Red Wings’ legends beat Maple Leafs’ legends in Game 2 of Alumni Showdown

 

By Stefan Kubus –

DETROIT – As Igor Larionov said after the game, “this is like a rare moment, so you have to cherish them. Life is so unpredictable. It’s so short and you have to enjoy every minute of it.”

With the unique opportunity of having so many Red Wings alumni reunited to wear the same jersey again in an outdoor venue like Comerica Park, it really was a special day in Detroit.

“It just felt like old times again, especially when you’re looking around the locker room and seeing all the names that are here, the guys that I played with in the past and all the success we had together, too,” former Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “It was a great feeling. It felt like old times again.”

The second of two Alumni Showdown battles between Detroit and Toronto at Comerica Park featured some pretty prestigious names, with Hall of Fame talent and other Red Wing favorites reuniting in the same jersey.

Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Mickey Redmond, Chris Chelios, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy and Mark Howe all suited up for Detroit. Additionally, the ‘Russian Five’ of Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov and Slava Fetisov played, with Vladimir Konstantinov on-hand as an ambassador for the team. All four members of ‘The Grind Line,’ Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper and Joe Kocur were in the lineup, as well.

For Toronto, Darryl Sittler, Curtis Joseph, Felix Potvin, Wendel Clark, Mike Gartner, Lanny McDonald and Tie Domi were among the names gracing the ice.

Tomas Holmstrom said it’s something he’d like to see done every year in Detroit.

“Lots of fun to see everybody, the Russians and having Nick here again and seeing everybody – the guys you played with and against in Toronto. Lots of fun, for sure. It’s a great experience, great for the fans, the whole week here downtown, we should do it every year.”

For his introduction, Kocur entered the stadium donning a Bob Probert alumni jersey to a roar of applause as he made his way to the ice. Probert, of course, recently passed away in 2010.

“I mean, I love the guy,” Kocur said of the gesture. “It was great, glad I could do it.

“I was just able to present it to his son. His oldest son (Jack) is wearing it right now.”

Lidstrom added that it was simply great on Kocur’s part to honor such a notable part of Red Wings history.

“I thought it was a great thing for [Kocur] to do. I heard about it yesterday, that he wanted to do something like that in memory of Probie. We all had tons of respect for Probie and it was great to see Joey do something like that.”

Just prior to puck drop, Konstantinov was helped onto the ice to pose for pictures with the rest of the ‘Russian Five’ to an overwhelming ovation from the 33,000-plus fans in the stadium.

“When you’ve got all five on the same day and in the same rink… that was special,” Larionov said. “Especially right now, everybody’s busy, on different continents and doing some stuff, but today was a good day to get together.”

In the game itself, a Scotty Bowman-coached Detroit squad scored four goals – from Doug Brown, Chelios, Fedorov and Shanahan – in the first 25-minute period to make it a 4-1 game. Chelios energized the crowd with a unique celebration that saw him dive across the ice on his back.

“I’ve seen him do that in practice on a clean sheet of ice and I wasn’t expecting him to do that in a game like this, but it was awesome,” Lidstrom said. “It was great to see him do that.”

It looked like it was going to be a repeat of the first alumni game as the ballpark scoreboard read 5-4 with mere seconds ticking off the clock. That is, until Leafs’ defenseman Bryan McCabe banged home a rebound past Manny Legace from the high slot with two seconds remaining to tie things up at five aside.

Instead of going to overtime, both teams went straight to a shootout, where Holmstrom was the only one to score on both sides to seal a 6-5 victory for the Red Wings.

“It was fun,” Holmstrom said of his shootout chance. “I don’t know, I tried to work on it; I told the guys before the game here and practice yesterday too that I think I lost my backhand move, so I really tried to work on it in the warm-up and the game, too. This time it worked.”

But beyond the goals and saves, it was the experience of reuniting with old teammates that triumphed on New Year’s Eve.

“It was fun that they did an alumni game before the big game tomorrow,” Lidstrom said. “It was fun for the players to see everyone again and getting a chance to play together. I’m sure you could tell that everyone had a fun time, a lot of smiles out there on the ice. It got a little competitive at the end, which is natural with two teams and players like that.”