The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 54

SPORTS D10 EDITOR GARY MASON 605-2395 FAX 605-2524 E-mail sunsportspacpress.soutriam.ca THE NC0UVER SUN FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 2000 DEVILS LEAD SERIES 3-1 DEVILS 0 STARS 0 (INOD Spare Devil glad to be there Miller looking for answers for bad game GARY HILL REUTERS LOS ANGELES Reggie Miller says it was not the pressure of being in his first NBA finals, or the pressure of being in his hometown, or even the pressure of living up to his big sister's reputation. He just missed shots -15 of them on 16 attempts in the Indiana Pacers' 104-87 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in game one of the NBA finals, his worst playoff game ever. "It's a new experience being in the finals, but this is still the game of basketball," the 13-year veteran said after Thursday's practice for today's game two. "People make too much out of it being centre stage. Yes, it's nice, it's fantastic, but it's still a game.

You've got to keep it simple." As for any pressure arising from being in the area where he grew up and went to college -UCLA Miller said: "It's not as much pressure as people think. Yes, I do have a home here, but I don't spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. The last six or seven years I've just stayed in Indiana." His parents and sisters are in Southern California but "most of my close friends are in Indiana and I just have acquain- SEE NBA FINALS, DH OtiC '8frK i-l Brad Bombardir hopes to bring Stanley Cup to his hometown of Powell River over the summer. BILL BEACON CANADIAN PRESS EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. Brad Bombardir hopes to bring the Stanley Cup to Powell River this summer, preferably with his name on it.

"I grew up there and played there until I was 18," the Devils' spare de-fenceman said Thursday morning as New Jersey prepared to meet the Dallas Stars in game five of the Stanley Cup final. "It's a great town and it was very good to me." Bombardir, who now spends his off-seasons in Minnesota, where his wife is from, was as excited as the regulars at the prospect of winning the Cup, even though he has been a bit player in the talent-stacked Devils' drive to the final. He is seventh on New Jersey's depth chart on defence and played in only one playoff game this year the Devils' first game of the opening round against Florida, when he filled in for the suspended Scott Nieder-mayer. A player must have played at least 40 regular-season games or at least one game in the final series to get his name on the Cup, but there is room for exceptions, at the club's discretion. Bombardir, 28, played only 35 games during the season and hasn't seen action in the final, but would be crushed if his name was not engraved on the famous silver bowl.

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't on it," he said. Tve been part of the club the last three years. "I'm a loyal person and I think they'd show the same (loyalty) to me." Every year, there are reserve players caught in the same position as Bombardir and his fellow reserves, Ken Sutton, who has not played in the post-season, and Steve Brule, who NBA Finals FRANK GUNNCP NO GOAL: Dallas goaltender Ed Belfour makes save on New Jersey's Scott Gomez. Game was tied 0-0 at press time. All games on NBC, CTV NEXT GAME Today Indiana at Los Angeles, 6 p.m.

has played one game. Centre Steve Kelly played in one regular-season game, but dressed for 10 playoff games, although none in the final. In 1993, Montreal coach Jacques Demers dressed journeyman de-fenceman Donald Dufresne for the last game of the final against Los An- Stanley Cup final geles just to be sure to get his name on the Cup. The Devils couldn't take that chance against the Stars, the defending Cup champions, but Bombardir is glad just to be near it. "It's a great thing to be part of," he said.

"You'd like to be a bigger part of it, playing in those big games, but it's still special. It's still a privilege." The six-foot-one, 210-pound Bombardir would likely be a regular on many clubs, but in an organization that churns out solid NHL players, he's consigned to staying ready in case a teammate gets hurt. Drafted from the University of North Dakota in 1990, Bombardir has seen a stream of players come up through the New Jersey system. "They find good players, but most importantly, they find good people," Bombardir said. Sex ban puzzles Sweden's squad REUTERS OISTERWIJK, Netherlands, Sweden's Euro 2000 squad were puzzled on Thursday by media re STjRS PLAYOFF FACT On June 9, 1993, the Montreal Canadiens won their 24th Stanley Cup championship with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of the final.

Patrick Roy captured the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after posting a 16-4 record and a 2.13 goals-against average in 20 games. NEW JERSEY VS. DALLAS Next game (if necessary) Saturday Dallas at New Jersey, 5 p.m. DAN HULSHIZERAP BIG SAVE: New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur makes a kick save. ports that a sex ban had been imposed in their training camp.

"It's just a rumour. I don't know where it Pierce comes through for her French fans MORE EURO 2000 PAGE DM French Open comes from. When we are in the camp here we don't have any wives so obviously there's no sex either," midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg said. "A ban on sex? What do you said striker Larsson. "It's hard when your wife's not here." nal against Spain's Conchita Martinez, a 6-1, 6-2 victor over three-time champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

The two-hour, 10-minute match in 27 heat took its toll on Pierce, whose legs began cramping in the third set Short-ly after leaving the court, Pierce's whole body cramped up and she couldn't sit down. She was given rehydration fluids intravenously and came in for a news conference three hours after the match. "I never had cramps before," Pierce said. "It just came all of a sudden at 4-2 in the third set I ran over and hit a backhand. I fell to the ground almost I really had a big cramp in my left calf.

Then it stopped, and I got back up, kept playing the point SEE FRENCH OPEN, DIl STEVE WILSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS PARIS Mary Pierce tortured her newfound fans with a meltdown at match point, then revived in time to give them what they wanted a Frenchwoman in the French Open final and a drubbing of Martina Hingis. A year after both players were booed off court in separate soap operas at Roland Garros, Pierce found herself embraced as a national heroine by fans who, for the sake of claiming a French champion, are now happy to overlook her U.S. residence, American accent and Canadian birthplace. "Ma-rie, Ma-rie," the fans chanted from start to finish as Pierce closed out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 upset Thursday of the top-seeded Hingis to reach Saturday's fi Scores NHL FINAL New Jersey late PARIS Facts, stats and quotes from the French Open on Thursday: Quote of the day: "I dreamed that I was in the won, said Conchita Martinez after her semifinal victory over fellow Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Fact of the day: Mary Pierce is looking to become the first French women's champion since Francoise Durr in 1967.

Statistic of the day: Sanchez-Vic-ario's semi-final defeat by Martinez leaves her stuck on 71 third place in the league table of Roland Garros wins. Chris Evert is second with 72. Steffi Graf leads the list with 84 wins from 94 matches played. Dallas INTERLEAGUE BASEBALL Baltimore 7 N.Y.Mets frio) AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland 0 Boston 3 NATIONAL LEAGUE Houston LA late IACKY NAEGELENReuters ON TO FINAL: Mary Pierce celebrates after defeating Martina Hingis during their semi-final at the women French tennis opea HAVE YOU EVER BEAR? GOLFED fJJ CELEBRATE THE GRAND OPENING Enter to will at of the bear course in kelowna 1 ON JUNE 21st AT THE OKANAGAN okanagan golf ciut BY 8EING A MM8ER www.goiibc.com toiF etui OF JACK'S FOURSOME. i.