The other day, I attended a career fair at Little Caesars arena. There were a lot of sports teams and Ilich Sports and Entertainment executives there explaining their roles with the organization. Yet another great event as per usual, for any of the affairs held at Little Caesars Arena. Included in the career fair, was a ticket to that night's Red Wings game vs the Carolina Hurricanes.
The event ended at three o'clock, however, the doors to the game didn’t open until 5:30. I decided to go for a walk, find some lunch, and maybe some coffee or dessert to pass the time before the game. Starting from Little Caesars Arena, I moseyed on down Woodward toward downtown. Where many dining spots are located.
I ate at Presley’s Kitchen Detroit. It was quiet at the time. There was only one other table and two people at the bar, as it was a little past lunch when I got there. I ordered the hot honey crispy chicken sandwich with fries. I will say that I give it a 10 out of 10.
That has got to be one of the best chicken sandwiches in the city. Presley’s is connected to the David Whitney building. By far the nicest hotel lobby I’ve ever seen! From the hardwood furniture to the marble floors, the finest tapestry and grand architecture. This place oozes with luxury.
After lunch, I continued downtown. I walked through Campus Martius. The skating rink ice was melting. The exposed drain in the center marks the end of winter. Further down Woodward, walking past the Spirit of Detroit, who reminds me that “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty”. Across Jefferson and into Hart Plaza. I find that my footsteps are leading me closer and closer to Joe Louis Arena. Once in Hart Plaza, I’m almost there, and I hadn’t seen the Joe since the last game I attended there.
I continued down the path almost automatically. Along the river walk is one of the most beautiful sights in the city. The melting chunks of Lake St. Clair ice flowing through the river makes you distinctly aware of this exact moment in time, as the ice only flows through the river this way for a few days or a week. Canadian soil just across the river.
Further, past The Detroit Princess river boat, along Steve Yzerman Dr., and the pillars of Cobo Hall. Just around the corner now is Joe Louis Arena. In my mind, it’s still Joe Louis Arena, and as I approach the corner, I know what’s on the other side. It’s those three rows of triple high staircases with the red railing that had probably been painted a hundred times.
The giant grey building with red trim. “Joe Louis Arena” spelled out in what I am dubbing the Joe Louis Arena font. The Gordie Howe entrance. Fans running up the stairs two at a time to climb up and walk through the wall of painted red doors. The voice of Ken Kal on the speakers reminding fans to “pay attention to the play at all times as flying pucks could enter the crowd at any moment” and “thank you for visiting Joe Louis Arena”.
People spilling onto the concourse from what I can only describe as an above-ground tunnel system connecting the people mover, the parking garage, and the arena. Of course, that is not the scene I see when my vision turns the corner.
Joe Louis Arena was demolished in 2019. What I see is a construction site. Three giant cranes are working on a new building on the Joe Louis Arena site. I found a bench to sit on and watched the cranes move a couple of pieces into place. A surreal feeling. It would have been surreal to see anything other than Joe Louis Arena in that space, and to see another building under construction made it even more so.
Almost grieving now. Like the realization that your beloved friend or family member that you lost really is gone. Remembering all the great times that you shared together over the years. Those yellow lines were painted on the stairs in the arena bowl.
The urinal troughs in the men’s bathroom. I can still hear the vendor yelling “BEER!! PEANUTS!!” as loud as he could. When the game ended, you were literally shoulder-to-shoulder with 19,000 other people from the time you left your seat to darn near when you reached the car. The loudest chanting ever after a Red Wings victory.
The movement of the people mover passing by brings me back to reality. The rail car painted blue with a Detroit Lions logo and the words “we want more”.
I couldn’t help then think of the building I was spending the rest of my day in. Little Caesars arena opened on September 5, 2017. While this state-of-the-art arena is a far superior venue to Joe Louis Arena, the new home of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons has not hosted a playoff game from either franchise.
Here's a look at the Detroit Red Wings road to the Stanley Cup Playoffs
At times, we’ve seen glimmers of greatness. What the team did last year was amazing. The regular season is not typically where you find those heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat moments. Games in the regular season are usually, I don’t want to say meaningless because the points matter, but they’re in a different city every night, facing a different opponent each night.
Nowadays, with 32 teams, we don’t see most of the teams more than two or three times a year, so the rivalries aren’t bubbling over as much in the regular season. Most of the intense, meaningful games happen in the playoffs.
Last year was an exception. Lucas Raymond had the breakout season we were all looking for. Jake Walman, who is no longer with the team, scored a couple more griddy-worthy overtime game-winners, one of which was on a penalty shot. Patrick Kane joined the team midway through the season and put up some remarkable numbers. 47 points in 50 games.
Very impressive for someone who had just recovered from off-season hip resurfacing surgery. That overtime breakaway goal in his return to Chicago on Petr Mrazek, OMG. At the end, they basically needed to win out the remainder of their games to stay alive, and they did! Securing seven out of eight points in the final games, but it wasn’t enough.
They didn’t get any luck from the teams around them who were winning as well. They finished the season tied with the Washington Capitals at 91 points. Ironically, the Red Wings had more wins than the Capitals, but less of those wins were in regulation, which is the first tiebreaker. I think the general consensus was that the Red Wings would have fared better than the Capitals, who got swept by the Rangers in the first round, and none of the games were close.
This year has been much of the same. It’s clear to me now that both Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are superstars in this league. We’re seeing the confidence and technical skills grow still each game. Larkin must be ecstatic that he finally has real players around him and doesn’t have to carry the team alone each night. Alex DeBrincat’s scoring is up as well.
It seems to me that he is getting more comfortable in a Red Wings sweater. Again, there are a lot of great things happening with the team and the organization as a whole. However, it’s still the ups and downs of a young core holding them back. A winning streak here, a losing streak there, win 2, lose 3.
A couple of 7 game winning streaks under Todd McLellan has saved the season to some extent, but they are still fighting tooth and nail to get points in a conference that only seems to get better and tougher.
There are 20 games left in the season and they’ll be facing off against the league best Washington Capitals twice, the Ottawa Senators twice, the Vegas Golden Knights twice, the Carolina Hurricanes two more times, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers twice, Tampa, Toronto, and Dallas.
This is the absolute class of the NHL today and we’re going to see what the Red Wings are really made of against them. I look at the team both on paper and actual play on the ice and if the Red Wings can play up to their theoretical best they can hang with most of these teams. It comes down to execution. I’m hoping for the best. Let’s get some playoff action back in Detroit, let’s get Little Caesars rocking in the playoffs and as always, let’s go Red Wings.