Anyway You Spell It, Langenbrunner a Star

Most of this season was a tortured journey for Dallas Star forward Jamie Langenbrunner. Playing out of position at left wing because the Stars were thin on that side, Langenbrunner lost the assertiveness that helped him score 23 goals and 52 points in 1997-98 and earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team at Nagano. Coach Ken Hitchcock was disappointed in his 12-goal, 45-point season, and he told Langenbrunner in no uncertain terms.

“We have had one or two meetings over the process here,” Hitchcock said.

Langenbrunner’s learning process accelerated when the Stars acquired left wing Benoit Hogue from Tampa Bay, enabling Langenbrunner to play right wing with Hogue and Joe Nieuwendyk. Dave Reid stepped in after Hogue was injured in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, and the trio has been wearing down opposing defensemen since.

Nieuwendyk is a proven playoff performer, but Langenbrunner has been a revelation. His strength, tenacity on the puck and ability to read plays have made him the Stars’ third-leading scorer and a key reason they lead the Stanley Cup finals, 2-1, as the series resumes tonight at Marine Midland Arena.

On this most veteran of teams, Langenbrunner couldn’t have gotten a greater compliment than Nieuwendyk’s glowing assessment of his 23-year-old linemate. “Jamie’s only in his third year, but he’s playing like he’s been through this type of war before,” Nieuwendyk said.

The real war Langenbrunner fought was with himself. He had to commit to using his 6-foot-1, 208-pound frame to be physical every game and to be smart down low in the offensive zone.

“I’ve had Coach Hitchcock for about four years, here and in the minors, and he has helped me along the way,” said Langenbrunner, who has a goal and two assists in the finals and 10 goals and 19 playoff points. “He’s a demanding coach who expects the best from his players, and he doesn’t accept anything less. He has helped me grow as a player and pushed me along.

“Sometimes, you don’t like getting the extra push once in a while, but I think all in all, when you look back on it, it’s definitely what I needed.”

The Stars needed his emergence to overcome the Sabres’ series-opening victory. The Sabres couldn’t stop Nieuwendyk and Langenbrunner in Games 2 and 3, and they now must decide whether to have Michael Peca to check Nieuwendyk or leave him against Dallas’ top line, centered by Mike Modano. Check one, and the other--and his linemates--can do damage.

“Jamie, to me, is playing the way he did the first half of last year and has a focus of physical play and energy, of that pay-the-price commitment,” Hitchcock said. “Then, I think his skills have just taken over from there.”

Langenbrunner has been more of a playmaker than a scorer in his career, but he doesn’t care if he scores or sets up his linemates.

“I get a bigger kick out of winning,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter how, as long as you come out and do your job. . . . We’re not making any triple-drop pass goals here. It’s all pretty much bang hard, work at the net and scoring our goals from there.”

HE LEARNED WELL

When Darcy Regier was hired to be the Sabres’ general manager June 11, 1997, the team was reeling from the power struggle between deposed general manager John Muckler and soon-to-be former coach Ted Nolan. One of Regier’s first moves was to offer Nolan a one-year contract, which Nolan turned down--and which turned up the heat on Regier because Nolan had become wildly popular in Buffalo.

“My philosophy was stay low to the ground and keep moving,” Regier said.

The Sabres have moved steadily forward since. Coach Lindy Ruff, hired by Regier a month after his own arrival, has unified the team and utilized players’ assets well. Fortified by a few moves, the Sabres advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last season and to the finals this season for the first time since 1975.

For Regier, who toiled in the New York Islander farm system for several years, the basis for this success is his solid relationship with Ruff. He models it after the relationship he saw between Islander coach Al Arbour and general manager Bill Torrey during the club’s dynasty years.

“Torrey helped me get the [Buffalo] interview, and right from the start, Al Arbour said, ‘How did it go?’ ” Regier said. “I said, ‘Al, there’s some serious things going on there.’ And he said, ‘Darcy, you think you’d have this opportunity if there were no problems? Go in and do something.’

“I got to be around Bill and Al and saw them in the good years and the years things didn’t go so well, and for me, that’s the focal point of the organization. I’ve got great guys working with our personnel. Going into this, my primary objective was to build a relationship that first and foremost was built on trust between everyone because everyone else in the organization is going to feed off that. It started good and it’s gotten better. Together, we have the ability to create a lot more than we could individually.”

THEY DON’T WANT TO BE BUFFALOED AGAIN

After suffering through four Super Bowl losses by the Bills, Buffalo sports fans have every right to be cynical about the Sabres. Instead, they’ve lined up behind the team enthusiastically, decorating downtown office buildings with signs and wearing red Sabre T-shirts to Saturday’s game. More than 10,000 fans who couldn’t get a ticket went down the street to Dunn Tire Park, home of baseball’s triple-A Buffalo Bisons, to watch the game on a big screen TV for a nominal fee that went to charity.

While the players welcome that support, it can become a burden to uphold an entire city’s honor and avenge the Bills’ losses on the national stage.

“If one of us wins, we’d take the pressure off the other team,” said Rob Ray, the senior Sabre with 10 seasons of service. “There’s a lot of pressure from fans. Everybody is talking about it. But you’ve got to try to put that aside and shut your mind off to everything else going on besides the game.”

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

Dallas defenseman Craig Ludwig is a slave to habit. His skates are seven years old and his shin pads date to his days at the University of North Dakota. “It’s their 20th anniversary, and it would be great to hang them up,’ he said.

Reaching up to a shelf in his locker, he brought down a battered, flat pad that is held together by odd-sized rivets and gray duct tape. “This is the good one,” he said. “You don’t even want to see the inside. There’s probably a lot of mold in them.”

He acknowledges they do little to blunt the impact when he blocks shots, which is frequently, but he’s determined to stick with the trusty pads that have gotten him through 17 NHL seasons.

“The trainers would love me to wear new stuff,” he said. “I have some, but I wear the other stuff in practice so I can save these for the games.”

SLAP SHOTS

Former King coach Barry Melrose, a studio commentator for ESPN, said he had not been contacted about any NHL coaching vacancy and hasn’t pursued any. He would like to get back into coaching “at some point,” he said. “I have a pretty good job now.” . . . Need a clue to the direction hockey is going? There are more professional hockey teams in Texas than in Canada. The score is 12 north of the border (six in the NHL, four in the American Hockey League, one in the International Hockey League and one in the United Hockey League) and 13 in Texas--one in the NHL, one in the IHL, one in the Central Hockey League and 10 in the Western Professional Hockey League.

Even if the Stars lose, one member of Dallas assistant coach Rick Wilson’s family has a title to his credit: son Landon helped lead the AHL’s Providence Bruins to the Calder Cup. . . . Vincent Damphousse’s new deal with the San Jose Sharks for about $18 million over four years is short of the $5 million average he wanted but is still a healthy paycheck. Keeping him was smart because he shields young forwards Jeff Friesen and Patrick Marleau from the pressure of being the offensive leaders. The Sharks may also make a run at Theo Fleury, who was to meet with agent Don Baizley this week to discuss his situation in Colorado.

Shareholders of Ascent Entertainment Group, which owns the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center, are unhappy over the company’s sale of the teams and arena to billionaire Bill Laurie. Two lawsuits were filed by shareholders who want to overturn the sale on the basis that the $400-million price was too low. . . . Minor-league coach Curt Fraser had a formal interview for the Atlanta Thrasher coaching job, following Don Hay and Ron Low. Nolan and Mike Murphy had informal chats.