Red Wings' captain Yzerman reaches new highs in NHL-career

Dutch-Canadian hockey star scores 600th goal, 900th assist

DETROIT, Michigan - Hockey star Steve Yzerman, a Dutch Canadian whose grandfather emigrated in 1901, kept saying 600 goals was just a number - no more, no less. His teammates of the Detroit Red Wings viewed it differently, and so did the Joe Louis Arena fans. They let their captain Yzerman know it, too when he reached his historic milestone of 600 goals. Days earlier Yzerman had chalked up his 900th assist. There only are four National Hockey League players with such numbers but the others all switched teams during their career.

When Cranbrook, BC-born Yzerman scored his 600th goal, the Detroit sell-out crowd of nearly 20,000 delivered a standing ovation of nearly two-minutes.

Yzerman who scored his first NHL-goal at Winnipeg against goalie Doug Soetaert on October 5, 1983, put his 600th past Tommy Salo of the Edmonton Oilers. Yzerman's entire professional hockey career has been with the Red Wings.

Now 34, Yzerman helped Detroit capture the 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cups, a dream of every hockey player. Yzerman's roots are in the Apeldoorn area of the Netherlands. His parents live in an Ottawa, Ontario suburb.