Description
“The Last Step”
A Raffle in Memory of Ron Yzerman
Ron Yzerman — a devoted husband, father, and friend, and a familiar, generous presence in the community for many years. Ron was the kind of man who showed up for his family, his neighbours, and for the game that carried his son from a Bells Corners rink to hockey immortality.
In his honour, and with the blessing and generous donation from the Yzerman family, OCA is raffling off a one-of-a-kind piece of hockey history.
The prize is an autographed photograph signed by Steve Yzerman. Titled The Last Step, the image captures Steve's final moments on the ice in 2006 – the closing moment of a 22-year playing career that saw Steve win three Stanley Cups, an Olympic gold medal, and earn countless other awards and achievements.
This is print 7 of a limited edition of 30, making it an exceptionally rare collector's piece and a fitting tribute to both the player and the father who helped shape him.
One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation in honour of Ron and the Yzerman family, supporting the care, research and compassion that touch so many families across our region.
Tickets are on sale now — $20 for your chance to win. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the golf tournament on September 8th. The draw will be held during dinner, and you must be present to win.
Thank you for helping us honour Ron’s memory and support The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
Steve Yzerman
A Canadian Hockey Legend | A Bells Corners Boy
Career Highlights
Born May 9, 1965 in Cranbrook, British Columbia, Steve Yzerman grew up in Bells Corners, where at 15 he played a standout season for the Nepean Raiders of the Central Junior A — 38 goals and 92 points in 50 games — before moving on to the OHL's Peterborough Petes. In 1983, at age 18, the Detroit Red Wings selected him fourth overall. He would play his entire 22-season career in Detroit, wearing the 'C' for 19 seasons — the longest-serving captain in NHL history. Named to his first All-Star Game midway through his rookie year, he became the youngest player ever to appear in the game at the time, a distinction that stood for 27 years, and he was selected to 10 All-Star Games in all. His 1988-89 season produced a franchise-record 155 points on 65 goals and 90 assists, along with the Lester B. Pearson Award as the league's most outstanding player as voted by his fellow players. Under coach Scotty Bowman he transformed from a pure scorer into one of the finest two-way forwards the game has known, winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward in 2000 and the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance in 2003.
Yzerman captained the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships — 1997, 1998 and 2002 — ending a 42-year drought with the first and earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1998. He also won Olympic gold with Canada at Salt Lake City in 2002. On March 31, 2006 he scored his 691st goal, passing Mario Lemieux for eighth on the NHL's all-time list, and he played his final game on May 1, 2006 in Edmonton, where the Oilers eliminated Detroit in the first round. He announced his retirement that July, finishing with 692 goals and 1,755 points in 1,514 games. Detroit raised his #19 to the rafters on January 2, 2007, and he was inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009 in his first year of eligibility, and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2017 the NHL named him one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in History. Closer to home, the Nepean Sportsplex named its main ice surface the Steve Yzerman Arena in 1997, and the Central Canada Hockey League named a division in his honour.
The trophies tell only part of the story. Handed the Stanley Cup in 1998, Yzerman broke tradition by skipping his own victory lap and placing it directly in the lap of teammate Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career had ended in a catastrophic limousine crash days after the 1997 championship. In 2002 he again declined the first lift, passing the Cup to Scotty Bowman, who announced his retirement after the game. The respect ran both ways: when an eye injury kept him out of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Joe Sakic and Joe Thornton both declined the now-available #19 out of deference to their countryman, and when Yzerman passed on a third Olympics, Wayne Gretzky announced that no Canadian player would wear #19 at the 2006 Games in his honour — a number Yzerman himself brought back when he managed Team Canada in 2010.