June 16, 2009

Non-Requiem for the Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings did not win the Stanley Cup this year. Yikes! Our Wings are the most magnificent sports franchise since Ogg’s Cave Clubbers dominated the old Neanderthal Leagues and won 21 straight Pleistocene Cups. How could they possibly have lost?

For those of you who do not live in Michigan, or for those of you who do live in Michigan and who are not Detroit Red Wings fanatics (we know who both of you are and where you live . . .), I should give you a little background.

In ice hockey, the highest achievement possible is winning the Stanley Cup. This is a trophy named after a 19th Century British Governor of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston, Earl of Derby and Count of Crosschecking. After watching an impressive hockey contest back in 1893, Lord Stanley apparently figured that the players must be pretty darned proud of their accomplishments, and really thirsty, so he bought them a big silver cup to carve their names on and drink Molson out of.

The best hockey teams in North America have been doing that ever since.

To win the Stanley Cup an NHL team has to survive four best-of-seven playoff rounds against other teams who were good enough in the regular season to make it into the playoffs. This means playing anywhere between 16 and 28 high stakes hockey games in a little less than three months against skilled and highly motivated teams.

In other words, getting through the NHL playoffs is kind of like a fighting a small war, only it involves a lot more bloodshed.

The Detroit Red Wings have been around almost as long as the Cup has, and they have a long history of success. They won the Stanley Cup last year, their fourth since 1997, after racking up the best record in the NHL during the 82 games of the regular season. For the past 15 years, they have been considered one of the most powerful hockey teams in history.

They are also only – unlike Ogg’s guys, who really have to be considered more of an evolutionary side track – human.

This year in the Finals they came up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team they defeated last year to win the Stanley Cup. Even though they went into the Finals with many of their best players injured, the Wings were still favored to win without too much trouble. The Penguin’s coach was in his first season as an NHL head coach, and while the Penguins key talent were all healthy, most of them had trouble growing decent beards. How could the Red Wings lose?

But they did. They played as well and as hard as they were able to play, and the Penguins were able to play harder and better. The Wings’ mental toughness and experience could not overcome all the torn hamstrings and pulled groins. Red Wings captain Niklas Lindstrom played in the finals less than a week after undergoing testicular surgery to repair damage from being speared by Patrick Sharp during the Chicago series. The spirit may be willing, but geez!

So in the end, the Red Wings simply wore out, and now the Penguins will get to spend the summer taking turns drinking beer out of Lord Stanley’s Cup, the one with their names freshly carved into the side of it. They played hard, they played well and they earned it.

But there is also an image from that night that no real hockey fan will ever forget. After the game Niklas Lindstrom stood at center ice leaning on his stick, politely waiting for the Penguins captain to shake his hand.

It’s a small thing, but the handshake after a hard-fought series is considered an important part of the chivalry of the game. Every other Penguin had taken a short break from the manic celebration that will dominate their lives for the next three months to recognize their opponents.

The Penguins captain is a breathtakingly immature scoring machine named Sidney Crosby, who is famous for devoting more energy during important games to whining and baiting referees than he does to exercising his considerable talent.

While his teammates were showing respect for the Red Wings and for the game, Crosby was too busy dancing with the Penguins’ equipment manager to shake hands with a man who is universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest hockey players ever to set foot on the ice. After an embarrassing wait, Lindstrom gave up and quietly skated away.

So the Penguins won the NHL’s annual War of Attrition and claimed the Stanley Cup. With the exception of their captain, those young men deserve to be respected as the champions they are.

And so do our Detroit Red Wings. Is there anybody else around here who can’t wait ‘til next season?

Copyright ©2009 Michael Ball. Distributed exclusively by North Star Writers Group.

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