St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 27

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Hint 1 -'-i V' jilrs Red Wings Oust Blues On OT Goal By Yzerman By Dave Luecking Of the Post-Dispatch Staff DETROIT Late into Thursday night, they battled. And battled. And battled. The- underdog Blues, the aging warriors of coach Mike Keenan. The favored Detroit Red Wings, the National Hockey League's glamour team, coached by Keenan's mentor Scotty Bowman.

A Stanley Cup playoff classic. Scoreless in regulation time. Sudden death overtime in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. Last shot wins. And Steve Yzerman got the last shot, beating Jon Casey at 1 minute 15 seconds of the second overtime to propel the Wings to a 1-0 victory and into the final four of the playoffs.

Wayne Gretzky lost the puck in the neutral zone and Yzerman took off. He ripped a long slap shot that beat Casey high. It was his eighth goal of the playoffs. Joe Louis Arena erupted with 19,983 cheering wildly as the team celebrated and then went through the traditional postgame handshakes. Game 1 of the NHL semifinal series will be Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche in Detroit.

A Blues victory would have ranked as the biggest upset in Stanley Cup playoff history. The Blues finished 51 points behind the Red Wings in the regular season. No team has finished so far behind a team in the regular season and beaten it in the playoffs. The Red Wings were battling the Blues and the ghosts. They've gone without a Stanley Cup since 1955, and have had several celebrated playoff misfires in recent years.

With so much at stake, the game was a classic. From start to finish. Referee Bill McCreary put away his whistle 5 minutes 28 seconds into the second period and let the teams play. Oh, did they. These teams competed.

They hit. They blocked shots. They dived for loose pucks. The aging Blues gave it all they had. The Red Wings answered questions about their character and grit.

The Red Wings threw all they had at Casey. Stiff neck and all, Casey was at the bat. Casey was brilliant. At the other end, Chris Osgood was just as good. Scoreless into overtime.

In overtime, Osgood stopped Glenn Anderson off a rush on right wing 2V2 minutes in. Less than 30 seconds later, it was Casey gloving Igor Larionov's shot from the left point. He robbed Yzerman with his blocker and steered aside Darren McCarty's shot. There was a harrowing moment when the puck trickled through the crease with Keith Primeau lurching past. Later, Osgood robbed Shayne Corson on a clean break-in after taking See BLUES, Page 7 Odell Mitchell Jr.Post-Dispatch Detroit goalie Chris Osgood sprawls to stop a shot, and Nicklas Lidstrom (right) beats the Blues' Geoff Courtnall to the rebound in the first period of Game 7.

THE GOAL MOUTH Blues Hang On Early, Sit Back And Wait For Wing Mistakes v. a harbinger of doom perhaps? 3) The smoke special effect was outstanding as Al descended from the roof; and 4) The introduction was punctuated by the classic "Animal House" pep talk delivered by motivational genius John Belushi. This video clip was set up by the announcement, "Now, we go live to the Red Wings dressing room!" As Belushi did his rap: "Over? Nothing is over until we decide it is," the video board flashed "Live!" "Live!" "Live!" over and over. The irony, of course, is that Belushi has been dead a LONG time. America's Most Wanted: The Detroit News ran a full-page poster of Keith Primeau Thursday, perhaps as a public service to help the Red Wings locate him.

Have you seen this man? The Anthem: Still another indication of the softening of Motown hockey came with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. Did the Red Wings bring in Kiss or even the MC-5? No. Englebert Humperdink sang the anthem. "I thought he was dead, too," quipped another P-D staffer. As Humperdink labored through the song, octopi rained on the ice.

Three were boiled and bounced satisfactorily along the ice. One was raw See GAME, Page 7 By Jeff Gordon Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The Review: Blues coach Mike Keenan got his best-case scenario; The Blues withstood an early Red Wings push, then eased the game into a defensive struggle where one little break could send them to the Western Conference final. The Red Wings had their wheels moving, but their quivering hands kept failing them. The first period the second period the third period passed without scoring. The Blues stayed in position, waiting for just one break.

The Atmosphere: What did you expect for Game The fans didn't need any prompting from the idiot, er, video board to scream and chant and cause a ruckus. By the second period, though, Red Wings fans started getting restless. Murmuring and even light booing emanated from the stands as their heroes drifted through shift after shift. Then the excitement began building again as the Red Wings surged. The third period was spent on pins and needles and a late flurry had the house rocking at the end of regulation time.

The Introduction: Three things leaped out: 1) The bullet-riddled Winnipeg Jets logo had been removed from beneath Al, the giant purple octopus hanging from the ceiling; 2) The flashlight brigade was hopelessly out of sync for their 20-second bit 1 4 Red Wings 1, Blues 0 Steve Yzerman scores 1 minute, 15 seconds into the second overtime. Goaltenders Jon Casey (39 saves) of the Blues and Chris Osgood (29) came up big. Up Next: For the Blues, training camp in September. Odell Mitchell Jr.Post-Dispatch The Blues' Adam Creighton (left) backchecks to slow down Detroit's Dino Ciccarelli as goalie Jon Casey makes the stop in the first period Thursday night. Stairfietamiged? Ozzie Playing Second String To Clayton So Far For Cardinals BELLE KELP: The AL orders Albert Belle to undergo counseling and to perform community service 3D ALL THAT JAZZ: Utah makes it back to the NBA conference finals for the third time in five years with a 108-81 rout of San Antonio 3D "If you play baseball for a living, you try to stay as ready and as sharp as you can." Smith has played in 11 games, and is hitting .267 with four runs batted in and only one strikeout for 30 at-bats.

That came in his final at-bat Wednesday when Smith was called out on a borderline pitch. He has made one error. Clayton, who has been bothered by a rib strain lately, has dropped to .241 in a See CARDS, Page 4 By Rick Hummel Of the Post-Dispatch Staff DENVER Before Ozzie Smith suffered a hamstring injury the last week of spring training, it appeared he would share the Cardinals' shortstop job with Royce Clayton for at least the first part of the season. They have shared it, but certainly not in the way Smith and others might have presumed. As the Cardinals reach the quarter their playing time." If Smith hadn't gotten hurt and then reinjured himself the first week of the season would it have been different? "I don't know." Smith said.

"You'll have to ask the manager." Smith said it hasn't been customary for La Russa to tell him in advance that he's been playing. But he said, "You just always stay sharp. You do whatever you have to do. I've always done what I've been asked to do. It hasn't changed.

pole in their season tonight when they play the Colorado Rockies, Clayton has started 33 of the first 40 games, Smith the other seven. That's just about five games for Clayton, who is 26, to every one game for Smith, 41. "What can I say?" Smith offered. "Do I have a choice? Am I a complainer?" Smith has not confronted manager Tony La Russa about the matter. La Russa says, "Common sense says that neither one is going to be happy about To Get Help: ALBERT BELLE will undergo counseling.

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