NOTEBOOK Hurricanes vs. Oilers

Laraque trades pads for skates: If Georges Laraque's youth football coach had his way, the Oilers' enforcer might be playing in Edmonton for the CFL's Eskimos instead of the beloved NHL team. Back when he was a teenager, Laraque was coached by Danny Maciocia -- now the man in charge of the Eskimos -- on the midget St. Leonard Cougars. Even though Laraque at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, had talent as a running back, he wanted to pursue a hockey career. That's what guys from Montreal played, even though as a black man he was in the minority on the ice. When the time came to choose, Laraque picked hockey despite Maciocia's guarantees that he would turn him into a special player. "I was a running back and I was pretty good," the 29-year-old forward said Monday. "I had to make the choice between that and hockey. He said there's no brothers in hockey and you're not going to make it in the NHL. "He said, 'Stay with football.' I told him no, and he was so disappointed." Laraque saw more potential in hockey off the ice, too. "My entire life, it was a challenge for me to make it into hockey," he said. "When I played football I was only one between many others. In hockey, I wanted to become a role model. I knew if I made it in hockey, people would sort of look up to me more than in football." In Game 3 on Saturday night, Laraque had one of the most curious playing lines in finals history. He got on the ice for only three shifts, and spent a mere 24 seconds off the bench. Most shifts last longer than Laraque's total action. "I have never seen that," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "I mean, we talk about short and hard ..." drawing laughter. Laraque had 12 points and 73 penalty minutes in 72 regular season games. He doesn't have any regrets about his decision even though his talents would probably came through better on the gridiron. "In football I was a running back. In hockey, I'm a fighter," he said with a smile, "so it's pretty much different."
Cole waits: Erik Cole keeps skating and hoping he'll be back on the ice before the end of the finals. Just before Cole took his latest spin, Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette didn't sound optimistic that the center -- who is sidelined by a broken neck -- would return anytime soon. "Erik Cole is not playing," Laviolette said Monday before Game 4. "Erik Cole is not healthy based on the report from the doctor three weeks ago. We got a report from the doctors that we were very upfront with the day we got it. Erik Cole's season was over." Cole, a U.S. Olympian this year, has been out since sustaining a compression fracture in a vertebra when he was driven headfirst into the boards by Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik on March 4.
Pay up: Oilers forward Radek Dvorak bounded out of the players lounge Monday morning to tell teammate Jaroslav Spacek the good news. After only five minutes, the Czech Republic had a 1-0 lead over the United States in the World Cup soccer match. Dvorak spoke quickly to Spacek in their native tongue. Spacek happily translated to the North Americans camped by his stall. Once the Czechs wrapped up a 3-0 victory, Spacek was set to collect on bets he made with his U.S. teammates. "I tried to have all the Americans," before the game went final. "There's not too many of them but I tried to push them around a little bit. I hope I don't have to hit the cash machine today."
Associated Press
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.