DETROIT (May 29) — Rarely, do I have the opportunity to write a blog from the 67th floor of a hotel, with the downtown core of an American city practically at my feet. But, that’s the case here in Hockeytown at the mammoth Renaissance Center on the Detroit River — media headquarters for the first two games of the Stanley Cup final...
My room has floor-to-ceiling windows that face northwest. About a half-mile in the distance is Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. The entire upper deck and a good portion of the grass field are visible from this height. Directly across the street from the ballpark is giant Ford Field, home of the winless-in-2008 Detroit Lions, its massive white roof with the blue and white FORD logo dwarfing nearby structures. Down to my left, hugging the Detroit River and also about a half-mile away, is Joe Louis Arena and its circular cousin, Cobo Hall. The latter facility was home to the World Hockey Association team that briefly played in this city in the mid-’70s, the Michigan Stags. It also housed the Detroit Pistons for most of ’70s before the NBA club moved to the Pontiac Silverdome, and then its current arena in nearby Auburn Hills. Beyond the downtown area, Grand River Ave. stretches northwest for as far as the eye can see. The old Olympia Stadium, home of the Red Wings until 1979, used to be at the corner of Grand River and McGraw. More to the left, and also stretching for miles, is famed Michigan Ave. Clearly visible from up here is the portion of Tiger Stadium that was left standing at the intersection of Michigan and Trumble after the ballpark demolition two years ago. The city fathers chose to keep the stadium intact between the bases, so the double-tier of blue and orange seats that spanned from first base, behind home plate, and over to third base remains in its original form. Two light standards, and the white portion of the ballpark exterior, were also left standing. It really is quite a sight…
While the combatants arrived here for the start of the Cup final on Saturday, former Leaf Peter Zezel was laid to rest in Toronto. I still have trouble believing that Zezel is gone. Though he fought a serious blood disorder for almost a decade, he never looked sick, and he almost always wore his mischievous smile. If you’d like to hear comments from Peter’s large circle of friends and former teammates, go to FAN590.com and click on David Alter’s excellent audio feature. David covered the funeral and obtained some moving thoughts from the hockey people in attendance…
Speaking of Zezel — and downtown Detroit — I can look directly below me and across the street at the Courtyard Marriott hotel. That’s where I stayed on May 1, 1993, the night Nikolai Borschevsky scored in overtime to give the Maple Leafs a dramatic Game 7 victory over the heavily-favored Red Wings in the opening round of the playoffs. Doug Gilmour scored the tying goal for the Leafs with about two-and-a-half minutes left in regulation. Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Zezel came within a hair of winning the match when his re-direction of Mark Osborne’s shot from close range dribbled across the line behind Tim Cheveldae. Correctly determined not to be a goal by referee Don Koharski, it was the sort of play that would prompt a careful video review in the current NHL…
Leafs’ GM Brian Burke seems to be going back-and-forth on what he wants to do, and what he might be able to do, once the draft and free agency are upon us next month. In mid-April, Burke talked about his objective and desire to make the playoffs in 2009-10. But, this week, he answered “so be it” to the more likely notion of his club enduring another struggle next season. He famously suggested he would pursue the No. 1 overall draft choice in order to grab John Tavares, and then described as “insane” the caliber of trade required to pull off such a move. Burke is rarely short on words, but he’ll be graded by action once he begins to re-shape the hockey club. And, that’s probably a good thing. Brian possesses the nerve of a cat-burglar and his willingness to act quickly when the stakes are high has frequently kept him ahead of the opposition. He’s done some of his best work on the draft floor, and that’s why his bold words — though contradictory at times — could make him the man to watch on June 26 in Montreal…
Jim Hughson will call his first Stanley Cup final for Hockey Night in Canada, and one of his many strengths is describing the action with a minimum of flowery dialogue. That’s why it grates on the nerves to hear Jim suddenly and inexplicably shortening the names of many players. Late in the Detroit-Chicago Western Conference final, we were watching “Val” Filppula, “Cris” Huet and ”Pat” Kane. What’s next… “Sid” Crosby? “Ev” Malkin? “Russ” Fedotenko? “Henny” Zetterberg? ”Pav” Datsyuk? Hughson’s inclination not to get cute is one of the elements that separates him from the pack. Hopefully he’ll revert to his familiar form during the Cup final…
Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero was 12 and 13 years old when his late father, Fred, coached the Philadelphia Flyers to Stanley Cup titles in 1974 and 1975. As such, he admitted earlier today to being a “huge Flyers fan” in his youth — words that are tantamount to sacrilege anywhere in western Pennsylvania. Shero did an excellent job this year of maintaining a strong supporting cast for Crosby and Malkin. The Penguins lost Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Ray Whitney and Colby Armstrong; Shero ably replaced them with the likes of Fedotenko, Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz and Miroslav Satan. Another oddity in this match-up is that Penguins’ coach Dan Bylsma played for Detroit counterpart Mike Babcock in 2003, when Anaheim faced New Jersey for the Stanley Cup…
My prediction for the final? Can’t bet against Detroit. Red Wings in 7…
On this date in 1992, the Maple Leafs hired Pat Burns as head coach, and Toronto hockey fans still marvel at the gritty teams he led to conference finals in ‘93 and ‘94. Zezel is the first player from that group to pass away…
This is the 19th Stanley Cup I have covered in my years at the radio station. The best Cup series is still the 1994 clash between the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks — a seven-game travel marathon in which the Blueshirts narrowly escaped with their first title in 54 years. I remember how the build-up to Game 7 at Madison Square Garden was overshadowed by news of the double-homicide three nights earlier in west Los Angeles that led to O.J. Simpson’s arrest, and the much-ballyhooed “trial of the century”. The least-compelling Cup final? Probably Detroit/Washington in 1998. Though the Capitals kept it close in the opener, losing in overtime, the Red Wings romped to victory in four games. The immediate moments after the series, however, were quite memorable, as the Detroit players wheeled ex-teammate Vladimir Konstantinov to center ice at the MCI Center (as it was known back then). Konstantinov had been severely disabled in a car crash a year earlier, days after the Red Wings beat Philadelphia for the 1997 Stanley Cup. It was considered a miracle that the former defenseman survived, and almost inconceivable that he’d attend the club’s follow-up triumph in ‘98…
Speaking of time, how can it possibly be 10 years since the famous “toe-in-the-crease” overtime goal by Brett Hull that won the 1999 Stanley Cup for the Dallas Stars? Heck, it seems like last week that I was sitting in the Marine Midland [now HSBC] Arena until the wee hours of the morning, wondering if the series would end in Game 6, or if we’d all be trekking back to Dallas the next day for a deciding match. Though an illegal tally cost Buffalo another shot at winning the Cup, it spelled the end for the asinine rule that waved off goals if any part of a player’s DNA was in the crease…
NBC gets its back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday so that hockey does not “interfere” with valued programming during the week. Part of that fare is a re-launch of the Tonight Show, and am I the only one that believes Johnny Carson is spinning in his grave with the obnoxious Conan O’Brien taking over from Jay Leno?
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