Those of you that know me, know that I am a HUGE Detroit Red Wings fan (sometimes excessively huge, haha). Anyway, my Mom's boyfriend set up a guys night out last Saturday which involved going to the Wings vs. Sabres game, AWESOME! One of his friends backed out the week before the game, so I called my good friend Chris to join us. He was able to get the night off and come down. The day and night only get better from here.

We headed over to Detroit early in the afternoon so that we could check into the hotel and have plenty of time for a few brewskies and some food. We stayed at the Atheneum Hotel just across the street from Greektown Casino (Cheap beers and easy People Mover access to the Joe Louis Arena). The hotel was gorgeous inside, wish I would have gotten more pics.

Heres a shot of the lobby..



And a couple of the view from our room.





We then headed over to the Casino for cheap beers ($2 drafts for anyone with a ticket to the game, excellent!) and eventually made our way over to Fishbones for dinner. I didn't have the camera with me, but the food was fantastic! Crab cake appetizer, New Orleans Seafood Pasta dish and a couple Boston Lagers, om nom nom!

Then, it was off to the game! We got there nice and early so that we could watch warmups and pre-game festivities.

The Joe Louis Arena



Alex Delvecchio statue on the concourse (They have Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay too but I didn't get shots of those)



Couple shots of all the Stanley Cup and other Championships, as well as Retired Player Banners





Quick panaramic picture of the arena (I just used the Photostitch software that came with my camera, turned out alright.




I knew that warmups would be my best chance to get some closeups, so i took full advantage. I snapped about 115 pics, a few of the better ones are below.



Arguably the best Defensemen to ever play the game, Nicklas Lidstrom





Pavel Datsyuk doing his pre-game magic show (anyone who watches hockey knows about this guy's antics)




Gametime! Just a few random shots from the game. Didn't take many as I was pretty focused on the game.

Recent Olympic MVP and team USA goaltender Ryan Miller, as well as the Red Wings own National Anthem singer Karen Newman.



The game went into OT tied 2-2, with the Wings on the power play. Opening faceoff for OT




And 31 seconds later, Brian Rafalski (Also on team USA) buried a snapshot to win the game!




This, is where things got crazy. One of Chris' hockey buddies was also at the game, and he just so happened to be good friends with the Wings own Kris Draper. This guy was nice enough to invite us down into the tunnel with him, to MEET THE WINGS!!!! I cannot put into words how amazing this is for someone like me. I've been a loyal, die hard Red Wings fan since I was really young, so to say this was a dream come true, would be the understatement of the year...

Here are few pics.

Mural on the tunnel wall



Me and Henrik Zetterberg, my favorite Red Wings palyer. Really good guy, even signed my jersey (which is soon to be framed and hung in my basement)



Most of you probably won't know who this is, but he currently does Color Commentary for Fox Sports Detroit covered Wings games. He played for the Wings back in the day and I've been listening to him call games since the late 80's. Dude is hillarious and it'll be a sad day if/when he retires.

Anyway, myself and the one and only MICKEY REDMOND!




We ended up meeting and briefly chatting with most of the team. Got pics with Filppula, Osgood, Datsyuk, Franzen, Kronwall, and Cleary. Full set of pictures can be found here:

I consider myself an incredibly lucky guy and am extremely thankful to everyone who helped make this happen. It was truly one of the best days of my life.

Thanks for reading

 

looks like a fun time!

 

GO PENGUINS!! just playin, I'm a leafs fan. looks like a real fun night though man, I'm jealous!

 

LEGIT TONY! you truly are lucky...


ps you getting chunky. bring back the epic chops

 

You shut your dirty ***** mouth! Wobbling little ****s!

Thanks man, it was a great time.



Josh, not everyone can cut themselves skinny, some of us have to work for it and I save that **** for spring/summer/fall. lol

 

that was just full of win

 

Next project, build a shadow box style frame for this bad boy...

 

Datsyuk is an amazing player. One of my favorites by far, no one can steal the puck and make something happen the way he does.

 

And a humble, super funny guy to boot! After talking with him for a quick second, I asked if I could get a picture with him, his response was "sure.......20 bucks!" haha