'I feel like getting away from hockey for a while'
May 20, 1999

BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

Within 15 minutes of the Red Wings' season-ending loss, captain Steve Yzerman was at his locker, leaning back and answering questions.

What happened, Steve? What went wrong these last four games? How does the future look for this team? Will you watch the rest of the playoffs?

But there was one question the Captain no longer had to answer, a question erased by the Wings' Stanley Cups in 1997 and 1998.

"It makes everything easier to swallow because you don't have to answer the question, 'Do you have what it takes to win?' and all that," Yzerman said Tuesday night after Detroit was eliminated in the second round by Colorado. "We've been able to walk around with our heads up pretty high and feel real good about ourselves, and I think we should still do that."

Yzerman spoke with the conviction of a man who can back up his words with his play: He carried the team for much of the regular season and then carried it higher in the postseason. Of the Wings' 31 playoff goals, Yzerman accounted for nine, including four of the 14 against Colorado. Whenever the Wings needed a big goal, it seemed Yzerman delivered -- and once the Avalanche figured out his was the one line it needed to shut down, the Wings never recovered.

Yzerman scored his last point of this season's playoffs when he set up Nick Lidstrom's power-play goal late in the second period of Game 6. He continued to generate chances in the third period, but the Avs punched the Wings in the gut for good when Peter Forsberg made it 5-2 at 13:31.

"We had some good chances in the second and third, but when they scored their fifth goal, it was just like . . ." Yzerman said, pausing to shake his head. "It was a disappointing finish to the game and the season. And as the game wore down I just felt tired, you know?

"That last shift, you're just exhausted, which is funny, because when you're winning, you feel like you can play all night long."

Now, the biggest obstacle between Yzerman and a good night's sleep is his barely week-old daughter. For the first time in five years he is done with hockey in mid-May. As for the rest of the playoffs, Yzerman said he might watch a few periods here and there, but he wasn't going to make a point of it.

"Right now," he said, "I just feel like getting away from hockey for a while."

Yzerman walked away, head bent slightly as he looked down and fidgeted with one of his Stanley Cup rings. This season, like many before in his 16-year career, ended early. But the old burden is long gone.