It’s been almost a week since the Red Wings captured their 11th Stanley Cup, and while it’s completely sunk in that the boys in red and white with the winged wheel on the front of their sweaters claimed hockey’s holy grail, the emotions remain the same today as they were when the final horn sounded and time run out on the Penguins.
As I had previously wrote about savoring every moment of this because you don’t know what’s around the corner, I find myself still waking up each moring with a big, goofy grin on my face. I find myself recounting the moments, the goals and wins from this recent title run. There was Johan Franzen’s coming out party that began in March, a stretch at one point where ‘Mule’ scored 26 goals in 26 games. There was his Game 5 and possible series saving overtime break away winner against Nashville in the first round that allowed the Wings to oust the Predators two days later. There was Franzen’s systematic dismantling of the Colorado Avalanche almost single-handedly, in which his nine-goal series total (2 hat tricks) matched the Avs’ output as a team.
Something that may be a bit overshadowed, but not forgotten, was Darren McCarty’s revival. Out of hockey and out of luck, McCarty was given a chance by the Wings in the beginning of March and Mac made the most of it. He made the team, more surprisingly he claimed a spot on the playoff roster. And in just his second playoff game against Nashville, McCarty got the scoring started for the Wings and signaled that maybe, just maybe, there’s somebody upstairs looking over McCarty. A truly emotional sight for a Wings fan to see, considering the personal demons he’s gone through the last few years, and to now not only make the team, but contribute.
We won’t soon forget Conn Smythe winner Henrik Zetterberg’s playoff performance, simply a thing of beauty. His 27 points in the playoffs set an all-time postseason record by a Detroit Red Wing. Just think about some of the names for a second. Gordie Howe. Ted Lindsay. Alex Delvecchio. Steve Yzerman. Brendan Shanahan. Sergei Fedorov. All the aforementioned Detroit greats take a backseat to Zetterberg’s postseason performance. And how about that spin-o-rama type goal in Game 4’s 8-2 whooping of the Avs? But even better than that was his defensive prowess in the finals against the Penguins, limiting Sidney Crosby’s time, space and comfort. Not to mention maybe the Conn Smythe clinching shift in Game 4 with the Wings needing to kill a 5-on-3 for almost 90 seconds. Who was out there leading the way, blocking shots and making a last second tie-up disallowing Crosby to get off a slam dunk shot on the doorstep? Zetterberg.
Imagine doing something for 16 years, sacrificing your body and family just to have a hope of one day hoisting the cup. That’s was the case for Dallas Drake until last Wedneday night, who took the cup just after Nicklas Lidstrom took the customary first skate with it as captain. There was Drake, 16 years in the making his journey completed with the team it all started with. And Lidstrom? Well all he did was make hockey history…again. In 2002, he became the first ever European to win the Conn Smythe trophy and now six years later, becomes the first ever European captain to raise the Stanley Cup.
And for Chris Osgood, his story is one that writers in Hollywood couldn’t come up with. He won, he lost. He left, he returned. He sat, kept quiet and then got his chance, took it and ran with it all the way to another title. It was a feat 10 years ago Osgood accomplished when he guided the Wings to their second consecutive cup in a sweep of the Washington Capitals. For some reason, he was labled one of the worst goalies to win a Stanley Cup, that somehow the Wings won in spite of having Osgood between the pipes. He never wanted to leave, always envisioning someday he’d be back. But where Hasek failed this time around, Osgood succeeded. He was a calming prescence in net, never second-guessing himself, though the rest of the hockey universe might have been. He’s never been spectacular, and when you remember all time greats between the pipes, his name probably won’t come up. But when needed, he was good, better than good. Always making the key save or the big save at the right time. Always consistent and solid, never erratic. Maybe now he’s the worst goalie to lead a team to two Stanley Cups.
I think about any playoff stretch run, you’re going to remember what you want to remember. How Franzen couldn’t be stopped, or the tenacious Game 6 effort to put away the Stars and head to the finals. Or Mikael Samuelsson’s emotions after scoring the first goal, and then the second goal in Game 1. Or Max Talbot spoiling the party in Game 5, then Petr Sykora ruining it. Or commissioner Gary Bettman telling Lidstrom to “come get the Stanley Cup to take back to Hockeytown.”
For me, I’ll remember it all because I want to remember it all. Sure I miss the feeling of feeling great after a win and mad at the world after a loss. And in life we move entirely too quickly from one thing to the next. First it was the playoffs, then the finals, then the parade, all of which are afterthoughts now that we’re about three weeks away from free agency, and who’s staying or who’s going. But me, I’m savoring everyday. I’m taking it all in.
It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a day, a week or month later, nothing can take away the awesome feeling of being able to say the Wings are Stanley Cup champs….again.