Like Ullman, Brian Propp played on five teams that lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. He finished as the highest-scoring left wing in Stanley Cup history and the highest-scoring player to never win the Stanley Cup.

Propp's first chance also ended with teammates sputtering about an official's call. It was in 1980 and the Philadelphia Flyers thought the linesman blew an offside call on Bob Nystrom's deciding goal in overtime of Game 6.

"We only won one series the next three years and I got roasted by the fans," Propp recalled. "That was good for me, it made me understand I had to play better in the Playoffs. I'm proud of the fact that I finished in the Top 30 of every category of Playoff scoring."

Propp played on Stanley Cup Finalists in Philadelphia in 1980, 1985 and 1987. He was with Boston in 1990 when they lost to Edmonton and Minnesota when they lost to Pittsburgh in 1991.

"Dave Poulin got traded to Boston in January 1990 and I got traded there in March after having hand surgery," Propp recalled. "Glen Wesley missed an open shot in overtime against Edmonton and they eventually won that game and the series. Mark Messier and Esa Tikkanen did a good job shutting down Craig Janney and that nullified his wings, me and Cam Neely. The next year in Minnesota, we got beat by a real good Pittsburgh team but I thought we were building a winning attitude.

"The next year I suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first half of the season. I came back and played part of the season in Minnesota, then went to play in Switzerland, came back and played one last year with Hartford."

It would be 12 years before Wesley got another shot at the Finals, with the Carolina Hurricanes against the Red Wings but his team lost again in 2002.

The great players who never won can't help but think of the oddities like Denis Savard who won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993, but didn't dress for the final game; Tony Esposito, a Hall of Fame goalie for the Blackhawks who lost twice in the Finals, played 13 regular-season games his rookie season and none in the Playoffs for Montreal in 1969 to get his name on the Cup. They think of the guys who won in their last chance like Ray Bourque and Lanny McDonald. They think of guys like Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney, stars in their prime for the Rangers and Bruins, who went to Toronto in 1964 near the end of their careers and played key roles in winning the Stanley Cup.

"Look what Luc Robitaille did last year with Detroit, not nearly what he was capable of earlier in his career if he'd had a chance," Propp said. "On the other hand, Igor Larionov, was what, 41? If he hadn't gotten them some big goals in earlier rounds they wouldn't have been in the Finals. There's a lot of luck involved."

Frank St. Marseille came up with the St. Louis Blues in 1967, the first year of expansion, and played in the Stanley Cup Finals his first three seasons. He never got there again in a 10-year career in which he had 425 points in 707 games and 45 points in 88 Playoff games.

"That first year was phenomenal," he recalled. "We were in last place when I got called up. We came from nowhere to be third and beat Philadelphia to go to the Finals against Montreal. It's every Canadian kid's dream to play in the Stanley Cup Finals and I was doing it against my idols, the Canadiens. We played the Canadiens the first two years and Boston in 1970. We were swept all three years. I scored a tying goal against the Canadiens in Game 3 that first year and thought we might win a game. It was a tremendous feeling to score. Anybody can get to the Stanley Cup, but to get there three years in a row was really something. I just wish I had won one."

Mike Gartner, the NHL's all-time sixth-leading scorer with 708 goals, is the highest-scoring player not to win a Stanley Cup and probably the fastest.

James Patrick just completed his 20th NHL season without a Stanley Cup. He was a member of the 1993-94 New York Rangers but was traded before the end of the season to Hartford and missed out on his best chance. He was asked at the end of last season if he was returning to the Buffalo Sabres because he loved hockey (which he does) or because he's still chasing a Stanley Cup.

"If it wasn't fun I wouldn't be playing," he said. "It's been my lifelong dream to win the Stanley Cup. So, at this point of my career, my primary motive would be to win the Stanley Cup."

Mike Gartner also was traded away from that 1994 Rangers team. Gartner, the NHL's all-time sixth-leading scorer with 708 goals, is the highest-scoring player not to win a Stanley Cup and probably the fastest. The trade brought Glenn Anderson to New York from Toronto.

"We had a really good hockey team and had built to that point the previous two or three years," Gartner said. "We were winning games except when we beat ourselves. There was a real feeling in the room that this was the year. I got traded at the deadline and it was tough to watch the Rangers go on. However, one of the highlights of my career was playing for the Maple Leafs in the area in which I grew up. That I outscored Anderson in the Playoffs that year was neither here nor there.

"What I realized over my career was just how difficult it is to be part of a Stanley Cup-winning team," Gartner continued. "I won World Cups, Canada Cups and played on World Championship teams, but it was different with the Stanley Cup. It's not an individual award. It's truly a team award. No matter how hard you try as an individual it's not going to happen unless a team of individuals is working toward a common goal."

In his third NHL season, Rich Sutter was Propp's teammate on the 1985 Flyers. He was 21 years old and would play 10 more seasons with a total of seven teams. He never returned to the Finals.

"It was easy at the time when you lose to say you'll be back next year and I'm sure those comments were made by myself and my teammates," Sutter said. "But it's hard to get back there. You have to have everything fall into place and a lot of luck. Sometimes the best teams don't win. The winner may not be as good but healthier than another team after four rounds of Playoff hockey. The Stanley Cup is a tough row to hoe. It's easily the hardest championship to win in the world. That's what makes it so special."