A look back, before the repeat, Vladi, and others

[Louisville 112]

I came across an old SI article that featured the Wings at the start of the 98' cup season. To this day it brings tears to my eyes what Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov and the team as a whole went through.

What a tragedy...I mean can you imagine battling side by side with Vladi for weeks to win hockey's ultimate prize and bring a cup home after 42 years, only to hear days later your friend and teammate is brain dead? Honestly, I don't know how some of those guys handled it, and I'm guessing off the ice a lot of them couldn't.

Also, I had forgotten that Fedorov hadn't signed a contract yet and the Wings started that season without him.

Their teammates, on the verge of scattering for the summer, reassembled at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., to wait and pray. Many players spent entire nights there over the next couple of weeks. "Brain dead, vegetative, all those awful terms were used," recalls Wings trainer John Wharton. "We knew right from the start that we were in this for the long haul."

The thought was with the players every time one of them took the Cup home, as tradition dictatesâ€â€home to Moscow, home to Medicine Hat, home to Buffalo. "The reality that every night's not New Year's Eve hit quickly," says Detroit coach Scotty Bowman. "It made having the Cup a little bit somber." That most uplifting of hockey trophies now carried a weight.

The thought was with them during training camp, staring them in the face every time they looked at Konstantinov's empty dressing room stallâ€â€his equipment still hanging in place, his clean laundry waiting, his blue parking pass lying unclaimed on the stool in front of the stall. A smooth gray stone, inscribed with the word BELIEVE, was in the cubby above, where Konstantinov kept his personal effects.

Sorry if bringing this up pissed anyone off, but it's always good to appreciate this team's past. Good or bad.

Edited December 5, 2007 by Louisville

[auxlepli 17]

I appreciate it. I'd never read that before. Also I didn't realize how well the Wings started out the 97-98 season. Or if I did, I forgot.

[Grittzkey 1]

Is Vladi still on Life Support?

I had to deal with that with my mom last month.. Its horrible, I can only imagine what went through all of the players heads through that time, that would of been so intense. It would of been so hard to get on the ice without him no matter how much time has past.. Harsh.. very harsh..

[gcom007 1,465]

Good read, good to remember. This team has so much character because of the guys that went through that. The memory still remains. It's still one of the saddest things but it's beautiful how the team has still rallied around him. It's mindblowing that the guy would still probably be playing now had the accident not occured. I drive by the spot on the way to school everyday and oftentimes remember it.

[interminded 1]

I don't think a true Red Wing fan ever forgets what happened that summer.

But it's certainly okay to be remembered now and then.

[BringHomeTheCup! 0]

I don't think anyone who was around then can ever forget.

I still don't think the Wings have recovered, on ice, from the loss of Vladdy. They are still looking for that physcial presence back there. They have tried and tried again, but no one seems to fill that spot.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

thanks for sharing that article

[55fan 5,133]

Thanks for posting. It puts daily life in perspective.