All is right in Hockeytown again
-By Mike Moore-
It was so close, so unbelievably close you could almost taste it. Five seconds on the clock, the puck at center ice, this was it, finally.
Now four seconds, but the puck was entering the zone, but four seconds is all, surely this is it. Three seconds, and the puck is now on their stick, they have a chance. Two seconds, a wicked backhand and, oh, what a save. Now just one second, one final attempt.
Now a whistle, a bit of confusion, but yes, this was it, after six long years, the clock owned nothing but zeros and Detroit Red Wings owned hockey’s greatest prize.
Finally.
There was Dan Cleary, standing in front of Chris Osgood, staring at an official, just waiting for assurance that it had ended. There was Osgood, having just picked himself off the ice, starring back at Cleary, maybe breathing for the first time in minutes. Then it happened. The bench cleared. The gloves flew. The party began and all is right in the hockey world again.
The Red Wings had to fight, and oh did they fight in this Game 6, from the opening face off the final feverish seconds. But when that final second was gone, the fight had been rewarded with a series-clinching, Cup-clinching 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
For the first time since 2002 and for the 11th time in franchise history the Red Wings are atop the hockey world, owners of Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Finally.
“Nicklas Lidstrom, come get the Stanley Cup,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on the ice. “It’s yours to take back to Hockeytown.”
Take it he did. Passing it from one player to the next. First came Dallas Drake, a 16-year NHL veteran, in his second stint with the Wings, in a year he almost retired before. A kiss, a smile and then another handoff.
“It’s unbelievable,” Drake would tell TV cameras on the ice. “It’s a life-long dream. I can’t put into words how I feel right now.”
He might as well have been speaking for everyone. It had been six years since the Wings were in this place, six years that featured so many wins, so many chances, such high expectations, but summers that always began way too early.
Not this time, though. This team was different. It was tougher, more focused, more determined, and, as proved in the playoffs, more talented than anyone else. It was a machine that could win with force, with smarts, with finesse or sometimes, with all three.
It was a team led by a coach who never gets too high or too low, who demands perfection, who, in the most difficult time of the season following a triple-overtime heartbreaker Monday night, could be seen at press conferences Tuesday smiling, even joking around.
“All season long you were so focused on the process. Now that you got to the end and your name is going to be on that Cup, what are your emotions?,” a reporter asked Wings’ coach Mike Babcock Wednesday night after the game.
“Well, you know, I probably haven’t come to grips with that,” he replied, smiling. “But to be able to share this journey with the guys and to be able to share it with the city of Detroit, and obviously my family, that’s very emotional. And I’m sure I’m going to have some emotional moments in the next week just thinking about it. But to have your name on the Stanley Cup … pretty special.”
“It’s special,” said Osgood, whose brilliance was somewhat overlooked in these playoffs. Ten years ago he held the Stanley Cup for the Wings. Ten years later, but not looking a day older, he has it again. “I worked on my game and did the right things I needed to do to get to this moment. I never ever doubted myself. I just needed the opportunity.”
There are so many other stories that go with this team, stories that helped make it what it was. The official arrival and emergence of Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and playoff MVP Henrik Zetterberg, who set a franchise record for points in a postseason this year, and oddly enough it was his defensive play that may have had the biggest role in winning the Conn Smythe.
The performance of role players like Dan Cleary, Kris Draper, Darren Helm or Jiri Hudler. The professionalism of Darren McCarty, Dominik Hasek or Chris Chelios, who never complained when benched during the finals.
The history of Lidstrom becoming the first European-born captain to guide his team to a title.
“It’s something I’m very proud of,” Lidstrom said. “I’ve been over here for a long time. And I watched Steve Yzerman hoist it for three times in the past, and I’m very proud of being the first European.”
So many stories on a team, which, in reality is a story in itself just beginning. This isn’t like the 2002 squad where the stars were closer to retirement than they were their 30th birthdays. Thanks to the work of Ken Holland, Jim Nill and everyone else behind the scenes, this is a story that can quite possibly get better and better, as early as next year.
But for this year, and this night, we were reminded exactly what Hockeytown is all about. For the first time in six years, the Cup is coming home, where it belongs. For the first time in six years, summer has arrived, and begins right on schedule.
You can reach Mike Moore at mjm12@albion.edu
