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VladyIBELIEVE16

In honor of Vladdy

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Who knows how many Cups the Wings would have if he didn't get in that crash.

sheesh... imagine if that never happened and Jiri never had the heart attack... that could have been the most epic blueline in NHL history...

Early 2000's... just the top 4 alone that could have been...

Lidstrom-Konstantinov

Fischer-Chelios

sheesh...

Edited by stevkrause

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Won't ever forget this day... I was12 years old and thinking that they all died, including Stevie Y. The details were so sketchy when it first happened. We were just heart broken to see Vladinator reduced to this, but winning the following year was probably my favorite Cup just because of Vladi getting to hoist right after Stevie. We love you Vladi and Sergei M.

Forever Red Wings. thumbup.gif

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I remember not realizing the severity of the situation at first. Thinking it was 'just an accident', so-to-speak.

Then I remember the candlelight vigil and the realization that they were most certainly not all right.

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sheesh... imagine if that never happened and Jiri never had the heart attack... that could have been the most epic blueline in NHL history...

Early 2000's... just the top 4 alone that could have been...

Lidstrom-Konstantinov

Fischer-Chelios

sheesh...

Also throw in Grigs, if he hadn't been in a crash too, we'd have the Euro Trips.

I will admit that I just teared up.

I got choked up for sure.

Edited by Konnan511

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I'm just begging for a new player like Vladdy over here.

Does anybody here agree with those who think Vladdy was the Wings' best player when they won the cup in 97?

There was SO many great players on that team. I don't know if any one player really stood out completely. But Vladi sure did with the amazing hits (See Eric Lindros, See Eric Lindros get rocked! thumbup.gif ) exceptional defensive play, and even very underlooked shot he had. That whole team was spectacular but he certainly was one of a kind.

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How absolutely crazy!!!

I s*** you not, I was just perusing youtube watching hockey videos. Mike Richards videos lead me to some hockey fights, which lead me to some Vladdy videos...and upon finishing watching them I thought...."hey, Maybe I'll make a post on the forums for old times sake".

Sure as s***, this thread is sitting right on the top.

And his history will be made clip:

Loved the comment below that goes, "what if the refs wanted to take this one from Hockeytown". I know it's a little cynical but I couldn't help but chuckle.

The day it happened I was practically still celebrating. The story almost seemed like a hoax. It took a few days for the reality to set in.

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I somehow think you're being cynical :)

98 run to the cup was about half as hard as 97 run to the cup. Probably could have lost 2-3 other guys and took that one.

There is a reason teams rarely win the cup twice in a row. And it is no coindcidence that the two most recent teams suffered traumatic events prior to winning their second cup.

That road is incredibly hard.

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I don't know if this will be considered blasphemy or heresy, but as a defenseman I think Vladdy was better than Lidstrom. Lidstrom had the better all around game, but Vladdy was the man. He wasn't really that big either, but he could sure dish out the punishment.

Edited by cmonster

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I was only 13 and juuuuust getting into hockey when this happened, but I still remember the headlines in the paper and asking my dad if everyone was all right. I teared up the following year when they handed Vladdy the Cup in his wheelchair. Still makes me tear up.

We love ya, Valddy. :clap:

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Not to throw a wet blanket on this thread or anything, but it was 13 years ago tonight that the Wings won the Cup for the first time in 42 years - June 7, 1997. The limo accident happened six days later on June 13, 1997 - a Friday.

But I agree with everyone else...if that accident never happened, IMO we could have won 3 or 4 Cups in a row! Vlady brought a physical presence to the blue line that the Wings have struggled to find since. I remember when he laid out Lindros in the Final in 1997 - Lindros looked like he'd run into a brick wall!

And then less than a week after they won, hearing the breaking news come over the TV...running to get my Walkman so I could listen to the radio and watch TV at the same time...hearing one news report say Sergei was dead (found out later he wasn't even in the limo)...then the looks on all the Wings' faces the next morning and the catch in Stevie's voice as he asked everyone to pray for their fallen teammates. What makes it so much worse is the Wings were actually being smart - they were celebrating with the Cup and knew they'd be drinking so they'd hired limos to drive them around! And the limo driver was high and fell asleep at the wheel!

It's one of those things that just makes you sit back and wonder what might have been.

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I was 12 years old and I was out camping when this happened. Got home and read it in the newspaper and I thought it was no big deal. The severity of it didn't hit me until they gave him the standing ovation in Washington. I think that was when I realized he would't ever play again.

I don't know if this will be considered blasphemy or heresy, but as a defenseman I think Vladdy was better than Lidstrom. Lidstrom had the better all around game, but Vladdy was the man. He wasn't really that big either, but he could sure dish out the punishment.

I was too young to really realize how good both of them were at that point in their careers. However, I know several people who would 100% agree with you. I believe Vladdy was the runner up for the Norris that year too.

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I was 13 when this happened and it was tragic. I was forced into liking hockey when I was 9 by my older cousins (who lived in northern michigan) when I lived in Chicago. Me and my whole family were baseball fans and I would go to a Cubbies game every week and my hockey cousins thought I should start liking a new sport lol. The Hawks were my first "team", but the TV and coverage was poor.

I moved to Traverse City the following year in 94'. My cousins forced me to watch every Wings game that year and I fell in love with them lol. Then after that we had the cup loss and then the first cup win and everything tragic afterwards.

Vladdy was one of the first D-Men I ever saw play the game and I thought that is how all D-Men were suppose to play. The forwards scored the goals with finesse and the D-Men hit and instilled fear in all the forwards.

I always asked my cousins why Murphy and Lidstrom never hit like that and they said they were Swedish lol.

Vladdy will always be my first favorite D-Man!

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Who knows how many Cups the Wings would have if he didn't get in that crash.

Interesting question. The cup winners in the next three seasons, Dallas, NJ and Colorado, all had strong goaltending. All would have been formidable opponents.

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