RedWingsWorld.com article
March 19, 2007
by Bob Duff
Steve Yzerman entered the arena and jaws dropped. Hurriedly, people fumbled through their belongings for pen and paper.
Yzerman was back in his element, even though his game uniform was unfamiliar. The No. 19 sweater with the “C” in the upper left corner was gone. A suit and tie are elements of Stevie Y’s new uniform.
A vice president in the Wings’ front office, Yzerman still spends much of his life at the rink, even if the task he performs in this new arena has required a complete readjustment in his thinking.
Globe and Mail article
February 1, 2007
by Eric Duhatschek
Link to Article
The perfect metaphor for Steve Yzerman — and the player he eventually turned into - came in the days leading up to the National Hockey League’s 1983 entry draft when Yzerman wasn’t sure about the team that would ultimately select him, and they weren’t exactly sold on him either.
The Red Wings — otherwise known as the Dead Things or the Grey Wings in those sad-sack days — owned the fourth overall pick that year. They coveted a youngster from the Detroit area, one Pat LaFontaine, on the grounds that they needed to rebuild both their team and their franchise and that a local boy might help meet twin needs, on the ice and also in the marketing department.
Denver Post article
January 9, 2007
by Terry Frei
Link to article
They both wore No. 19 and the captain’s “C.” They both were more noted for their leadership by example than oratory.
And despite some frequently acrimonious encounters involving their teams, they could converge, talk to the referees about the imminent barrage of penalties, then appear as if the next words out of their mouths were going to be: Hey, how’re the kids?
Much about the Red Wings- Avalanche rivalry has been toned down over the past few years, but tonight’s first meeting of the season between the teams at the Pepsi Center will be unprecedented for something other than the degree of enmity - or lack thereof.
Detroit News’ opinion article
January 5, 2007
by Lynne Meredith Schreiber
My first memory of Steve Yzerman is when I was 14 and he was a 19-year-old recruit. I’d been attending Red Wings games since I was 4. We were Red Wings groupies before, during and after the “Dead Wings” years and as a teen, all I could think about was Stevie Y.
Tuesday night, I sat beside my dad at Joe Louis once again, as one after another person sang the praises of my hockey idol. They raised his jersey No. 19, never to be worn again by another Red Wings player.
They lauded Yzerman for his integrity, his sportsmanship, his teamwork — all the things I always loved about him. The way he married his high school love and stayed married. His humility. The way he took little, if any, credit for his great, great talent on the ice, instead sharing his night of honor, his career highlights and his Stanley Cup wins with all those around him, from the front office and locker room alike.
These used to be standard American characteristics quality, integrity, character. That’s changed, big-time. Now, the words most often used to describe our nation are divorced, obese and lawsuit-happy.
ESPN Magazine article
January 3, 2007
by Eric Adelson
Link to Article
The little boy held on to that Vic hockey stick even before he knew what it was. The piece of wood was too small to ever use to play, but Braxton Davis wedged it in his pudgy fist as if it were a security blanket, or his dad’s pinkie. How the boy wailed when the nurses took the Vic away. Brant Davis wanted so badly to tell his only son that the stick would be waiting for him after surgery. But Braxton wouldn’t understand. He wasn’t even a year old.
More than 10 years later, Brant Davis still looks at that stick every day.
Detroit News article
January 3, 2007
by John Niyo
For all his amazing talents, there always has been one skill we overlooked when it came to Steve Yzerman: He always knew the right thing to say, and he always knew when to say it.
Tuesday night, before a packed house at Joe Louis Arena unlike any we’ve seen here since 2002 — the last time Lord Stanley’s Cup paid a visit — it wasn’t so much the timing that mattered, though.
No, it was the simple, understated way Yzerman — now officially The Captain forever, as his No. 19 jersey climbed to the rafters at the end of a stirring tribute — managed to soak it all in and sum it all up, this city’s love affair with one of its most cherished sports heroes.
“My first game in Detroit was in October of 1983 against the New Jersey Devils and it was a thrill for me just to step on the ice,” he told the fans, smiling sheepishly after he’d waited out a standing ovation — and chants of “Ste-vie! Ste-vie!” — that lasted nearly 2 1/2 minutes. “Now here we are 23-plus years later, and once again, you never disappoint me.”
January 3, 2007
by Lyle Richardson @ Spector’s Hockey
On January 2nd, 2007, the Detroit Red Wings and their fans, and hockey fans everywhere, got the chance to say goodbye to Steve Yzerman, one of the greatest players and leaders the NHL has ever seen.
It was a nice touch of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada to televise last night’s game between the Red Wings and the Anaheim Ducks in which Yzerman’s number 19 was officially retired and raised to the rafters of the Joe Louis Arena.
It was great to see some of the now-retired former teammates of Yzerman’s on hand for this ceremony. Bob Probert and Vladimir Konstantinov received enthusiastic receptions, touching considering everything those two men have gone through.
As much as this was a ceremony to commemorate Yzerman, it was also rather symbolic, as though the Wings were also officially marking the end of an era, not just of Yzerman’s career, but of their tenure as one of the elite teams in the NHL from 1995 to 2004.
Some may wonder why I’m not being critical of this lengthy ceremony for Yzerman compared to Mark Messier’s with the New York Rangers.
The difference, however, is that Yzerman meant much more for the Wings than Messier ever could for the Rangers.
NHL.com article
January 3, 2007
by John McGourty
Link to Article
They retired Steve Yzerman’s No. 19 at Joe Louis Arena Tuesday night, a fitting tribute to the captain of the Detroit Red Wings’ three Stanley Cup championship teams from 1997, 1998 and 2002.
They remembered the three championships, Yzerman’s 692 goals and 1,063 assists in 1,514 NHL games. They remembered his plus-202 career statistic and his 70 goals and 115 assists for 185 points in 196 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Also remembered was Yzerman’s five seasons in which he scored 50 or more goals and his six-straight seasons with 100 or more points. Those with long memories recalled Yzerman leading Canadian Junior A hockey in assists while with the Nepean Raiders and his 91-point season with the 1982-83 Peterborough Petes. That led to Detroit making Yzerman the fourth-overall pick in the 1983 Entry Draft.
Windsor Star article
January 2, 2007
by Bob Duff
On the brink of his big day, friends, family and former teammates on hand to fete him, a capacity Joe Louis Arena crowd awaiting to embrace him with their warmth, Steve Yzerman spotted a couple of reporters who’d covered him since the early years of his Detroit Red Wings career and stopped to chat.
About the Rose Bowl.
It was so typical Yzeman.
An engaging conversationalist when he wants to be, Yzerman can speak to virtually any topic with some sense of authority.
Except himself.
Calgary Herald article
January 2, 2006
by Jean LeFebvre
The quiet teen from Nepean, Ont., hardly looked like someone with nearly 700 National Hockey League goals in his future.
“Steve was obviously very skilled,” recalled Calgary Hitmen boss Kelly Kisio, “a very good hockey player, but in practice, when he used to take a shot, it looked like he could hardly get it to the net. It was amazing.”
Like Steve Yzerman, Kisio was a Detroit Red Wings rookie in 1983-84, although the latter was six years older. If the Wings — including Ron Duguay, Danny Gare and Reed Larson — were underwhelmed by the kid’s warm-up deliveries, things changed when Yzerman started playing for keeps.
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