South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 17

bDLrUJJLTO Sun-Sentinel, Monday, June 1, 1987 Section sc STEVE HUMMER Staff Columnist fflF slick, ami Myr sMdl Green usually connotes jealousy but not pity OS ANGELES There are certain places that pity was never meant to go. Like the uniform pocket of a fired Russian defense minister or the den of a hungry wolf. There's lust no room for it rv ('-V 1 y.r b4, -'rv. iff! I fH 1 1 1 fill aBaeaoZsy 51 V1 3-1 win gives Edmonton 3rd Cup in 4 years Sun-Senllnel wire services EDMONTON, Alberta The Edmonton Oilers can hold their Stanley Cup parade after all, instead of marching off into playoff infamy. After losing control of a series they could have won three games ago, the Oilers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 Sunday night, capturing their third Stanley Cup in four seasons.

The Oilers could have won the championship Tuesday in fact, the city of Edmonton made plans for a victory parade. The premature celebration inspired the Flyers, who then rallied in Games 5 and 6 to set up the first seven-game Cup final since 1971, when Montreal beat Chicago. "This is No. 1," Oilers center Wayne Gretzky said. "This afternoon, I started thinking about last year.

What a long year it's been. Then us leading 3-1 and them tying it 3-3. There was no way we were going to lose tonight. We dug down deep. We outshot them, we outscored them.

"This is the third time I've had the Cup. This was the best one." Mark Messier, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson beat Flyers rookie goaltender Ron Hextall, and Edmonton goalie Grant Fuhr backstopped an aggressive offense with 19 saves. The Oilers' stars withstood the Flyers' team game to avoid the biggest final-round collapse in nearly a half-century. Hextall won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs the fourth player to win the Smythe despite playing for the losing team in the final. "He might be the greatest goalie I ever played against," Gretzky said of Hextall.

"That includes Tretiak the former goalie of the Soviet national team. But I've never played against Grant Fuhr." "I think either team could have won it," Hextall said. "It's a great honor to win the Conn Smythe, but I would trade it for Stanley." Murray Craven opened the scoring for Philadelphia, which came within one victory of becoming the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the final round. In front of a crowd of 17,502, the Oilers reverted to their old style attack and let Fuhr cover their mistakes. The strategy worked, giving Edmonton another Cup to go with those it captured in 1984 and '85.

"I feel great right now," defenseman Paul Coffey said. "It was one heck of a tough year. It's really been tough, but this is the best feeling I've had in a long time. I'd like to congratulate the Philadelphia organization." Only last year's upset to Calgary keeps the Oilers from taking a place with the NHL's dynasties. The Flyers have lost four of their six final appearances all four since winning the Cup in 1974 and 75.

SEE 8TANLEY CUP 8C in the presence of a predator. Yet when the lordly Boston Celtics pack up for today's trip West, they are apt to include a splash of sympathy in their shaving kits. Can it really be possible to feel sorry for the Celtics, the bunch that has so remorselessly ripsawed through the NBA for 16 titles? Are we actually ready to utter "Aw-w-w-w-w, bless your heart," to the team that hangs championship banners like wash on the line? The poor little rich boys are 5-to-l underdogs before their NBA championship series with Los Angeles Lakers begins Tuesday night. Wounded, weary, undermanned, Boston finds itself cast as the Ford Pinto trying to keep up with the Porsche. Almost makes you want to spot the Celtics 10 points a game.

You want to reach out and help them cross the street on the way to the Forum. Meanwhile, they stiffen to the challenge. "The Lakers are either going to beat the living crap out of us, or it will be a hell of a series," said forward Kevin McHale. "Someone asked me who I thought would give the Lakers a better series us or the Pistons. I said we would, because we may get beat by 41 one night, but we'll come back the next night and play hard for 48 minutes.

Other teams would just pack it in." Scarecrows in green After consecutive, draining seven-game series, Boston's reward is the quicksilver Lakers. That is like crawling through a briar patch to get to a tax audit. "It can't be any tougher of a series than the last two," said guard Jerry Sichting. "I'd rather play the Clippers," said McHale. Study these Celtics closely, if you will.

Note how the uniform tops seem to droop from their shoulders. It is the fit of sackcloth. This season of trying to repeat has wrung the flesh clean off their bones. "I've been tired since January," Larry Bird said. "We could have quit a long time ago.

We're not going to quit now." The lineup goes something like this: McHale, almost cadaverous by this point, having been drained by flu on top of a stress fracture in his foot and a sprained ankle. Center Robert Parish, replarly crashing to the floor because his left ankle is too sore to support him. So far he has arisen, in agonizing segments. Medic! Guard Dennis Johnson, chronic fatigue. But who can tell; his eyes always look like that Sixth man Bill Walton, more of the same.

It is rumored that the Lakers might be having some serious problems with hangnails. Watch closely, they may need little scraps of toilet paper to bind their most more serious wounds. A year wears hard Just a year ago, Boston strutted into the final against Houston with vigor to burn. In six games, It was over. Now, can they face even four more? Are the finals more punishment? "Last year, we were healthy," coach K.C.

Jones said. "This year, I find myself going down the players on the bench and asking, 'Are you hurt? Are you hurt? Are you Poor babies. This whole idea of spending sympathy on the Boston Celtics will take a huge amount of effort, of course. Nothing has prepared any of us for this. You might want to practice by sending a check to Jim Bakker.

The Celtics will not help with any of it. They don't want to hear about their problems. They are, after all, the Celtics. "We're not going to be satisfied with just being in the finals by any means," said guard Danny Ainge. "We've been there before.

We're going there to win." Don't let the limp fool you, they say. "The players are the last people to use the injuries as an excuse," Sichting said. Maybe they can steal one. "Another Laker-Celtic final the third in four years," Bird said. "I look for some close games at Boston Garden, but out there, I'm sure they're going to look to blow us away because we haven't been playing well on the road.

What we've got to do is go out there and try to get the first game." It's the Lakers in six. Give now to the Celtic Relief Fund. Rautar As the Oilers celebrate their second-period goal, Flyers goalie Ron Hextall knows the outlook is bleak. Errors along way don't faze FSU, Pollack Novacek checks in as new hero "f--ir" i' i'PtnT' jjirum ip.iyiiw.mfiiiiTiiTi' Ii jjr.jf ilirflTi i i iii INSIDE BIG SWING Don Pooley rallies past a struggling Scott Moch to win the Memorial Tournament by three strokes. 8C By RANDALL MELL 8taff Writer OMAHA, Neb.

Caution and timidity surrounded Chris Pollack Sunday, but he wouldn't give in. He rose above adversity to give Florida State new hope in the College World Series. Pollack (10-4) pitched a six-hit, complete-game shutout to help the Semi-noles (55-17) overcome mistakes and win 3-0 against Arizona State (40-27) In Schedule. 9C i their first loser's bracket game before more than 11,000 at Rosenblatt Stadium. FSU'i sometimes cautious, erratic defense didn't seem to affect Pollack's rhythm as he weathered one storm after another.

Four errors, one by each of his infielders, got him into trouble. Three double plays got him out of trouble. Still, Pollack remained aggressive, striking out seven and walking two. It was the first complete-game shutout In the CWS since Arizona State's Doug Henry shut out Maine 7-0 In 1983. "Certainly, Chris Pollack dominated," FSU coach Mike Martin said.

"He's done that three or four times this year." Pollack said it was his best effort of the year. "It couldn't have come at a better time," Pollack said. "My breaking ball wasn't as good as I would have liked it, but my fastball was better than it has been." FSU's Ed Fulton hit a two-run home SEECW88C By JIM SARNI 8tafl Writer PARIS Czechlist: Ivan Lendl is the famous one, the best player in the game and the defending French Open champion. Miloslav Mecir is the Lipton champion, the one who looks like Larry Bird and loves to fish. Milan Srejber is the tall one, a tennis player in a pivot man's body.

Results. 9C Now here's Karel Novacek, the latest Czech hero and the sensation of the French Open. Novacek, ranked No. 48, bounced into the quarterfinals Sunday. Mecir made it two Czechs.

And Lendl was trying to make it three. But Joakim Nystrom was threatening Czechmate. Nystrom, who beat Lendl the last time they played on clay (at the Italian Open), led the defending champion 8-2, 1-6, 7-5, 0-4 when darkness halted play at Stade Roland Garros. Lendl failed to convert 11 set points in the third set and will try to finish the job in a likely fifth set today. In the three completed men's fourth-round matches Sunday, Novacek upset 14th -seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3; fifth-seeded Mecir topped French wild card Patrice Kuchna 6-0, 6-1, 6-3; and lOth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador rallied to beat Emilio Sanchez of Spain, saving a SEE FRENCH OPEN7C Amwtean Ugu National Lgu Yankees 9 A'aS Reds 5 Pirates 2 Brewers 7 Indians 1 Braves 2 Cubt 1 Blue Jays 7 Angela 2 Astros 8 Cardinals 7 Mariners 8 Orioles 6 Phillies 3 Dodgers 1 Red Sox 10 W.

Sox 9 Padres 1 MetsO Rangers 3 Royals 2 Giants 8 Expos 0 Twins 9 Tigers 5 Baseball 4-6C Twins 11 Tigers 3 For scores call 781-4500. Navratilova's scrve-and-volley game overpowers Sylvia Hanika. 1.