In the spring of 1997, a quarter-century ago, the Detroit Red Wings embarked on their quest to end a 42-year Stanley Cup drought.
The Free Press has commemorated that historic quest with a new book: “Stanleytown: The Inside Story of How the Stanley Cup Returned to Motor City After 41 Frustrating Seasons”.
Day 11: April 26, 1997
The backstory: In Game 5, with a 5-2 win at Joe Louis Arena, the Red Wings matched their offensive performance from the first four games of their opening series with St. Louis. Then they acted as if a great weight had been lifted off their shoulders. After the final bell, the Wings had less than 38 hours to practice at Joe Louis Arena, get to St. Louis, tie up again for Game 6 and prove they had turned a corner in the Stanley Cup pursuit.
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“So far it seems like no game gets to the next game,” Brendan Shanahan said. “We can’t just go out there, throw our sticks on the ice and expect to win.” Fox was scheduled to televise the Sunday matinee. No Wing wanted a Game 7, especially after the agony (but ultimate ecstasy) of the previous season, when Detroit won a Game 7 against the Blues on a Steve Yzerman goal in double overtime.
It is worth noting: “We have to play like it’s Game 7,” Shanahan told the Detroit News. “Sure, anything could happen in a seventh game,” Yzerman said. “But we’re in a position to win a series, and it’s important to win it. That’s it. There is no fear involved. We just want to win the next game.”
“We really want to win,” said Martin Lapointe. “And I think our focus should only be on Game 6, not Game 7.” … The new Shanahan-Yzerman-Lapointe line contributed to the Wings’ first, fourth and fifth goals in Game 5. … Blues coach Joel Quenneville, who replaced Mike Keenan in January, said he felt no pressure as a first-team player. anus. coach in his first playoff series, including against Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman.
“It’s exciting,” Quenneville told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Sure, you have pressure to win because winning is what it’s all about. That is our job. But you control what you can control. You prepare everyone to play their best game possible.”
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off the ice: After Game 5, Darren McCarty forced Kirk Maltby to show a new jersey. It does feature caricatures of Maltby, Kris Draper and Joe Kocur with the catchphrase “The Grind Line.” Maltby later described the tee as “one of those where our heads are big and all that; You can see us. I put on my visor, so you can see it’s me.” However, in Game 5, Bowman used McCarty in the team’s lane of control for most of the game instead of Kocur.
Famous Last Words: The Blues were hoping for a big boost from the boisterous fans at the Kiel Center, some of whom threw beer and coins on the Wings’ bench during a Game 4 melee. Sharpshooter Brett Hull told the Post-Dispatch: “The crowd It has been great. They’ve put up with a lot of crap for a couple of years, and we’re going to bring them back and show them that we’re the team they loved to watch.”
Relive the glory: The Free Press has crafted a 208-page full-color hardcover collector’s book with fresh insights and dynamic narratives about the 1996-1997 Wings. It’s called “Stanleytown 25 Years Later: The Inside Story on How the Stanley Cup Returned to the Motor City After 41 Frustrating Seasons.” It’s only $29.95 and available at RedWings.PictorialBook.com. (This would make a great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift for the Wings fan in your life!) Custom prints available via [email protected].
More to read: Another new Wings book arrived in April from Keith Gave, a veteran hockey writer for the Free Press in the 1980s and 1990s: “Vlad The Impaler: More Epic Stories From Detroit’s ’97 Stanley Cup Conquest”. It is available through Amazon and other bookstores with a portion of the proceeds going to the Vladimir Konstantinov Special Needs Trust. (Much of Gave’s prose also appears in “Stanleytown 25 Years Later.”)
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Even more to read: Red Wings beat reporter Helene St. James, who helped cover the 1997 Stanley Cup race, recently wrote “The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the Detroit Red Wings.” Featuring numerous stories about the key figures of 1997, “The Big 50” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. (Much St. James prose also appears in “Stanleytown 25 Years Later.”)
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Reference-www.freep.com