Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 33

V'ft Iff The Detroit News Ripken does it Orioles third baseman gets single off Twins' Carrasco to become 24th player with 3,000 hits. Page 4D Saiion Tt) Detroit Hui Onllnt All tidy, every day. httpyVdotnewscom Scenes 2D Local state 11D For the record 110 Horses 11D RcdWhigs Blond Brigade flexes muscles Sunday, April 16, 2000 fwLDrcft Lioinis puck McDoegle r'- 1 Stockar McDougle, a 6-foot-6, Team Pos. Ptoyyr Clove. DE Wash.

LB Wash. OT Cinn. WR Butt. R3 Phil. DT 350-pound tackle from Oklahoma, became a Lion with the 20th pick in the first round Saturday, lie will move to left 350-pound tackle from Oklahoma will move to left guard.

By Mike O'Hara The Detroit News PONTIAC The Lions didn't get a high-profile running back in the first round of the NFL draft, but a blocker named Stockar might add some beef to their ground game. Terry Foster McDougle's selection shows Ross' team is ready to pound people offensively. Page 8D. their sights on running back Shaun Alexander of Alabama, but the Seattle Scahawks took him one pick before it was the Lions' turn to draft. McDougle had the highest rating of any player left on the Lions' draft board, personnel director Ron I lughes said.

Since offensive line was a high priority for the Lions, there was no disappointment for Coach Bobby Ross over drafting McDougle instead of a runner. "I felt like he was probably one of the more dominating run blockers I have seen in my professional football (career)," Ross Please see LIONS, Page 8D Courtney irown 2. LaVar Arrington 3. Chris Smiuels 4. Peter Warrick 5.

Jamal Lewis 6. Corey Simon 7. Thomas Jones 8. Ptaxico Burress 9. Brian Urlacher 10.

Travis Taylor Ariz. Pitt. Chi. Bait. R3 WR LB WR Assocliiri'd Cress Courtney Drown had yx sacks in 1999.

McDougle guardi a trou. ble spot on the line in 1999. The Lions apparently had i'liii Stanley Cup Playoffs I Round i Game 2 I Red Wings 8, Kings 5 nnnn un uuuUuc uuuLIU (L Xiil Detroit takes 2-0 series lead despite poor defensive game 1 7-f against Kings DETROIT Finally, an answer to that timeless question: I low many blonds does it take to beat the Los Angeles Kings? Only three. Two to score the goals and one to deliver the hits. The Red Wings had more fun Saturday, more fun than usual, maybe more fun than they should.

The newly-dyed duo of Martin Lapointe and Kris Draper combined for five goals. The off-again, on-again blond, Darren MeCarty, continued to clobber Kings as if they were moles in a carnival contest. To cap the day's festivities, the Wings opted to play barely a lick of defense. Their 8-5 victory over the Kings gave them a two-games-to-none series lead and kept the crowd buzzing. It was entertaining.

It was exhilarating. You get the impression, if the Wings play another game like this, Scotty Bowman will wring their little necks. The outcome wasn't settled until Nicklas Lidstrom, naturally blond but unnaturally porous this game, scored twice in the third period. Until then, it was a game of endless end-to-end rushes, which is fine against the Kings. This will not work when the playoffs turn more serious.

"We didn't enjoy that one," Draper said. "We actually got (ticked) off the way we were playing. We don't want to be that type of team, run and gun. We'll take this game and forget it and get back to playing the way we've been successful." Less than seven minutes in, the Wings had a 4-2 lead. By the end of the first period, the Kings had 21 shots, two more than they posted in the Wings' 2-0 victory in Game 1.

The teams finished with 77 shots, 44 by in the highest-scoring Wings playoff game since 1936. Coach Andy Murray shuttled his goalies, Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr, like a manager overworking his bullpen. Chris Osgood wasn't sharp, but then, no one on defense was sharp. He actually made several key stops against the Kings' gambling attack. Lidstrom was on the ice for four LA goals.

Larry Murphy, Claris Chelios and Steve Duchesne had trouble clearing the front of the net. The Kings had even more trouble in their own end, but they're supposed to. "These kinds of games pop up in the playoffs sometimes," Bowman said. "They wanted to initiate more than they had. Tactically, it's not what you want.

But for television and the fans, it can't get any better." At this point, Bowman forced a smile, dispelling the long-held belief that he'd rather lose a game 1-0 than win 8-5. The Wings can afford some levity because they're better than LA On this day, their role players were truly remarkable, skating and hitting and even scoring. Lapointe barely missed a fourth goal. Draper barely missed a third goal. MeCarty barely missed hitting Luc Robitaille on every shift.

The signature check, though, went to Lapointe, who flipped Kings star Ziggy Palffy head over skates. The Wings will need more of that from their grinders, who opened the playoffs as the Blond Brigade. It's a unity thing, with MeCarty, Draper, Lapointe and a few others skipping the traditional playoff beards for something fresh. "You've got to have fun this time of year," said Lapointe, who hit the bleach bottle four days ago. "There's so much intensity, you have to stay loose." Loose works, unless it's on defense, unless you're the goalie, or the coach.

The Wings had their fun but they'd better tighten up, because the day Bowman accepts this type of hockey is the day he dyes his hair blond. Leave a message for Bob Wojnowski at (313) 223-4648 or at wojofana aol.com 'I r. I I i (ktix fl ak 1 A 0 1 1 1 'A SPflllV; 1 -t i I Saturday: Wings, 8 Kings 5 f- (f 41 Vlr Wednesday, 10, Ch. 50 X. yr Sunday, L.A., 3, Ch.

7, 9 Note: Games 5-7 If necessary It's his timo Emotional Lapointe comes through at an emotional time of the season. Page 6D Chznzz cf The Wings didn't expect a shoot-out after the 2-0 opener. Page 6D ByTedKulfan The Detroit News DETROIT This wasn't characteristic of playoff hockey. The Red Wings and Kings played a game Saturday that resembled a midseason shootout, where defense was a forgotten concept. The Wings and Kings opened it up, wide open, and the Wings were able to escape with an 8-5 victory at Joe Louis Arena.

"It seemed like the last team to score would win," Kirk Malt-by said. The Wings were the last team, but they had a small cushion by then barely. Three times, the Kings rallied from two-goal deficits to make it a one-goal game. Still, the Wings prevailed to take a two-games-to-none lead in a best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series. Game 3 is Monday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"I don't think we played as carelessly as it looked," Wings Coach Scotty Bowman said. "They (the Kings) came out with a pretty good rush. They threw caution into the wind." The teams combined for 87 shots on goal. The Kings had 44, the Wings 43. The Kings had 21 in the first period, two more than they totaled in Game 1.

"It's not the kind of game we want to play," Kris Draper said. Pfease see WJNGS, Page 7D Colorado 3, Phoenix 1 Toronto 5, Ottawa 1 Playoff roundup, Page 7D David Guralnick The Detroit News Mathieu Dandenault, right, and Martin Lapointe, center, greet Kris Draper after Draper got the first of his two goals. Lapointe, Draper's linemate, got a hat trick, the second of his career, to pace the Red Wings' offense. Gcoden shuts out Tigers Pistons imable to clinch spot Caught in a funk Garner laments inability to get consistent offensive performance. Page 5D Detroit can't solve team that allowed 94 runs in last 10.

By Tom Gage The Detroit News DETROIT Bobby Hig-ginson put it best, after crush By Chris McCosky The Detroit News PHILADELPHIA Grant Hill needed time to heal an aching left ankle, anil "I'l the Pistons needed ing a ball to right-center on Saturday innings in his first start for Tampa Bay. "I thought we might get to him," Manager Phil Garner said, "but we never did." But it was also a stunner that the Devil Rays were actually able to finish off the shutout that Gooden began. After all, in their last 10 games, they had allowed 94 runs, the most they had ever allowed in a 10-game span. Jeff Weaver also threw well in his season debut for the Tigers, but the Devil Rays led 2-0 after seven innings, then got more than enough to cruise on in with five in the eighth. Comerica Park, which has yielded home runs in just one of its five games, has hitters thinking, though.

Jose Canseco, for instance; He actually singled to right in the first inning. "I don't think I've ever the pain was too much. He was unable to cut or push off his left foot. He left with 9:47 remaining in the third quarter, finishing with a season-low four points on i-of-4 shooting in 16 minutes. "I tried to play, but I probably shouldn't have," Hill said.

"I felt like an old man out there." He will take more treatment today, and perhaps have X-rays on the ankle. But he doesn't expect to play tonight against Indiana. Even if he wanted to, interim coach George Irvine might not let him. "I le needs to let it heal," Irvine said. "I am not going to play him if he can't hardly move.

It's not right I le tried. I le was courageous. But he can't play effectively." Allen Iverson scored 30 and George Lynch, who finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, sparked a Sixers surge with nine seen him do that before," Manager Phil Garner said. "He has no business hitting the ball there," catcher Robert Fick said. "That's not him." In a huge ballpark it is.

Then there was the deflation Higginson felt when he came away with nothing on his first at-bat. Center fielder Gerald Williams hauled down the long drive with a fine catch less than a mile from the plate. "That's a home run anywhere else," Higginson said, "but here it's just an out. I love the place, I really do, but for me not a big power guy it's a little too big." one more victory to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Neither happened Saturday night.

The Pistons' magic number remains one after a 100-94 'oss to the Sixers at First Union Center. Milwaukee, ninth in the Eastern Conference, defeated Washington, 120-116, in overtime. The Pistons have lost three of four and three straight on the road. They are seventh in the East and lead eighth-place Orlando by a game. As for I Till, he tried to play on an inflamed left ankle joint, but only to see it get caught at the wall: "That's life at Comerica National Park." But it's the Tigers' home now, so they'll have to get used to it and they'll have to make adjustments.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. In their 7-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they didn't. There were many elements of surprise in this game, starting with Dwight Gooden throwing six shutout Associated Press The Sixers' Tyrone Hill grabs a rebound from the Pistons' Christian Laettner. points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Jerry Stackhouse scored 15 and Jerome Williams had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his 23rd double-double for the Pistons.

Loy Vauht scored a season-high to in 11 minutes. Pistons notebook, fage 10D.