Hockeytown

For Christmas this past year, I purchased Detroit Redwings tickets for April. I do not remember her ever talking about being a hockey fan in the past, but last spring she began talking about her love of the Redwings. I questioned it, but she explained that I just never paid attention to her love of the game because I wanted nothing to do with it. She was probably right. I hate hockey. Seriously, I am aware of just enough about the sport to know that I would rather clean litter boxes and hairballs simultaneously than watch a hockey game. Yes, even the playoffs.

The game was Friday night, and we both took time off of work to make the 4-5 hour drive to Detroit. I was anxious, but it was Friday and I enjoy a good road trip. I was excited to start the drive, and with a positive attitude we took off from Indy at about 12:30 p.m. With the game starting at 7:30, we would have plenty of time to get lost a couple of times Downtown, and maybe grab a drink before the game.

We did get lost. I came about 10 seconds away from making a turn that would have taken us across the bridge to Canada. Fortunately, we did not make the turn, and finally pulled into a parking garage @ Cobo Arena (Old Redwings arena that is connected to Joe Louis Arena).

After walking around for a while, we found the entrance to Joe Louis Arena. There were no bars or restaurants close enough for us to walk in the freezing cold temperatures, so we decided to wait in line to enter the arena when it opened at 6:00. That would give us plenty of time to eat, drink and take a look at merch, which we did. I had a decent Italian Beef along with a couple of Molsons. You can never go wrong with food at a sporting event. Although I had never been to a hockey game, I was already impressed.

Upon getting to our seats, I found myself pointing out the similarities to NBA games. I felt the seating, the view and even the team warmups to be very much like the NBA. It wasn't until I looked up at the rafters that it sunk in. I was definitely in one of hockey's Holy Shrines. I have never been to Montreal. I have never seen a game at Yankee Stadium or Boston Gardens, but I have to say that I have never seen so many Championship banners at any stadium I have been to. The funny thing is, most places I have seen games have had more retired numbers than Championship banners. With this said, I found it refreshing that out of all the banners hanging from the rafters (there must have been 30-40 banners including Division Championships and other Specialty banners), only 6...6! were retired numbers. 3 of these 6 players were with the team for over 20 years consecutively, including Gordie Howe's rediculous run of 25 years.

As a sports fan, I have an extreme respect for the franchise. After watching a 2-1 Redwings victory, I am still not a fan of the sport, but I definitely have a new respect for the Detroit Redwings and the history of this program. This history and the excitement of the fans made my firsts hockey game one to remember.