Failure, tears of 42 years for Red Wings erased in 2-1 Cup victory

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 chance. Detroit outscored Philadelphia, 16-6, and only let the Flyers hold the lead for two minutes. The victory gave Detroit coach Scotty Bowman his seventh 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 season'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.

AP PHOTO
Steve Yzerman raised the Joe Louis Arena roof before raising the Stanley Cup.

06-11-97