Change in Feed Format
I just wanted to let all of the Behind the Jersey readers know that I have changed the format of the RSS feed from full to an excerpt format. I would like to apologize to anyone who relies on the full feed to read this blog, but another hockey website is syndicating my posts without permission.
Like my friends at On the Wings and Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, I have to shorten the feed to excerpt in order to prevent the material I’ve worked hard on from being reproduced without express permission from myself. I will leave this website unnamed, but it is NOT eWoss.com, who I have given full permission to syndicate my BtJ content.
I just find it frustrating that as a college student, I’m not making any kind of profit off of this blog. And because of a knee problem, I can’t even land a normal job to bring in any money. Yet, this other website finds it appropriate to take my content for its personal profit. I only ask that this individual remove BtJ content from their website; you know who you are.
Ideally, I’ll be able to return to a full RSS feed when this issue is resolved.
Update (July 25th, 2006): The feed has been returned to its full size. If I find that the issue reappears, the RSS feed will be shortened once again. Thanks.
Behind the Blog: Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks
Today’s Behind the Blog features the always opinionated Acid Queen at Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks. She is a dedicated Carolina Hurricanes fan who always speaks her mind whether it’s about Carolina bashers, happenings around the NHL, or Carolina’s rise to the top of the NHL.
Q.1 – You’ve been blogging since August 2005. Why did you create Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks?
I’d created a Blogspot ID for the sole purpose of commenting on Jes Golbez’s blog, and just called my little space “This Is Not A Used Blog†(and pretty much had a note in there to that effect). I have my own livejournal which I’ve used for personal and hockey-related journaling purposes over the last 3 years, but never really gave much thought to actually having a blog where I could rant about hockey until Jes put the bug in my ear earlier in the summer of 2005. I finally decided to take the plunge on what really amounted to a lark—I changed the name, changed the layout, started posting, and here we are..
Q.2 – What do you hope to achieve over the next few years with your blog?
Lots of ranting about injustices, tilting at windmills, generally pissing people off—y’know, the usual.
Actually, that’s not really true. One of the things that I’d like to see come from STB2 is the realization by the general fandom that there are increasing numbers of people down here in Mayberry that do know and love the Sport of the Gods, and that the sport is steadily growing here despite the worst efforts of the Hurricanes’ lackluster marketing department and the slackards in most of the Triangle media outlets. I also want to provide people with a perspective on the Hurricanes from a local’s point of view, which is something that you can’t get from some talking head in Bristol or Toronto who doesn’t know the Brickyard from Franklin Street from Krzyzewskiville.
Q.3 – I visit your blog because you say what you’re thinking. I may not agree with you on a certain topic, but at least I know where you stand. Have you always been this opinionated? Are you very opinionated on other topics or just hockey?
I think my family (and people on several message boards) can vouch for my always having had strong opinions on everything. I certainly don’t expect people to agree with everything I say—such an expectation would of course be quite foolish—but I’ve never been shy about speaking my mind.
Q.4 – When did you attend your first hockey game and who was playing?
The first NHL game I ever attended was actually Game 2 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, when the Bruins played the Hurricanes at the Greensboro Coliseum. Before that I was only ever able to attend various youth hockey games and a game by the Minot Maple Leafs of the Continental Hockey League (now the All-American Hockey League), back home in North Dakota, and a couple of high school games when I lived in southern Minnesota.
Q.5 – Where do you see the Carolina Hurricanes finishing this season (ie. what seed in the conference, making it to the Stanley Cup finals, etc.)?
I don’t want to jinx anything, so all that I’ll say is that the Hurricanes will finish where they finish—hopefully it’s winning the Cup in anywhere from 4 to 6 games (so that they can once again have Finals Scoreboard on the rest of the Division); but given the fact that the pundits thought they’d finish down in my mother’s basement with the catbox and the cockroaches, everything is gravy. Mmmmm, gravy.
Q.6 – Do you really hate the Detroit Red Wings as much as you wrote in this post? And which do you hate more: Red Wing fans or the Red Wings organization?
1) Yes—but I was grossly exaggerating when I said that I’d laugh at the fans if the Wings go plummeting to the basement. I’m far more sportsmanlike than that, I promise.
2) The organization, I have a great deal of respect for —they built a three-time Cup winner through smart drafting, smart trades, and a smart signing or two, and that deserves respect. But my personal interactions with a lot of Wings fans have been pretty uniformly crappy—especially because the Asshat Value of the fanbase has increased exponentially with each Cup. Every time the Red Wings have played at the RBC, it’s like the assiest of the assy show up and feel that they have the right to be screamingly arrogant (and aggressive) jerks in another team’s house just because it’s the Detroit Red Wings—and nothing gets a body on my bad side faster than coming into my house and taking a dump on my living-room rug.
Q.7 – How long have you been a Hurricane fan and where do you see the organization going over the next 5 years?
Long story short: I grew up as a fan of the Edmonton Oilers—they were the first team I ever saw play (back on 4 October 1980), and I liked their style, so I decided that they’d be my team. By the time the Whalers came to town and became the Hurricanes, I’d graduated high school and lost touch with hockey (and the Oilers), so I was effectively a blank slate. Of course, if you took a look at my collection of hockey cards and Panini sticker albums, you’d think that I’d always been a Whalercanes fan because I have way more Hartford cards/stickers than I do any other team. Go figure.
As for where I see the organization going in the next 5 years, it’s hard to say for sure. The hiring of Marshall Johnston as head of pro scouting and Peter Laviolette as coach are very encouraging signs, considering the current ownership’s history of “promotion from within‖but at the same time there’s a refusal to give European talent more than the most cursory of glances and a dearth of what one would consider even halfway decent prospects in the Hurricanes’ system. If something isn’t done to fix that, then this team could easily find itself right back where they were before Ragnarok.
Q.8 – Who would you pick to win the Calder trophy?
Alexander Ovechkin, no question. Of the current Top 4 Calder candidates (Crosby, Ovechkin, Phaneuf, Lundqvist), no one has done more with less than Alexander the (so far) Great.
Q.9 – What did you do to pass the time during the lockout?
I paid more attention to the NFL and my beloved Washington Redskins, and got into baseball again. I also followed the Euro leagues, particularly the Czech Extraliga (largely thanks to Golbez, since Czech isn’t one of my languages) and the German Hockey League, and got some writing done.
Q.10 – Who is your favorite hockey player? Why?
Marek Malik is and always will be my boy—unless he becomes a Red Wing, in which case I’m liable to light myself on fire and fling myself off the top of the RBC Center (just kidding). I’ve always been quite fond of his keen sense of humour, serene demeanour, and the fact that he does his best every time he gets out on the ice–and I also love his uncanny ability to pull some wild-ass move out of thin air when everybody least expects it. Mostly because of the reactions he gets.
Q.11 – Which NHL division do you think is the most competitive this season? Why?
The Central is pretty much a two-team race between Detroit and Nashville, the Atlantic is all Philly with a smidge of the Rangers, the Pacific is kinda meh, the Southeast had a nice little three-way going between the ‘Canes, Thrashers, and Lightning until the Lightning went pfft, and until the Canucks decided to take a little nosedive I would have said the Northwest (which is now down to Calgary and Colorado). So that leaves us with the Northeast—which is a spirited three-team brawl between Ottawa, Buffalo, and Toronto. That’s the division I think is the most competitive to this point of the season.
Q. 12 – Which player has had the biggest impact on the Hurricanes this season?
Without a doubt, it would have to be the Warchief, Rod Brind’amour. Eric Staal’s strong performance so far has been nice, the goaltending has been a very pleasant surprise, and the contribution of the offseason acquisitions has been quite bomb-ass—but I don’t think it would have been entirely possible without the renaissance of Rod Brind’amour.
Q.13 – Why do you refer to yourself as the Acid Queen?
The Acid Queen was a character I used to run in the pen-and-paper RPG Shadowrun. AcidQueen is also my IRC nickname on a small network that I and several BattleTech fans hang out on, and I use it on a couple of hockey boards. And it’s easier to explain than any other nickname I’ve ever had, so there you go.
Q. 14 – Which team has surprised you the most by their performance thus far? Disappointed you?
The team that’s surprised me the most is the Flames. I seriously expected them to fall flat on their faces a la the Hurricanes in 02-03 and the Ducks in 03-04, but they’ve actually done quite well so far.
The team that’s disappointed me the most? Columbus. Most expansion franchises usually have their act together and have stopped pissing around by the time they reach the five-year mark, but the Blue Jackets seem to continue to hope for Top 10 pick after Top 10 pick season after season—and that’s no way to build a team. The sooner the Jackets clean house and fire Doug Mclean’s sorry carcass, the better.
Q. 15 – Is there a hockey blog or website that you look up to for inspiration?
Jes Golbez, no question. I wish I was even half as funny as that lovable nutbar.
Any additional comments?
Go Canes!
Carnival #18 & Other Notes
The NHL Carnival #18 is up at Abel to Yzerman. The next carnival will remain in Hockeytown where I along with Matt and Brian will be hosting the Yzerman edition at On the Wings.
Last Friday, Matt at Battle of Alberta gave Behind the Jersey some love (along with Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, Hockey Country, Japer’s Rink, and Hello Hockey Fans!). Here’s what Matt had to say about BtJ:
Call me a snooty MCP, but I would never have expected a hockey blog written by a 19-year-old girl to be readable, let alone interesting. More impressively, Christy’s blog is probably the best one out there for appreciating the Game of NHL Hockey as a whole. It doesn’t hurt that her home team has a lot of excellent and interesting veterans, but I frequently find myself reacting to her posts with, “Yep - hockey kicks ass.”
Her regular “Behind The Blog” feature is original and inspired, and she also recently reminded me of this awesome quote:
“Aww, don’t worry Doc. If that happens, I can always come back as a forward!” - Harold Snepsts after being advised by a doctor to wear a helmet to avoid brain damage
Read the whole entry; there’s a bunch of beauties.
On a final note, I’d like to thank all the readers who’ve been commenting frequently here at BtJ. It gets hard to blog when I have big exams, lots of homework, or papers due, but when I get feedback from you all, it really helps. So thank you!
Heart of a Champion: Steve Yzerman
After A2Y’s great carnival, it’s time to start thinking ahead to the next carnival. Matt, Brian, and I will be hosting carnival #19, the Steve Yzerman edition at On the Wings. As such, I found it fitting to write a personal tribute to my favorite hockey player of all time. You may recall the Behind the Jersey feature I did on Yzerman back in November, which you can view here, but I’m not going to talk about his accolades rather what other’s and myself think and say about “The Captain.” So why is Yzerman my favorite hockey player?
Like many Wings fans, Yzerman is my favorite player. Ever. While he is an amazing player and leader, his priority is with his family and other people. He is selfless and humble. But I have a different reason why he is my favorite hockey player of all time. Cancer patients and survivors look to Lance Armstrong for inspiration. While knee problems are nowhere near the magnitude of seriousness as cancer, I look to Yzerman for inspiration. As you all know, Yzerman has had his fair share of knee injuries. He is the only known professional athlete to return from an osteotomy, a realignment surgery of the knee usually done for the elderly. Typically, it’s a surgery done to postpone a total knee replacement. While I haven’t had that surgery, I’ve had 6 knee surgeries (more minor ones than major). I’m currently waiting to have my 7th and 8th surgeries for my torn lateral meniscus repair, ACL revision (a 2nd ACL reconstruction), and a medial meniscus transplant. Pain is a part of my everyday life and Yzerman is a major source of inspiration to me. For someone to come back from all of his surgeries and a major osteotomy to play professional hockey, I know that even when the pain is awful, I can make it to class. I have a big autographed photo of Yzerman that I purchased from Hockeytown Authentics over my bed at home, and it always reminds me that I can and will overcome my injuries because he did and succeeded in a very physical sport.
So what characteristics do others’ admire in Yzerman? His humbleness. His quiet yet effective leadership abilities. His inspirational play in the 2002 season while struggling with intense knee pain. The fact that he has remained in Detroit for his entire career. That he brought the Stanley Cup back to Detroit after 42 years without it.
The Leader The Heart of a Champion: “He blocks shots, he battles with big defensemen. You would like a guy like Steve Yzerman to be with you in a battle on the ice or a back alley.” (Red Wings Associate Coach Dave Lewis comments on Stevie) “He’s one of the players, and there are few, who come to work every day. You kind of have to shoo him off the practice ice.” (Red Wings Coach Scotty Bowman comments on Stevie)
Detroit boy: “It’s nice that he’s been able to play his whole career in one city and win the fans’ hearts. I don’t know how much more you’re going to see that in sports.” (Red Wings Senior Vice President Jim Devellano comments on Stevie) After finally winning the Stanley Cup and later the Conn Smythe trophy, we see Yzerman’s childhood dreams come to light. “First of all, I can’t believe that I’ve won 2 Stanley Cups. I’m totally amazed by that. The Conn Smythe, I’m delighted to have my name on a significant trophy. It’s great to have the Yzerman name on there along with my idols and my dad’s idols,” Yzerman said after his second straight Stanley Cup win.
The Knee: A friend to the SpartanEdge Sports Dudette left a comment about Steve Yzerman. Here’s what she had to say regarding his return from osteotomy surgery.
February 24th, 2003 was just like any other Monday in the sense that I had woken up at 6:30am to get ready for another day as a high school sophomore…The catch: I had Red Wing tickets. Yes, I indeed was planning on being at the Joe at 7:30pm for the face off between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. What I wasn’t planning on seeing was number 19: Captain Steve Yzerman. Boy was I in for a surprise. For days there had been rumors that Stevie’s first game back after months of recovery from an osteotomy might be against the Leafs, but nothing was for sure. To me it was a hockey game, and that was enough. I walked through the doors into the Joe with a smile on my face awaiting a much anticipated game. In no time we were sitting down listening to Karen Newman sing the National Anthem. Then it happened. In an instance everyone around me was standing on their feet screaming. I quickly sprang up to see what all the commotion was about. The rink looked normal, filled with the usual blurred colors of red and white…After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, I saw it clear as ever. It was jersey 19…To my amazement and excitement the captain of 21 years was back on the ice, skating with his teammates once again. The Joe was erupting with cheers and cries for a hockey player Red Wing fans and even people who knew nothing about hockey had grown to love over the years.
“I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone’s knee, is to never play again and retire. But I’m not going to do that.” - Detroit’s Steve Yzerman, preparing to hobble through another Stanley Cup run.
Wings 5, Wild 4
What a crazy and bizarre game. The Wings were up 4-0 by the end of the first period with goals by Steve Yzerman, Robert Lang, Mikael Samuelsson, and a beauty by Henrik Zetterberg. Yzerman’s goal earned him his 200th career power play goal. After going pointless for seven games, hopefully Samuelsson will bounce back offensively after scoring his 17th goal of the season. Wild goaltender Manny Fernandez was taken out after the first period.
I watched the first part of the second period, upon which the Wild scored to make it 4-1. I then had to watch 24 with my college friends so I missed the rest of the second and most of the third period. I came back with five minutes left in the game to see the score at 5-4 and my heart dropped. I’m always skeptical when the Wings are up by so much because especially with the new rules, it’s pretty easy to even that all up. Fortunately, Andreas Lilja scored his first goal as a Wing to win the game for Detroit. At some point, Manny Legace replaced Chris Osgood in goal where he made some impressive saves to keep the Wings in the game.
Detroit outshot the Wild, 27-16.
Boxscore
Play by Play
Offensive Scoresheet
On the Wings’ recap
Abel to Yzerman’s game recap
Update: BtJ reader, Jon, filled me in on what I missed when I went off to watch 24 (I mean, I have to see how Jack Bauer saves the world).
Legace came in the game for the third period.Â
IMO the Wings got the attiude “we are up 4 goals we can hang on.” Well the Wild never gave up.
Osgood gave up 3 goals on 4 shots (I think that was the number) in the second.
Lilja made it 5 - 3 in the third. The Wild go a goal which was deflected off a Wing player..
Wings v. Canucks Game Notes
A few notes about Thursday’s Wings v. Canucks’ game…
My Dad sent me 14 photos from the game that he took and they look great. When he has more time, there will be more up on Webshots. But for now, these photos will have to do. These are just two of the 14 photos I posted today.
In addition to that, Alanah and Jeff (of Vancouver Canucks Op Ed) were kind enough to email me an 18 second clip of right after Nicklas Lidstrom scored where you can briefly see me on the Vancouver broadcast, which you can view here. I’m the girl who looks like this:
Wings notes
Game Photos
I have just uploaded some photos from last night’s game. These are the photos I took with a Canon Powershot, which isn’t really designed for sport action shots so they aren’t too grand. I’m still waiting to get the photos from my dad, but he’s a busy guy so I’ll get them up as soon as I can. But for now, you can view 30 of my photos here at Webshots.
The Man Who Changed Hockey
Sports Illustrated wrote what I thought was an excellent three page piece on Brendan Shanahan and his affect on the sport. The article starts out like this…
Comfortably ensconced in a private dining room in Calgary not long ago, the Detroit Red Wings were watching an NHL game on a giant screen television when the referee raised his arm to make what struck the Wings as a phantom call. All heads in the room swiveled in the direction of forward Brendan Shanahan, who at that moment might as well have had a whistle in his mouth instead of the taste of dinner. His teammates pointed at him. Then, in chorus, they began to boo. “What?” Shanahan protested. “What?”Â
According to the article, Shanahan was named the most influential person in Canadian sports by Toronto’s Globe and Mail as well as No. 10 on The Hockey News‘ ranking of people of power and influence in the game.
SI Players NHL Poll
The most recent issue of Sports Illustrated features a weekly professional sports players poll, usually featuring NFL players. This poll asked 343 NHL players, “What percentage of NHL players use steroids?”
Results:
Zero - 37%
One - 34%
Two - 11%
Three to Nine - 14%
10 or More - 4%
Alex Tanguay - Pop Culture
Another weekly feature of Sports Illustrated is “The Pop Culture Grid” and they asked Avalanche player Alex Tanguay the following:
Howard Stern is…”On that Sirius network now?”
Book you are currently reading…”Lance Armstrong’s War”
How much coffee do you drink a day…”I’ve never drunk a cup of coffee in my life.”
Most expensive piece of jewelry…”A $100 watch. I’m not much of a jewelry guy.”
Would you like to make a voodoo doll of…”[Teammate] Ian Laperriere. To make him stop talking.”
Worst Show on TV…”Dancing with and Skating with the Stars.”
Wings 2, Canucks 1
Tonight was honestly the best night of my young 19 year old life. I attended the Wings vs. Canucks game at the Joe where I sat in the first row *right* next to where the zambonis come out (but on the opposite side of the goal judge). People literally came up to us to tell us that we had the best seats in the house. They were amazing. To see my “idols” within 2 inches of me was unbelievable. I don’t remember the period, but Steve Yzerman was nailed literally right in front of me- just crazy. My Dad and I took hundreds of pictures (seriously, like over 500) so we’ll be going through them tomorrow and I’ll post them whenever we transfer them from his camera to my laptop. It was soo worth the nearly $500 it cost my dad and I to get the best seats at the Joe. My dad’s birthday is at the end of March so we’re going to try to get those same seats again…it was so surreal.
The Wings won in an excellent hockey game. And while there wasn’t a full blown hockey fight, there certainly were numerous scrums where the entire crowd at the Joe jumped up to their feet. The Joe was pretty loud tonight and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. There were two little kids behind me and Al Sobotka, the infamous zamboni driver, sat right next to them and gave them some pucks in the third period.
Brendan Shanahan scored the game winning goal, his 100th in his career, while on the power play with seven minutes left in the game. The goal was a beauty right in front of my face (Yzerman did a nice job screening Auld). Carter scored the only goal for the Canucks with 7:50 left in the first period. Nicklas Lidstrom scored the Wings first goal of the game during a 5-on-3 power play, Robert Lang and Mathieu Schneider with the assist (lengthening his point streak to 5 games).
The Wings outshot the Canucks 35-15 in a strong defensive effort. “We’re playing real strong in our own end,” Lidstrom said. “We’re not giving up a lot of shots and Manny only has to make one save and we’re clearing the rebound.”
For those of you who watched the game on TV, you should’ve seen me on the Vancouver broadcast right after the Wings scored their first goal. I was banging on the glass like crazy. And then the Detroit broadcast, I believe I was shown when our section held up “Hi Jiri” signs, but since I was in the front I’m not sure if that scanned down that far. And my dad was prominently seen during the Karen Newman performance, which we were less than 10 feet from in his bright red sweatshirt.
Interesting Notes: Every single time Todd Bertuzzi touched the puck, the Joe was filled with boos. In between the 1st and 2nd period, they brought out a Toyota truck and the entire time it was on the ice, the crowd booed their heads off. But when a Jeep was brought out in the next intermission, no problems at all. Quite entertaining.
Well, I’m exhausted after a long but exciting birthday and I’m still experiencing sensory overload from today’s game. But I will try to post those pictures ASAP. Good night everybody!
Karen Newman and More Wings Stuff
Paul at Kukla’s Korner interviewed the Wings’ National Anthem singer, Karen Newman. Interesting read, I’ve always wanted to know more about her. I just turned 19 today, but I can’t remember a time when she wasn’t singing the anthem or Yzerman wasn’t playing. I can’t imagine the Wings’ experience without either, although in drastically different ways…
For those of you who have never heard of Facebook because you aren’t a college student or don’t know one, this is an online directory. You can join various “groups” and I recently joined the “I hate the Colorado Avalance for life” group. I’m an extremely proud member, I must say. Since I was growing up when the rivalry was crazy, it’s hard for me to imagine life without the rivalry (and sad to see it currently fading). The group has a description and here it is:
I know it has been years since Peter Forsberg and Hejduk’s ugly foreign butts have almost singlehandedly ousted the Wings from the playoffs. And it has been years since Lemieux re-arranged Draper’s face. But scratch those memories.Â
This is a group for you if…..
-You KNOW Vernie and Ozzie both whooped Roy’s butt
-you hear the word ‘turtle’ and you think of Claude Lemieux
-you heart the Russian 5
-you remember Marc Crawford trying to break the glass between benches just to get to Scotty Bowman
-your favorite hockey game ever ended 7-0.
and most importantly, you belong in this group if your favorite play in hockey history is the statue of liberty goal!
I couldn’t have said it better myself. The Statue of Liberty goal was one of the best hockey moments I’ve ever witnessed on television as a Wings fan- I hate Roy with a passion and thoroughly enjoyed seeing him embarrased, and deservingly so.
Wings and Predators atop Central Division
Preds beat Wings, 2-1, in OT
The Detroit Red Wings lost last night to the Nashville Predators, 2-1, 35 seconds into OT on a breakaway goal by Paul Kariya despite the Wings’ best offensive efforts. The Wings outshot Nashville, 39-28, in yesterday’s game and 40-14 on Monday.
Detroit owns this team in every area but goaltending. Nashville doesn’t have the firepower, the skill on the blue line, the experience or any other factor that wins playoff games–except one. Tomas Vokoun has stolen two straight huge games. When’s the last time a Wing goalie did that?Â
Mario Lemieux retires
Lemieux’s retirement has affected the active goal leader standings.
Mario Lemieux’s retirement on Tuesday makes Detroit C Steve Yzerman the NHL’s active leader in goals (683), assists (1,051) and points (1,734).Â
Happy Birthday Chelios
Today, January 25th, Chris Chelios celebrates his 44th birthday. Tomorrow, I’ll be celebrating my 19th birthday while watching Chelios play (it will also be Wayne Gretzky’s birthday) at the Joe. Anyways, the Detroit Free Press has an article featuring the birthday boy.
Steve Yzerman is the Wings’ captain, Chelios the team’s patriarchal planner. Whatever the event, he makes sure every player knows he is invited.Â
“He makes it a lot of fun for the guys, particularly the younger guys, he makes sure they feel comfortable around the locker room,” Yzerman said. “I think it’s important that you have certain guys that kind of really can make everybody relaxed, make everybody comfortable, and he does that.”
Helene St. James asked Chelios numerous questions that were placed in a sidebar. Here’s one of them:
On what he might have done had hockey not worked out: I would have gone to school. I quit hockey when I was 17 for three or four months, and I was going into school in San Diego. I was always pretty good in school and I was going to get a degree — I knew that you had to get an education. But after two years at Wisconsin I knew I was going to be in the Olympics. So when I knew I had a shot at turning pro, I decided instead of doing homework, I did push-ups.”Â
Back in February 2004, I did a Behind the Jersey look at Chelios’ life. You can read it here.
Super Bowl in Detroit
So what are the Wings doing on February 5th when the Super Bowl rolls around to Detroit? For defenseman Mathieu Schneider, he plans to hang out at his friend’s and fellow teammates’ restaurant, Cheli’s Chili Bar.
“I don’t expect to pay for anything when I walk into that place…You know, I don’t like crowds,” he said. “I have problems dealing with big crowds like that, and the chaos. If it was easy to get in and out that would be another thing, but I just like to relax. But one day I would like to go to a Super Bowl, when I can enjoy it, not in the middle of the season…If I had to pick a sport that I like to watch other than hockey, it would definitely be football. But I don’t consider myself a real sports fan.”Â
Goaltender Manny Legace will be attending the Kid Rock concert on the eve of the big game. While Legace would love to get his hands on some tickets (he needs two by the way), he plans on heading to Cheli’s Bar if the tickets fall through.
“I want to see the commercials, that’s the big thing for me,” he said. “The game is secondhand to me; I just want to see the commercials. So I’d rather hang out at the bar.”Â