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Sporting News, The, June 11, 2001 by Larry Wigge

When the checking gets tight in the playoffs, a defenseman like Ray Bourque jumping into the play becomes the key to success

It's more than an hour after he fired a shot over the shoulder of Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. Ray Bourque, dripping with sweat after spending 25 minutes playing against physical center Jason Arnott and nifty wingers Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias, slumps to the bench in the Avalanche locker room.

As Bourque pulls his sweater over his head alter a 3-1 victory, an ugly braise on his ribs becomes visible. It's a typical red badge of courage any defenseman might acquire at this time of year. Being a defenseman in the today's NHL is kind of like playing football without all of the requisite padding: It's a black-and-blue battle every night.

But on this night, despite the braise, there's a smile on the 40-year-old Bourque's face that no slash or high stick could remove.

"I've never been two games away from clinching a Stanley Cup championship," Bourque says. "How can that not be the most important goal of my life?"

Defensemen suffer through a lot of abuse in the comers and dish it out in front of the net but still are expected to provide 25 quality minutes or more without taking a shift off. A team can play as many as 30 games in 60 nights on the way to celebrating a Stanley Cup championship, so it needs durable defensemen like Bourque who can be relied upon time and time again.

Bourque has logged those minutes and more in his career. But coming into this year's finals against the Devils, he had played 1,821 games--playoffs and regular season--without winning a Stanley Cup. Although he has won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman five times, he had never gone home on a winning team.

"There is only one winner at the end, and all the rest are second," Bourque says. "And in my case, that's been the situation for 21 years.

"I've never won my last game."

To fully appreciate Bourque's ability, you must watch him closely. He's superb at handling the puck, he passes well, positions himself properly and has a shot that takes off like a rocket. No player is as smart or as economical in his movements.

"I have to be economical," Bourque says, laughing. "Nothing has changed in my game, other than losing the quickness I once had over the years."

Stars coach Ken Hitchcock says he learned the importance of mobility in defensive pairings after losing to New Jersey in last year's Stanley Cup finals. The Devils won a Cup last year and returned to the finals this year with the help of the speed and puck-moving skills of Brian Rafalski and Scott Niedermayer. After Bourque's winning goal in Game 3, it was clear transition and puck movement from the defense were still the key ingredients in deciding who drinks bubbly out of Lord Stanley's cup.

"The checking gets so tight up front that there seems to be room for a fourth or fifth player to move into the play--and that defenseman often can find an opening that the forwards can't," Brodeur says. "Every time I looked up, the puck seems to be on the stick of one of their defensemen."

When you talk about Colorado's defense, that's easy to say because Bourque, Adam Foote or Rob Blake is out there for all but about five minutes of every game. One of them is likely to have the puck at any given time.

"It's like the defenseman is a back-seat driver," says Devils coach Larry Robinson, a former defenseman and member of the Big Three in Montreal, with Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe, who helped win five Stanley Cups from 1972-73 through 1978-79. "No one expects him to have the kind of impact he has. But he can control the .... play in a big way, almost make it appear like the offense is coming in waves."

Though neutral-zone defenses have taken away some of the defensemen s freedom of movement, a defense still can be caught flat-footed and off-guard. The chances might not be there as often as they were in the 1970s and '80s, but real offensive opportunities still can happen.

Such is the niche carved out by the offensively gifted defenseman in today's game.

"Think of it like an end-around in football or a halfback option, (when) someone other than the quarterback has the ball and can surprise you with some offense," Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin, who helped the Islanders win four consecutive Stanley Cups (1980-83) with his great offensive work, said earlier this season. "A talented offensive defenseman is not a secret weapon, but he does come at you at angles and in lanes the defense doesn't always see--until it's too late."

Bobby Orr started the phenomenon in an era when a defenseman had primarily been a lead-footed, plodding, muscle-bound player whose job was to stand on the blue line and hit people. Orr has said nothing has really changed from the role he brought to the game--and nothing, not even a systemized defense, will change that role in the near future.

"I still marvel at how important that element is to the game," Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky says. "The game is designed to check the 80- and 90- point forwards. A defenseman stepping into the play is a little twist to the offense. It always has worked and always will.