Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Detroit

Detroit


It was another quick drive and we were in Detroit before we knew it. We stayed for one night in the suburbs of Dearborn Michigan. Nearby is the Henry Ford Museum. I remember going there with my family as a kid. Now that was a couple of years ago for sure. We drove into the city the day before the game and Graham attended the Wings practice. I got a much needed car wash for the Escapee. It was black with dirt from the snow storm in West Virginia. I went back to pick up Graham and was invited in for the team's monthly barbeque lunch. Ann Marie, their PR Manager, arranges for a barbeque luncheon once a month after practice. She said no one misses that one. And I can see why. What a spread. If you went hungry, it was your own fault. It was fun sitting and having lunch with some of the players. Dominic Hasek sat with us as did Tomas Holmstrom and coach Mike Babcock. They we great hosts and asked lots of questions about our tour. Coach Babcock remembered Dan well from the AHL when he coached against the Chicago Wolves and said he always admired his competitive spirit and tenacity. After lunch we met Steve Yzerman and had a chat with him also. We talked about his new position with Team Canada and he said he was excited about getting started. He'll do a fine job I'm sure. We were fortunate again to stay at a hotel right near the Joe Louis Arena. Our room faced the Detroit River and it was neat looking across to Windsor and thinking that we would be driving there tomorrow on our way home. Game day arrived before we knew it and with the posters all signed and our visiting done, we didn't have to stay after the game. The Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues to bring our win record to 17 and 10. This is also game #27 and is our last game of our northeastern swing. We have been travelling by car this past month and have seen 12 games in 28 days. And that is also with 5 days off for the All Star break. It was quite a hectic pace and I am looking forward to getting back in the RV and travelling at a little slower pace when we return to Atlanta. Three teams to go. The Carolina Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Florida Panthers. Bring on the warm weather.

Graham's Game Report

Feb 2, 2007
Joe Louis Arena
St. Louis Blues vs. Detroit Red Wings


The St. Louis Blues have come a long way since we saw them back in December and they pushed the powerful Wings to the limit tonight before falling 5-3. Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterburg had three and four points respectively to lead the Wings to victory. Detroit went up half a minute after the opening faceoff on a goal by Zetterberg but Stempniak replied less than thirty seconds later for the Blues. Ryan Johnston's shorthanded marker answered Tomas Holmstrom's second period marker to send the teams deadlocked into the third period. The Blues bounced back a third time to tie the score when Tkaczuk tipped home Dennis Wideman's shot from the blue line halfway through the third period. Kris Draper notched the winner shorthanded when he batted home a rebound of Lidstrom's shot on a two on one break. Daniel Cleary iced it with an empty net marker in the last minute. It was our first look at Detroit since an October loss in Edmonton and they look to be a serious cup contender as usual. I enjoyed spending some time in the Wings room after their practice and left with some good memories and a book entitled " What it means to be a Red Wing." Their storied history is retold by many former and current players. A class organization that has known exquisite highs and devastating lows over the years but continues to persevere. I have a feeling we will see them in the fight right to the end this year.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh

Columbus and Pittsburgh are very close to each other, but we decided to drive as far as Wheeling, West Virginia and stay put for a couple of days. It was great to catch up on some extra sleep and just relax. Our four days in Las Vegas during the All Star Break didn't somehow allow for much rest. Now it was catch up time. We stayed near a very large shopping mall and theatre complex, so managed to do some shopping and see a couple of movies. Graham had to twist my rubber arm to do some shopping, but I managed to go over and buy a couple of things. We left for Pittsburgh on Monday morning and it was a short one hour drive to get there. Graham attended the morning practice, did some media interviews and met with Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby to get our posters signed. We were once again fortunate to stay directly across the street from the arena. The Mellon arena is definitely showing its age and indeed doesn't have some of the more lucrative aspects we have seen in other newer facilities, such as lots of luxury boxes. There were a few, but not many. It also has the only retractable roof of any arena in the United States. It was built in the early 1960's as a Civic Centre and was host to many concerts and entertainment venues. It evolved into the arena for the Penguins and has served them since they came into the league. It is a very well maintained building and by no means looks run down or dumpy, but it has seen its day and definitely needs to be replaced. Land has apparently been secured directly across the street from where it now stands and I'm sure the city of Pittsburgh will build them a new facility. We have now watched the Penguins play three times and of all the teams in the league, this one to me is the most exciting. With Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, and Armstrong to name a few, they have such a strong youth movement to build on for the future. They are really fun and exciting to watch. You can feel their passion as they play and that is what playing hockey is all about. They make it fun for everyone. Their teammates, coaches and especially the fans. They are definitely the team to watch for the future and I hope for the wonderful fan base in Pittsburgh, they can remain in that city. We were also very fortunate while in Pittsburgh to meet Cindy Himes with the public/community department. Cindy has been with the Penguins for 30 years and has been there for the good times and the bad. She arranged for us to meet with Hockey in the Hood organizer Cliff Benson and coach Howard Smith. What amazing people and what an amazing bunch of kids that attend the sessions each week. The kids are brought by their parents from all over the city and the Hockey in the Hood organization sees to it that they have all the necessary hockey equipment to play the game. They now have enough kids enrolled to have a couple of older divisions like pee wee and bantam and sometimes play in tournaments. The little guys are so cute. They work hard on the ice under the direction of coaches Howard and Monique. They are very passionate and devoted to the Hockey in the Hood program and are able to make a difference in some children's lives. If anyone reading this would ever like to make a donation to a very worthy cause, this is it. It is a non profit organization that lets children play hockey that might not otherwise be able to play the game because of cost. It furthers sport and promotes a healthy activity. And that is what playing hockey is all about. We also were surprised to meet Dave Hanson at the Hockey in the Hood facility. He is one of the famous Hanson Brothers from the movie Slapshot. He is the facilities manager when he isn't on tour with his "other brothers". He was a very nice man and graciously posed for a picture with us. This is stop #26 and our win record now stands at 16 and 10. Four teams to go. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!

Graham's Game Report

Jan 30, 2007
Mellon Arena
Florida Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins



The Penguins have had little success against the Panthers for a long time now but tonight they maintained their winning streak with a shutout victory. Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding between the pipes and the Pens got all the offense they needed on a late first period goal by Michel Oullet. Moore and Whitney added insurance in the second period to extend their current winning streak and build the confidence of a blossoming young team. It was our third Penguin game and they look better every time we've seen them. Crosby and Malkin are on their way to superstardom already but I've been impressed with youngsters like Jordan Staal, Colby Armstrong and Oullet who get less press but are playing a solid NHL game that all teams need to be successful. This should be a fun team to watch in the future and the sooner they get into the playoffs the tougher it will be on the rest of the league. We enjoyed our stay in Pittsburgh and hopefully this franchise will stay here for years to come.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Columbus

Columbus

It was a long snowy and yucky drive to Columbus from Washington. We left early in the morning and soon were in Virginia driving through the rolling Appalachian Mountains. The weather would go from clear and sunny to stormy with poor visibility and then back to clear and sunny again. It was a strange drive. It once again, made it very hard to see much of the countryside. We did do a lot of up and down driving on winding roads. I thought for a moment that we were back on the coastal highway on the west coast. The snow soon chased that thought out of my mind. We arrived in Columbus in the early evening and stayed downtown in a hotel right across from the Nationwide Arena. We were told that this used to be a very run down part of the city, and with the building of the arena, things changed around. The surrounding buildings are beautifully constructed and the area is aptly named the "Arena District". This is a case where the entire inner city, with good planning has been built up and is certainly something for the city of Columbus to be proud of. Besides the arena, there is lots of green space, shopping, and restaurants. The arena itself is the cornerstone of the area and is one of the nicer rinks we have been to in our travels. It is very large with lots of open concourse space. It is also a short 5 minute walk from a few downtown hotels so is very convenient. The away teams stay at these hotels and the Sabres were staying at the same hotel as us. There were also lots and lots of Sabre fans. There were a few buses that had come down to Columbus and a many also drove. The rink was loud and very noisy for the whole game and when Buffalo scored, it was amazingly loud for an away team goal. They made it lots of fun and it was a great atmosphere. Columbus won 3-2 giving us a 15 and 10 win record. It's getting pretty even with the wins and losses. In the afternoon the wonderful public relations people arranged for Graham to speak to their sales and marketing staff. It was quite a large group and Graham's message was well received. It was back to the hotel after the game and we were on our way in the morning to Pittsburgh. We continue to get closer and closer to our 30 city number. This was stop number 25, giving us 5 more stops to go.

Graham's Game Report

Jan 26, 2007
Nationwide Arena
Buffalo Sabres vs. Columbus Blue Jackets


The crowd for this Blue Jackets home game was a noisy sell out but the noise favoured both sides fairly equally as thousands of Sabres fans made the trek to Columbus and made their presence known. The Sabres looked strong in opening up a 2-1 lead after two periods with the Jackets getting strong goaltending from Fredrik Norrena, including a stop on a late period penalty shot by Daniel Paille to keep them in contention. Goals from Rotislav Klesla and Dan Fritsche brought the home team back in the third for a 3-2 Columbus victory. Ted Drury netted two power play goals for Buffalo and Rick Nash notched a powerplay marker for the home side. The game had quite a festive atmosphere with fans of both teams battling for vocal supremacy. This hockey only arena is one of the nicest we've seen on our tour and I'm sure some day soon the Columbus faithful will be rewarded for their support of this young franchise.