Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
There was snow on the ground and empty streets throughout Detroit. Tuesday night in February is a hard sell for any business.
“Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
But inside Joe Louis Arena, it was buzzing like a summer weekend, a team, a sport and a crowd on fire, alive with the unique jolt of making history while being aware of it.
“Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
The anthem was sung, the puck was dropped, and before you knew it, Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings’ captain, got it to Pavel Datsyuk, the alternate captain, who flicked it to Henrik Zetterberg, the other alternate captain (talk about your stars aligning!), who banged it past the Dallas goalie and straight into the record books.
A couple goals and a few hours later, it all became official. The scoreboard read 3-1, Wings over Stars, but the real score was being hollered into history – “Twenty-one! Twenty-one!” – because no matter what comes next, the 2011-12 Red Wings now own the longest single-season home winning streak since the NHL began keeping score.
Twenty-one straight. What started on Nov.5 continues unbroken on Feb.14, and there are few things in life you can say that about, except maybe breathing.
“Tying the record was really cool,” Zetterberg said in the victorious locker room, “but breaking it was even better.”
Forever 21.
A long, long time ago
“Do you have any recollection what you were doing Nov.5?” Zetterberg was asked.
“None, nothing, I have no clue,” he said.
How far back does this thing go? That’s how far. Nov.3? Weren’t we were still eating our Halloween candy? We hadn’t changed clocks for daylight savings. Herman Cain was still leading in Republican polls. Nov.3?
To win, from then until now, 21 straight at home – while traversing some of the middle dog days of the season – is worthy of huge attention. It is hard for veteran teams to get excited about Mondays in January or Tuesdays in February. A slip seems inevitable, even on home ice. Fatigue. Injuries. Late-night flights.
“It shows a lot about the character of this team,” Lidstrom said. There’s a reason it has been 36 years since a team won 20 straight at home. And why no team had ever reached 21.
For the record, the Wings did it with two-thirds of their victories against teams with winning records, they did it by scoring 87 goals and giving up 31, they did it by beating the same team multiple times, including three victories over rival St. Louis, two each over the Stars, Coyotes, Oilers and Ducks, they did it after being worse at home than they were on the road a year ago, and – oh, yeah, they did it by winning the final four games with a minor-league call-up named Joey MacDonald playing goaltender. He kept a shutout Tuesday until the final minute of the game.
“I’m just trying to keep it rolling,” MacDonald said.
If there’s one thing this team has mastered, it’s that.
Forever 21.
No ifs or buts about it
“It is quite an achievement,” Zetterberg admitted. “I don’t think you’ll see this every year.”
And for critics who disagree, or who think the mark requires an asterisk because of rules changes over the years, well, that’s just sports. You can only play the game you get. The 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers had no overtime or shoot-outs, true, but they also didn’t face the same high level of competition as today’s teams. And the 1929-30 Boston Bruins never traveled farther than Chicago and only played 44 games the entire season; the Wings on Tuesday were already on Game 57, and three times during the streak they had to win a home game after a road game the day before.
Nov.3. That’s all you need to say. Nearly 31/2 months. And it’s still going. The Wings have done this all while keeping a lid on their emotions and an eye on the real prize, the best record, the best shot for the playoffs, and the in-season discipline it takes to win a Stanley Cup in June.
For now, we’ll take a cold night in February, when the crowd was screaming hot and the PA announcer was drowned out by its noise. It was a heck of a Tuesday at the Joe. And it only proved an old point
Watching history is fun.
Making it is better.
“Twenty-one! Twenty one!…”
Who’s up for 22?
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
There was snow on the ground and empty streets throughout Detroit. Tuesday night in February is a hard sell for any business.
“Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
But inside Joe Louis Arena, it was buzzing like a summer weekend, a team, a sport and a crowd on fire, alive with the unique jolt of making history while being aware of it.
“Twenty-one! Twenty-one!…”
The anthem was sung, the puck was dropped, and before you knew it, Nicklas Lidstrom, the Red Wings’ captain, got it to Pavel Datsyuk, the alternate captain, who flicked it to Henrik Zetterberg, the other alternate captain (talk about your stars aligning!), who banged it past the Dallas goalie and straight into the record books.
A couple goals and a few hours later, it all became official. The scoreboard read 3-1, Wings over Stars, but the real score was being hollered into history – “Twenty-one! Twenty-one!” – because no matter what comes next, the 2011-12 Red Wings now own the longest single-season home winning streak since the NHL began keeping score.
Twenty-one straight. What started on Nov.5 continues unbroken on Feb.14, and there are few things in life you can say that about, except maybe breathing.
“Tying the record was really cool,” Zetterberg said in the victorious locker room, “but breaking it was even better.”
Forever 21.
A long, long time ago
“Do you have any recollection what you were doing Nov.5?” Zetterberg was asked.
“None, nothing, I have no clue,” he said.
How far back does this thing go? That’s how far. Nov.3? Weren’t we were still eating our Halloween candy? We hadn’t changed clocks for daylight savings. Herman Cain was still leading in Republican polls. Nov.3?
To win, from then until now, 21 straight at home – while traversing some of the middle dog days of the season – is worthy of huge attention. It is hard for veteran teams to get excited about Mondays in January or Tuesdays in February. A slip seems inevitable, even on home ice. Fatigue. Injuries. Late-night flights.
“It shows a lot about the character of this team,” Lidstrom said. There’s a reason it has been 36 years since a team won 20 straight at home. And why no team had ever reached 21.
For the record, the Wings did it with two-thirds of their victories against teams with winning records, they did it by scoring 87 goals and giving up 31, they did it by beating the same team multiple times, including three victories over rival St. Louis, two each over the Stars, Coyotes, Oilers and Ducks, they did it after being worse at home than they were on the road a year ago, and – oh, yeah, they did it by winning the final four games with a minor-league call-up named Joey MacDonald playing goaltender. He kept a shutout Tuesday until the final minute of the game.
“I’m just trying to keep it rolling,” MacDonald said.
If there’s one thing this team has mastered, it’s that.
Forever 21.
No ifs or buts about it
“It is quite an achievement,” Zetterberg admitted. “I don’t think you’ll see this every year.”
And for critics who disagree, or who think the mark requires an asterisk because of rules changes over the years, well, that’s just sports. You can only play the game you get. The 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers had no overtime or shoot-outs, true, but they also didn’t face the same high level of competition as today’s teams. And the 1929-30 Boston Bruins never traveled farther than Chicago and only played 44 games the entire season; the Wings on Tuesday were already on Game 57, and three times during the streak they had to win a home game after a road game the day before.
Nov.3. That’s all you need to say. Nearly 31/2 months. And it’s still going. The Wings have done this all while keeping a lid on their emotions and an eye on the real prize, the best record, the best shot for the playoffs, and the in-season discipline it takes to win a Stanley Cup in June.
For now, we’ll take a cold night in February, when the crowd was screaming hot and the PA announcer was drowned out by its noise. It was a heck of a Tuesday at the Joe. And it only proved an old point
Watching history is fun.
Making it is better.
“Twenty-one! Twenty one!…”
Who’s up for 22?
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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