Last season was full of frustration for Vancouver Canucks star RW Pavel Bure. An injury on opening night plagued him throughout the year, and ultimately cost him the final 18 games of the season.

Despite many differences, this season is turning out to be more of the same for Bure and his team: frustration after frustration after frustration.

The last three games have been the toughest to swallow, even though they make up less than half of Vancouver's current 8-game losing streak. In each of the three losses - a 7-6 OT setback at Pittsburgh on 25 Oct., a 5-3 loss at Carolina on Monday, and a 2-1 loss at Washington on Tuesday - Vancouver has held a lead.

They've come close, but have thus far failed to come up with even a single point since a 5-1 win at Dallas on 21 Oct.

If a losing streak has bright spots, then Vancouver's last three outings certainly qualify as just that. Even though the Canucks blew 3-goal leads on two separate occasions in Pittsburgh and lost leads in each of the next two contests, their efforts were monumental compared to losses two through five in the streak. In those games, they were outscored by a combined 16-2 in dropping games to Detroit, Chicago, and New Jersey.

After that trio of debacles, the last three games are surely a positive sign, right?

"No, not really," a visibly dejected Pavel Bure told the EuroReport after the Canucks' 2-1 loss in Washington Tuesday. "We are playing to win games. Once, maybe, it's fine to play well and not win. But when you can't get a win in three games like that, it's time to be concerned."

Concerned would be one way to describe a Vancouver club that finds itself with a 3-11-2 record and fewer points than anyone in the Western Conference. Frustrated works well, too, particularly for Bure.

In losses to Pittsburgh and Carolina, Bure's points seem to come easily, as he racked up 1 goal and 5 points. In the end, however, the final score of each game meant that Bure's efforts, no matter how solid, were meaningless.

"It's a team game. It doesn't matter how many points I have - five, ten, whatever. I've got to think about the team, and we're not getting it done," Bure (7+8=15 in 15 games) said.

Against Washington, Bure's frustrations took on another, more personal form as he found himself unable to covert opportunities when the team needed them most. He got some of his best scoring chances in weeks - all of them in the final 5 minutes with the Flames down, 2-1.

First, a point shot slipped through the pads of Washington G Olaf Kolzig. Standing behind Kolzig at the side of the net, Bure swiped at the puck, which was sitting no more than 6 inches from the goal line. Just before Bure got his stick on the rubber, Washington C Adam Oates, who had sneaked in from the other side of the net, swatted it away.

A minute later, Bure left Caps D Calle Johansson embarrassed by executing perfect inside-out move just inside the Washington blueline and setting himself up on a breakaway. This time, Kolzig made a sprawling pad save on a Bure backhander at the side of the net.

Then, Bure's final effort - an open one-timer from the slot - was again foiled by Kolzig, as the Team Germany netminder squeezed Vancouver's final hope of victory firmly between his Heatons.

"The first time [Oates] saved it with his stick, the second time [Kolzig] saved it with his foot," Bure said about the first two chances, shaking his head as he recounted what almost was.

"Amazing."

Six nights; three games; lots of chances; no points. And that's just part of a bigger picture that shows an ugly, eight-game losing streak.

"It's hard to take anything positive out of this," Bure said. "I don't know what else we can do besides forget this game and move on."

©1997 Glenwood Associates, Inc. and The Pro Hockey EuroReport

20 февраля 1998 года.
Russians Bure Finland
Russia 7, Finland 4

 NAGANO, Japan (AP) -- Pavel Bure put on a shootout of his own and restored some nostalgia to the new-look Olympic hockey tournament by thrusting Russia into the gold-medal game.

 Bure scored five goals today in a variety of ways -- breakaways, rebounds and into an empty net -- to carry Russia past Finland 7-4 and into the championship against the Czech Republic.

 "Tonight was the night of Pavel Bure. ... It would take me a while to figure out Pavel Bure, the phenomenon," Russian coach Vladimir Yurvinov said.
 Bure, a star with the Vancouver Canucks, dominated the game from the outset.

 He scored three goals in the opening 21 minutes to stake the Russians to a 3-0 lead. After the Finns rallied to tie the game twice, Andrei Kovalenko put Russia ahead 5-4 before Bure scored with 4:02 remaining and capped his incredible performance with an empty-netter with 5 seconds to go.

 "I'm very happy with the way the team played. It was 3-0 then 3-3, but instead of being discouraged we pulled ourselves together," Bure said. "This was our best game so far."

 And it was Bure's finest effort in a tournament in which he has led Russia back to prominence. NHL players have joined the Olympics for the first time here in Nagano, although it seems just like old times with Russia playing for the championship.

 Russia was the major republic in the former Soviet Union, which won 10 gold medals in 12 Olympics from 1956-1992, the last coming under the name of the Unified Team. In 1994 the Russians finished fourth, but now they're again in position to play for the gold.

 Russia will next play a Czech team that upset Canada 2-1 today in a shootout.
 This game was a shootout, too, but it had nothing to do with overtime.

 Finland's Jarmo Myllys and Russian goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov, who won't be mistaken for Dominik Hasek and Patrick Roy, couldn't contend with Bure and NHL-leading scorer Teemu Selanne.

 Selanne had a goal and an assist for the Finns, who had no problem on the offensive end -- they outshot Russia 32-21 -- yet couldn't overcome a series of miscues that led to breakaways by Bure.

 "We had all the chances, but made too many mistakes and had some bad luck," Finland coach Hannu Aravirta said.

 "We knew Pavel Bure was very dangerous, and you may ask why we didn't have a man cover him all the time. Well, our mistakes were with the puck and you don't cover a player when you have the puck."

 Bure gave Russia a 1-0 lead in the first period with an exceptional bit of persistence. After Myllys blocked Bure's initial shot from the right side of the net, the right wing weaved closer and bounced another shot off the goaltender before scoring on his third try.

 Bure's next two goals came on breakaways against Myllys, a 32-year-old who went 4-27-1 before being bounced from the NHL in 1992. Bure scored after accepting a lead pass from Dmitri Mironov at 17:28 and completed his hat trick with 59 seconds gone in the second period.

 "I still have to improve on breakaways, but tonight was my night," Bure said.
 Finland battled back, getting goals from Raimo Helminen and Kimmo Rintanen to close to 3-2 at 4:59 of the period. The Finns tied it at 14:07 when Selanne scored from the left side of the crease with two Russians in the penalty box.
 Russia regained the lead at 17:26 on a goal by Alexei Zhamnov, but Saku Koivu made it 4-4 early in the third period, scoring from the left circle after Shtalenkov failed to control a soft shot by Selanne.

 Russia went ahead for good with 13:28 left. Sergei Fedorov won a faceoff in the Finland zone and the puck hit the skate of Kovalenko, who tipped it with his stick past Myllys.

2 апреля 1998 года. 
No tears here if Pavel goes

By JIM TAYLOR -- Calgary Sun
  If you're a doctor or a lawyer or a kumquat salesman and you get ticked off with the boss or the working conditions, you can blow that particular pop stand and go work somewhere else.
 There'll be some inconvenience. You might have to miss a payday or two. But you can do it because there are other hospitals, other ambulances to chase, other places to flog your kumquats.
 But there is only one National Hockey League.
 Pavel Bure doesn't have your freedom. Then again, you don't make his $5 million for hitting a piece of rubber with a stick. Maybe it all evens out.
 Pavel is said to be unhappy with his lot as a member of the Vancouver Flighty 'Nucks. He wants to be traded at the end of this season, and has so informed the team yet again.
 He longs for the bright lights of a major American market with its minor American tax structure. He wants to play for someone who can get to the Stanley Cup final without buying tickets. Chances are he has noticed that the team currently paying him his millions is so deep in the cellar that the worms are stepping on it.
 You can hardly blame him. What have the Canucks done for him, hauling him out of Russia when he was 20 and still marvelling at the wonder of junior hockey status that allowed his name to be pushed to the head of the waiting list for his own car, and making him a multi-millionaire?
 And that new contract after he held out, the one that pays him $5 million and has that 40-goal clause (he had 47 going into last night's game against the Oilers) that will boost it by $3 mil or so next year, and maybe as high as $10 mil if he can hit 50?
 Give Bure this: He's never made public noises about wanting to leave. Word leaked out of the dressing room -- these guys can't play, but boy, can they talk -- about an early-season request for a move, and this week's latest report comes courtesy of the team radio station. Pavel refuses to answer questions, says he knows that will convince fans he IS trying to leave, but he's got this season to concentrate on.
 "You guys want to talk about hockey, OK," he says. "Otherwise, I talk to you in the summer."
 Which is, of course, the professional way to go. But the rumors have done something that a year ago would have been considered impossible: In ever-more-vocal numbers, the customers are saying "Get his sorry butt out of here."
 It would be near-unanimous, except that so many other fans are vocalizing the same wish for Mark Messier, who arrived on a beam of light and a $28-million long-term contract, has had a miserable, injury-riddled season, and is viewed in some quarters as less of a team leader than a buddy and confidante of coach Mike Keenan.
 How serious are they? At the game against the Islanders, they cheered Gino Odjick, traded that morning, and former Canuck captain Trevor Linden -- and booed Messier.
 They have had it with superstars playing for king's ransoms and demanding more. They are tired of showbiz gestures and pre-season hype that's all windup and no delivery. They are up to here with a team short a quality goalie, a second-line centre (and a first, say the Messier haters) and a defenceman who can carry the puck more than 10 ft. without tripping over it.
 They used to love Bure. Now they just ask who they could get for him. If he truly wants out, they'll happily second the motion.

By JIM TAYLOR -- Sun Media
  It is considered the ultimate four-letter word, unless you count love.
 Everyone knows it. Most have used it. Radio and television stations won't allow it, and newspapers go crazy figuring ways to get it in without actually printing it.
 One of the most popular end runs is to substitute 'bleep', usually in parentheses. The disadvantage is that (bleep) has become the generic replacement for any word deemed off-color, from "damn" on up, and thus the impact of the Big One is lost.
 Other editors have opted to print the first letter and three dashes, or the first and last letters with two dashes in between. That way, they can't be accused of printing profanity, but any reader higher than protozoa on the evolutionary chain knows exactly what was said. Even avid pre-school readers have no trouble. ("Look, mom: This is easier than s - - t.")
 By now, we should be inured to it, particularly on the sports pages, where major portions of our jockstrapped legions have used it as noun, pronoun, adjective and adverb since the day they were old enough to learn to talk jock and explain that they had the bleeper beat but missed the bleeping corner by that bleeping much.
 But the Big One was in the headlines again last week when it was alleged that Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks used it not once but twice on coach Iron Mike Keenan during a game in Ottawa.
 The story goes that the ever-eloquent Keenan opened the bench conversation by referring to Bure as a "selfish little suck."
 Apparently feeling that "Oh, yeah?" didn't get it done, Bure riposted with "Bleep you! I've played 69 games this season!"
 Then he went out and scored the game-tying goal, returned to the bench and sat as far away from Keenan as possible without joining the paying customers.
 "Way to go, Pavel!" called Keenan.
 "Bleep off!" quoth the Russian Rocket.
 And there it sits. Neither man will comment on that or the stories that Bure has requested a trade, although a Rocket launch come June is now deemed a foregone conclusion. To date, hard-hitting CEO Steve 'Who' Bellringer, has not brought his months of hockey savvy into play and ordered either miscreant to rinse his mouth with Grandma's lye soap.
 A couple of points:
 First, if you had a dollar for every time an NHLer has told his coach to bleep off, you could buy your own franchise. This one became news only because ear-witnesses on the bench blabbed it to a reporter as evidence that Bure does want out, partially because he considers his coach a Richard-cranium.
 Second, the Big One -- however undesirable -- has become a linchpin of the sporting vocabulary. A star is no longer merely great, he's bleeping great. A goon no longer thumped an opponent, he bleeping nailed him. And when the game's been long and tiring, what they wouldn't give for a bleeping beer.
 Usually, it goes unheard and unreported. Sometimes, in these days of zoom cameras and parabolic microphones, it becomes more public, as in the time long ago when Bobby Clarke, all angel curls and bared fangs, leaned out of the Flyers box during a televised game and screamed at referee Bruce Hood:
 "Way to go, Hood, you stupid bleeping bleep!"
 It went live and national. The game survived, as it will again. Bure and Keenan don't need reprimands. What they need is better vocabularies.