STANLEY CUP FINALS / NOTES : Nation Yearned to See Its Own

It was to be a dream series.

But Wayne Gretzky shattered the dream with three swings of his legendary stick.

Now, some in this nation are having trouble picking up the pieces and getting on with a Stanley Cup finals featuring the Kings and Montreal Canadiens.

Some are having trouble letting go of what might have been--the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Gretzky ended the Maple Leafs’ hopes with three goals in Game 7 of the Campbell Conference finals.

But some also see that loss as the end of an era.

Many wanted to see a Canadien-Maple Leaf final the way Americans would want to see a Dodger-Yankee World Series.

The Canadiens and the Maple Leafs are two of the original six NHL teams. They last met in the finals in 1967, the 100th birthday of Canada.

In this, the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, it seemed only fitting that they meet again.

But beyond that, there is fear by some that this might have been the last chance for Canada to enjoy that classic matchup under present conditions. With the threat of secession by the province of Quebec constantly looming, and the NHL itself expanding and changing, it may never be the same.

Under the headline, “Mourn For What Might Have Been, Hockey Fans,” columnist Stephen Brunt of the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, compared the anticipation of a Toronto-Montreal final to the arrival of Halley’s Comet once every 76 years.

Wrote Brunt: “We have been robbed again. It might not take quite that long (76 years) for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens to meet in a Stanley Cup final.”

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These have not been the best of times for King center Jimmy Carson. Burdened with a terrible slump, he has been scratched since the middle of the Toronto series.

And before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, Carson was robbed. Someone broke into his hotel room and stole his passport and a shirt.

The thief allegedly arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens for Game 1, identified himself as Carson and tried to get in.

“You’re not Jimmy Carson,” an alert Garden employee told him.

The thief fled, but was later apprehended with the help of Lou McClary, an NHL security official assigned to the Kings.

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Claiming to have found a loophole in NHL radio policies, KMPC Wednesday made a deal with Rhode Island-based packager Global Radio Sports to carry the league’s national broadcasts of the Stanley Cup finals.

Len Weiner, KMPC program director, said it was his understanding that there is no policy to keep his Los Angeles-based station from carrying the broadcasts, since the Kings’ flagship station, XTRA, is based in San Diego.

However, Howard Freedman, XTRA program director, said KMPC is wrong. “They can’t carry the Kings,” he said. “It is in our contract with the Kings that we have exclusive rights, and the league has backed us on this.”

Freedman said it is now up to the league to take action.

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After he inadvertently scored into his own net Tuesday night in Game 1, Gretzky said that goalie Kelly Hrudey told him, “Nice goal.”

Hrudey later insisted he had said no such thing. But Gretzky claimed you did, Hrudey was told.

“He’s a very funny man,” responded Hrudey.

Briefly

The Canadiens’ power play, scoreless in five chances Tuesday, has failed in 26 consecutive advantages. Overall, the Canadiens are 11 for 65. . . . Montreal goalie Patrick Roy became a father for the third time Wednesday when his companion, Michele, gave birth to a daughter, named Jana.

Times staff writers Helene Elliott and Larry Stewart contributed to this story.