[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 80 (Thursday, June 18, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S6519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING THE DETROIT RED WINGS ON WINNING THE 1998 STANLEY CUP

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak on S. Res. 251, which has 
been introduced by myself and Senator Abraham, which I am confident 
will be passed later on today. This resolution congratulates the 
Detroit Red Wings for their second successive Stanley Cup victory. 
Tuesday night, the Red Wings defeated the Washington Capitals 4 to 1. 
This is the second time in 2 years that the Red Wings have swept the 
Stanley Cup finals--four straight.
  In perhaps the most moving and memorable moment of the evening, after 
the victory, the Stanley Cup was placed in the lap of Vladimir 
Konstantinov, who was injured after last year's Stanley Cup victory in 
an automobile accident. I have come to know Vlady and his wife Irina 
during this past year, when they have recovered, at least partly, from 
that terrible tragedy of a year ago. What is extraordinarily moving is 
the way the Red Wings--indeed, all the Red Wings' fans--have become a 
closer family as a result of that accident, the way they have 
surrounded Vlady with love and support. The whole town--indeed, our 
whole State and to some extent the entire country--has come to the 
support of Vladimir Konstantinov. When he was pushed in his wheelchair 
around the ice at the MCI Center on Tuesday night, with the Stanley Cup 
in his lap, surely we reached a new height in terms of what family 
means and what family is all about.
  The Red Wings have surely the greatest hockey fans on Earth. Detroit 
lives and breathes hockey, and there are a legion of fans all over our 
State and throughout the country who came to the MCI Center on Tuesday 
night. There was a sea of red shirts in the stands. I was one of those 
who had the pleasure of being there to see this very, very special 
victory. I also, though, want to not just pay my respects and 
appreciation to the players who brought home the cup again, and the 
Konstantinovs and those who supported that team, but also to the Caps 
fans who treated the Red Wings fans in the audience with such decency 
and civility.

  I have been to a lot of Red Wings games away from home where that was 
not true, where the opponents' fans, indeed, were quite hostile to 
their opponents. But on Tuesday night, as was true on Saturday night, 
the Caps fans treated us very, very civilly indeed. And when it came 
that moment, that very magic moment in the third period when the fans 
were serenading Vlady, who was sitting up with Irina in the stands, the 
Caps fans joined with the Red Wings fans in the arena singing, ``Vlady, 
Vlady, Vlady.'' That was also a moment I will always remember and 
cherish. Our captain, Steve Yzerman, won the Conn Smythe Trophy, 
deservedly so. He has been an extraordinary role model for so many 
young players, as Detroit Red Wings before him were role models for 
him.
  Speaking just for one more moment on that subject, when I was young 
and my brother Sander was young, we used to go down to Olympia 
frequently with my mother, going up to the cheapest seats available, 
three flights up in the balcony, where we rooted for an earlier 
generation of great Red Wings, the so-called Production Line of Sid 
Abel, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, and our great goalie Terry Sawchuck 
in those years, in the fifties, who brought home the Stanley Cup on 
many occasions to Detroit.
  That has happened again this week. The Red Wings fans, perhaps a 
million of them, have just finished celebrating in a parade down 
Woodward Avenue from the Fox Theater to the Hart Plaza. The Hart Plaza, 
by the way, is named after a former U.S. Senator, one who touched the 
hearts and the souls of this body, Phil Hart. The place where that 
parade started was the Fox Theater, and it was very appropriate that 
that be the place because that theater has been restored by the 
Ilitchs, Mike and Marian Ilitch, who are the owners of the Detroit Red 
Wings. I only wish I could be there to greet my friends the Ilitchs in 
person today, to thank them again for what they have done for our city. 
But how sweet that victory was, how moving that victory was, how 
important these events are in terms of gluing our communities together, 
bringing us together as family.
  With the shouts of, ``Go, Wings, go!'' still ringing in my ears, they 
now can savor the victory of a Stanley Cup. Just as their names are 
engraved on that cup, so their names will be engraved in this 
resolution when it passes, after Senator Abraham has an opportunity to 
get to the floor.
  With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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