Non-Michigan fans: How did you become a Wings fan?

[clayjoh 3]

I was born and raised in Saskatchewan and still reside here and was priviledged to watch Gordie Howe(Floral Sask) et al in their prime I waited till I was in my forties to see the boys hoist the cup I was 2 years old when they won in 1955 and had some great sorrows in the playoffs in the 60's

Whoever wins the next game will undoubtedly win the series If we make the finals Ottawa will be a formidible opponent but it is Do-able !!!

[Shanahan14Germany 0]

I am wings fan since 1995 cause its a historical grow in my family

My Dad played NHL 95 with our wings on the sega mega drive loool - so I played with the wings, too. (my age was 10 years)

With the days I was very interested in this team. Later I read newspaper and so on..So I became a red wings fan

[Guest ZDH]

I became a Red Wings fan when I was 8 years old and I saw my first live hockey game. It was at the London Gardens in London Ontario to see the Knights play (OHL). I live about an hour from there. Anyway on my way out I saw this guy autographing stuff for kids and adults. So my dad took me over and I met this thin scrawny looking guy who had just scored 4 goals to beat the Knights. He played for the Peterborough Petes and his name was Steve Yzerman. He was very nice to me and asked me who my favourite NHL team was. I said "I don't have a team." He said "You don't have a team? Why not?" I said "I don't know." LOL Hey I was 8 ok? So my dad took a picture of Stevie and me and I decided then I would cheer for whichever team drafted him. So of course it was the Red Wings. 24 years later...I'm still cheering for them and always will.

Edited May 31, 2007 by ZDH

[Guest ZDH]

Ya gotta post that pic of you & Stevie!

Sweet story - lol about not having a favorite team as a kid - you being a Canadian & just down the road from T.O.

The Leafs were never an option for me. My dad is a lifelong Rangers fan and hates the Leafs as much as I do now. He was always (and still is) bitter over the Rangers trading the Leafs hall of fame dman Andy Bathgate, his favourite player of all time.

Man Stevie looks 12 years old in the pic of him and me! LOL

[HenrikRules40 14]

I became a Red Wings fan when I was 8 years old and I saw my first live hockey game. It was at the London Gardens in London Ontario to see the Knights play (OHL). I live about an hour from there. Anyway on my way out I saw this guy autographing stuff for kids and adults. So my dad took me over and I met this thin scrawny looking guy who had just scored 4 goals to beat the Knights. He played for the Peterborough Petes and his name was Steve Yzerman. He was very nice to me and asked me who my favourite NHL team was. I said "I don't have a team." He said "You don't have a team? Why not?" I said "I don't know." LOL Hey I was 8 ok? So my dad took a picture of Stevie and me and I decided then I would cheer for whichever team drafted him. So of course it was the Red Wings. 24 years later...I'm still cheering for them and always will.

That's the best story here! You should have posted sooner.

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

I became a Red Wings fan when I was 8 years old and I saw my first live hockey game. It was at the London Gardens in London Ontario to see the Knights play (OHL). I live about an hour from there. Anyway on my way out I saw this guy autographing stuff for kids and adults. So my dad took me over and I met this thin scrawny looking guy who had just scored 4 goals to beat the Knights. He played for the Peterborough Petes and his name was Steve Yzerman. He was very nice to me and asked me who my favourite NHL team was. I said "I don't have a team." He said "You don't have a team? Why not?" I said "I don't know." LOL Hey I was 8 ok? So my dad took a picture of Stevie and me and I decided then I would cheer for whichever team drafted him. So of course it was the Red Wings. 24 years later...I'm still cheering for them and always will.

I agree with HR bud , great story . When you think of it, you where kinda the first Steve Yzerman Red Wings fan.

[Guest ZDH]

I agree with HR bud , great story . When you think of it, you where kinda the first Steve Yzerman Red Wings fan.

I tell ya. I could not have picked a better player to follow in his career. It's amazing you know. I grew up watching Steve Yzerman. From when I was a little 8 year old kid to when I was a 30 year old man. I have alot of great memories watching #19 over the years. Ones I will always cherish. What a player. What a captain. What a man. Steve Yzerman.

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

I tell ya. I could not have picked a better player to follow in his career. It's amazing you know. I grew up watching Steve Yzerman. From when I was a little 8 year old kid to when I was a 30 year old man. I have alot of great memories watching #19 over the years. Ones I will always cherish. What a player. What a captain. What a man. Steve Yzerman.

Steve Yzerman = The best damn Captain and most classy guy the hockey world has and will ever see.I just wish I was on board back in the 80's when the great story that is No 19's career was begining. A great roll model for any young fan to look up too. I'm so jealous of you buddy. you got to see it all.

[Guest ZDH]

Steve Yzerman = The best damn Captain and most classy guy the hockey world has and will ever see.I just wish I was on board back in the 80's when the great story that is No 19's career was begining. A great roll model for any young fan to look up too. I'm so jealous of you buddy. you got to see it all.

Where I am in Canada, along the shore of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario. An hour from London and 3 hours from Toronto, we did not get to see many Wings games on tv. Only when they played Toronto 8 times a year and some playoff games. If they made it that is. Sometimes I'd go to my friends house and be able to watch Yzerman and the Wings on the illegal dish.

Anyway, I can get WJR, which used to be the Wings flagship station, as well as the Tigers. I can get that radio station crystal clear here. Why the WIngs and Tigers ever moved is beyond me. I can't get the current WIngs/Tigers station nearly as clear.

So I grew up listening to Yzerman and the Wings more than watching. Bruce Martin and Paul Woods. Martin had a GREAT voice for calling the game. Yzerman to Ysabaert he SCOREEESSSS!! The games vs the Leafs, I would look forward to them so much. They used to play back to back home and home games quite a bit. Friday in Detroit and Saturday in Toronto.

When Yzerman first broke into the league, he was an offensive force pretty much from the beginning. Just natural talent and smarts for the game. He didn't have much else around him though. Then from around 1987 and 1988 they became a very good and tough team. They had guys like Probie and Kocur and Gallant to protect Yzerman. But they could never beat those great Oilers teams in the playoffs. No one could.

Then the team went in a bit of a lull until they had that great draft and got guys like Lidstrom and Fedorov and Konstantinov and Kozlov. Then they made the playoffs in 1991 and never looked back. I think Minny put them out that year. Smoked by Chicago the next year.

Then the infamous playoff disasters vs Toronto in 93, SJ in 94, NJ in 95 and Colorado in 96.

But through it all there was 1 constant. Steve Yzerman would always take most of the blame even though it clearly was not all his fault. But you know what? He never once complained about anything. He took those losses like a man and for the team and that is one of the things I recall about the great Steve Yzerman.

Even when he was in his 20's, he always took the brunt of the blame when the Wings lost. He blew out his knee one summer and had to work hard to come back from that. THen he blew out his other knee right around Sergei Fedorov's 3rd or 4th year. 1994? Sergei took Stevie's ice time and exploded with 120 points and won the Hart Trophy.

Yzerman was always in the trade rumours. You know I recall one of them back in 1993 I think which had Stevie going to Montreal for...Mathieu Schneider! Yeah our Mathieu Schneider who was a very young dman at the time. He was on the '93 Cup winning Habs team.

We all refer to those old Yzerman for Yashin rumours when Bowman came here. THank God that never happened! Yzerman was always a team player and it bothers me when people say Bowman made Yzerman a hockey player. Yzerman always was a team player. However up until Bowman came he was not asked to change his game and be more defensively responsilble. His job was to score goals and provide offense, which he did very well.

Sure, Bowman told him to be a more complete player and he willingly did so. I recall when Mike Keenan screwed Yzerman twice for playing for Team Canada. First in 1987 then in 1991. I think Yzerman had 155 points in '91. Yet Keenan's Dirk Graham of the Hawks made the team. It still makes me sick.

However again, Yzerman never complained. And we all recall how Stevie carried Team Canada in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In the '98 Olympics in Nagano, Stevie was one of Canada's best players but they were beaten by Hasek.

Of course we all recall how he led the Wings in the '02 Cup run while playing on 1 leg. He basically willed the team to victory in round 1 vs the Canucks. We all recall the '97 and '98 runs. Playing with a young Holmstrom in the '98 run and saying "who is this kid, I like how he plays" LOL

Seeing him raise the Cup in 97 made me cry, I admit it. I think many of you Wings fans did the same. But anyone, even non Wings fans had to feel good for Stevie when he worked so hard all those years and finally was able to call himself a Stanley Cup Champion. Then to do it 2 more times. Awesome.

In the '96 World Cup, Stevie scored the game winner vs Team USA in Game 1 of the Final. The US went on to win that series mainly because of the great play of goalie Mike Richter.

Stevie unfortunately played in an era where he was playing in the shadow of Gretzky and Lemieux. He was always the 3rd guy it seemed. While Gretz and Mario are 2 of the greatest players ever to play, I feel Yzerman is right up there too.

He played his entire career for 1 team which is pretty much impossible these days. He endured the lean times and enjoyed the great times. He became the captain in 1986 and represented the Red Wings with heart, guts and determination.

Even in his last game he deked Pronger right out of his pants and hit the goal post in that Game 6 in Edmonton.

It was so great to see his jersey raised to rafters. #19 forever. He deserved it. We were all happy to see it. He gave us everything he had and would still be playing if he could. But his body had no more left to give.

He's the best player I have ever seen play and I know I am biased. But it's been an honour watching this man lace em up for the Detroit Red Wings. I know it was time for him to retire when he did. And I respect him for not hanging around too long like Messier did. I, like all of you, miss him very much. Father Time catches up to us all and hockey players are no different.

Steve Yzerman IS the Detroit Red Wings. There will never be another player like him.

Edited May 31, 2007 by ZDH

[ChitownWingsfan 54]

I become a Wings fan when my family moved from Maryland to Detroit when I was 9. Never having been exposed to hockey before then, I saw my first game at JLA with a couple friends and fell in love with everything that was hockey and the Wings. After that game, I soaked up everything I could about the sport and its history and couldn't stop talking about how amazing Stevie Y is. 16 years later, I'm a diehard Wings fan living in Chicago, sadly haven't maybe it back to Detroit in maybe 10 years so I definitely need to make a trip back to the Mecca of Hockey sometime soon.

[glasgowcelticwing 18]

Where I am in Canada, along the shore of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario. An hour from London and 3 hours from Toronto, we did not get to see many Wings games on tv. Only when they played Toronto 8 times a year and some playoff games. If they made it that is. Sometimes I'd go to my friends house and be able to watch Yzerman and the Wings on the illegal dish.

Anyway, I can get WJR, which used to be the Wings flagship station, as well as the Tigers. I can get that radio station crystal clear here. Why the WIngs and Tigers ever moved is beyond me. I can't get the current WIngs/Tigers station nearly as clear.

So I grew up listening to Yzerman and the Wings more than watching. Bruce Martin and Paul Woods. Martin had a GREAT voice for calling the game. Yzerman to Ysabaert he SCOREEESSSS!! The games vs the Leafs, I would look forward to them so much. They used to play back to back home and home games quite a bit. Friday in Detroit and Saturday in Toronto.

When Yzerman first broke into the league, he was an offensive force pretty much from the beginning. Just natural talent and smarts for the game. He didn't have much else around him though. Then from around 1987 and 1988 they became a very good and tough team. They had guys like Probie and Kocur and Gallant to protect Yzerman. But they could never beat those great Oilers teams in the playoffs. No one could.

Then the team went in a bit of a lull until they had that great draft and got guys like Lidstrom and Fedorov and Konstantinov and Kozlov. Then they made the playoffs in 1991 and never looked back. I think Minny put them out that year. Smoked by Chicago the next year.

Then the infamous playoff disasters vs Toronto in 93, SJ in 94, NJ in 95 and Colorado in 96.

But through it all there was 1 constant. Steve Yzerman would always take most of the blame even though it clearly was not all his fault. But you know what? He never once complained about anything. He took those losses like a man and for the team and that is one of the things I recall about the great Steve Yzerman.

Even when he was in his 20's, he always took the brunt of the blame when the Wings lost. He blew out his knee one summer and had to work hard to come back from that. THen he blew out his other knee right around Sergei Fedorov's 3rd or 4th year. 1994? Sergei took Stevie's ice time and exploded with 120 points and won the Hart Trophy.

Yzerman was always in the trade rumours. You know I recall one of them back in 1993 I think which had Stevie going to Montreal for...Mathieu Schneider! Yeah our Mathieu Schneider who was a very young dman at the time. He was on the '93 Cup winning Habs team.

We all refer to those old Yzerman for Yashin rumours when Bowman came here. THank God that never happened! Yzerman was always a team player and it bothers me when people say Bowman made Yzerman a hockey player. Yzerman always was a team player. However up until Bowman came he was not asked to change his game and be more defensively responsilble. His job was to score goals and provide offense, which he did very well.

Sure, Bowman told him to be a more complete player and he willingly did so. I recall when Mike Keenan screwed Yzerman twice for playing for Team Canada. First in 1987 then in 1991. I think Yzerman had 155 points in '91. Yet Keenan's Dirk Graham of the Hawks made the team. It still makes me sick.

However again, Yzerman never complained. And we all recall how Stevie carried Team Canada in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In the '98 Olympics in Nagano, Stevie was one of Canada's best players but they were beaten by Hasek.

Of course we all recall how he led the Wings in the '02 Cup run while playing on 1 leg. He basically willed the team to victory in round 1 vs the Canucks. We all recall the '97 and '98 runs. Playing with a young Holmstrom in the '98 run and saying "who is this kid, I like how he plays" LOL

Seeing him raise the Cup in 97 made me cry, I admit it. I think many of you Wings fans did the same. But anyone, even non Wings fans had to feel good for Stevie when he worked so hard all those years and finally was able to call himself a Stanley Cup Champion. Then to do it 2 more times. Awesome.

In the '96 World Cup, Stevie scored the game winner vs Team USA in Game 1 of the Final. The US went on to win that series mainly because of the great play of goalie Mike Richter.

Stevie unfortunately played in an era where he was playing in the shadow of Gretzky and Lemieux. He was always the 3rd guy it seemed. While Gretz and Mario are 2 of the greatest players ever to play, I feel Yzerman is right up there too.

He played his entire career for 1 team which is pretty much impossible these days. He endured the lean times and enjoyed the great times. He became the captain in 1986 and represented the Red Wings with heart, guts and determination.

Even in his last game he deked Pronger right out of his pants and hit the goal post in that Game 6 in Edmonton.

It was so great to see his jersey raised to rafters. #19 forever. He deserved it. We were all happy to see it. He gave us everything he had and would still be playing if he could. But his body had no more left to give.

He's the best player I have ever seen play and I know I am biased. But it's been an honour watching this man lace em up for the Detroit Red Wings. I know it was time for him to retire when he did. And I respect him for not hanging around too long like Messier did. I, like all of you, miss him very much. Father Time catches up to us all and hockey players are no different.

Steve Yzerman IS the Detroit Red Wings. There will never be another player like him.

Great post , awsome to read .

Steve Yzerman is a living legend.

I become a Wings fan when my family moved from Maryland to Detroit when I was 9. Never having been exposed to hockey before then, I saw my first game at JLA with a couple friends and fell in love with everything that was hockey and the Wings. After that game, I soaked up everything I could about the sport and its history and couldn't stop talking about how amazing Stevie Y is. 16 years later, I'm a diehard Wings fan living in Chicago, sadly haven't maybe it back to Detroit in maybe 10 years so I definitely need to make a trip back to the Mecca of Hockey sometime soon.

Talk about being encirled behind enemy line's.

I've never been to the Joe myself ,but I'm hoping to make a trip over early next season.

Edited May 31, 2007 by glasgowcelticwing

[FinWing 26]

Great post , awsome to read .

Steve Yzerman is a living legend.

A fantastic read indeed ZDH, brought a tear to my eye. Stevie is the best and his heroics will never be forgotten.

[tipetz22 0]

I was born in Dearborn and my family moved to Kentucky when I was four. I knew that I was from (around) Detroit and so I started to love the Wings, Pistons, Tigers, and yes the Lions because of where I was born. The rest of my friends didn't even know what hockey was when I would wear my Wings jersey to school (ha ha). When Nashville got a team, my family and I started going to at least one of the Wings games in Nashville (usually the one around Christmas or Thanksgiving). I love screaming and laying into Preds fans when we score and win!! I finished college last year and I moved to the ATL and still love the Wings (and I am secertly praying that the Wings get moved to the Eastern Conf. so I can see them more often )

Edited May 31, 2007 by tipetz22

[sdwingsfan71 0]

I grew up in a small town in South Dakota so I had never seen anything having to do with hockey (with the possible exception of broom ball in gym class) until my father sat me down and watched the "Miracle on Ice". That was probably my first glimpse into the world of hockey. I did not understand it in the least but it definately peaked my interest. I ended up going to a Minnesota North Stars game a few years after that. The Stars played the Wings and I do not know why for sure but I was immediately a Wings fan. All my other favorite teams at that time were Minnesota teams (Vikings and Twins) but for some reason I found myself rooting for the Wings.

I really never saw another game or really pressed the issue with my father (who had no interest in hockey) into going to another game so I kind of fell off the hockey bandwagon I guess you could say. After I graduated high school I moved to Rapid City, South Dakota to work for the summer. I ended up working with a rabid RedWings fan. I also ended up spending a lot of time getting my head handed to me by those Red Wings on Sega (I was not allowed to play with the RedWings if I was playing against him). But I learned the rules of hockey, sadly enough, by playing it on video games. And I started again to be a big fan of hockey and a bigger fan of the RedWings.

I still had not seen them play since I was about 8 though. My buddy ended up moving to Brookings to attend SDSU and I had already been living there working for about a year before that. He ended up working at DakTronics, who makes scoreboards for many MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and yes NHL arenas. Well long story short I went to my second RedWings game about three years ago against the WIld. I have been to three more since then and there is nothing better.

I started back in the Yzerman, Yserbart, Chevelde years so I can't claim to have loved them sense the Gordie years but I have been a diehard since at least late 80s early 90s. And I always will be sink or swim. All I can say is that in growing up in a small South Dakota town playing Basketball, Baseball and Football is THEY ALL SUCK...HOCKEY IS THE BEST. And I am envious of all of you that were given the gift of hockey in your young lives. I am just glad that I was finally exposed to hockey, because there is nothing better.

[55fan 5,133]

My hockey story is more about returning to my roots after a long absence.

Dad was born in Detroit, so it was Tigers, Lions, Pistons, and Wings in our house. When I was a three, we were living in Wolsely, Sask. I was mesmerized by watching the puck going back and forth across the ice, although I really didn't understand the game. I told dad that when I grew up, I wanted to be a professional hockey goalie. At that time, people thought it was so cute that a little girl wanted to play hockey. Dad started me in figure skating lessons.

After we moved back to the States, there wasn't any place for me to skate, and I got out of it.

Living in ND, it was all about football and baseball (on the pro level). Baseball bored me, but I grew up as a rabid Lions fan, which is almost anathema in Vikes country.

A few years ago, my sister moved back to the area (SD) from the east coast, where she had gotten back into hockey. She got dish, and Center Ice. When I'd go to visit, I'd sit and watch the Wings games. I found that I was still mesmerized by watching the puck.

The turning point for me was the Joey Harrington incident. When the Lions first got him, he was touted as the new saviour of the franchise. I watched the interview during the Thanksgiving game, and thought "they're setting up the next scape-goat". I continued to follow Joey's career, but soon noticed that my prediction came true.

As any Lions fan knows, the Thanksgiving game is Football. When Joey and the Dolphins beat Detroit, I couldn't stand to watch. I could never root against my Lions, but my heart belonged to Joey. It was a dark day for me. Football had lost its hold on my heart.

I went home, connected to nhl.com, and downloaded the rules. Side note- is it just me, or is it odd that they say "click here to download" and once you have downloaded it, they tell you that it is illegal to copy by any means including electronic?

Anyway, soon I was talking hockey with Dad and little sister. I have watched old videos, spent countless hours online, and have taken to hockey with reckless abandon. I'll always be a Lions fan, but the Wings have taken over in my life.

I truly feel like I have come home.

ETA: The video of Vlad standing at the game, and getting the cup from The Captain set me into tears. I believe.

Edited June 4, 2007 by 55fan

[henrik40 76]

I grew up in Bowling Green, OH so I'm only about 90 minutes from Detroit. Both of my parents grew up just outside of Detroit so I was taught to be a Tigers (and a little lions and pistons) fan. I loved listening to both the Wings and Tigers on WJR (especially listening to Ernie Harwell, but that's off topic). However, my dad was always a die hard Habs fan since his parents grew up outside of Montreal. I don't even really remember how it started but I just fell in love with the winged wheel. My first memories I really recall was crying after losing game 7 in OT to the Maple Leafs in 93 then crying in 94 after Timmy Cheveldae decided to give up that goal in the playoffs against the Sharks. Then there was more continued heartbreak in 95 after being swept by the team from hell in the Finals. Then I I remember throwing out my autographed picture of him I received from my grandma the day later because I was so pissed at him (and I was only 8 years old). My dad still likes to follow the Red Wings since his team doesn't do much anymore haha. Funny thing is hockey is my all-time favorite sport yet I never got to play since my parents always thought it was too expensive, and they were right too.

Edited June 4, 2007 by henrik40

[PotbellyJoe 10]

Figured i would make this the first post of mine. I've been viewing for awhile, but never jumped on... I'm in Jersey now after doing two stints in Kalamazoo, MI when i was a kid... Watched Hockey, but my Mom (being from Boston) was a HUGE Bruins fan (heck back in the days of Oates and Neely, they were exciting) and my Dad (being From Chicago) being big into the Blackhawks, I guess it was part of my rebellious youth that got me cheering for the wings... I have always owned red cars (not for the wings, just love red) and they always look great with my Rutgers Alum sticker on one window and a Wings logo on the other.... So i could say i have been a fan since my second stint in MI starting in '93 and watching it on PASS, IIRC, at the time...

-Joe

[Ray1905 18]

I became a Wings fans back in the early 1990's, My favorite player is Steve Yzerman, I liked the Wings type of hockey, the Speed of Fedorov et of course the fighting abilitys of Probert, It got Better with the aquisition of Lidstrom.

Edited June 4, 2007 by Ray1905