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October 25, 2002
Offensive Explosion in Hockey Town
By Matt Petersen
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DETROIT -- Well, too bad that the Hawks game was sort
of a downer. The good thing was, we were off to the
Motor City to take in a game that wouldn’t disappoint.
Shortly we would be sitting in the famed Joe Louis
Arena watching last years’ Stanley Cup champs take on
the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins. By far THE
game that we’ve been anticipating.
Now, I’ve heard both good and bad things about the Joe
Louis. Some say that it’s old and decrepit, and others
say that it’s a no-nonsense, old timey hockey barn.
Jeff, having already seen a game at the place, said
that we’d love it. He was right.
Walking into the building was like a time warp. Pretty
much everything we’ve seen so far has had a modern,
sparkly-clean look with gadgets and gizmos for the
kids, and bistro’s and bar’s galore for the elders,
which is fine but some times you just wanna see a
honest-for-goodness hockey building. The Joe gives you
that, and it summons a bygone era when all the
attraction was on the ice.
That’s still the tradition here, as the house was
packed to the gills, and rarely did we see people
leave their seats for the concourse during play.
Before the game, we made a loop around the walkway
(there’s only one on the lower level) that was
decorated with old black and white RedWing photo’s,
and red and white streamers (very modest, that
conjured a house party atmosphere) that zigzag from
the ceiling. We weaved our way through a maze of
red-clad fans hanging out drinking 32-oz. Molson’s
(Jeff and I had to test one out, thumbs up), and
talking hockey. It was a little crowded down there,
but we didn’t mind the intimacy, it was kind of
exciting.
Oh yeah, Lemieux was on the ice. Seeing the great
Mario Lemieux was a “top-three” thrill of the young
trip. Even though the Pens lost and Super Mario was
held without a goal, he contributed two assists, and
the play was much more passionate than a 7-3 score
would seem. The Pens got beat by a fantastic Wings team (no Steve Yzerman)
who looked every bit the reigning Stanley Cup Champs.
Russian superhuman, Sergei Federov pocketed a hat
trick (that’s five goals for the Russian Rocket in
games we’ve witnessed so far), and Jeff’s fave, Luc
Robataille, put his first two biscuits in the basket
for the season.
The fans here are eardrum-busting loud, and pretty
nice I have to say. I sat next to a cool young lady
named Jan in a black Nik Lundstrom jersey (everybody
either wears a Wing sweater, or something red) who
versed me in Detroit hockey lore, pointing out the man
in the orange hat, and the knitting lady -- supposedly
cornerstones for Red Wing games since the good old days
at Olympia Stadium.
So we were treated to some good ol’ hockey the way it
was meant to be seen -- a no-nonsense, two level
arena, loud fans, and goblets of beer that you need
two fists to hold onto. Too bad we gotta split...
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