Happy Birthday to my favorite athlete!

Today is Steve Yzerman's 51st birthday. Yzerman was my favorite athlete growing up a Red Wings fan. My mom will tell stories of me introducing myself as Yzerman as a youngster (I can neither confirm or deny). This does sound like something a young Andrew Walsh would do. I cannot say anything bad about him. His play taught me to stay humble and work hard. However, he is now the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning who are the team that have defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs last year and again this year. This year's series was not much of a contest given the fact that the Red Wing's power play (a power play happens when one team is called for a penalty and the player who committed the penalty is sent to the penalty box giving the other team the opportunity to play with one more team on the ice for a maximum of either two or five minutes).

I will never forget one goal that Steve Yzerman scored in particular. It happened on May 17, 1996 when I was seven years old so I may have some of the details wrong. That's exactly what Google was invented for, if you ask me. The Red Wings won the game on a slap shot by Yzerman from just outside the blue-line of their offensive zone. It must have fooled the goalie for the St. Louis Blues, Jon Casey, barely moved to stop the puck. What ensued can only be described as pure, unadulterated joy. Every time I see a replay of that particular goal, a smile comes across my face.