My day with the Detroit Red Wings
I wake up early morning Tuesday, November 18th, and the first thought that races through my mind is “I can’t believe it, I’m going to the Red Wings’ practice today!!†After sitting through two long blocks in eager anticipation, it is finally time to leave for Joe Louis Arena. Amanda and I get there half an hour early so we just chill in her bright lime green Volkswagen Bug in the small parking lot in front of all the steps of the Arena. Being the Red Wing dork that I am, I watch each car drive by hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the hockey players. The vehicle of choice seemed to the black Navigator and the Hummer. 10:45 am arrives and its time for us to head in. We go in through a side door (the one all of the players and Red Wing employees go through) and the security guard greets us. He has to call Anne Marie, Community Relations Manager, who is the one that set everything up for us. We then sign in as visitor #115 while waiting for Anne Marie to come down.
She comes over and quickly explains where to go when watching their practice. We are to sit with the other media representatives at center ice about 20 rows up. As we walked in, I was amazed with how empty the Arena was. I’ve gone there for games and a tour of the facilitated, but its always jammed pack. Aside from the players on the rink, there were three other individuals in the Arena when we arrived. When we sat dpwm. The players were warming up and taking shots on one of the two goalies – Curtis Joseph and Manny Legace. During the practice, I listened to the media people discuss stats and future games. Amanda went through five rolls for the one-hour practice.
The practice started out with the basic warm-up routines one would expect such as stretching and shooting on the goalie exercises. As I looked down on the practice, I noticed the colorful array of jersey colors – blue, teal, gray, white, black, and red. However, there seemed to be no pattern or purpose for the large assortment of colors. It wasn’t until after they completed their 5-on-5 and 5-on-4 practice scenarios that I realized the purpose of these colors. The team does 3-on-3 drills starting on one end of the rink and then shooting on the goalie of the opposing side. The groups of three were based on the jersey colors. For example, the white ‘team’ consisted of Steve Thomas, Brendan Shannahan, and Steven Yzerman. Kirk Malthy, Tomas Holmstrom, and Kris Draper composed the teal group. Conditioning followed with this speed skating of sorts around the rink. Yzerman left right before the conditioning because he doesn’t want to push his knee too much during practice so he goes and works off ice.
While the players stretched at the end of practice, all of the media stood up and headed down to the hallway where the locker room was located. After waiting about 15 minutes, the media was able to enter the locker room. Since Amanda and I were high schoolers, we were told to wait out in the hallway. Anne Marie promised us one or two interviews and went in the locker room to figure out whom we would be able to talk to. She came out and told us that Jason Williams and Kris Draper would be coming out for us to interview. 30 minutes later, Jason comes out and I talked to him for about 15 minutes. Williams is one of the team youngsters and provided a different perspective than that of a veteran.
While we waited for Draper to come out, we kept seeing team members such as Yzerman and Maltby come out of the locker room and enter another room with a red door and Stanley Cup on the front. The crowd manager then came out and gave both Amanda and I an official Red Wings practice puck. 30 minutes later Draper came out and since it was really loud in the hallway suggested that we come with him and go through that red door. Behind the red door lies a room where the players eat lunch after practices and it looks to be a nice restaurant with a bar. I interviewed Draper just inside of the room and all of the other players sat further back. It was a great experience interviewing a veteran such as him. I would pick Draper as the jokester of the team. His passion for hockey and his family were quite evident during the interview. After talking to him for about 25 minutes, Amanda and I left for school. We stopped by the Little Caesars that Ms. Ilitch worked at as a teen to further the Red Wing themed day.
Looking back on the day, it had to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I hope that this was the first of many visits to Joe Louis Arena as a member of the media. And Draper has scored in six of the seven games following the interview; he’s off to the best offensive start of his career.
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One Response to “My day with the Detroit Red Wings”
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October 19th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
[…] I thought it was an excellent opinion piece and it certainly rang true in my mind. I’ve been one of the fortunate few to get access to the team in 2003-2004 season. I attended a private practice and interviewed Kris Draper and Jason Williams. I was able to attend because my best friend’s family was friends with Denise Ilitch, the owner’s daughter who has since been removed from the organization. I was able to interview Denise Ilitch at her lovely home. I was invited to attend High School Journalist Day at Joe Louis Arena in March 2004. I was able to interview Assistant GM Jim Nill, who was the parent of my brother’s best friend at that time. That was a wonderful year. I got to actually meet some players outside of the autograph signings. And it didn’t cost me anything. […]