Wake up Detroit

By KEN  W PACZAS

At the start of this hockey season, people of Detroit were calling radio stations to complain about Steve Yzerman...

Wait What?!?!?!?!?!?!?

They felt betrayed that he could leave this organization, even if it was for a can’t miss opportunity. They want to be selfish, and they expect Steve to be loyal and are now calling him a traitor…

WAIT WHAT???

I felt like maybe it was time to remind you about whom Steve Yzerman really is.

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Some players talk like they have it, only to show their true colors. Others sit in the shadows, afraid to step into the light. Even more of us wish we had more of it, when times of trouble come.

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Steve Yzerman’s whole career has been overcoming odds and when his back was against the wall, he fought with all he had. After being drafted, the Red Wings feared he would be too small to compete in the NHL, measuring only 5'11 and 185 pounds. Detroit was convinced that Stevie Y needed more seasoning. When Yzerman arrived at training camp in 1983, he proved to everyone that the tiny kid from Canada had the ability to play in this league. In his first professional season, Yzerman tallied 39 goals and 87 points, and finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting.

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In 1986 he was named captain, the youngest player to ever be named captain in the team's then 60-year history, and has held the title ever since. During the 1988-1989 season Yzerman recorded a phenomenal 155 points, a total that only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have surpassed. Yet no one came out and called Yzerman the best, but rather, looked to trade him for someone better. Did he cry, moan, and hold out? No, he did what leaders do, play and let your game speak for you. In 1997, Yzerman led Detroit to its first Stanley Cup in 42 years by sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 straight games. The following year Detroit repeated the feat, taking four in a row from the Washington Capitals. Yzerman handed the Cup first to Vladimir Konstantinov, a Red Wing defenseman who had been injured severely in a car accident a year earlier.

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On November 26, 1999, Yzerman became the eleventh player in NHL history to score 600 goals. By now Detroit has welcomed their second son with open arms; the rest of the NHL did not.

In 2001-02, Yzerman re-aggravated a longtime knee injury, forcing him to miss 30 regular season games. Playing on one good knee, he led Detroit to its 3rd Stanley Cup in 6 years, scoring 23 points in 23 games.

The following summer, Yzerman underwent osteotomy surgery for knee realignment, a procedure typically reserved for the elderly. Yzerman missed 66 games and received a standing ovation from the home crowd when he returned in mid-April, registering an assist in his first game back. His comeback from this type of surgery is rare, if not unprecedented, among professional athletes.

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Yzerman deserves to go out with the love he so rightfully earned. Detroit complains that Barry Sanders left to early, he ripped us off the chance of watching greatness. Yzerman has given us over 20 years of greatness. I for one am thankful for every minute of it. Steve has moved on, and is the GM of another organization. That will still not stop me from standing on my feet and giving an ovation, every time he steps back in the arena.

I will give him, what he has always given this city.

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