Hull

Never one to stay quiet for long, Brett Hull remembers the moment he was left speechless. One day in November, Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks wanted breakfast with Hull, owner of 741 goals and the man whose goal brought the Stars the Stanley Cup in 1999. The meeting was after an overtime loss to the Kings, in which the Stars blew a four-goal lead in the third period and left them a woeful 7-7-3.

The fireworks that were expected never quite materialized when colorful and outspoken Canadian hockey analyst Don Cherry sat down next to the outspoken Brett Hull on the NBC set in Ottawa in the second intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals Monday. They pretty much agreed on everything, including the role of fighting in hockey. Both are strong advocates and didn't hold back, which might have caused a few cringes among NHL and NBC executives.

The rest of the Stanley Cup finals will be televised by NBC, and that's a good thing because everyone with a television set gets that network, unlike Versus. That also means the NBC studio team that includes Brett Hull now becomes involved, and to Ducks fans that might not be such a good thing. When last seen, during Game 5 of the previous series against the Detroit Red Wings, Hull was calling the Ducks "terrible." Among the critics to jump on Hull was Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Brett Hull, one foot in the crease and the other lodged in his mouth, repeatedly called the Ducks "terrible" while they were defeating the Red Wings on Sunday and moving into position to win the Western Conference championship tonight at the Honda Center. Let's analyze this. How is it terrible to pull your goalie for an extra skater late in a game when you have a power play and can create a six-on-four advantage, as Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle did? It's gutsy and it's smart.

Suzanne W. Hull, a longtime director of public administration and education director at the Huntington Library and the first woman to head a division at the San Marino institution, has died. She was 84. Hull, an authority on the reading habits of English women of the 16th and 17th centuries, died May 8 from complications of cancer at a son's home in Park City, Utah, her family said.

Brett Hull was a pudgy blond kid with a big shot and an even bigger last name, his motivation a source of doubt but his talent beyond question. Rejected by the Canadian national team and passed over in favor of 116 other players in the 1984 NHL entry draft, the third of Bobby Hull's four sons grew up to become the scourge of NHL goaltenders -- and the conscience of a league that allowed itself to sink into a defensive stupor that blunted his remarkable goal-scoring ability.

From the tough-nut-to-crack file: When is an almond no longer an agricultural product? California's Public Utilities Commission must answer that question today when it takes up an electricity rate dispute between the almond industry and PG&E Corp.'s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Almond hullers -- they separate the fleshy vegetative covering and the hard shell from the nut -- contend that they qualify for the lower agricultural rate that farmers pay for electricity.

Shelley Hull, 85, associate producer on such hit television series as "Charlie's Angels" and "Starsky & Hutch," died Feb. 27 in his Santa Monica home of emphysema that developed into pneumonia. Brought up in New York City and Old Lyme, Conn., Hull was the son of actor Henry Hull and the nephew of actress Josephine Hull. He spent more than 45 years in television, stage and screen production. In 1967, he began working with Aaron Spelling on "The Guns of Will Sonnett" and later "The Mod Squad."

A two-year, $4.5-million contract wasn't the only thing Brett Hull got from Phoenix. The NHL team announced Tuesday that it would unretire the No. 9 Winnipeg Jet jersey worn by Bobby Hull, Brett's father, so his son can wear it. "I remember as a kid watching my father play in Winnipeg and marveled at the things he could do, and I hope I can continue that tradition," Hull said. The Hulls are the only father-son combination to each score more than 600 goals.

Brett Hull, third on the NHL's career goals list, signed with the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday. The free-agent forward signed a $4.5-million, two-year deal. Hull, an 18-year veteran who spent the last three seasons with Detroit, has 741 goals, behind only Coyote managing partner Wayne Gretzky's 894 and Gordie Howe's 801. Hull, who turns 40 on Monday, has also scored 103 playoff goals, fourth behind Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jari Kurri.