Saturday, June 15, 2002
Red Wings got it from Day 1
The Associated Press
The Detroit Red Wings are Stanley Cup champions for the third time in six years because their all-stars became all for one.
Future Hall of Famers willingly agreed to be grinders.
The Red Wings wrapped up the 10th Stanley Cup in franchise history — and the ninth and last for coach Scotty Bowman — by beating Carolina 3-1 in Game 5 Thursday.
Captain Steve Yzerman kept playing on a knee so badly ripped up he needs reconstructive surgery and might not play for six months.
“Everybody on this team at some point stepped up for a big play,” Yzerman said. “The only thing that mattered was winning, and the only thing that mattered was the team.”
Brett Hull, one of the greatest scorers, sacrificed his statistics to watch over a line with two youngsters — “two kids and an old goat,” as Hull called it.
Goaltender Dominik Hasek put aside the individualistic quirkiness to win his first Stanley Cup.
There will be time to put what Detroit accomplished — 22-3-1 start, Presidents' Trophy, Stanley Cup — in historical perspective.
The now-retired Bowman, one of the greatest coaches in American pro sports history, set the tone.
These Red Wings got it.
The stars — Yzerman, Hasek, Hull, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Sergei Fedorov — got it. The Grind Line of Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Kris Draper was a fourth line that played like a first line for much of the playoffs.
Conn Smythe Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom got it, too, playing so much and so well he refused to come off the ice.
Igor Larionov got it at age 41, saving himself and his scoring touch for the biggest moments of the season. Hull got it, keeping the finals from taking a potentially far different turn by scoring the Red Wings' biggest goal of the season late in a momentum-swinging Game 3. Tomas Holmstrom, not much of a scorer during the season, got it with eight postseason goals, three in the two biggest games (Game 7 against Colorado, Game 5 against Carolina).
Ten Red Wings played on all three of their most recent title teams in 1997, 1998 and 2002. But this championship team didn't come together until Hasek, Hull and Robitaille were added as the last missing pieces to a team dumped in the first round of last year's playoffs.
The 2002-03 Red Wings won't resemble these champions, either, because Bowman won't be the coach, Hasek might retire, and player movement is inevitable.
HURRICANES: Captain Ron Francis, 39, said he's interested in returning for a 22nd season.
TV: ABC's ratings for Game5 were up 31 percent over the comparable game last season.
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All-Stars: Kentucky 31, Tennessee 14
Red Wings got it from Day 1
