HE'S NO AVERAGE JOE:   ROCKY PAST HELPS SAKIC APPRECIATE PRESENT
By DAVE FULLER -- Toronto Sun June 10, 1996

MIAMI -- It was never the measure of Joe Sakic's talent that was sometimes an 
issue, only the size of his heart.
  "He's a good little player," everyone who had seen him play said. "But what 
has he ever won?"
  During seven mostly wasted seasons in Quebec, the truthful response was,
"Not much."
  But suddenly the Colorado Avalanche is on the threshold of Stanley Cup 
immortality and Sakic, more than any other player, brought the team there.
  The 5-foot-11, 185-pound, flashy 26-year-old centre from Burnaby, B.C., has 
six game-winning goals in these playoffs, an NHL record. With 18 goals, he's one 
shy of Jari Kurri and Reggie Leach's all-time mark.
  If Sakic doesn't win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, no one will.
  "I'm not worried about that," Sakic said. "I just want to have my name on the 
Cup. It has been my dream ever since I was a kid. If we win, it's something I'll 
never forget."
  He won't forget, either, the heartbreak that accompanied his eight-year climb 
toward hockey's highest pinnacle.
  At 17, he saw four of his Swift Current teammates killed in a bus accident.
  That summer the Nordiques dealt captain Dale Hunter to Washington for the 
Capitals first-round pick (15th overall) and used it to draft Sakic.
  BOLTED CAMP
  While the Nordiques hoped Sakic could play immediately, he bolted training 
camp.
  "I think it was the best decision I ever made, going back to junior," said 
Sakic, who captured the 1987-88 Canadian junior scoring title.  "Physically, I 
knew I wasn't ready (for the NHL)."
  The Nordiques missed the playoffs during five of Sakic's first seven seasons - 
none of them worse than the 1989-90 campaign when they finished a brutal 12-61-
7.
  "Joe and I were talking about the year we won 12 games just last night," said 
Colorado's Curtis Leschyshyn, who has been to hell and back with Sakic since 
they joined the Nords as rookies in 1988. "You hated coming to the rink.
  "But I'm proud of Joe. There was a lot of pressure on him in Quebec. He was 
the guy who was supposed to turn the franchise around, he never gave up trying. 
He's an amazing guy."
  Sakic admitted there were times when the losing drove him crazy. But he never 
sought a trade or complained about his low profile.
  "When you're never fighting for that big prize - when you're not in the 
spotlight - you're not going to get much attention," Sakic said.
  All that has changed now.
  "Maybe deep down Joe might have said this is the time to get out of the 
shadows from all the negative things that have happened in the past," Leschyshyn 
said.
  "But I really I think he just came into the playoffs determined to play hard 
and do what was needed. It's how he always has played the game.
  "People are starting to recognize that now."