Goodbye to a Hero

Steve Yzerman, one of the 10 best NHL players ever, announced his retirement from the Detroit Red Wings yesterday. Despite the fact that he is over 40 years old, ravaged by many knee injuries, and a 22-year NHL veteran, I still cannot comprehend seeing anyone else wearing the 'C' for the Detroit Red Wings. Stevie Y has been the captain of the Red Wings since I was old enough to remember watching them on TV. Captain. Not just a player, but he was captain of the team for 20 years. He was not only my childhood idol, but he was surely the childhood idol of millions of other people who grew up in Michigan.

One memory that stands out for me was from the first Red Wings game that I ever attended. The date was February 14, 1987. I was six years old and almost finished with my first season of organized ice hockey. Given that the league consisted of kids aged 6-9, I was a terrible player on my team! My dad and a few of the other dad's on the team took some of us into the city for the Red Wings afternoon game against the New Jersey Devils. I spent the whole game watching Steve Yzerman play. I watched how he skated, how he held his stick, how he shot, etc. I wanted to be like Steve Yzerman.

After the game, we all rushed back to Marysville (where I lived at the time) since we had a hockey game that night. Not that watching #19 play all day probably had any impact on my game, but I scored my first goal that night (and only goal of that season). Thankfully, my dad filmed the game that night, so I have a permanent record of that goal, as ugly as it was! :)

Steve Yzerman was like the Barry Sanders of hockey for so many years. The Red Wings only had a couple good teams until the mid 1990s. It wasn't until Yzerman gave up his ability to rack up amazing offensive stats and focus on defense first did the Red Wings become an elite team. His willingness to sacrifice his personal stats and the ability to lead the rest of his teammates to play the same unselfish brand of hockey finally brought the Red Wings the Stanley Cup in 1997 after a 42 year wait. After so many heartbreaking losses in recent years, that night when #19 raised the Stanley Cup was one of the best memories from my childhood.

Yzerman slowly lost his amazing skills as his body wore down, but nothing could break his will to win. He played an entire Stanley Cup Playoff in 2002 with several torn ligaments in his knee (you name a ligament and it was probably torn), and led the team in points for the playoffs and won his third Stanley Cup. Seriously, every functional ligament in his knee was torn and Yzerman played two months of fantastic playoff hockey. In my opinion, that's the gutsiest performance by an athlete. Ever.

When I think of athletes that are fantastic role models for children these days, Steve Yzerman is definitely one of the best. His unselfish attitude and the "aw-shucks" demeanor are too rare among today's sports stars. I wish him the best in retirement. Detroit Red Wings hockey will never be the same for me without #19 on the ice.

Here is Mitch Albom's farewell column to Yzerman. It does a far better job than I could do.