Young Sharks in Danger Zone

Two weeks ago, Coach Ron Wilson of the San Jose Sharks rhapsodized about his team’s character.

“This is not the kind of team that needed special motivation,” he said. “This is by far the youngest team I’ve ever had. These guys get excited to play every game and I sometimes have to tone them down to get them to do the right things.”

Now would be a good time for them to resume doing the right things.

Given two chances to close out their series against Colorado, the Sharks have lost twice in overtime. They were shut out in Game 4 at Colorado, then held to one goal, on a power play, in Game 5 at San Jose. That was after scoring nine goals in the first two games and 10 in building a 3-0 series lead.

The Sharks’ greatest concern is that Colorado’s experienced, prolific forwards are no longer content to be a step behind and aren’t conceding battles for loose pucks.

Joe Sakic scored a season-saving goal in Game 4, assisted by Teemu Selanne, and another in Game 5, assisted by Peter Forsberg. The sleeping scorers have awakened, and even the quick and agile Evgeni Nabokov can’t stop them.

Tonight at Colorado the Sharks will get another chance to carry out the mission Wilson set for them. They established club records for points, 104, and points at home, 57, but he said the next step should be more significant.

“Now we’ve got to get past the second round of the playoffs because no Shark team has done that,” Wilson said.

The Avalanche has equally powerful motivation to become only the third NHL team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series, following the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders. Players know that if they fall short, tonight or in a seventh game, the team will undergo drastic changes.

General Manager Pierre Lacroix will undoubtedly jettison Selanne and Paul Kariya, whose dream reunion was a bust.

Their failure wasn’t entirely their fault: Kariya was injured most of the season and all of the playoffs but may play tonight, and Selanne got fourth-line duty when he wasn’t exiled to the end of the bench or press box.

But what ultimately matters is that they didn’t produce and they cost $7 million, a considerable chunk of what most payrolls will total under the next collective bargaining agreement.

Forsberg, rumored every spring to be heading home to Sweden for good, might actually depart if the Avalanche doesn’t advance.

Coach Tony Granato could also be gone. He couldn’t get past Minnesota in the first round last spring, and another early exit would be reason enough for Lacroix to fire him and shake up a group that earned more than $62 million this season.

A Colorado loss would also topple another traditional power and continue the rise of the once-downtrodden.

Defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey lost in the first round. So did Dallas. Detroit was eliminated in an upset Monday by the young, eager Calgary Flames, who hadn’t won a playoff series after their 1989 Cup triumph until they beat Vancouver in the first round.

This will be a defining moment for the Sharks. The Avalanche has already had its moments, when it won the Cup in 1996 and 2001. It just might not be ready for its time to end.

A League of Their Own

Woodland Hills businessman Rick Munro owns the right to operate a franchise in the World Hockey Assn. next season. He’s not sure if his team will play in Dallas or Vancouver. He’s not even sure there will be a WHA.

But Munro, who was born in Canada and still plays hockey at 42, said he believes the time has come for a reasonably priced, entertaining alternative to the defense-dominated NHL and its high-salaried players.

“I’m disillusioned with the way the game is played,” he said. “As I got more involved, I just loved this model.”

The WHA announced last week it would start in late October or early November with teams in Quebec City, Toronto, Miami, Vancouver or Dallas, Pontiac, Mich.; Halifax and Hamilton in Canada, and perhaps Montreal.

Munro said he was negotiating to play at either Dallas’ Reunion Arena -- former home of the Stars -- or Vancouver’s GM Place, home of the Canucks. He and Ricky Smith, a lumber magnate who lives in Hollywood, Fla., were put together by the WHA and spent $1.5 million for the franchise.

Each WHA team will have a $15-million salary cap but can separately pay up to $5 million for one “premier” player.

Munro said the WHA would set its ticket prices at about half those of the NHL and would set rules that boost offense. He said there would be no red line, the goalie would not be allowed to touch the puck behind the goal line and contact would be minimal in the neutral zone. Playing three-on-three overtime is being considered, and shootouts will settle ties.

“Our brand of hockey is going to be exciting,” he said.

Munro said he looked into putting a team in Los Angeles but decided the market couldn’t support the Kings, Mighty Ducks, minor league Ice Dogs and the WHA if the NHL and the players’ association forged a new labor deal.

He also said he was assuming the 2004-05 NHL season would start as scheduled but was counting on fan curiosity.

“I think fans are going to love the idea we’re a clean sheet, a fresh start,” he said.

Slap Shots

Colorful Canadian TV commentator Don Cherry doesn’t have a contract for next season, meaning the end could be near for his bombastic “Coach’s Corner” CBC show.

Cherry, known for his diatribes against French-Canadians, Europeans, and anyone who’s not a Toronto Maple Leaf, is an unabashed self-promoter and has become a caricature of himself, but he’s amusing in a crazy-uncle kind of way. There will never be anyone else like him -- which isn’t entirely a bad thing.

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Cutting the season to 72 games didn’t come up during last Thursday’s talks involving the NHL and the players’ association. It had previously been discussed informally but probably won’t be addressed for a while.

“Most of the side issues are dependent on how we come out on the big issues,” said Bill Daly, the NHL’s executive vice president and chief legal counsel.