8701190031
DETROIT FREE PRESS
870417
Friday, April 17, 1987
METRO EDITION
1D
MITCH ALBOM
SEE ALSO METRO FINAL CHASER EDITION PAGE 1D ; SEE ALSO STATE EDITION PAGE 1D
Copyright (c) 1987, Detroit Free Press
COMEBACK PLAYER AT 21? YZERMAN TAKES IT IN STRIDE
Aw, come on. The guy doesn't even shave. Comeback Player of the Year?
Steve Yzerman? The one with the Reebok sneakers and the jeans and the face off
a teen magazine cover? This Steve Yzerman? The Comeback Player of the Year?
How old is he? Nine?
"Twenty one," he says, shyly, sipping a Coke.
Twenty-one? Did he really say twenty-one? Comeback Player Of The Year?
Twenty-one? What's next? Retirement? The farewell tour at 22? Maybe each
team will give him a clock or an oil painting or a rocking chair on his final
visit. Twenty-one? Comeback Player of the Year? What's he coming back from?
High school?
I know that hockey is a young sport. I have walked through the Red Wings
locker room. I have seen Shawn Burr, who cannot drink in certain states, and
Joe Kocur, who looks like he'd have to borrow Burr's ID. I have wondered at
times if these guys rode in on a yellow bus. But none of them won Comeback
Player of the Year.
"It did kind of surprise me," Yzerman says, of the announcement by the
Hockey News that he, Darren Veitch, 26, and Brian Hayward, 26, had been
selected -- one forward, one defensemen, one goalie. "It isn't an award I was
ever thinking about. I'm sure I'll hear about it from players like Dave
Lewis. You know, old-timers like that . . . "
Lewis is 33. Yzerman is just kidding.
Isn't he?
He started slowly, got worse
Here is a story: The first goal Yzerman ever scored was in a baby league
in Canada. He was five years old and he couldn't even skate. He just sort of
slid around on his butt. One game he happened to be on his butt when another
kid accidentally shot the puck into his own net. Yzerman got credit for the
goal because he was the closest opposing player.
We should have known right then that little Stevie was on a fast track.
"I've always had a baby face," he says. "I've taken jokes about it, and
I'll get my share of teasing for this. But it's nice to be recognized for
having a good season. Especially after last year."
Ah. Last year. The year he's coming back from. It went from bad to worse.
He didn't score a goal in the first 10 games. "I was doing poorly. The team
was doing poorly. Every night I said to myself, 'This is the night I begin to
turn it around!' And nothing would happen. We were disorganized. It was the
worst team I was ever on. It was disappointing, it was depressing. . . "
And then he broke his collarbone.
He missed the last 29 games. He was so fed up, he went to Mexico the first
week of his rehabilitation. That may not sound bad. But this is a hockey
player. How much ice do they have in Mexico?
"I was really turned off with hockey," he says. "And I guess deep down I
wondered if I had peaked. I had been the runner-up to Rookie of the Year (in
1984) and I thought about all the flash-in-the-pan players in hockey. Maybe I
was going to be one of them. Maybe I would never improve."
And then Jacques Demers took over the Wings, and he saw something. He
named Yzerman his captain -- in retrospect, a brilliant little move -- and
the kid with the Rob Lowe face responded with a tremendous season, a
career-high 90 points. Demers says he "couldn't have asked for more."
Comeback Player Of The Year.
In Reeboks.
The older guys listen
Today, it is true, Yzerman earns well over six-figures with the Red Wings.
It is also true he buys Dire Straits albums.
"It took me a little while to get used to being captain, you know, with the
older guys on the team. I only called everybody together once, towards the end
of the season, when I thought we were forgetting some of the things that had
helped us succeed. I felt a little funny calling my teammates over on the
ice. But nobody said anything or made any faces, and it worked out OK."
He puts down his drink (sorry, his beverage) and nods. " I don't think I
could be captain if not for the way the older guys act. Guys like Snepsy
(Harold Snepsts, 32) and Higgy (Tim Higgins, 29) and Lewie (Dave Lewis, 33).
They're really the leaders. I'm never going to say to them,'Hey, listen,
you're gonna do it my way . . . "
So he has already learned diplomacy. Even if he does get carded on a
regular basis. To be honest, Yzerman is articulate, soft-spoken and
surprisingly level-headed.
Comeback Player of The Year? At 21?
"Did this season at least make the doubts disappear?" he is asked.
"No," he says suddenly. "You know, the doubts never really did
disappear. I'm determined to do well. But now I know next year's another year.
I don't think I'll ever be so assured that everything's going to be better
automatically. I know if I don't watch myself, I could be a candidate for
this award again. A real one. You know what I mean?"
"Yes," came the answer.
They call it growing up.
COLUMN;REACTION;AWARD;STEVE YZERMAN