If you're not from Michigan and/or the Detroit area, you probably don't understand the title of this post...it's the latest slogan for the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Playoffs! Woot!
If you're still puzzled...NHL players traditionally don't shave during the playoffs. It's considered lucky to sprout your springtime beard. Makes for hairy and manly shots when you win the Cup, I suppose. :) I mean, look at those beards above. How can you not love playoff season? (I got the image from www.redwings.nhl.com.) And that's Chris Draper (#33), Johan Franzen (#93) and Henrik Zetterberg (my Favorite Red Wing...#40).
I love Hockey. I love the Detroit Red Wings. I love the Beard. And best part -- Wings are winning their series 3 games to 0 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. One more game, and it's on to round 2! Woot x2!
Playoff season always reminds me of when the Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997. Husband and I are season ticket holders (have been since 1995...went to our first game the day after our wedding). We used to go down to The Joe (aka Joe Louis Arena) like 3 times a week back in those days -- we went to EVERY home game together. And when they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997 we were shitting bricks (and doing some hardcore praying...because after all, God's a Red Wings Fan, right?) all over town. Just like everyone else in Detroit. The Wings hadn't won The Cup in 40-something years. The excitement in the city was electric.
We had tickets to that game...and I'll never forget it. The Wings were up 3 games to none against the Philadelphia Flyers. And when the game came to an end, I felt like crying. Probably everyone in the stadium felt like crying. You'd think I was out on the ice like I was one of the players. I'll never forget seeing Steve Yzerman, our captain and the only player in recent history to spend his entire career playing for the Wings -- hoist that Cup above his head and grin from ear-to-ear. It was beautiful. Fuck, it was magic.
The Wings have won the cup three times since 1997, but none of them are quite as magical for me. Hell, we didn't even get tickets to the playoffs this year. With the recession and me losing my job last year -- we just don't have the money. It's sad enough that we have to split the tickets 3 ways in order to afford them -- and end up only getting like 14 games a season now. But I guess I shouldn't be too sad. I can look back and say I Was There! when they won it in 1997.
And it was glorious. Now, drop the puck and Let's Go Wings!
1 comment:
That's so awesome! I wish Hubby and I were able to go to games with our favorite teams. We're not that far from Chicago but it's hard to get there ya know?
::Good luck Red Wings::
I'll be cheering for them for you!!
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