President Congratulates Red Wings
Remarks by the President in Photo Opportunity with the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings
The East Room
1:16 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Gosh, we're honored
you're here. Thanks for coming, and welcome to the White House.
I am honored to be greeting the mighty Detroit hockey team, winners
of the Stanley Cup three out of the last six years, 10 times winners of
Stanley Cup, and the team that made Detroit "Hockeytown."
It's an honor to be with the Ilitches, Mike and Marian, are the --
who do a really good job of setting the right tone for this club. I
knew Mike when he was a Detroit Tiger owner. And this goes to prove
it's easier to win in hockey than in baseball, I guess. (Laughter and
applause.)
We're glad you all are here. Mr. Commissioner, thank you for
coming. I appreciate you being here. It's an honor also to be on the
stage with the great coach, a man whose name appears on the Stanley Cup
10 times -- nine times as a coach. Obviously, he knows what he's
doing. (Laughter.) He gets all these ruffians skating in the same
direction, is a pretty good -- (laughter.)
But I'm real proud of you, Scotty. I know the people of Detroit
love you, and they're going to miss your leadership. (Applause.)
If I hadn't already asked -- announced that yesterday the Vice
President was going to be my running mate, I was going to --
(laughter) -- I was thinking about you, anyway. (Laughter.)
I appreciate Dave Lewis, Scotty's replacement, being here. And I
wish you all the best, Dave, for coming. It's an honor, as well, to be
with the -- obviously, one of the true leaders of any sport, the team
captain of the -- of the Detroit team; captain for 17 years, which is
pretty remarkable that Steve could keep the respect of a group of
highly skilled professionals for that long a period of time. And I am
honored to be able to meet you, and I appreciate the character you've
displayed as a real leader.
I'm also pleased to welcome some of Detroit's biggest fans here,
including some of the elected officials who are the biggest fans,
starting with our Secretary of Energy, Spence Abraham. Mr. Secretary.
(Applause.) And we've got the Levin boys here from Michigan, Senator
Carl and Congressman Sander, thank you all for coming. (Applause.)
Congressman Mike Rogers and, of course, Congressman Conyers is here as
well. We're honored that you all have come, and I know the team is
grateful that you've taken time to come and express your support.
Somebody said, well, the roster looks like the Hall of Fame
ballot. It doesn't look the Hall of Fame ballot to me; it looks like
the United Nations. (Laughter.)
We're proud to welcome the team members from all around the globe.
It is a remarkable sport that is able to attract star athletes from a
lot of different countries and bring them together to play on one
team. I think that's a pretty good example for the world to see. I
think it is a remarkable feat that you've got all these stars from
different parts of the world all aiming in the same direction.
Darren McCarty put it this way. He said, "A lot of us were --
when I say the word "it," it's talking about the Stanley Cup. "A lot
of us were fighting to get it back; some guys were fighting to do it
for the first time. The bottom line is, we're all fighting to do it
together." And I appreciate that spirit; I think it's a good example
for a lot of people who live in America, doing something to serve
something greater than yourself -- in this case, the team. We
appreciate that spirit. I don't think you'd have won without the team
concept.
I also am appreciative of what you do with the Stanley Cup, the
traditions of not only putting the players' names on the cup, but
taking the cup to different players' hometowns. I think that's a
pretty neat idea. And so this cup has been all across the U.S., of
course it's been all across Canada. (Laughter.) It seems like
you've got quite a few Canadians on the team there. (Laughter.) But
it's been to Sweden and Russia and the Czech Republic. I'm fixing to
go to the Czech Republic. The cup goes and then the President goes.
(Laughter.)
It rode on the back of a Harley with Darren McCarty, went to
Wrigley Field with Kris, got a bagpipe reception at Kris Draper's
Stanley Cup party, and here it is at the White House. The cup has seen
a lot, because the players are people that were proud to show off their
accomplishments.
But let me tell you what I'm most impressed with, about how the
players and the owners have used this championship victory. It
brightened a lot of people's lives. See, that's the most important
thing about this championship, as far as I'm concerned.
One afternoon, Steve Yzerman brought the cup to children in three
different hospitals across the state of Michigan. The Ilitch family
used the cup to raise a lot of money for a local emergency room. The
coach made a dream come true for a child with leukemia, who just simply
wanted to touch the Stanley Cup.
See, it's one thing to be the champion on the ice, it's another
thing to be a champion in living your lives. I think there's a huge
responsibility that comes with being a champion, and there's a huge
responsibility when people put the spotlight on you. You have a
responsibility to set the right example and to use your position to
help not only serve something greater than yourself, the team, but to
serve a society and help heal the hurt and help people who need a
little special care.
So not only has this great team proven themselves to be champs on
the ice, you've proven yourself to be champs off the ice. And for
that, we are really grateful. Welcome to the White House. (Applause.)
MR. BOWMAN: Mr. President, on behalf of the Detroit Red Wings
family and the National Hockey League, it's my honor to thank you for
this wonderful visit, and also to congratulate you on a wonderful week,
and also to know that you've got the sanction this morning that you
worked so hard for. I know you had to get 15 countries, and we had to
win 16 games. And we know how hard that is. (Laughter.) And we want
to congratulate you, and thank you very much. (Applause.)