Steve Yzerman

Ask any hockey fan about Stevie Yzerman, and they’ll tell you he’s one of hockey’s greatest players. Ask any Detroit fan, and they’ll tell you he’s much more than that. When Stevie came into the league in 1983, Detroit was known as the “Dead Wings”. When he retired in 2005, Detroit was known as Hockeytown. He won three Stanley Cups and got the Conn Smythe trophy in the 1998 championship. Stevie became captain in his third year with Detroit. His first trip to the Finals was in 1995, where they were beaten by the New Jersey Devils in four games. As the ’96-’97 season began, the Red Wings made some changes. The first change that was made was getting Brendan Shanahan from Hartford. Their first opponent in the playoffs was St. Louis. It was Stevie, who, after game 4, made a speech in the locker room. “Everybody’s quiet and they listen to hear what Stevie has to say. He just came right out and the best thing that he did was he pointed at himself first. Said that I have to get a lot better and then just kind of said that we have to start playing better as a team”- Kris Draper, 1997 Stanley Cup Championship Video. After that, the Wings won the next two games to finish off the Blues. Their next series was against the Anaheim Ducks. They finished off the ducks in four games, but it seemed more like six, thanks to all the overtimes. Their next series was against a familiar foe: their arch rivals, the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche had beaten them in the Conference finals the year before and won the Stanley Cup. This time around, the Wings were determined to win this series. In Game 1, Patrick Roy kept the Wings at bay, allowing the Avalanche the win. Game 2 went the Wings, thanks to defenseman Nick Lidstrom, who kept the puck out of the goal. The next two games went to the Wings. Game 5, which was in Colorado, went to the Avalanche. In game 6, back in Detroit, the Wings won the game and the series. Detroit was headed back to the Finals! In the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Wings won the cup with a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers. “Stev-ie, Stev-ie, Stev-ie”, the crowd chanted as NHL commissioner Gary Bettmen handed our captain the cup. Of course, this being his first Stanley Cup, Stevie wanted more. He wanted to win it the next year even more when a horrible accident caused one of his teammate’s careers to end. The entire season was dedicated to his teammate, Vlady Konstantinov. In game four of the ’98 finals, with 15 minutes left in the third period, Vlady stood up behind the Washington bench, with the help of his wife. “Our entire bench stood up and guys were banging on the boards and stuff”, Stevie said. I was only two at the time, but from what I’ve heard from my parents, it was very emotional. Vlady came out onto the ice after game 4. The first thing Stevie did was placed the cup in his teammate’s lap. That is class, that is absolute class right there. There are comments on YouTube on that video and people say it gives them goose bumps just watching it again. It was three years before Stevie and the wings made it to the finals again. In the summer of 2001, the wings made trades for some future hall of famers who might help them win another cup. Brent Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Dominik Hasak were the players they got. With all those Hall of Famers on their team, Detroit made a very good run. Detroit got past the Canuks, who had won the first two games in that series. Getting the wings back on track was, of course, Stevie. He was very inspiring to his teammates, playing with all that pain in his knees. “For me, so far, he’s been our MVP”, Luc Robitaille said. After the Canuks, the wings beat St. Louis. Once again, in the Conference finals, the wings had to play Colorado. Detroit got passed the Avalanche in seven games. Now, it was time for the Stanley Cup finals. The Wings were going to have to beat Carolina to win. Game 1 went to the hurricanes. Then, the rest of the series, it was all Detroit. Brendan Shanahan put the icing on the cake when he scored the empty netter in game 5. When Stevie lifted the cup in front of all of his fans with his daughter by his side, Detroit was on top of the hockey world once again. That was Stevie’s last cup. He played a few more years before retiring in 2005. The Red Wings gave Stevie a special tribute by retiring his number, which means no player can wear his number again. Stevie has thanked us, the fans, many times. This time, we want to thank Stevie. Thanks for all the memories, Stevie!