DETROIT -- Tens of thousands of Detroit Red Wings fans jammed Hart Plaza Monday afternoon to celebrate a Stanley Cup title and beg the team's aging superstars to return for another shot at a championship.

"Dominator, we want you to stay in Detroit," Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, sporting the team's red road jersey, said in reference to the possibility that 37-year-old goalie Dominik Hasek could retire.

Fans in unison chanted "one more year" as Hasek pumped the Cup over his head.

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"You're putting too much pressure on me," Hasek told the crowd.

The celebration on the riverfront got under way two hours after thousands of boisterous fans lined the streets for a parade that passed down Woodward Avenue, Detroit's main north-south thoroughfare. Fans began lining Woodward Avenue and filling Hart Plaza as early as 4 a.m. to save their prime spots along the parade route.

The parade kicked off on time at 11:30 a.m. at Woodward Avenue and the Interstate 75 service drive.

The route wound its way down Woodward south to Jefferson Avenue, then west on Jefferson to Washington Boulevard. The parade ended at Washington and Jefferson in front of Cobo Center.

The ride past cheering fans was the last for Scotty Bowman, who announced he was retiring as the Red Wings coach after the team's 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. He brought up the rear of the parade, holding the Cup, waving to the crowd, perched in back of a red Ford Mustang convertible.

"I don't think there's a team that had better chemistry," Bowman said when asked how this Wings team would go down in history.

"This is the toughest trophy to win in sports, but it's also the most enjoyable."

Bowman, one of the best coaches in the history of professional sports, won nine Stanley Cups -- five with Montreal, three with the Red Wings and one with Pittsburgh. No other current NHL coach has won more than one Stanley Cup.

"I'm certainly going to miss him," captain Steve Yzerman said. "He's done so much for me as a hockey player. I'm so grateful to have played under him and learned from him."

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said the team faces uncertainty in the offseason.

"We're not sure whether Dominik Hasek and Chris Chelios will come back," Holland said from his spot in the parade route. "It will have a big impact on what we do this summer. We hope they come back."

Steve Duchesne, a 16-year veteran who won his first Cup, said Detroit was "the greatest place to play hockey in the world.

"I will never forget this, ever," the 36-year-old defenseman said. "I hope we can keep this going. I love this."

Former Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov, who suffered severe brain trauma in a limousine accident after the Wings' 1997 Cup win, gave a thumbs up to the crowd from his float.

Fans chanted "Vlad-y, Vlad-y" as his float passed.

After the Wings won the Cup on Thursday night, Konstantinov, with help, held the Cup aloft while seated in a wheelchair on the ice.

Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos also got into the spirit, hanging a congratulatory sign from the side of his software company's new Detroit headquarters, which is along the parade route.

The sign, which read "Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings from Compuware and the Carolina Hurricanes," spanned seven stories of the Compuware Corp. building.

A story line throughout the Cup Finals was the long-standing rivalry between Karmanos and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch.

"I feel like a little kid going down Woodward Avenue," Ilitch said with delight from a float carrying him and his wife, Marian.

In an exclusive interview with Local 4, Ilitch called this year's Stanley Cup victory the most special of the three that the team has won under his ownership. Detroit has 10 total Stanley Cup wins as a franchise.

"A lot of people weren't crazy about us winning," Ilitch said. "I always had the feeling that outside of Detroit there weren't too many people pulling for us."

Ilitch said that despite losing Bowman and, potentially, goalie Hasek, he's prepared to reload with equally big guns and contend for a fourth Cup next season.