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Stevie Y calls it quits
Topic Started: Monday Jul 3 2006, 10:58 PM (69 Views)
Cougar
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Sad day :( but he's 41, been Red Wings captain for 23 years, won 3 stanley cups, played in 1,514 regular-season games, scoring 692 goals and racking up 1,755 points, sixth all-time in NHL history. This guy is a legend, will definitely be in the hockey hall of fame.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=170385&hubname=

Quote:
 
Yzerman announces retirement

Canadian Press

7/3/2006 7:00:25 PM

DETROIT (CP) - The unbreakable will and desire that made Steve Yzerman one of the greatest NHL players in history told him to play one more season.

The knee worn down after 22 years of hockey at its highest level told him it simply wasn't possible, at least not at the level he wanted.

It left Yzerman no choice but to officially announce his retirement on Monday and bring an end to a playing career that made him one of the most respected men in hockey.

"It would have been very simple and an easier decision to say, `You know what, I'm going to come back and go out there and give it one more shot,"' explained the longtime Detroit Red Wings captain, "but I've given up hope that I'm still improving."

Yzerman opened his news conference at Joe Louis Arena by speaking for more than two minutes before saying the word "retirement."


Even he couldn't avoid it forever. After a career that saw Yzerman win three Stanley Cups and become one of the most prolific scorers in league history, the 41-year-old is done.

"I've had a wonderful career and I really will miss it," he said with a slight quiver in his voice.

Yzerman and Red Wings GM Ken Holland both said he would remain with the organization in a role yet to be determined.

Anything else just wouldn't seem right. Yzerman spent his entire 22-year career with the Red Wings and helped turn the franchise into one of the most successful of the modern era.

"He deserves a ton of credit for what has happened here, a ton," Red Wings senior vice-president Jim Devellano has said. "We built everything around him from our marketing to our drafting and our free-agent signings."

It was a match made in heaven.

Yzerman joined the Red Wings as a skinny 18-year-old and became the team's captain in 1986, leading the franchise into an era where it would win three Stanley Cups and become a perennial contender.

He played in 1,514 regular-season games, scoring 692 goals and racking up 1,755 points, sixth all-time in NHL history.

"The bigger the game, the better he played," said Wings centre Kris Draper, who played with Yzerman for 12 years. "You could always count on Stevie, that he was going to score a big goal."

His resume is among the very best of his generation.

A 10-time all-star, Yzerman was voted league MVP by his peers in 1989 and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1998.

In addition to his Stanley Cup wins, Yzerman was a key part of Canada's gold-medal squad at the 2002 Olympics. He essentially played that tournament on one knee, but you would never have known it.

"Steve was a great ambassador for the game of hockey and will be sorely missed," said Mario Lemieux, a teammate of Yzerman's at the Salt Lake City Olympics. "Steve was a great leader, a great teammate and most importantly is a great person."

Yzerman thanked everyone from past teammates and coaches to the media on Monday, but he saved his strongest sentiments for Red Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch along with Devellano and Holland.

All have been with the team since Yzerman was selected fourth overall in the 1983 draft.

"I've enjoyed my career immensely here in Detroit," he said. "We've been through a lot together. There's no place to play that you get this kind of treatment and respect and adulation."

The year before Yzerman was drafted, the team dubbed the "Dead Wings" gave away a car at each home game to spur interest because the previous season there were just 2,100 season-ticket holders.

Yzerman helped build a fan base that regularly sold out Joe Louis Arena, where his retired jersey will soon join Gordie Howe's and others in the rafters.

"He's been a great Red Wing," said Ted Lindsay, a Hall of Famer who helped Detroit win four Stanley Cup championships. "He's been a humble Red Wing. He's been a leader by example."

Soft-spoken Stevie Y never had to say very much for those around him to take notice.

News of his retirement drew praise from all corners of the hockey world.

"With his leadership and determination, with his devotion to the team concept, with his refusal to accept anything less than the best, Steve Yzerman became the symbol of the Detroit Red Wings' standard of excellence in the modern era," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Added Wayne Gretzky, the league's all-time leading scorer and a contemporary of Yzerman's: "(He) was a tremendous hockey player who epitomized everything good about our game. He loved the game and played with passion every night."

Major knee surgery limited Yzerman to 16 games in 2002-03, but he came back the following season to score 18 goals and 33 assists in 75 games. He managed 14 goals and 20 assists in 61 games last season despite tearing muscles three times.

One of Detroit's most popular pro athletes, the soft-spoken Yzerman is the Red Wings' all-time leader in playoff scoring. He ranks first in assists and second only to Howe in games played, goals and points in the regular season.

The captain's true impact wasn't made on the stats page. Yzerman's tremendous will to win and dedication to his team set him apart.

After scoring 62 goals in 1990, Yzerman gradually and unselfishly traded in gaudy statistics amassed with an all-out offensive style for a two-way role to help the team get ahead. The transformation would eventually lead to his selection as the NHL's best defensive forward in 2000.<

His impact on the Red Wings was felt right up until the end.

Yzerman was one of the few Red Wings who was consistent in the first round against the Edmonton Oilers this spring, even though he missed two games during the series with a torn rib muscle.

"It is incredible, but he seems to be able to do the incredible," said Holland. "It's just another story that will be told when explaining the legend of Steve Yzerman."

The legend has moved on now. It's time for Yzerman to give his body a break and spend time with wife Lisa and their three daughters.

He's lived his dream.

"At the age of five and before that I really wanted to be an NHL player," Yzerman said. "It's all I ever wanted to do."
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