November 27, 1999

BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

He picked up a loose puck low in the face-off circle to the right of Edmonton goalie Tommy Salo, on the power play, midway through the first period of Detroit's 4-2 victory Friday night.

He circled. He took a couple of purposeful strides behind the goal line, heading toward the net, eyes up, searching unselfishly for a teammate with a better angle to shoot.

And he found one.

So Steve Yzerman, 12 minutes, 30 seconds into his 1,201st NHL game, leading his team in his 14th campaign as the Captain, looking as much like a Hall of Famer as ever in his 17th season as a Red Wing, flipped a pass intended for teammate Slava Kozlov.

But instead of flying across the crease and onto Kozlov's stick, the puck struck Salo's glove, squirted off Salo's left skate, and suddenly scooted into history. Salo's head drooped.

Score. Sweet 600.

Stunned and surprised, Joe Louis Arena erupted in applause and outright, unabashed noise. Yzerman, who insisted for more than a week that he found little meaning in becoming only the 11th player in NHL history to score 600 career goals, glided behind the net with his arms by his side, stone-faced, because he had more than two-thirds of a game left to play.

Martin Lapointe and Steve Duchesne met him near the boards for a hug and a head-rub. Kozlov and Nicklas Lidstrom arrived on the scene a second later. Yzerman skated over to the Wings' bench, using his right index finger to push his helmet up off his brow. He was still stone-faced, but no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, he soon couldn't help himself.

As the crowd kept up its crazy thumping and cheering, Yzerman saw his teammates, all leaning over the boards, smiling, gloves extended for fist-bumps. The corners of his mouth began to rise. By the time Yzerman reached the end of the receiving line, he was flashing a full-fledged smile.

Soon afterward, answering thunderous appeals from the 19,983 fans, Yzerman stood in the bench area, punched his right arm into the air, and raised his stick, thanking those who were thanking him.

The moment might not compare to the Stanley Cups of 1997 and '98, but it was electric, nonetheless. Nothing that happened the rest of the night -- Pat Verbeek scoring his second goal in two games, Brendan Shanahan scoring his fifth in seven games, Larry Murphy playing his 1,500th career game, goaltender Ken Wregget stopping 39 shots -- could compare.

"I just picked up a loose puck," said Yzerman, who has scored 42 goals in 51 career games against the Oilers. "I was looking for Kozzie, the goalie reached out to block the pass, and it re-directed in off his glove. I don't know if I deserved it, but I'm taking it....

"Ideally, I would have drawn it up a little prettier than that. But I've gotten some lousy goals over the years, too."

The goal made Yzerman only the fifth player to record 600 goals and 900 assists, joining the exclusive fraternity of Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Marcel Dionne and Mark Messier. It left him needing one goal to tie Jari Kurri for 10th place on the all-time list.

It provided additional evidence that Yzerman is nothing but a gem.

"If you're a miner and you find a diamond ...well, a lot of people find diamonds," associate coach Dave Lewis said. "But when you find a large one, that's pretty impressive. That's pretty rare. That's sort of the way I look at it: He's a rare individual."

Yzerman said scoring 600 wasn't really a big deal, even if it confirms his status as one of the sport's all-time greats.

"I don't really use that as a barometer," Yzerman said. "I just kind of play. That's a total of the last 17 years, and it doesn't really matter at this point. I just worry about playing now. I really don't think about it. It's not like you sit there and really are aware of it."

But in time, perhaps Yzerman will gain a different perspective. As coach Scotty Bowman said, "To reach that number is special."

"Stevie's sort of downplayed it," Lewis said. "But it's something that I know he'll reflect back on when he's retired and sort of appreciate what he's accomplished individually."

Yzerman said this week that, although he always has been an eager student of hockey history, he never has visited the Hall of Fame.

"One day, I want to go," he said.

The Hall is waiting.