How The Red Wings Broke Through After 42 Years of Waiting

Detroit spent more than four decades chasing a championship that kept slipping away, and the pressure around that drought shaped everything about the franchise. On this day in 1997, the Red Wings finally changed the conversation and gave a hockey-crazed market the kind of release only a Cup can deliver. The real story is bigger than one night, because it also marks the moment the organization’s long grind turned into a new standard for winning.