FROM DETROIT — It's the game they played on rutted roads while the light faded and their toes grew numb, the scenario they imagined as kids in Slovakia, Sweden, Saskatchewan, Syosset, N.Y., Sverdlovsk, Russia, and Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.
Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, tonight at Joe Louis Arena, between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. It's a shot at hockey immortality, to have your name inscribed on the Cup to be traced by envious eyes and timid fingertips.
"This is why I play hockey," Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart said Thursday. "That's what it's all about."
That, and more.
For Marian Hossa, it will either be validation of leaving the Penguins after their loss to the Red Wings in last year's finals to sign with Detroit or a cruel twist of fate. Asked if it will be the right decision only if the Red Wings win, he insisted not.
"Through the whole season I had a chance to learn lots from the guys here in this dressing room," said Hossa, who has no goals and three assists in the finals. "I feel pretty fortunate to be in this dressing room."
Will he feel as fortunate if it doesn't go in Detroit's favor?
"To tell you the truth I don't really think about that right now," he said, "but so far it's been a great season."
For veteran goaltender Chris Osgood, overlooked in three previous Cup triumphs but a candidate for the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, this will be a unique moment.
"We've been to finals and lost and the playoffs and lost and won Game 7s in overtime and lost games. We've been on both ends," he said. "There's really nothing we haven't been through -- except I haven't been in a Game 7 of the final."
For Pittsburgh Coach Dan Bylsma, who lost Game 7 to New Jersey in 2003 while playing for the Ducks, tonight's game means he may be watching a victory ceremony -- in any sport -- for the first time in six years. Then, again, maybe not.
"When they hand out the trophy, I'd just as soon not watch," he said, "because it brings back some pretty haunting memories about getting close in Game 7."
On a grander scale, this game is also about whether the Red Wings will extend their dozen years of domination or be stopped by the young Penguins, whose very existence was jeopardized until a lucky lottery draw dropped Sidney Crosby into their laps in 2005.
