Columnist Dean Juipe -- Expert: Wings sweep Caps

The Stanley Cup finals open tonight and one of Las Vegas' leading hockey authorities isn't expecting much in the way of competitiveness.

"It'll be four and out," said Robert Ross, picking the Detroit Red Wings to take four straight games from the Washington Capitals. "If Washington wins even one game, I'd be shocked. I think they're kind of fortunate just to be where they are."

Ross, who has an Internet site and writes for a number of sports/gambling publications, feels the betting line for both Game 1 and the series doesn't completely reflect the two teams' abilities. It's Detroit minus 220 tonight and Detroit minus 330 for the series.

"What's with those numbers?" he said. "The only thing I can think of is that people might be expecting something special from (Washington goalie) Olaf Kolzig. He's playing well but there's no other area where the Caps are anywhere equal to the Wings."

Ross sees this year's finals as similar to both 1997 and '96 when a superior team -- Detroit last year and Colorado the year before -- swept the series.

"The Wings are so strong I have a hard time picturing anyone beating them even next year," he said. "They have great individuals, they have depth and they have experience.

"They're just too much for the Caps. Besides, Washington only had to beat the No. 5, 8 and 6 seeds to reach the finals and they've never done anything in the past.

"Maybe the Wings aren't quite as strong as last year (as a result of having lost defenseman Vladimar Konstantinov) but they're vastly superior to the Caps. This is a series that is going to be anti-climactic."

Another of the Wings' strengths is behind the bench with head coach Scotty Bowman. Hard as this is to believe, Bowman -- who is in his 12th finals and has seven championship rings -- leads five NHL franchises in career playoff coaching victories. ... Former Las Vegas Thunder head coach Butch Goring has been interviewed for the coaching vacancy with the NHL's Florida Panthers. ... Another former Thunder head coach, Chris McSorley, has seen his Pro Beach Hockey get off the ground on ESPN2. It's roller hockey with a ball, played on a portable rink elevated above the beach in Santa Monica. It's obviously TV filler although the crowds seem OK. ... Buffalo Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek is all but revered yet he has the very poor habit of losing his stick during frenetic play. A TV announcer said "he's going good" when that happens, but that's crazy. ... Still the most touching moment in sports: Hockey teams shaking hands at the conclusion of a playoff series. ... Heavyweight boxers Carl Chancellor (424 pounds) and James Gaines (306) recently fought in Houston and set a record for combined poundage (730). ... Anyone can be a boxing champion and here's proof: Hamid Riachi, 8-15, recently won Belgium's lightweight championship by taking a decision over a fighter with a 9-20-3 record, Pascual Montulet; and Orhan Ajvazoski, whose record was 1-7-1 as recently as October and is now 8-7-1, is Germany's new junior middleweight champion.

Former UNLV assistant and head basketball coach Tim Grgurich is back in Las Vegas and looking for work after the entire Seattle SuperSonics' staff was dismissed. ... David Viger, a Las Vegas newcomer who played college football at Navy and participated in both the Hula Bowl and the Blue/Gray Game, has a tryout with the New York Jets this summer. ... How dumb can you be? Hot Wells was entered in last Saturday's Belmont Stakes but had to be scratched the day of the race when the New York Racing Association discovered the horse's owner had failed to apply for a license in the state. ... What a disgraceful championship game in the College World Series last Saturday. Both teams -- USC and Arizona State -- looked awful and played terribly in a game that ended 21-14 for the Trojans. College baseball is in more trouble than anyone thought if these teams, which were a combined 90-40 during the season, are the best the sport has to offer. ... A quick observation: This is the second year of limited interleague play at the major-league level and even baseball traditionalists have come to accept it. ... Bowling traditionalists, however, are taken aback by Glow Bowling, which has already been installed in 102 of Brunswick's 113 bowling centers in America. Glow Bowling features psychedelic, rotating and flashing lights in a computerized program designed to appeal to a younger crowd.

Former Las Vegas Country Club pro J.L. Lewis is playing the PGA Tour this year and hauling his wife, Dawn, and children, 14-year-old Cole and 11-year-old Sherry, on the road with him from one tournament to another. Dawn is home-schooling the youngsters. ... A little feather in the cap of the PGA Tour's Las Vegas Invitational: Fred Couples, in the midst of a great season, has indicated he will play only six more events this year and one of them is the LVI. ... There are 3.1 million fewer recreation tennis players in this country than there were in 1992. ... Former University of Michigan head basketball coach Steve Fisher, who won the national title in 1989 and had his teams in the championship game in both '92 and '93, remains miffed that he was fired last October for minor NCAA violations. "Every university in the country has secondary violations," he told the Catholic periodical Credo, which ought to raise an eyebrow or two. Fisher is still unemployed but says "I'm hopeful I'll wind up with a good college job this summer." Funny thing: Despite his successes, Fisher is rarely if ever linked to a prominent coaching vacancy.

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