I played in the NHL

[wickedwrister 0]

Well, my Xmas present from my wife was the Red Wings 4 on 4 Challenge. The short story is that you bring a team of 8 skaters and a goalie and you get to play against Red Wing Alumni and the coaches at at Joe Louis Arena. You also get to watch the Wings practice, get a tour of the whole arena, players locker room, get fed, ect... The bummer was that on our day, Coach Babcock cancelled practice due to the Wings' visit to Children's Hospital for Xmas. The good part was that we still got the rest of the day's activities AND got invited back to repeat the whole day! We still got to meet Mike Babcock (who is a VERY nice guy) who went out of his way to explain the video room and show us how it works as well as hang with us for a bit. I met Pavel Datsyuk and got my Datsyuk jersey signed. Last but not least, we met and played with Igor Larianov, Mickey Redmond, Doug Brown, Pat Verbeek, John Ogrodnick, Asst. Coach Paul MacLean, Asst. Coach Todd McLellan, and G.M. Ken Holland. Mike Babcock was supposed to play too, but he went to the hospital with the team. Anyway, had a blast, were treated like kings, and got some memories for a lifetime. I would have posted picts during the game, but I have to buy them from the Red Wing's photographer. I will post when I get them. Good stuff!! Enjoy!!

Right inside the player entrance

Want a ride?

Datsyuk and us fogies (I am on the left)

Into the locker room

Skate bench

Stick anyone?

Shanny's stall

Me (on right with bad hair day) in Stevie Y's stall

locker room

Wing's private lounge

Datsyuk's cup cracks me up

Me center ice befor the game

Coack Babcock drawing us up some plays

Me in visitor's LR before the game

Me, Iggy Larionov, and Mickey Redmond post game (my holy shit, I am tired face)

They still have the old sign!!

[Miike 1]

All i can say is WOW. My favorite pictures have to be the ones of the 'Stick Room' i'd take it, and the 'Skate Bench' and also Stevie Y's stall with like 15 stealths beside it. Man do these people got it lucky.

Thanks for the behind the scenes :P

[AtlantaThrashers01 0]

man all those sticks.....great pictures man that must of been so fun.

[forsberg91 0]

That's a lot of sticks.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Awesome, that would be so cool! Interesting that I saw, the split between LS holders and custom +. I thought most NHL'ers were on the Custom + cause the Lightspeeds break?

[jibby93 0]

I would consider you one of the luckiest guys in the world if only it was with the leafs lol :lol:

[A_Steeves12 0]

im jealous! thats amazing, like i always knew pros had a ass load of sticks but i never thought it was that many!

[#96 0]

Did everyone notice how many of the players use Jofa elbow pads? Damn, talk about cornering the market.

I also like how everyone has like 2 pairs of skates, but not Chelly! Old time tacks, one pair, more than enough.

Great pics Wicked!

[Michael9 57]

im so jealous <_< ! that would be the worlds coolest christmas present ever!

[Miike 1]

I would consider you one of the luckiest guys in the world if only it was with the leafs lol :lol:

Corrections, Sens or Bruins. I'd be in love. Or Even Vancouver, i'd have to try on some Berts eagles.

AS12 will reply - come try mine on because i have them haha

[wickedwrister 0]

I would consider you one of the luckiest guys in the world if only it was with the leafs lol :lol:

Corrections, Sens or Bruins. I'd be in love. Or Even Vancouver, i'd have to try on some Berts eagles.

AS12 will reply - come try mine on because i have them haha

I wonder how many other teams around the league offer something like this. This started last year during the limbo of pre-lockout. I put my name on the list and once they canned the season they quit doing them. I figured that was that. Out of the blue, in the begining of November they called me for a December date. Funny story. Before the game, the kitchen staff wheeled in this table with tons of food. Turkey club wraps, sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, sodas, beer, ect.. During halftime (2 30 minute halves) Larionov goes for the fruit. Redmond and Ogrodnick grab some chips and say "Man, this is just like when we played.. chips in between periods!" :P

[D3nZ 0]

"What do you mean I'm stealing sticks, I remember bringing exacly 24 sticks for the practice" :P

[golfpuck 0]

thats awesome... what do you have to do to get the wife to buy you that?!?!?

closest i got was to play a game in the old maple leaf gardens as a kid...

when i lived in san jose, they had a program, where if you sold a bunch of shark tickets, and payed a few bucks, you could play your adult league game after the sharks played...

[kingjames23rulz 0]

dude thats awesome...i played at JLA a few years back and it was much fun....just today i met Todd Mcclean at Compwuare Sports Arena his kid plays for a 96 team and Babcock's kid plays for the 95!! And i jsut foudn out about 30 minutes ago that Jim Nill's son ( asssin g.m of redwings) plays for the midget major team..kind of funny how all these gusy associated with the Wings, have their kids playing for an organization ( Compuware ) that is owned by Peter Larmanos who owns the Carolina Hurricanes. And Illithc and Karmanos are "rivals". It's also weird that a team..Little Caesars plays in the same league as Compuware..and we all know Illitch owns Little Caesars, jsut some fun facts, srry to throw the topic off a bit

[wickedwrister 0]

thats awesome... what do you have to do to get the wife to buy you that?!?!?

closest i got was to play a game in the old maple leaf gardens as a kid...

when i lived in san jose, they had a program, where if you sold a bunch of shark tickets, and payed a few bucks, you could play your adult league game after the sharks played...

My wife just kicked in 1/9 of the price. She is a saint. Hockey is my only vice and she knows it, so she lets me do things like this.

Kingjames,

As you know, travel hockey (at leat competitive leagues) is a small community in SE Michigan. My boy plays in the Little Ceasars league too (97 Mite AA). Sooner or later everyone crosses paths.

[kingjames23rulz 0]

i understand i thought its just a coinsidence sometimes.

[XeF4 0]

Awesome, that would be so cool! Interesting that I saw, the split between LS holders and custom +. I thought most NHL'ers were on the Custom + cause the Lightspeeds break?

When lightspeeds first came out, players were faced with alot of breakages in the steel. Custom+ has been popular because they perform well and dont break very often. Since lightspeeds use better steel now more players are switching over to them.

[ShaneyB 0]

all i have to say is 'WOW' . Thats any hockey fans living dream.

[Jason Harris 31]

That's a wonderful present and experience, WickedWrister.

A friend of mine told a great story from a similar experience. During the mid to late 90's the Red Wings had a Fantasy Camp, culminating in the last day when the Wings split onto two teams with the campers to play a game at the Joe Louis to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Throughout the week, this early twenties kid started pestering McCarty, "Come on, let's go!"

"I'm not going to fight you...."

"Come on, let's go! Let's go!"

Friday morning before the game, McCarty finally says, "You really want to go?!?"

"I paid $2500 to see how I'd do against you! I want to go!"

"Okay."

Bam! Bam! Bam! McCarty worked him over!

The kid's on the ground, bleeding through his mouth, and he comes up grinning -- wish fulfilled! :lol:

[Fonya 0]

That was pretty cool, I got a tour of the Wolverines arena and that was pretty awesome so this must have be amazing. Thanks for the pics too.

[asdfa 0]

you owe your wife a second honeymoon!! :lol:

in that pic where you're in yzerman's stall, "zetterberg" looks like he's thinking about snatching a few of those sticks haha

[Bruin88 0]

when i read the subject i thought it was some new guy saying he played in the nhl expecting special treatment and stuff.

but yeah ,thats really cool ,do many other teams do this?

[Bruin88 0]

you owe your wife a second honeymoon!! :lol:

in that pic where you're in yzerman's stall, "zetterberg" looks like he's thinking about snatching a few of those sticks haha

it kinda looks like hes angry at your bad hair day too :lol:

[hehatemefrisbee 0]

thats awesome... what do you have to do to get the wife to buy you that?!?!?

closest i got was to play a game in the old maple leaf gardens as a kid...

when i lived in san jose, they had a program, where if you sold a bunch of shark tickets, and payed a few bucks, you could play your adult league game after the sharks played...

My wife just kicked in 1/9 of the price. She is a saint. Hockey is my only vice and she knows it, so she lets me do things like this.

Kingjames,

As you know, travel hockey (at leat competitive leagues) is a small community in SE Michigan. My boy plays in the Little Ceasars league too (97 Mite AA). Sooner or later everyone crosses paths.

Is Andy Rymsha the coach of that team? I cant remember if he has them or not.

[ryno 0]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing the pics.