-14 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, June 11, 1997
Failure, tears of 42 years for Red
Wings erased in 2-1 Cup victory
DETROIT (AP) - Long after the
champagne and beer and whatever
else is sipped from the Stanley Cup is
gone, there remains a silver cup, and
the dreams it inspires.
Last Saturday night, when the
Detroit Red Wings completed a sweep
of Philadelphia for their first Stanley
Cup victory in 42 years, it was all
there to be seen.
Just seconds before the final horn
in Detroit's 2-1 win, Steve Yzerman,
the Red Wings' captain since 1986,
tossed his stick in the air and led a
mad team rush toward goalie Mike
Vernon, the Conn Smythe winner as
playoff MVP.
As fireworks exploded in the rafters
and confetti fell to the ice, the Red
Wings embraced, shook hands and
even cried. Some looked for relatives
in the crowd, and some, like Brendan
-Shanahan, looked for anybody. He
blew kisses to the Detroit faithful who
just kept clapping and cheering.
While this was happening, the
Philadelphia Flyers stood in front of
their bench waiting for the traditional
post-series handshake. None of the
Flyers watched the Wings celebrate.
Most of the players bent over so they
could stare at the ice, maybe hoping
someday it would be their turn to
revel.
In this series, though, the Wings
never gave the Flyers a
o chance. Detroit
t outscored Philadelphia,
° 16-6, and only let the
Flyers hold the lead for
two minutes. The victo-
ry gave Detroit coach
Scotty Bowman his sev-
enth title and made him
the first coach to win
the Cup with three
franchises.
Bowman, 63, plans to
announce soon whether he will return
as coach.
Then, NHL commissioner Gary
Bettman handed Yzerman the Cup,
forever joining this team with the
great Red Wings of old: Gordie Howe,
Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio and
Terry Sawchuk.
It was a moment Yzerman dreamed
about since his youth.
"Since I was four or five years old,
I have watched the Stanley Cup," he
said. "I have stayed up and made a
point of staying up and watching it
presented in the lockerroom and
always dreamed of the day I would get
there."
Detroit got there because it learned
from the disappointments of the two
previous seasons. Being swept from the
finals in 1995 by New Jersey forced the
Red Wings to get bigger, while last sea-
son's Western Conference finals loss to
eventual champion Colorado taught
character and persistence.
"This is the ultimate," said Kris
Draper, one of Detroit's unsung
heroes. "We were so close the last
two, but never had a happy ending"
But this time, there were many
happy endings for the Red Wings.
"Growing up, all you ever dream
about is winning the Stanley Cup,"
Detroit forward Kirk Maltby said.
"But the reality has been much better
than the dream. When they handed me
the Cup, I had tears in my eyes."
Winning that piece of silver can do
that to you.
M
Steve Warman raised the lne Lnuis Arena, rnnf hefnre raising the Staniev Cun.
University of Michigan
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A9
WINGS
Continued from Page 1
Michigan in 1995, has slowly worked
his way through the Detroit system,
(Bi"spending most of this season with the
Wings' farm team in Adirondack, NY.
His relative inexperience may have
cost him the ultimate reward, however.
2 Commerce AArbor, M 41 Under current National Hockey
League rules, only players who saw ice
time in the playoffs or played in at least
663.-33 5 40 regular-season games will have
their names on Lord Stanley's holy
0 Largest and newest fleet. grail,
Knuble fell short of the require-
4 can share the faremens for inscription on the Stanley
Cup. But his omission from the silver
stein has hardly dampened his spirits
S Night d service 663-3888 in the wake of Detroit's first Cup in 42
years.
"It's kind of disappointing, but hope-
24 Hour Taxi" Service fully my chance will come again next
year, he said. "Obviously, it's going to
be our goal to win again."
While Knuble did not dress during
the playoff run, he and the others
scratched for the championship game
donned their jerseys and joined the on-
ice celebration following the victory.
Ward was a bit more integral in the
Cup run for the Wings. After playing
49 games and platooning for much of
the regular season on defense, Detroit
coach Scotty Bowman endorsed Ward
as a part of his regular rotation for the
final three series of the playoffs.
Gaining playing time in the postsea-
son, Ward ensured that his name woul
live for the ages on hockey's highest
honor.
As for the similarities between the
championship loss on the Joe Louis ice
five years ago and the victory Saturday,
Knuble was frank in his evaluation of
their importance.
"It's on a different level," he said.
"At Michigan it's college and some-
thing you do. This is your job. It's th
peak of your job and achieving th
most you could ever achieve."
The peak arrived for the former
Wolverines on Saturday at Joe Louis.
Redemption is sweet.
. ' -
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