Yzerman Moment #19 – The #19 Is Retired

STEVE YZERMAN’S RETIREMENT CEREMONY
January 2, 2007

Here’s the full Steve Yzerman retirement ceremony, complete with color commentary from yours truly. Consider this Moment #19 in the countdown of Steve’s 19 greatest.

In June of 2006, Steve announced his retirement. After the initial shock subsided, Wings fans everywhere looked forward to the day when the number 19 would be raised to the rafters. The Wings announced that the ceremonial night would be January 2, 2007, and the night instantly became the biggest of the season. The pregame festivities were carried on both Fox Sports Detroit and the CBC, with Hockey Night In Canada having a rare mid-week, American-based broadcast to honor Yzerman’s retirement. The night was a very memorable one, with the program living up to the expectations of Wings fans everywhere. The ceremony is spread out over eight parts, with a ninth part having the highlights from the game.

Part One

The occasion of Steve’s jersey retirement was used as a way to spruce up the Joe in many ways. Lights were changed, aisles were painted, with no detail spared. Even the scoreboard’s TV screens were changed to new HD monitors, with JLA management mentioning to the press how they needed everything perfect for Steve Yzerman.

Back in 1997, the Wings’ first Cup win of the Ilitch era gave the team an opportunity to update the seven previous Stanley Cup banners. On that banner night, the Wings unveiled seven new Cup banners, white with red framing around the text and a logo. These matched the other banners hung by the Wings under Ilitch, which are the mirror image with a red banner and white trim.

Naturally, with the five earlier retired numbers in poor condition, the Wings rededicated the numbers by unveiling five new banners. This video explains the tradition of retiring a number, introduces the five previous Wings to receive this honor, and ends with a line of new banners rising up to the rafters.

Part Two

After the introduction of those legends, emcee Darren Pang introduces a line of Steve’s teammates, coaches, and front office staff. That line of people are as follows:

- Danny Gare
- Kevin Hodson
- Mike Vernon
- Larry Murphy
- Steve Duchesne
- Bob Probert
- Vladimir Konstantinov (!)
- Doug Brown
- Joe Kocur
- Brent Gilchrist
- Brett Hull
- Igor Larionov
- Jacques Demers
- Barry Smith
- Dave Lewis
- Scotty Bowman
- Christopher Ilitch
- Mike + Marian Ilitch
- Jim Devellano
- Ken Holland

Part Three

There’s one more formal introduction (Jim Nill), and then the Wings’ players and coaches come out. The Wings players are wearing a bunch of different jerseys. Those include red Red Wings jerseys, red and white Team Canada jerseys, orange All-Star jerseys, and maroon and white Peterborough Petes jerseys. Also, there’s a Stevie montage video set to U2, which is Steve’s and my favorite band. U2!

After all of that…out come Steve Yzerman and his family to a standing ovation, on a red carpet lined with a honor guard of Red Wings.

The beginning of Scotty Bowman’s speech, representing Steve’s coaches, concludes this section.

Part Four

Scotty’s speech begins this clip, and Nicklas Lidstrom follows his former coach. Nick gives a very nice speech, presents Stevie with a gift of a soccer vacation (Euro 2008), and he is followed by Jim Devellano. After speaking on how much Yzerman meant to the Wings, Jimmy D unveils all of the awards won by Stevie over the years. This of course ends with…

Part Five

…a Steve Yzerman plaque for the Red Wings’ locker room. And you thought I’d say the Stanley Cup. After this presentation, Devellano introduces Mike Ilitch, who gives a speech that stretches for the rest of this clip. This speech includes the announcement that Stevie is a VP for the Detroit Red Wings hockey organization.

Part Six

One minute in…THE STANLEY CUP!

That’s followed up by Mr. I giving Stevie a Chevy Tahoe. Finally, after all of this…

STEVE YZERMAN! From the 4:30 mark on, Stevie comes up to the podium, receives a long standing ovation, and starts his speech.

Part Seven

The middle of Stevie’s speech. I’m not going to post spoilers, just go and enjoy it.

Part Eight

For the first six minutes of this last part, Steve finishes his speech, before thanking his guests. At the 7:00 mark, the banner is raised. Enjoy.

Part Nine – Game Highlights

The actual game that night was against the Anaheim Ducks, and the first period was somewhat lethargic, considering that the game started at 8:30 to 8:45, a full hour after the ceremony. The Wings won the game 2-1, with Mathieu Schneider and Henrik Zetterberg as the goal scorers. I’ll be posting my story of where I was that night later in the week, so until then, please enjoy these videos.