When I started blogging nearly three years ago, Steve Yzerman had just retired and naturally, I was a teary eyed wreck. The player I grew up watching and was accustomed to seeing with the “C” on his sweater was officially and ceremoniously ending an illustrious career. Yzerman was much more than just a Red Wings captain. He was the captain of the city and an all-around role model. I wrote a tribute piece to him that I want to re-post (with some revisions for timeliness and flow) now that he has officially been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this evening
22 Sweet Yearz-man
Steve Yzerman’s retirement in July, 2006 ended 22 years of sheer greatness. He ranks seventh on the all-time NHL list in goals (692), assists (1,063) and is sixth in total points (1,755). He holds the NHL record for longest serving captain of a team with 19 straight seasons. The 10-time all-star also has his name engraved on four individual trophies, the Lester B. Person (1989), Conn Smythe (1998), Frank J. Selke (2000) and the Bill Masterton (2003). Oh, and Mr. Lord Stanley Cup knows him pretty well too. His name appears on that hunk of silver as a player three times (1997, 1998, 2002). He won another as the Vice President of Operations in 2007. Yzerman will go into the pages of history shoulder to shoulder with my buddy’s neighbor, Gordie Howe, as the greatest Red Wings player of all-time.
Yzerman was not only one of the greatest hockey players to skate the ice, but was one of the humblest too. Anytime someone would try to shower him with praise, he would be the first to avert it to his teammates or the coaches. If Steve Yzerman was the greatest, you never heard it from him. Even in his induction speech, he spent quite some time talking about how great his fellow inductees were and congratulating them.
Aside from my father, I couldn’t imagine a much better person idolizing growing up as an aspiring athlete. Extremely talented, a natural born leader (even though, again, he won’t admit it), humble, and I could go on.
I remember playing roller blade hockey growing up, wearing his jersey and pretending to be him. I would skate as fast as I could to try and fly like he would. I would replay his goals the way I saw them on television the night before. The one I would always try imitating was the overtime goal he slap shot to the back of the net from the blue line in Game 7 of the 1996 playoffs against the St. Louis Blues. Watching replays of that still gives me goosebumps.
In 1997, when I was 12-years old, I had the distinct privilege of receiving a private showing of the Stanley Cup with my dad and brother. The same Stanley Cup Steve Yzerman held no longer than four months before, ending the 42-year drought for the Red Wings. I kissed it and held it high with the help of my dad and brother, experiencing just a hint of the glory Yzerman did. It was that moment with the Cup when I first understood how powerful Yzerman’s time in Detroit has been. The Holy Grail, brought to Detroit for the first time in over four decades as a result of a great team led by someone who was willing to sacrifice personal statistics for the sake of winning. And yes, I was 12-years old.
If you’re a Red Wings fan, you know how hard it was watching Red Wings games following Yzerman’s retirement not seeing #19 glide down the ice. But I came to realize over the past four years that Yzerman’s not gone. There is an aura about him that will last eternally. He has forever stamped his legacy on the Detroit Red Wings, permanently in a way that will never fade, that we’ll never forget. Thank you Steve Yzerman.
Here is Steve Yzerman’s Hall of Fame speech:
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