CHICAGO -- The temptation is to say "Gimme mine." Others do. Businessmen. Politicians. Oh, they put up a good front about "what's best for everyone." But in the end it's their own skin they worry about.And then there's Steve Yzerman. He has been skating near the top of his profession for years and has watched his peer group of superstars get their dance with the Stanley Cup -- Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux. So when will it be his turn? When does that big wheel stop on No. 19?
CHICAGO --As he climbed the steps, he heard the national anthem -- and a jolt went through him that left him numb. They were starting the game. And he wasn't out there. When he took his seat, far from the action, they dropped the puck -- and another jolt. He wasn't out there.And when Chicago scored the first goal, and then another, putting the Red Wings in a deep hole on this suddenly critical playoff series game, the sensation was the same. A jolt, and then--"Empty," he sighed.
There were no tears when he stepped to the podium, nothing weak or mushy. Would Chuck Daly ever go mushy in public? Besides, when he first arrived here nine years ago, he couldn't have filled a bus stop if he called a news conference, and now there were hundreds of important people crammed inside a suburban joint that bears his name -- Chuck Daly's Great Northern Restaurant -- to bid him adieu. So hey. Why cry? Business was booming.
They were chanting his name like some sort of pagan ritual, louder and louder, until it echoed through the building in this dreamy roar: "CHEVVV-VY! CHEVVV-VY!" Finally, when the work was done, when this little miracle was over, Tim Cheveldae skated out from the net, raised his stick and was mobbed by his teammates, who, like him, had just completed an exhausting journey from the brink of elimination to the horizon of hope.The Red was back in the black.
Mitch Albom writes about running an orphanage in impoverished Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his kids, their hardships, laughs and challenges, and the life lessons he’s learned there every day.
