Yzerman plays through emotional pressure Pending birth of daughter, death of Chiasson not hindering Red Wings' captain

Thursday, May 13, 1999

JAMES CHRISTIE

Sports Reporter

Detroit -- Life and death is the most overused metaphor in the description of sport. Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman doesn't apply it to the gamehe plays for a living -- not in a spring when matters of real life and real death have been close to home.The 34-year-old leading goal scorer of the Stanley Cup playoffs has been on call through the second round of the playoffs, waiting to accompany his wife, Lisa, for the birth of their third daughter. Yesterday was the due date. The night before, team doctor David Collon sat in the stands of the Joe Louis Arena as "the keeper of the beeper," ready to notify Yzerman if the message came that Lisa had gone into labour. At the other end of life's spectrum, Yzerman has had to deal with the tragic death of a friend, Steve Chiasson, a former teammate who died in a car crash after having drinks at a season-ending gathering of the Carolina Hurricanes. He considered chartering a plane last week to fly from Denver to Peterborough, Ont., for Chiasson's funeral, but he couldn't get away. Both are profound events in the life of the longest-serving captain in National Hockey League history. And while Yzerman is determined to be at the birth of his daughter -- hence the beeper vigil -- neither life nor death has reduced his dedication to his teammates. He's played with cuts and bruises, already scored a career-high nine goals in seven playoff games, including two game winners and four on power plays, and maintained command in a dressing room filled with leaders and former captains, such as Wendel Clark and Chris Chelios. He's not a locker-room orator. "The big thing with Steve is that he always goes out and leads by example," Brendan Shanahan said. "There are a lot of guys who know what needs to be done, who will say what needs to be done, but Steve goes out and does it." Selflessness has marked his maturing as an NHL star -- and the rise of the Red Wings with him. When he was drafted in 1983, fourth overall, the Ottawa native came to a franchise that had missed the playoffs in 12 of the previous 13 years. Three seasons later, at age 21, he became the youngest captain in the franchise's history. He was originally tabbed as a one-way offensive player and broke the 60-goal barrier twice and the 50-goal mark five times. But when Scotty Bowman came on the scene in 1993, the coach found the firewagonWings could be dominant in the regular season but did not hold up in the playoffs. Yzerman remade his game, became a believer in playmaking and team defence under Bowman. He is deceptively quick and plays a much bigger and more courageous game than would be expected from a player 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds. "He's still a threat, constantly," said Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy, who cannot help but admire excellence. "He plays with such connfidence, and he looks sharp. A couple of times, he surprised me when he had a chance to shoot and instead passed to Shanahan. "I shouldn't say this, but he's almost fun to watch." The swirl of real life events around him has helped Yzerman keep playoff pressures at bay. Yesterday being the due date for the birth, he was not available after the Wings' practice. His locker -- with a picture of his two daughters with the Stanley Cup and a for-sale advertisement for a red Ferrari -- stood unoccupied. Yzerman said earlier in the series that having something else to dwell on the sides hockey "puts the game into perspective. It just allows you to be a little calmer out there, and everyone feels better when they're relaxed." A report in the Detroit Free Press said he would attend the birth, regardless of his hockey schedule. Bowman said yesterday Yzerman had not discussed the matter with him, and he was a little edgy when asked about the possibility of Yzerman missing any action. "If Steve said it, it's gospel, I guess," Bowman said, then lecturing the media that the events in private lives of hockey players should not be fodder for the newsmills. "I'm old school. It's wrong. It's a personal thing for Steve. It's crazy, all these things. He's a private guy, but there's no privacy. "I turned on a radio talk show the other day and they were dissecting the Steve Chiasson thing, talking about a guy's personal life. I shouldn't have even listened to it. Then one station does it, so another one has to keep up with it. Then there's the Internet [chat rooms]. There's no privacy."(In fact, the Detroit Red Wings' fact book was published without the names of players' wives or children to reduce the chances of players and their families being bothered by crackpots.) Meanwhile, Bowman had to concern himself with public matters: how to rebound from Tuesday's 5-3 loss, when goalie Bill Ranford turned very vulnerable and the team missed veteran Igor Larionov. Ranford will likely start again for tonight's fourth game against the Avalanche at Joe Louis Arena, as Chris Osgood's sore right knee still isn't fully recovered. Larionov won't be ready to return either, Bowman said. That's thrown a bit of a wrench into his ability to ice four effective lines. "Sometimes there's a temptation to overplay your top players in that case, but we made a decision not to play with just eight or nine forwards, so we had enough legs to generate offence in the third period [on Tuesday]," the coach said. But run-and-gun hockey won't win this series, he said."We've got to get back to our on-the-road mentality," checking forward Darren McCarty said, noting that visitors had won 30 playoff games this spring and home teams only 25. "Sometimes you try too hard to impress them at home. On the road, you can ice the puck without getting booed and slow down a team's momentum." The Avalanche players were loose and easygoing in yesterday's practice. Theo Fleury displayed his gap-tooth grin and 14 stitches picked up on Tuesday. He said he was ready to accept more as battle scars for a win. "After losing the first two at home, we changed our plan and our attitude," Roy said. "Now, Detroit has the pressure on them." Two years ago, when the Avalanche were the defending Stanley Cup champion, Roy arrogantly said the Red Wings had to prove to him they wanted to win."I don't talk that much today," he said. "I want to be as hungry as I was when we won the Cup. Tomorrow's huge."