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| | Wednesday, February 9 | |||||
DETROIT -- Detroit fans paid tribute to one of the greatest of all Red Wings with a moment of silence for Sid Abel on Tuesday night.
Abel, the Hall of Famer who centered Detroit's high-scoring "Production Line" between Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay, and later coached the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup finals four times, died Tuesday at age 81. Before the Red Wings' game with St. Louis, starting players for both clubs lined up at their respective blue lines while public address announcer Budd Lynch called for a moment of silence. "Hockeytown and Detroit Red Wings fans have lost a great friend," Lynch told the sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena. "Let's pay tribute to our beloved No. 12." Still, after the arena had fallen silent, one guy in the west end of the upper bowl yelled out, "Yeah, Sid!" Abel probably would have understood. In 1995, Abel's No. 12 jersey was retired and raised to the rafters between Howe's No. 9 and Lindsay's No. 7. When fans entered the arena Tuesday night, they could see that Abel's number had been lowered slightly in tribute. | ALSO SEE Abel, Wings' former Production Line center, dies  | |||||
