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What: #57 Cheer the Red Wings on at Joe Louis Arena

When: February 1st
Where: Downtown Detroit
Why: Detroit is known as Hockeytown. 

I think that's cool, but I never really got caught up in the excitement of hockey. I was always proud of our Stanley Cup wins (and have a picture of myself with the Stanley Cup from '97/'98 to prove my pride!), but trekking all the way down to the arena to watch a game wasn't appealing. I used to go to hockey games in college and had fun, but always felt that professional hockey was more about the fights and aggression than the skill and quality of play, so wasn't interested. Then, there was a turn of events and hockey was almost cancelled for the season, and I got a little panicked that it would be gone, so I decided I needed to support it and see what all the fuss was about; enter my Friday night adventure at my first Red Wings game! 

We decided to walk to Greektown to take the PeopleMover, which is the oddest public transit idea in the history of major cities. (On a side note, they do have an awesome slogan!)

Conjures up something else besides mass transit, right?

So, our walk to Greektown was in single-digit temps, but that just made us feel like real Detroiters that we braved the cold streets at night. Once there, we packed in to ride to "The Joe". The last time I was there was to see Barack Obama speak at a rally the summer prior to his election, so I had no idea of the level of hockey mania I was about to encounter. These fans are intense. Scary intense. I felt less comfortable in this arena of only 20,000 fans than I do in my own stadium of over 100,000 fans. These hockey fans were yelling, angry, and taking their jobs of cheering very seriously. I wasn't prepared for that, and after finally making it to my seat, I swore I wouldn't leave it again or make eye contact with anyone. 

View from my seat...nice banners!

Then, the guy next to us got trapped in his own hoodie after a hefty number of drinks, and laughing at that loosened up the mood. Next, we started to bond with the fans around us over the ridiculousness of the guy about 10 rows behind us who yelled an assortment of obnoxious criticisms constantly: "PUCK!" "CRASH THE CAGE!" "CHECK!" "YOU'RE AT HOME!!" Intensity embodied. Luckily, it seemed to work (I'm *certain* the players could hear him from his position in the top row of the arena) because in the 3rd period, the Wings went on a scoring streak and we were all on our feet cheering and high-fiving and woohooing. Then, Zetterberg (our captain) scored a hat trick, and the place went even crazier. It was so contagious, and definitely a really fun way to celebrate being in Detroit that night.

Winning made everyone happy, so waiting for the PeopleMover wasn't as miserable as normal, and even our walk back to Lafayette Park seemed less frigid. I wish I could be down at The Joe again today to watch my Wolverines play in the college tournament; but I see now the appeal of professional hockey and I'll definitely go to another Red Wings game when the opportunity arises!