Derian Hatcher grew up in Michigan, just outside Detroit. He has been anxiously awaiting a Dallas-Detroit conference final since moments after the Stars disposed of Edmonton, but he knows the feelings don' t run in the family.

"I don't think my mom is looking forward to it," Hatcher said. "She doesn't like to go to games at Joe Louis Arena when we're playing. She'll probably just fly to Dallas to see the games here."

Mrs. Hatcher aside, most residents of the two cities are excited to see this Western Conference finals come about. Detroit made it possible when the Wings eliminated the Blues, 6-1, on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

"They're still the Stanley Cup champions until someone knocks them off," defenseman Craig Ludwig said. "Any time you're trying to win the Cup, you like to beat the team that won it the year before. We don't want anyone saying, "Yeah, well, Detroit got beat by St. Louis so you didn't have to play the best.'"

Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said he's just ready to play someone.

"Emotionally, players always want a shot at the defending champs, " Hitchcock said. "Coaches don’t think like that. Detroit presents a deep lineup offensively. Any weaknesses they have are masked by their ability to get things done up front."

No one has gotten more done than Sergei Fedorov in these playoffs. After missing two-thirds of the season with a contract dispute, Fedorov has led the Red Wings through the first two rounds. It will be up to center Mike Modano to keep Fedorov from dominating this series, and he had great success in Round 2 in holding Doug Weight to one point in five games.

In the regular season, the Stars won their second straight Central Division title with a franchise record 109 points. But only four came against Detroit as Dallas was 1-2-2 against the Red Wings. The only Dallas victory came in the final week of the regular season when the Red Wings already knew they could not catch the Stars.

"They definitely know how to win," center Bob Bassen said. "The game we played at the end of the regular season, they didn't get through the first two rounds of the playoffs playing like that. They're a very disciplined team in their system.

"We're not going to all of a sudden open it up offensively against them. It would be fun, but it won’t happen. We need to have Eddie [Belfour] keep it going for us."

The series begins Sunday at Reunion Arena at 1 p.m.

© 1998 The Dallas Morning News All Rights Reserved

Tim Cowlishaw / Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News, Stars get matchup they wanted but know Wings will be tough., The Dallas Morning News, 05-20-1998, pp 4B.