In the 1920s, a group of investors led by a local man, Charles Hughes, had to convince the Detroit Athletic Club to create this new hockey team. Little did Hughes know his plan of adding a new team to the National Hockey League would grow into one of the most dominating hockey teams in history, creating what some have recently called a "dynasty" in the 1990s.

Through the years, the Detroit Red Wings have had their share of ups and downs like many other professional sports teams endure. The team suffered through the Depression of the 1930s managing to escape extinction, crucial trades split the team time and time again, and the team skirted war-time downsizing leaving them in the group of NHL teams known as the "Original Six." During the 1980s, fans nicknamed them the Detroit "Dead Things" and the team faced an embarrassing upset in the 1995 Stanley Cup finals being shut out in four games.

But what once originally helped build the team in the city of Detroit served to keep them alive through the years, earning the team nine Stanley Cups to date. Hockey is not just a recreational sport in this town. It is a way of life. All over the city’s boundaries, boys and girls play street hockey in their neighborhoods and many are active in youth leagues. With equipment clearly too large for their small frames, they mock their favorite players, hoping to lift Lord Stanley above their heads someday.

Naturally, Detroit’s climate is ripe for the sport of hockey. And its proximity to Canada- the motherland of the sport- helps to seal the strong feeling and respect towards the game. And of course, a major driving force behind the Detroit Red Wings are the loyal fans. Fans, who are willing to travel miles to watch their team at an away game, paint their faces in team colors or make plans to gather at the local bar to cheer on their team. The tough, blue-collar people of Detroit’s working class have always enjoyed the rugged style in the game of hockey.

It was all these things that prompted one Red Wing to proclaim in 1962 on his return to the city that he was "...happy to be back in a real hockey city. In New York you can walk down Fifth Avenue and nobody knows or cares who you are. In places like Chicago and Detroit people have a feeling for their team."

Critics have often questioned why Detroiters call their home Hockeytown. The fact is Detroit has been Hockeytown all along.

In 1926, Detroit’s very own NHL team began their season playing at the Border Cities Arena in nearby Windsor, Ontario until their own home could be built. Since most of the players Hughes recruited to this new team were from the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League, he decided to name the new team the "Detroit Cougars." The Cougars lost their very first game on Nov. 18, 1926 to the Boston Bruins and finished in last place in their inaugural season under the direction of Art Duncan as their coach, general manager and captain.

In their next season of existence, the Cougars saw the arrival of Jack Adams as coach, beginning his 35-year association with the team. Adams added right winger Larry Aurie to the lineup and transformed most of the last season’s roster. The Cougars played their first game in the newly built Olympia Stadium on Nov. 22, 1927 and managed to make the playoffs the next year. By the late ‘20s, the Depression had hurt the hockey world just as much as the rest of the nation, resulting in a drastic drop in ticket sales for the Cougars. This forced even Coach Adams to go door-to-door and try to sell a few seats at Olympia.

With the new decade came a new look and feel for the Detroit hockey club. After a local newspaper held a "naming contest," the Detroit Cougars became the "Detroit Falcons." But the new name only stuck for two years when James "Pops" Norris, a former Montreal Winged Wheeler, bought the team for $100,000 and decided to pay tribute to his former team. The Falcons became the "Detroit Red Wings" with a new winged-wheel crest on the sweaters. The wheel also symbolized the automotive look of the Motor City.

Along with this new look came revived excitement injected into the city of Detroit. The Red Wings landed on top of the standings in the American Division, tied with Boston, at the end of the 1932-1933 season, consequently making the people of Detroit crazy for hockey. No other teams in Detroit were near championship status at the time, and being successful in anything in the days of the Depression helped take the people’s minds off of hard times.

In the years to follow during the ‘30s, the Red Wings skated to their first league championship in 1934, grabbed two Stanley Cups in 1936 and 1937 and began rebuilding the team at the end of the decade. New players that eventually would make their way into the Hockey Hall of Fame like Jack Stewart and Sid Abel helped shape the club into a powerful squad on the ice.

During the 1940s, the Detroit Red Wings began to take shape into one of the most legendary professional sports teams in history. But many of the players of the original squad began dispersing into the workforce or armed forces in support of war efforts. World War II also squeezed finances in 1942, leaving just six teams in the NHL eventually known as the "Original Six." Detroit made the cut and went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. The Red Wings later added hockey great Gordie Howe to their lineup during the 1946-1947 season. Not only was Howe a physical player, but his skills were unmatched when it came to wrist shots, stickhandling and scoring goals.

Coach Tommy Ivan decided to put Howe on a line together with Ted Lindsay and Sid Abel, thus forming the great "Production Line." They earned this name for the blue-collar atmosphere of the city of Detroit, plus the line’s ability to score. And scoring is what they did best. During the 1949-1950 season, Lindsay, Abel and Howe all finished 1-2-3 in scoring in the NHL. The team also grabbed their fourth Stanley Cup. That year, Lindsay began the tradition of hoisting the Cup and skating around the rink with it.

Winning the Stanley Cup the 1949-1950 season was a nice springboard for what would be a victorious decade for this hockey club. The Red Wings picked up a new addition to the team for the 1950-1951 season, someone that would become one of the most- if not the best- goalies in hockey history. Terry Sawchuck, commonly known for his moodiness and tough demeanor, ended up winning the Calder Trophy that year as NHL’s top rookie.

During this decade, the Red Wings began to act more as a family outside of the rink. This chemistry helped them to seize three more Stanley Cup victories in the 1950s. In 1952, two brothers from a local fish store in Detroit, Pete and Jerry Cusimano, decided to fling an octopus on ice at Olympia Stadium during a playoff game. The octopus’ eight tentacles symbolized the number of wins it took to clinch the Stanley Cup (two best-of-seven series had to be won). The Detroit Red Wings swept the Montreal Canadiens that year, and since then a tradition was born.
 

Gordie Howe with his 500th goal puck.
As the 1960s approached, the Red Wings found themselves on top of the standings. The upcoming decade brought about new changes. Sid Abel, an original member of the "Production Line," replaced Jimmy Skinner as coach and eventually Jack Adams as general manager. Although the Red Wings were not the dominating force they once were, they did celebrate a few milestones during the ‘60s. In 1962, Gordie Howe earned his 1000th NHL point on an assist along with his 500th NHL goal that same year. Center Alex Delvecchio became the team captain, scored his 1000th NHL point on an assist, and would later become the Red Wings’ coach and general manager, building a lifelong association with the team. By the mid-1960s, the home of the Detroit Red Wings also got a facelift when groundbreaking for an addition to Olympia Stadium had begun. And despite the newest "Production Line" of Frank Mahovlich, Delvecchio and Howe who masterfully led the league in goals and points, the rest of the decade the Red Wings found themselves placing in mediocre to last place standings.

Following the ‘60s was a decade of decadence. Fans dubbed the team the Detroit "Dead Things" due to the team’s basic inability to score and win games. The team members of the 1970s were not like the historical powerhouse Red Wings of the past. There were no superstars, "production lines" or dominating leadership from the front office or behind the bench. With the exception of right winger Mickey Redmond who scored 52 goals during the 1972-1973 season breaking Gordie Howe’s record, the team suffered. The Red Wings had a revolving door of coaches, watching a new coach come and go almost every season. Players didn’t have the desire to "take root" in the city and played without passion. Consequently, the Wings saw themselves finishing behind the new expansion team, the Vancouver Canucks, and only made the playoffs once, years later. Something had to give and eventually, with the help of Ted Lindsay and coach Bobby Kromm it would.

Both Lindsay and Kromm knew that this team was in desperate need of help if it would ever survive in this hockey city. They began drafting youthful newcomers to the team while at the same time, kept the older, tougher players with more experience. This combination of young and older players proved successful: the Red Wings managed to make the playoffs during 1978 for the first time in eight seasons. Fans began to come back to Olympia to watch exciting hockey. But by 1979, Olympia Stadium was retired, making way for a new home downtown on the water.

Life at the new stadium, the Joe Louis Arena, would become much sweeter for the Detroit Red Wings. The team- and the city- would be revitalized by key player trades, pickups and changes in ownership during the coming years. In 1982, local businessman, Mike Ilitch, bought the team. This move proved to be one of the keys to success for the future of the Red Wings. Since then, the team has grown into one of the most financially successful and competitive franchises of the NHL.

Besides the changes off the ice, there was also reconstruction of the team on the ice. With the help of NHL scout Jimmy Devellano, a rebuilding process was in place. One of Devellano’s first moves was to draft 18-year-old Steve Yzerman as his No. 1 pick in 1983. Yzerman was a scoring machine, and posted new records as a rookie. Along with his teammates, he helped push the Wings from last place to third in their division early in his career. Following the initial spark of life the Wings experienced in the early ‘80s was a scoring slump that put the team back in the basement. New coach Jacques Demers stepped in for the 1986-1987 season to try and turn the team around- and he did. Demers was named Coach of the Year for two straight seasons with the Wings, as well as earning two Norris Division crowns. He appointed Yzerman as captain, the youngest in team history at age 21, and also put the "Bruise Brothers"- Joe Kocur and Bob Probert- out on the ice as an intimidating defensive force. Both Kocur and Probert added spice to the team by pounding on their opponents and accounting for a record number of penalty minutes.

But by the end of the ‘80s, the Wings found themselves once again back in last place. Demers was fired and Brian Murray stepped in. Murray was responsible for picking up Niklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov in the 1989 draft, key players that would turn the team into winners. Murray also added Dino Ciccarelli and Paul Coffey to the roster, fueling Detroit’s offense. During the early 1990s, the team was in a transition state of rebuilding and actually getting a taste of what playoff life was like. But it meant nothing to the fans that saw yet another loss in the playoffs, another season slip through their fingers.

This marked the beginning of a new era, one under coach Scotty Bowman. With 6 Stanley Cups under his belt, Bowman’s experience in the hockey world was unmatched. He decided to turn this team around starting by trading goaltender Tim Cheveldae for Bob Essensa and forward Dallas Drake. Bowman also put 21-year-old Chris Osgood in net, and the Wings found themselves winning the division that year. Something began to turn around for this club, and the next season proved even more fruitful. Big players stepped up like Fedorov, who won both the Hart Trophy and Selke Award, and players like Ray Sheppard, Keith Primeau, Slava Kozlov and Coffey who netted enough goals to send the team into the playoffs again. Unfortunately, even with the efforts of these players, the Wings found themselves losing to the eighth-seeded San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 1994 playoffs.

Although the team faced playoff elimination again and again, the Red Wings muscled their way through the 1994-1995 season, eventually winning the President’s Trophy and Clarence Campbell Bowl after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks in double overtime. A definite change had overcome the team, with emphasis on a more defensive style of play. The ecstatic Wings found themselves in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 1966, but were swept on the road by the New Jersey Devils.

The pain of losing in four straight games of the Stanley Cup finals pushed the team to become an even more powerful force for the next season. Igor Larionov was added to the team and to a new lineup of players from the former Soviet Union. Fedorov, Kozlov, Konstantinov, Slava Fetisov and Larionov all made up the new "Russian Five" line, a force to be reckoned with in the rink. And the winning wheels kept turning: Yzerman scored his 500th career goal, Coffey garnered his 1,000th career assist and the Red Wings won the President’s Trophy, breaking an all-time single-season record for 62 victories. The team electrified the city, the players became superstars and fans wore their favorite players’ jerseys proudly during the playoffs.

But once again, their record number of regular season wins couldn’t help the Red Wings in their playoff appearance. Their arch rival, the Colorado Avalanche, knocked the Wings out of the third round of the playoffs and left center Kris Draper literally in stitches for the summer after Claude Lemieux slammed his face against the boards.

For every year the Red Wings lost in the playoffs, the team got hungrier to win the Stanley Cup. Bowman decided to make a crucial trade for the 1996-1997 season, sending Primeau and Coffey packing and opening the doors to left winger Brendan Shanahan from the Hartford Whalers. Younger players like Aaron Ward, Jamie Pushor and Anders Eriksson, were also introduced to the team. Bowman also started playing Darren McCarty, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Joe Kocur together on a line where they earned the nickname the "Grind Line."

The season was unforgettable. The Colorado rivalry remained, including "Fight Night at The Joe" where at least four battles took place on the ice on March 26, 1997, one involving Detroit goalie Mike Vernon bloodying Colorado goalie Patrick Roy. Detroit went on to beat the Avalanche during the playoffs and sailed into the Stanley Cup finals once again, but this time with a different perspective on winning: one game at a time. And after four straight games, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers and ended the 42-year Stanley Cup drought for the city. The result of this victory was extreme jubilation throughout the city. Brooms were attached to cars representing the "sweep," the Spirit of Detroit statue donned a monstrous Red Wing jersey and the city celebrated with one million fans at a parade down Woodward Avenue. Could life get any better for Detroit? It did the following year.

The 1997-1998 season was a little different. The team dedicated their season to Konstantinov and team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov who were severely injured in a limo accident the prior summer. Another change for the team was in net. Chris Osgood stepped up into the spotlight after trades forced Mike Vernon to leave for San Jose. The Red Wings battled their way back into the Stanley Cup finals, surpassing the Phoenix Coyotes, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars on the road to back-to-back victories. The Red Wings faced the Washington Capitals who were no match for the reigning Stanley Cup champs. Like a carbon copy of the previous year, the Wings hoisted Lord Stanley in just four straight games, and coach Scotty Bowman tied a record held by Toe Blake for the number of Stanley Cup victories. Loyal Wings fans had traveled to the nation’s capital to celebrate their team’s victory on the road, and got a special treat when captain Steve Yzerman also won the Conn Smyth Trophy for playoff MVP. Once back home, the team and its fans celebrated in style, with the largest parade Detroit has ever seen: an estimated 1.2 million fans jammed the downtown area for parade No. 2.

If ever there was doubt amongst hockey fans wondering why Detroiters call their home "Hockeytown," it has now become clear. Hockeytown was not built on flashy new logos, cute mascots or its recent Stanley Cup wins in the 1990s. The Detroit Red Wings have been a team built on players whose blood runs thick with hockey, years of smart management and fans who have stuck with the team through thick and thin. If tradition holds true, nothing can stop them from carrying out their dynasty.

Credits: Tracy Feher, Motor City Muscle, Stan Fischler; The Detroit Red Wings- The Illustrated History, Richard Bak; Detroit Red Wings 1997-1998 Media Guide; Power Play Magazine