Wednesday, July 12, 2006

End of an Era

The Glory Days of hockey is how we'll remember it. Yes, I realize outside of a handful of towns hockey is merely an after thought. However, if you grew up in the cold brisk winters of Michigan, you know exactly what hockey means to this region.



And so the modern day dynasty finally comes to an end with the retiring of Steve Yzerman, arguably the best captain in sports history and the free agent loss of Brendan Shanahan. Many Wings fans saw this day coming as we slowly lost, one by one, the players who would bring us to our feet each and every spring for the last 12 years - Konstantinov, Festisov, Kozlov, Lapointe, Hasek, Federov, McCarty, Larionov, Yzerman, and Shanny to name a few.

The days were golden to us hockey fans and oh how we were spoiled in Hockeytown since 1995:

- Four Stanley Cup appearances
- 3 Stanley Cup Titles
- 5 President Cup Trophies

The Wings went into each and every season prior to 2004 as one of favorites to win the Cup. Each spring, the entire City hung with every pass, shot, and save. Some seasons ended in heartbreak. But who can forget those magical summers of '97, '98, & '02?

As far back as '95, when the New Jersey Devils ousted the Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals we heard the team was 'old' and needed new blood. Yet, year after year, much of the blood remained the same with only delicate additions or subtractions to the roster.

It is one of the most dominant reigns by a team for such a long period of time that has ever engulfed the sports world. What makes it even more fascinating, it was the same core group of players who produced this success for over 10 years.

The memories will last a lifetime, but who can forget some of these classics:

  1. Steve Yzerman's Game 7 double OT goal against St. Louis in '96 pushing the Wings onto the Conference Finals with a 1-0 victory.
  2. March of '97, Wings vs. Avs at the Joe when all hell broke loose with a massive brawl that saw Shanny level Patrick Roy, McCarty beat the snot out of Claude Lemieux and the two goalies, Mike Vernon and Patrick Roy, go toe to toe.
  3. June of '97 when the Wings went in as clear underdogs against the Flyers and destroyed them with a sweep to win the Cup, topped off by McCarty's magical goal.Days after winning the Cup, the tragic accident that ended Vlady's career.
  4. Game 2 of the '98 Stanley Cup Finals against Washington when the Wings score 3 third period goals to force OT and eventually win with Lapointe's pass to Draper igniting them to yet another Stanley Cup.
  5. Yzerman scores his 500th career goal while David is in the pisser at the Joe.
  6. Down 2 games to 0 in 2002 against the Canucks and watching Yzerman on one leg inspire the Wings to win the next four in a row to take the series.
  7. Down 3 games to 2 going into Colorado of the '02 WCF and watching Hasek shutout the Avs in both Game 6 & 7.
  8. Game 7 of the WCF in '02 against the Avs and watching Roy get absolutely blitzed 7-0.
  9. The triple OT game against Carolina in the '02 Cup Finals that saw Igor Larinov end it with a back handed flip over a sprwaled Irbe to propel the Wings to yet another Stanley Cup.

The days were good for us fans. None of us will ever forget Shanny's first game as Wing and how he dropped his gloves during his first shift to let Detroit fans know he came here to take care of business.

Steve Yzerman's 2002 Stanley Cup run was the most remarkable and courageous effort I've ever seen in sporting competition. Nearly playing on one leg, The Captain led the Wings during that playoff with 19 points and was the key ingredient that ignited the team in series wins against the Canucks and Avs. The sheer admiration of watching him get up every time he was knocked down put a sense of pride into every Detroiter's heart. There will never be another leader that compares to what Yzerman brought to his Red Wings.

Yes, these are just a few of the memories left to us. I mean, how do you sum up 12 years in a few paragraphs?

We looked forward to those spring nights. The long night's of watching games at a friend's house or at Joe Vision. The insane artistic painting of a friend’s car. Hanging out on the Ren Cen roof waiting for the Cup parade at 2am in the morning. Yup, we hung onto those Wings with everything we had.

And now, the landscape of hockey has changed and ultimately is the deciding factor that led to the end of an era. Teams on the ice couldn't dismantle the Wings, but the economic force of the League did.

One thing is for sure, we most likely will never have those days back again. It seems like it was just yesterday when this thing began on the night the Wings took out the Blackhawks to reach the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. How fast time has flown by. How fast our heroes have aged and left us. How fast we have grown up. Those days began when I was in high school and have ended at the age of 30. Amazing a team can hold a City captive that long.

We certainly enjoyed it and will never forget it.

DP



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