It was Yzerman's night

By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun

  DETROIT- It seemed like commissioner Gary Bettman was going on forever. It seemed like he was never going to hand the Stanley Cup to Steve Yzerman.

  But, after 42 years, what's another 42 seconds?

  The captain of the Detroit Red Wings took the Cup on a lap around Joe Louis Arena all by himself. Then he took it to owner Mike Ilitch and made him cry.

  Then he took it back and passed it to Viacheslav Fetisov and Igor Larionov, who carried it together.

  It completed their collection. The two Russians had won Olympic and World Championship gold and Canada Cups.

  Mike Vernon, who had won the Conn Smythe Trophy, skated around the ice with a huge cigar in his mouth. Scotty Bowman hugged Gordie Howe on the ice.

  And then, all of a sudden, they were passing it to Bowman, who had somehow managed to find time to put on his skates so he could take a short trip with it.

  The Detroit Red Wings, obviously, planned and prepared.

  "When I took the Cup, I turned to go back to the players,'' said Yzerman. "But Brendan Shanahan looked at me and pointed and said `go', so I went.

  "I kinda wanted to do it as a team. But it was kinda neat to do it alone.''

  Coach Bowman said skating with the Cup was his dream as a kid. He finally dared to do it.

  "I always wanted to be a player in the NHL,'' he said.

  "I always wanted to skate with the Stanley Cup.''

  So Scotty Bowman strapped them on. "It's pretty heavy and pretty light, too,'' said Bowman.''

  It was quite the celebration.

  Hockeytown, U.S.A. actually started celebrating long before this game began.

  And however scary it may have been out on the streets at midnight, it was wonderful when the sun was still up as this city had a horn-honking ,broom-waving celebration all day yesterday in anticipation of the 2-1 win here last night to put the Philadelphia Flyers out of their misery in the third straight four-game final.

  An entire wedding party had its picture taken in front of the Spirit of Detroit statue, draped in a Red Wings sweater. There was a two-hour line-up to see the Stanley Cup and assorted other NHL hardware on display. And reports indicated scalpers were getting as much as $1,000 a ticket.

  Just about every other sight involved brooms, like kids riding around on their bikes, wearing Red Wing sweaters and waving brooms to the stretch limo on the way to Joe Louis Arena, which had a broom sticking out the window.

  But the sight for sore eyes was to see Yzerman jump into the arms of Vernon at the buzzer and to see the Wings carry the Cup.

  "I was glad the game was over, but I wish it never ended. Since I was five years old, I stayed up watching it presented and watched the celebrations in the locker room.

  "I kind of wanted to sit back and watch the whole thing, sit back and watch everybody. I don't want to miss it.''

  But it was a trip, his trip with the famous trophy.

  "As I got half-way around the ice, I started thinking, `This thing is getting pretty heavy. It's hard holding it up.

  "But I made sure to find my parents and my wife in the crowd. I had a chance to look at them and see them. I just tried to take it all in.''

  For the NHL it was six seasons with six different teams winning the Stanley Cup.

  For Bowman, it was his seventh Cup as a head coach. He won another as a director of player development in Pittsburgh.

  He became the first coach ever to win the cup coaching three different teams - Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

  "I remember seeing the highlights of him in Montreal,'' said Yzerman.

  "He was pretty reserved. He kinda sat back and let the players go. You don't see that kind of emotion from him a lot.''

  But the feel-good story here wasn't Bowman, a man who has never won a popularity contest with his players, but one of the most popular and long-suffering skaters in the sport.

  Yzerman finally realized his dream of 14 years and brought the Stanley Cup to Detroit.

  It's like Ted Lindsay, the 1955 Red Wing captain, said of him before the game.

  "When he got here these was nothing else. He was the franchise. He was the whole organization. He owed this team nothing and could have demanded a trade.

  But he remained one of the classiest guys you'd ever want to meet.''

  And he's never looked classier than holding the Stanley Cup over his head.

  "This is unbelievable,'' he said.

  "It's been a long time for Detroit and a long time for me in Detroit.''