Lidstrom takes the lead and Delvecchio speaks
Thanks for going over to Ace of Sports and voting in the tournament they are hosting to determine the best athlete in Detroit over the last decade. When I posted yesterday Stevie Y [an absolute legend beyond any shadow of a doubt] was ahead 61% to 39%. I just checked and Lidstrom is now up 60% to 40%. The first round is open until sometime tomorrow so you can still vote if you haven’t had a chance to do so.
Ace of Sports also interviewed Alex Delvecchio, who played on the Production Line alongside Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. He’s been elected to the hockey hall of fame, had his number retired by the organization and no player in NHL history has played more games with one team than “fats” did while wearing the winged wheel. He also won three Stanley Cups on those dynasty teams from the 1950s.
I enjoy hearing first-hand accounts about certain things before my time. For instance I’d heard that Sawchuk really wasn’t much of a goalie in practice and Delvecchio echoed that. There was one great line about that in this legends of hockey clip about how his goal woud look like a coal bin there’d be so many pucks in the net. But in the 1952 Stanley Cup playoffs he recorded four shutouts over 8 games and allowed a total of 5 goals. And that was while tending net without a facemask.
He joked a little bit about the nickname “fats” which was given to him when he was a very young child. If you look at the picture in the article Delvecchio [who is now 76 years old] would never be mistaken for Charlie Weis. But he laments in the interview about how Jack Adams would make him get on the bike after practice and make him bike ten miles. Despite that he said that Jack Adams was a good manager.
It was also great to hear about his relationship with Steve Yzerman. Apparently #19 is the person in the organization who is closest to Delvecchio and they get together for lunch and talk, mostly about family. Given their long tenure as Red Wings for life and as captains there’s some wonderful symmetry there and that was great to hear.
Delvecchio also has a great line when asked about being coach of the Red Wings. He offers up a sardonic laugh and corrects the line of questioning by saying he “tried to coach.” He said he was asked to coach by the organization as they thought it would be a good way to generate interest in a team that had obviously fallen off from the glory days in the 1950s. He accepted and said he enjoyed the first few games but quickly realized it just wasn’t for him. I wonder how much of his experience in coaching has helped Yzerman decide the front office was better suited for his next role in the organization after retiring.
Delvecchio also talks about the current game and the commissioner and has some interesting things to say. The interview is right around 30 minutes long and is definitely worth checking out.
Alex Delvecchio Nicklas Lidstrom Red Wings Steve Yzerman1 Comment(s)
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Great job of mobilizing the Lidstrom-favoring masses…I personally think he’s without a shadow of a doubt the greatest Detroit athlete since Barry Sanders, and that doesn’t take anything away from how great Stevie Y was.