Ten years ago, the Detroit Red Wings accomplished one of the most difficult feats in professional sports; winning a championship in back-to-back years.

The team wasn’t flashy; it wasn’t loaded with superstars and faced uncertainty all season long that spilled over to the playoffs. They didn’t finish the regular season with the best record in the NHL or their own conference.

“Can Chris Osgood perform the way Mike Vernon did in 1997?”

“Can they play an 82 game season and then grind out four long playoff series after the loss of one of their best defenseman?”

“Can Sergei Fedorov play at a premiere level after sitting out the majority of the season?”

The questions loomed, the team answered.

If there’s anything we’ve learned about sports and championship teams, they all face trials and tribulations before obtaining the Holy Grail.

Fast forward 10 years later.

The season is 2007-2008. Of the 1998 champs, only six players remain: Chris Osgood, Nicklas Lidstrom, Thomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Kris Draper, and Darren McCarty.

After racing off to the best start in NHL history through the first half of the season, the team hit a brick wall going 1-8-4 through a February full of injuries and speculation.

This may not be the flashiest team or have the most superstars, but championships aren't won by superstars, they're won by teams. This unit as a whole, has all the right tools to go the distance. The team knows so much more needed than flash and glamour to win it all. The Wings of 1998 knew that.

Though the players and coaches have changed, the idea stays the same.

Here are the top two reasons why this team will/will not win the Stanley Cup in 2008.

WHY?

1. Desire

On the current roster, 14 players, including team leader Henrik Zetterberg, have never won the Stanley Cup. The first time desire to win a championship is like none other. The motivation for these 14 players alone should be enough to push them to a level of play they didn’t know was capable.

The other type of desire, the “one last shot” urgency aging stars feel can also be used to this teams advantage. With players like Chelios (46), Hasek (43), Drake (39), and Lidstrom (38 - in April), the personal desire to win now may be greater than ever.

2. Trials and Tribulations

When this team hit a brick wall in February, not only with a poor record, but injuries, they didn’t panic. When Dan Cleary was hit in the face with a puck, the team knew they’d be missing one of their key components for quite a while. When Nicklas Lidstrom was injured because of a questionable hit by Colorado’s Ian Laperriere, the team responded, and Aaron Downey, much like that of Darren McCarty, earned the respect of the team and a city in one night.

When they Wings lost their top four defensemen and five forwards due to injury over the course of two months, no one hit the panic button.

WHY NOT?

1. Injuries

The teams’ biggest enemy the second half of this season has been itself due to injuries. If players are unable to keep themselves on the ice and out of the training room, it may be an unfortunate fate for the Wings.

2. Luck

A certain amount of a teams’ post-season success is luck. If the team continues to have the same luck with injuries and breaks (anyone recall the incident behind the Wings net involving the netting above the boards that cost them a goal?) going into the playoffs as they did in the second half of the season, it won’t take long before the team is out on the golf course.

However, as this team heads into the playoffs, many questions loom.

“Can Hasek play like he did in 2002?”

“If needed, can Osgood perform like he did the majority of the season?”

“Can Dan Cleary or Darren McCarty contribute immediately after missing a significant amount of the season?”

“Will the defense stay healthy and be able to grind out a seven game series?”

Here it is, 10 years later, and one can only hope that as the type of questions remain unchanged, the result will stay the same.

Mike Morland is a writer for LetsGoWings.com, the University Record, and the Michigan Journal. He can be heard every Tuesday from 3:00-4:00pm on WUMD's (www.wumd.org) sports talk show "The Upper Deck." Guest appearances include 88.3 WCBN-Ann Arbor and 89.3 WHFR-Dearborn.