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2B – Daily News – Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Flyers headed to Finals BROWN (Continued from page 1B) PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mike Richards said the heck with superstition and had his hands all over the confer- ence championship trophy. Some teams refuse to as much as touch one until they have a firm grip on the Stanley Cup. Not these Flyers. ‘‘It took a lot to get here. It’s not the trophy we want, but we haven’t done anything conventional all year especial- ly in the playoffs,’’ a laughing Richards said. ‘‘So we’ll go against the grain one more time. The Philadelphia Flyers have rekin- dled some of their old ‘‘Broad Street Bullies’’ championship days and are back in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 13 years. Richards had a highlight-reel goal early, Arron Asham and Jeff Carter scored 84 seconds apart in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals and the Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Monday night. ‘‘I don’t want to say destiny or any- thing, but we have a great team,’’ Richards said. The Flyers, who needed a shootout win in the last game of the regular sea- son to clinch a playoff spot, will play the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 on Saturday. The Flyers have not won the Stanley Cup since consecutive titles in 1974 and 1975. ‘‘This is one of the most, maybe the most exciting season ever since the first Stanley Cup,’’ team chairman and founder Ed Snider said. ‘‘What these guys have done, what they’ve been through, I mean it’s incredible.’’ Michael Leighton allowed a goal 59 seconds into the game, then shut down the Canadiens, who showed a resilient comeback spirit in the first two rounds. The Flyers took a 3-1 lead into the third period, leaving the final 20 minutes as one raucous coronation party. Nearly 20,000 giddy fans dressed in pumpkin- orange giveaway T-shirts chanted ‘‘Let’s Go Flyers!’’ but couldn’t exhale until the end. ‘‘I was counting down the clock the last 2 minutes, I couldn’t wait for it to wind down,’’ Leighton said. ‘‘Last cou- ple of minutes we did a great job.’’ Once Carter scored an empty-netter in the final seconds, the crowd explod- ed in a championship frenzy. The finals seem a fitting result for a Flyers organization that still has some disappointment in Cleve- land’s decision. ‘‘Obviously, I was not thrilled to see it,’’ Rivers said before Game 4 in Boston. ‘‘I wonder what you have to do to keep your job — back-to- back 60-win seasons. Our profession is tough.’’ Said Van Gundy: ‘‘Fran- chises have the right to make any decisions they want. You can’t do a hell of a lot better. There’s not a coach in the league that has done better than Mike Brown.’’ The Cavaliers were under a deadline to dismiss Brown. If they had waited beyond 10 days after the season, they would have had to pay the 40-year-old coach his salary for next season. Cleveland’s assistant coaches remain under contract for 2010-11. The team now faces an MCT photo Philadelphia Flyer Jeff Carter celebrates, Monday night. ‘‘Broad Street Bullies’’ in their blood- lines. Forget dropping the gloves: This year’s Flyers have shown an awesome ability to fight back on guts alone. Down 3-0 in the conference semifinals vs. Boston and trailing 3-0 in Game 7, the Flyers rallied to win in one of the sport’s all-time great comebacks. ‘‘We kept going and didn’t quit. Down 0-3 we didn’t quit all year that has been our motto. It feels good espe- cially for the fans,’’ Richards said. Carter, Simon Gagne and Ian Laper- riere all pushed through potential series-ending injuries to return earlier than expected and deliver a shot at the Stanley Cup to Philadelphia. ‘‘It’s a great feeling. We got a great team here, a great bunch of guys I’m proud of every one of them,’’ Leighton said. ‘‘I said right from the beginning of the year, we just got to get in the play- offs and anything can happen. That’s a tough team over there and we just played great.’’ For all the knocks Philly takes as a title-starved sports town, all four major pro teams have made the championship round of their sport in the last 10 years. The Phillies in 2008 have won Philadel- phia’s only championship since 1983. Richards, their gritty gold medal-win- ning captain, scored a goal that will surely be shown over and over during the finals. Playing short-handed and just trying to clear the puck from along the boards, Claude Giroux fired the puck about 175 feet down the ice and that sent Richards scrambling. Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak inexplicably skated toward the top of the circles to try and stop the puck. Richards dived head first and slid perfectly between Halak and Canadiens defenseman Roman Hamrlik. The puck squirted away from the crashing Cana- diens, Richards sprang up from his belly and tapped it into an empty net to make it 1-1. Nerves increasing for US soccer EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — When practice is over and Alejan- dro Bedoya gets back to his hotel room, he meditates and prays. As cutdown day approaches for the U.S. soccer team, coach Bob Bradley can sense nerves are increasing for players on the bubble. ‘‘You say to yourself, I’ve been this far. How much closer can I come?’’ said Bedoya, a 23-year midfielder who didn’t make his national team debut until January. ‘‘You’re so close. You don’t want to just not make it because maybe the extra effort wasn’t in there or that extra play wasn’t in there to get you through it.’’ Final decisions should fall into place after Tuesday night’s exhibition against Czech Republic, the first of three warmups ahead of U.S. World Cup opener against England on June 12. Just 23 of the 30 players can dress for the match at Rentschler Field, and only six substitutes can be used. Plans are underway for Bradley to make a televised announcement of his 23-man roster on Wednesday at ESPN’s stu- dios in nearby Bristol. Bradley’s preliminary roster that began practice May 17 had three goal- keepers, nine defenders, 12 midfield- ers and six forwards, and no cuts were made as the group bused north Sunday after a week of training at Princeton, N.J. The average for final rosters is 3- 8-8-4, and Bradley hopes to reach FIFA’s 23-man limit by the time the team heads to Philadelphia on Wednesday ahead of a weekend exhi- bition against Turkey. ‘‘It is really important now to get to 23. It’s important for the group that’s FRENCH (Continued from page 1B) Williams replied: ‘‘Across the board, nothing, really, just to be honest.’’ It was not the sort of after- noon for long outings, but some players just can’t seem to help themselves, such as No. 4 Andy Murray and for- mer top-10 player Richard Gasquet of France. Gasquet started well, but Murray fin- ished well and won 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. Murray also lost the first two sets before beating Gas- quet in five at Wimbledon in 2008. going to know they’re going,’’ Bradley said. ‘‘The nerves that you sense at times — once the decisions are made, a little of that goes away. We can then begin sort of next steps in the team- building process.’’ Bradley figures to use Tuesday’s game to test players for roster spots more than to deploy a potential World Cup starting lineup. While he said April 29 that only 16-18 roster spots had been decided, he’s inched up to just 17-19 after watching eight days of workouts. ‘‘It’s going to be a tough decision for coach Bob Bradley to make,’’ Clint Dempsey said. ‘‘Right now, it’s just people are very anxious, very hungry, trying to get on this team. You never know when you’ll get another oppor- tunity. Everybody feels that sense of urgency.’’ Since there are only three goalkeep- ers, all are locks. Among the defenders, Chad Mar- shall and Heath Pearce appear to be on the bubble. In the midfield, veteran DaMarcus Beasley is fighting to reach his third World Cup, competing with Bedoya, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers and Jose Torres for one or two roster spots. At forward, only Jozy Altidore is assured a berth, but Brian Ching is likely if his hamstring is healthy. Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson and Robbie Findley are in competition that remained wide- open when Charlie Davies failed to heal in time from severe injuries sus- tained in an October car crash. ‘‘It is tough to kind of stay calm,’’ Findley said. ‘‘You’ve got to just focus, stick to the things that you’ve been Murray’s body language was about as bad as his play in the early going, and he pounded a fist into his fore- head after blowing one back- hand slice attempt in the third set. Yet it was Gasquet, who missed last year’s French Open after testing positive for cocaine, that faded. So Murray — a 2009 quarterfinalist at Roland Gar- ros, twice the runner-up at other major tournaments, and Britain’s best hope for its first male Grand Slam cham- pion since the 1930s — still will be around in the second round. ‘‘He’s always fighting, fighting, putting all the balls in the court,’’ Gasquet said. doing that have gotten you this far, and work hard.’’ The Czech Republic thumped the U.S. 3-0 in the Americans’ 2006 World Cup opener. Jan Koller, the 6- foot-7 1/2-inch forward who scored five minutes in, retired from the nation- al team after the 2008 European Championship. And Tomas Rosicky, who scored the other two goals, didn’t make the trip following an injury filled season with Arsenal. Galatasaray for- ward Milan Baros also didn’t accom- pany the team. While it’s just an exhibition, some players know whether they’re on the plane Sunday from Washington Dulles International Airport depends on their performance. ‘‘Tomorrow’s a really important game for the fringe guys like me,’’ said Bedoya, who used to play at Boston College. But they also are looking ahead. Before Monday’s training session in the brilliant spring sunshine, players watched a little of England’s 3-1 exhi- bition victory over Mexico at Wemb- ley on television. ‘‘As we were passing through the lobby, everyone ended up watching I think at one point,’’ midfielder Stuart Holden said. ‘‘No many how many times you see them, you can always watch more.’’ By having 30 players around instead of 23, players realize the coaching staff is watching them at all times. ‘‘I think it creates a good competi- tiveness,’’ Holden said. ‘‘Sometimes, you come into camps and the first cou- ple days are slow. This one, everyone was coming in flying from the get-go.’’ ‘‘Even if he’s not playing so good, he’s very tough to beat.’’ Two seeded Spaniards lost, No. 21 Tommy Robre- do and No. 27 Feliciano Lopez, while Monday’s win- ners included No. 3 Novak Djokovic, No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 13 Gael Mon- fils, No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 19 Nicolas Almagro, No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis, and three U.S. men: No. 17 John Isner, Taylor Dent and Mardy Fish. The 29-year-old Dent never before had won a French Open match and remarked with a wide smile: ‘‘Better late than never, right?’’ He pointed out that the hot and dry weather has transformed the clay, making the surface ‘‘really quick. It’s almost like a hard court out there.’’ One figures that should bode well for him and the 6- foot-9 Isner, as well as two other big-serving Ameri- cans, Andy Roddick and Sam Querrey, who are on Tuesday’s schedule. Remember: No U.S. man has reached the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003. ‘‘If it’s fast, it’s ideal for the Americans, more so than any other type of players out here,’’ Dent said. ‘‘We always have that label, like, even more pressing deadline. James can become a free agent on July 1, when he’ll head a free-agent class unlike any other in league history. He will hit the mar- ket with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and others, and while the expected bidding wars are weeks away, the speculation and suspense are hanging over the NBA playoffs. James has said winning will be the most important factor in choosing a team. In building around him, the Cavs have already shown their commitment to giving the 25-year-old James the tools he needs to win multi- ple titles. Now, by firing Brown, who won more than 66 per- cent of his games, the Cavs have again demonstrated a willingness to go beyond the norm to make James happy. While the All-Star forward did not call for Brown’s head, it was clear during the Boston series that James and his coach were not on the same page. The Cavs, though, are in a bind as complex as any defense they saw in the play- offs. James will likely keep his options open until free agency begins, and without an agreement from him, it will be almost impossible for the team to land a high-pro- file coach since any prospec- tive coach can’t be assured he’ll have James. Beyond that, general manager Danny Ferry’s con- tract expires next month and there’s no guarantee he wants to stay around. If Ferry isn’t re-signed, the Cavs face the prospect of preparing for the NBA col- lege draft and free agency without a coach or GM — hardly the position they thought they’d be in after winning 61 regular-season games and dispatching Chicago in the first playoff round. It gets even trickier. Gilbert will undoubtedly try to make a big splash to con- vince James to stay, but to do so he’ll likely have to land a high-profile coach. There’s no indication Gilbert has reached out to anyone yet but the top-tier candidate list would include people like Phil Jackson of the Los Angeles Lakers, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo or Ken- tucky’s John Calipari, a close friend of James, whose seat near Cleveland’s bench added awkward drama to the Cavs’ loss in Game 5 to the Celtics. Jackson’s contract with the Lakers expires after this season. The 10-time champi- on has talked about retire- ment and recently said he can’t imagine himself coach- ing anywhere else, but that may not stop Gilbert from making him a strong pitch — especially if James is part of the package. Krzyzewski and James formed a strong bond in three seasons together on the U.S. Olympic team, winning a gold medal in Beijing two years ago. Krzyzewski came close to leaving Duke for the Lakers in 2004, and if he’s ever going to test his mettle in the pro game, the opportu- nity to coach James could be enough to pry him from campus. Also, assuming he stays, Ferry is close with Krzyzewski, whom he played for in college and still calls ‘‘coach.’’ ‘‘The NBA rumors have been addressed several times in recent years by coach Krzyzewski,’’ Duke spokesman Jon Jackson said in an e-mail to The Associat- ed Press. ‘‘He has repeatedly stated that he will be the Duke head coach for the remainder of his career.’’ Gilbert has always been impressed with Izzo, who fits the tough-minded defen- sive profile the owner was looking for when he hired Brown in 2005. Also, Gilbert is a Michigan State graduate. Izzo has turned down previ- ous NBA overtures, but maybe none as big as what Gilbert might offer. And then there’s Calipari, who has insisted he’ll stay at Kentucky. But that’s not like- ly to stop the Cavs from reaching out to Calipari to gauge his interest in coming to Cleveland, a move that could keep James home. Brown, meanwhile, did everything in his five seasons with the Cavs — everything but win a title. In the end, that meant Gilbert had little choice but to let him go. The Cavs owner can’t let James walk away as easily. Fogerty’s ’Centerfield’ gets baseball Hall of Fame honor NEW YORK (AP) — John Fogerty’s ‘‘Centerfield’’ has logged more time in baseball stadiums than most Hall of Famers. Now, the classic song is about to get its due in Coop- erstown. The Baseball Hall of Fame said that ‘‘Centerfield’’ will be honored at this summer’s induction ceremonies, the first time a musician or a song has been celebrated as a part of the festivities. ‘‘As a little boy I loved baseball. I dreamed about being a major league player. Of course it didn’t work out that way. But to be associated at all, in any way, is a wonderful honor,’’ he said. Already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fogerty will perform the song at the sport’s shrine on July 25. That week- end, thousands of fans will jam a field in the upstate village to see star Andre Dawson, manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey be inducted. Dawson, in fact, roamed center field quite a bit during his career. ‘‘Centerfield’’ marks its 25th anniversary this year. ’Oh, you’re American. First round. See you later.’ So I think we get a lot of pride from winning matches here.’’ There were zero notable upsets among the women, and Williams will be joined in the second round by No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, No. 5 Elena Dementieva, No. 7 Sam Sto- sur, No. 8 Agnieszka Rad- wanska, No. 11 Li Na, No. 17 Francesca Schiavone and No. 24 Lucie Safarova. Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion and former No. 1 now ranked 42nd, won her opener, but Melanie Oudin, the teenager from Marietta, Ga., who made surprising runs at last year’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open, lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 7-5, 6-2. Oudin lost in qualifying at Roland Garros a year ago, but her ranking of 37th now allows her direct entry into tournaments — meaning she keeps gaining experience at tennis’ top levels. ‘‘I’m definitely used to it a lot more because I’ve been in this environment more now than I was before,’’ Oudin said. ‘‘I still love play- ing, and I think that’s the important thing — that I’m enjoying it, looking forward to going to new places that I get to go this year.’’