Welcome to The Steve Yzerman Arena. This site is devoted entirely to the Red Wings' captain. If you don't know much about him, this is the perfect place to start. This is my introduction. Steve Yzerman, born on May 9th, 1965, was raised in a Vancouver suburb called Cranbrook, and was the third child of five. Steve, like the majority of NHLers, is a Canadian. Like other phenomenal greats such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, Yzerman picked up the game at an early age of 4. His father, Ron, was offered a chance to coach a hockey team, and agreed if the league let Stevie play a year earlier, so Steve got a head start on most other players. Ron would later move the family to Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa. Back in Cranbrook, he idolized the immortal Gordie Howe, but as he grew older, he would try to follow in the footsteps of Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy. Bryan wore #19 for the New York Islander, which is why Steve wears #19 now. At age 11, he would play Junior A for the Nepean Raiders. He would play for Nepean for 5 years. At 16 years of age, he joined the Ontario Hockey League to play with the Peterborough Petes. After two seasons of putting up decent scoring numbers, he was drafted 4th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. The Wings had missed the playoffs in 11 of their last 13 seasons and looked to this quiet, relatively small centre as a cornerstone around which to build a new team and a new future. Steve was determined to improve his team and to fill in all the empty seats at Joe Louis Arena. He started off his career with a big bang. In his first game on October 5th, 1983 against the former Winniipeg Jets, he recorded a goal and an assist. Steve also scored his first game-wining goal on October 26, 1983 against the Buffao Sabres. It came with :22 seconds left in overtime. He was runner up for the Calder Trophy to Tom Barrasso and was selected to the NHL All-Rookie Team. From there, he's broken numerous club records and set an impressive number of milestones. He has been a Red Wing all his life, and has wore the "C" for the past 12 seasons, ever since taking the captaincy away from (then)veteran Danny Gare. Despite being one of the top players in the league for so long, his great effort was overshadowed by the likes of two individuals, namely Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. As the team's only superstar for a decade, he gave his all to the Red Wings when they deserved nothing. He has healed from numerous injuries over his career and fought off many trade rumours, and yet he plays with the same grit and determination he did 10 years ago. No one may perhaps be the only player ahead of Yzerman in the "grit and determination" category. Through the years, people may have criticized Steve's abilities as a leader and have questioned his age and health, but whoever questions the man's character does not know him. His humble manner off the ice is what makes him a really good role model. As many have wondered over recent seasons, adapting to coach Scotty Bowman's new defensive system cut down on Stevie's scoring, but have helped the team in general. Playing excellent two-way hockey gave him the chance of winning a Frank J. Selke trophy, awarded to the best defensive forward. On june 7th, 1997, Steve accomplished what he had dreamed of doing for so long: Winning a Stanley Cup championship. The covoted Cup was theirs on the night of June 7th, 1997 by beating Eric Lindros and company. He lost to the Conn Smythe Trophy to Mike Vernon by just two votes, the closest in Stanley Cup playoff history. He admits that over the past five summers, he was embarassed to go out in public. A four game sweep over the Philadelphia Flyers erased all the shame. In February of 1998, Stevie and his Canadian teammates failed to bring home a medal from Nagano, after losing to both Czech Republic and Finland in the remaining games of the Olympics. On June 16th, 1998, Steve again won his second stanley cup, this time winning the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP. He is now the game's most respected player and greatest leader. At age 34(35 in May), he is still going on strong, and is still among the top ten in scoring. He is also the game's greatest defensive forward. As he notches a point per game, he is playing offensive hockey the way the game was meant to be played, while keeping up with the present(defence). Gretzky and Lemieux are now long gone, and Steve is in small company with Messier, Bourque, Coffey and Roy as the last greats, for when these are gone, the torch will finally be passed from one hockey generation to another. Steve, who lives with his wife Lisa Brennan(married on June 10th, 1989), and daughters Isabella, Maria, and Sophia, would accept a position with the Red Wings' staff after retirement.