, Sakic is known as Quoteless Joe. He wouldn't say spit if his mouth was full of it. Yzerman will take the most controversial question imaginable and skate tireless circles around it. It's as if the two of them believe what athletes of the 1950s used to preach, "When you win say little and when you lose say less." In today's game of slewfooting, back ramming and ref dissing, being 1950s-like may seem corny but it's still getting results for two centremen in Denver and Detroit.
"They've both followed the same pattern," said Crawford, who coached the Avs and now the Vancouver Canucks. "They were great players who had their leadership questioned early in their careers. Now they have so much respect throughout the league you can see it in the way their opponents play them. People play them hard but they don't want to do anything foolish against them.
"I think Joe's got a better shot. It's quicker, more dangerous. Steve is probably more gifted in how he sees the ice. Both are good on face-offs and both make players around them better. That's maybe the best thing you can say about any athlete."
You can also say whatever happens between the Avs and Wings, whether it's fast-paced or simply manic, Sakic and Yzerman will be the men in the middle, matching moves and guiding their teams with the kind of honour you rarely see in pro sports.
"They have that magic, that ability to grab an opportunity and win games," Detroit's assistant general manager Jim Nill said. "As far as I can tell, they're almost twins."
Joined at the C and ready to play. Same player or what?
Joe Sakic, 32, was born in Burnaby, B.C. He's 5 foot 11, weighs 185 pounds and has won two Stanley Cups. He's also been a Conn Smythe Trophy winner and a recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award, which goes to the National Hockey League's most valuable player, as voted on by the players. In the Stanley Cup playoffs, he has seven goals and seven assists in 14 games with the Colorado Avalanche.
Steve Yzerman, 37, was born in Cranbrook, B.C. He's 5 foot 11, weighs 185 pounds and has won two Stanley Cups. He also has been a Conn Smythe Trophy winner and a recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Award. In the playoffs, he has five goals and eight assists in 11 games with the Detroit Red Wings. Together, Sakic and Yzerman helped Canada win gold at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.