An emotional Modano sees his jersey retired

Modano kept it together during a speech to wrap up the ceremonies, but became teary eyed when he started to talk about Ring. Despite the Art Hauser Centre crowd trying to cheer him up, Modano laid silent for about 30 seconds as he had marginal success in fighting back tears.

“It made me feel like crying,” said Ring, who was one of the special guests during the ceremony. “It’s nice. You can say ‘I really enjoyed being with you’ or ‘nice to see you,’ but when you can see him get emotional about it, you can tell it’s really from the heart.

“To me, he was another son. It was really tough to see him leave, but I was at his draft (in 1988 when he went 1st overall). I saw how happy he was to be drafted. You just want him to have everything he can possibly achieve come true.”

That wasn’t the only show of affection that Modano had towards Ring, as he gave her a big kiss on the cheek before he took his seat at the beginning of the ceremony.

“She made life easy and made the adjustment smooth going from Detroit to here,” said Modano, who referred to Ring as ‘his second mom’. “I don’t think things would’ve been as successful if (the Rings) weren’t in my life.”

Considering how much success Modano had in his 21-year NHL career, that’s quite the praise to Carol and her family, including her sons Martin, Stephen and her late husband Ralph who was a former president of the Raiders.

Modano went on to become the highest scoring American-born player in NHL history as he scored 561 goals, 813 assists for 1,374 points in 1,499 games—all Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise records as well. He was also the second of six American born players to be drafted first overall in the NHL Entry Draft.

He captained the Stars to a Stanley Cup in 1999 with Stars head coach Rick Wilson, who invited Modano to Raiders’ camp.

Modano will also get his jersey retired by the Stars this March and is eligible for inclusion in the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame after this season.

“There’s a little bit of nervousness leading up to those,” said Modano. “I don’t know. I’ve been lucky enough to play a long time around some great players and great teams.”

Modano’s done just about everything you can do in hockey, but is still humble and grounded enough to give credit to those who helped him in the infancy of his hockey career here in Prince Albert, like Carol Ring.

Ring has billeted some of the best Raiders alumni, including Dean McAmmond as well as current Raiders Leon Draisaitl and Shane Danyluk.

The room that Draisaitl is staying in now is the same one both McAmmond and Modano stayed in back in their junior days. Not only is Draisaitl proud of that, but he’s been known to brag about that fact to his peers.

“It’s kind of lucky to get in that room, for sure, but it’s a huge honour,” said Draisaitl. “He’s one of the best players to ever play the game. It’s definitely great to see a guy like him, and knowing he was sleeping in my room where I’m living right now.

“It’s a huge honour for me.”

Maybe in 25 years, we’ll be saying the same about Draisaitl, who’s eligible for the NHL Entry Draft and has been ranked as high as fourth in draft boards.

And if that does happen, he’ll be sure to talk about the impact Ring had on him—the same Modano did.

Ceremony

WHL commissioner Ron Robison, along with Raiders president and alumnus Dale McFee, alumnus Brad Tippett, Ring and Modano’s family; wife Allison and parents Michael Sr. and Karen sat at centre ice during the ceremony. Also speaking were videos from Modano’s old Raiders’ head coach Peter Anholt, as well as Raiders alumnus and current Phoenix Coyotes coach Dave Tippett and Rick Wilson, who called Modano to come to PA and won a cup with him with the Dallas Stars.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea

by Jeff D'Andrea

An emotional Modano sees his jersey retired

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