SPORTS ON THE NET; 'HOMEMADE SITES FOR CUP FINALISTS WORTH BOOKMARKING
By Tommy Cummings
Star-Telegram
Few fans of the NHL follow their heroes on the Internet with more
passion than Stars fans.
As the Stars and Buffalo Sabres prepare to face off tonight in
the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals, now is as good a time
as any to check out the many homemade sites devoted to the
finalists.
Of the scores of sites, here are a few of the memorable by
category:
* Unofficial official-like sites: Paul Szeglowski of West Seneca,
N.Y., has a labor of love going with his Go Sabres! site
(puckplace.com/sabres). Go Sabres! has updated content and
exclusive audio highlights of every Sabres goal -- with a few
fights thrown in -- this season.
Andrew's Dallas Stars Page,
(rampages.onramp.net/~markstep/stars.htm), a father-son creation
of Mark and Andrew Stepneski of Plano, is a family effort. The
Stepneskis make it a quality-time project -- attending home
games then hurrying home to post results.
* Players pages: Diane Lau of Hales Corners, Wis., posts a
six-chapter narrative highlighting Stars center Guy Carbonneau's
career at her site (www.livingbeyondreality.com/GuyCarbonneau.html).
Mary Bowman of Dallas collects original photos of Stars winger
Sergei Zubov at her site, (www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/8256).
Matt Morrissey of Lindsay, Ontario, has more than 800 images of
Stars goalie Ed Belfour posted at his site,
(www.geocities.com/colosseum/Arena/6004/BELFOUR.html). Another
Belfour fan, 15-year-old Fran Bildner of Philadelphia, tracks the
goalie closely at her site, (www.geocities.com/colosseum/Arena/9349).
College student Lisa Shannon of Sherman scours the Web for news
on Stars winger Jere Lehtinen at her tribute page,
(www.geocities.com/colosseum/Midfield/8355ere2.html). Shelly Beeman
of Irving liked Stars defenseman Darryl Sydor's intensity and
created The Unofficial Darryl Sydor Page,
(www.geocities.com/colosseum/Sideline/5503).
Janelle Wolfson of Rowlett was so upset to see Stars center Joe
Nieuwendyk booed in his return game against the Calgary Flames
that she launched a Nieuwendyk site,
(www.geocities.com/colosseum/Field/8041). Another quality Nieuwendyk
page is his unofficial site,
(www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/5888) created by a fan who has
tracked Nieuwendyk's career.
The Stars' Mike Modano has two known fan sites. The Mighty
Magical Mo Show, (www.angelfire.com/mo/modanogrrrl) includes a
poetry corner, and the Mike Modano page,
(www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/1579) has lots of images and
multimedia links.
The Sabres have one known player site, but it is distinctive.
Access the site of Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek
(www.geocities.com/colosseum/Arena/6265) and little images of the
Vezina and Hart trophies chase your cursor's movements. It's
quite annoying. It's also a good place to buy Hasek's hot sauce
and stuffed bears, which benefit charity.
* Hardcore Stars fans: Lydia Sappington of Midlothian created the
Unofficial Jason Botterill Webpage,(people.delphi.comasbotterill)
to track a Stars player who is assigned to the Michigan K-Wings,
the Stars' top minor-league affiliate. Jeannie Millender of Plano
bought a domain name and posts her photos of practices and
special events at her site, (www.thedallasstars.com).
* Best Stars page by a Swede: Johan Rojestal of Sweden has one
page of his site, (home1.2.sbbs.seohan.rojestal) in English, but
Stars fans should get the point at the Swedish parts -- besides,
there are only so many ways to say Michigan K-Wings in Swedish.
* Best Stars page by a Canadian: Pierre Stymiest of Moncton, New
Brunswick, a fan of the team for 15 years, tracks his heroes at
Pierre's Dallas Stars Page, (www.geocities.com/colosseum/Field/3851).
* Best Minnesota North Stars site: Ken Avery and Paul Keller of
St. Paul, Minn., have old North Stars fans in mind with their
Minnesota North Star Memories site,
(pages.prodigy.net/a79krgm/northstars). The site is a scrapbook
for North Stars fans and a resource for fans wanting to learn
about the franchise's 26-year history before it arrived in Texas.
It includes an account of the team's first season, a commentary
of the team's two Stanley Cup Finals appearances and audio of
play-by-play announcer Al Shaver's last call for the North Stars.
* Best Stars forum: Mark Crawford of Mesquite moderates and
shoots down or edits flames at his Craw4D's Dallas Stars Forum,
(www.delphi.com/dallasstars).
* Worst site for a Detroit Red Wings fan: Steve Dallas'
UnofficialDallas Stars NHL Page, (members.delphi.com/stvdallas99)
will keep its Predictions for '99 section posted because they
were submitted by Red Wings fans, "and well, needless to say,
their forecasts are a little off," site creator Kevin Stagg of
Garland said.