I just saw some of our prospects!

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

I hope I can post this here (saw the Zetterberg topic).

I work at a school aged day care and today we had our field trip at the Joe. It was pretty exciting, the place was pretty busy.

As we were walking towards the locker rooms, they let us sit on the visitors bench. We walked back out to the concourse area and all of a sudden I see a bunch of young looking guys walking out from the Wings locker room - a few of them playing with a soccer ball. At first I just thought it was some random guys/hockey players... but then Jim Nill was right behind them!

Some tall guy was concerned about us going in the locker room (something I guess they don't normally do according to our guide). Jim said, "Don't worry about it, you guys go ahead and I'll take them in".

So he led us in and sure enough, all the locker stalls had our prospects names on them. We didn't have much time - but I saw Larsson, Smith, Pyett, Emmerton, J. Samuelsson, and a few other names that escape me.

Nill was great with the kids (we had Kindergartners through 6th graders) and he let us see everything back there from their lounge, weight room, medical area, bathroom, etc.

We also got to see/meet Al Sobotka. They had just put a fresh sheet of ice down the night before. There was a table of 4 people with laptops doing some sort of readings with the ice right by the zamboni entrance.

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know about some of the other non-Stanley happenings going on. It was a great experience getting to meet Jim Nill, that's for sure.

--Edit--

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera (I was mad). One of the older kids had her digital camera - so maybe I can get a few pictures in the coming days.

Edited July 11, 2008 by SuperCalaFilppulastic!

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

Consider me jealous

what's the lounge like?

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

Consider me jealous

what's the lounge like?

We only got to peek inside, but the one 'inside' the locker room is done in a dark wood sort of den-style theme. It looked pretty snazzy. It also looked severely out of place because here you have your standard locker room and all of a sudden there is a door to a home-y looking room.

[theman19 47]

I hope I can post this here (saw the Zetterberg topic).

I work at a school aged day care and today we had our field trip at the Joe. It was pretty exciting, the place was pretty busy.

As we were walking towards the locker rooms, they let us sit on the visitors bench. We walked back out to the concourse area and all of a sudden I see a bunch of young looking guys walking out from the Wings locker room - a few of them playing with a soccer ball. At first I just thought it was some random guys/hockey players... but then Jim Nill was right behind them!

Some tall guy was concerned about us going in the locker room (something I guess they don't normally do according to our guide). Jim said, "Don't worry about it, you guys go ahead and I'll take them in".

So he led us in and sure enough, all the locker stalls had our prospects names on them. We didn't have much time - but I saw Larsson, Smith, Pyett, Emmerton, J. Samuelsson, and a few other names that escape me.

Nill was great with the kids (we had Kindergartners through 6th graders) and he let us see everything back there from their lounge, weight room, medical area, bathroom, etc.

We also got to see/meet Al Sobotka. They had just put a fresh sheet of ice down the night before. There was a table of 4 people with laptops doing some sort of readings with the ice right by the zamboni entrance.

Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know about some of the other non-Stanley happenings going on. It was a great experience getting to meet Jim Nill, that's for sure.

Jezzzzz man.

I work for a school aged day care too and i'm insanely jealous. I wish like crap the hurricanes (i live in raliegh) would be that cool to us!.

Edited July 11, 2008 by theman19

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

We only got to peek inside, but the one 'inside' the locker room is done in a dark wood sort of den-style theme. It looked pretty snazzy. It also looked severely out of place because here you have your standard locker room and all of a sudden there is a door to a home-y looking room.

yeah i saw a video feature on it a year or so ago on a red wings pre-game, was hoping it was the same one you saw. That's awesome. From what they showed it looked like you just looked around that room and in addition to all the amenities you literally just saw history on the walls....

[Guest Four]

I'm jealous, that would be amazing to see.

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

yeah i saw a video feature on it a year or so ago on a red wings pre-game, was hoping it was the same one you saw. That's awesome. From what they showed it looked like you just looked around that room and in addition to all the amenities you literally just saw history on the walls....

Every wall on that ice level concourse (not sure of the official name) just screams tradition and history. All the players names, plaques, banners, award stats... Al the octopus... an old Olympia Stadium freeway exit sign, jerseys, photos, and autographed stuff was just everywhere.

[Guest Four]

Every wall on that ice level concourse (not sure of the official name) just screams tradition and history. All the players names, plaques, banners, award stats... Al the octopus... an old Olympia Stadium freeway exit sign, jerseys, photos, and autographed stuff was just everywhere.

No wonder they wouldn't let you in. That stuff must be worth sooooooo much and mean so much more... I'd be tempted to take some memorabilia.. Not going to lie

[omnipotent_hudler 0]

Every wall on that ice level concourse (not sure of the official name) just screams tradition and history. All the players names, plaques, banners, award stats... Al the octopus... an old Olympia Stadium freeway exit sign, jerseys, photos, and autographed stuff was just everywhere.

part of the reason i'm loathe to go after a new arena( even though I think it's needed) ; there's so much history in those halls now

heck watching the players walk out onto the ice from the tunnel , even in the tunnel vision of the camera gives me goose bumps

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

part of the reason i'm loathe to go after a new arena( even though I think it's needed) ; there's so much history in those halls now

heck watching the players walk out onto the ice from the tunnel , even in the tunnel vision of the camera gives me goose bumps

I wish the tour wasn't moving so fast. I kept trying to just take everything all in. Stopping and reading stuff, keeping one eye on all the different faces hoping I'd catch a glimpse of a legend and the other eye on those pesky kids.

I'm not even entirely sure of the names of everywhere/thing we looked at. The Olympia Club, Manhattan Room (I think)... some other small bar/room that had a display case for all the Wings HHOF players with a bunch of autographed pucks. According to our guide, they hold some different meetings there (one had just finished up).

We went up to the suites and got to go into the new Legends Club. Again, even more great Wings artifacts. My brother swiped a couple Legend Club napkins lol.

The Merchandise room had just an overabundance of jerseys from the floor to the ceiling. I was salivating at the thought of all those goodies.

Man, I just wish we had more time there.

--Edit--

For the record, it was only 3 dollars a kid and 6 dollars for adults to take the tour. I'm not sure of how it all works (my boss set it up). She said it was the only time available for us when she initially scheduled it (a few months ago).

Edited July 11, 2008 by SuperCalaFilppulastic!

[This Is Bida 0]

AGGHHH GOD! That reminds me of back in my Junior and Senior years (somewhere around then) when they had the Barry Smith hockey camp for kids at the Joe Louis. Not real sure how we ended up getting hooked up with the job but me and my buddy from my high school team were counselors for the kids. We took them around everywhere and went on the ice and helped out during the camps. It was an AMAZING time, we literally went everywhere around the JLA and did it for 2 weeks each year. My biggest disappointment was not really appreciating it that much back then. I was in high school, figured I'd play college somewhere and would see the Joe again. Stupid me!

It was definitely the opportunity of a lifetime. Just wish I would have taken it all in a little more and maybe taken some pics.

Anyways, I'm sure you had a great time if it was anything like what I experienced. Try and get those pictures too.

P.S. As a hockey player... I just gotta say, and I'm sure all you hockey players would appreciate this as much as I do, but skating on the Joe's ice is like a freakin' dream come true. The ice is so smooth, so fast. It's truly unbelievable. You literally feel like you're flying out there the ice is so fast. I'm sure a few of you have experienced it and know what I'm talking about.

[T.Low 1,011]

AGGHHH GOD! That reminds me of back in my Junior and Senior years (somewhere around then) when they had the Barry Smith hockey camp for kids at the Joe Louis. Not real sure how we ended up getting hooked up with the job but me and my buddy from my high school team were counselors for the kids. We took them around everywhere and went on the ice and helped out during the camps. It was an AMAZING time, we literally went everywhere around the JLA and did it for 2 weeks each year. My biggest disappointment was not really appreciating it that much back then. I was in high school, figured I'd play college somewhere and would see the Joe again. Stupid me!

It was definitely the opportunity of a lifetime. Just wish I would have taken it all in a little more and maybe taken some pics.

Anyways, I'm sure you had a great time if it was anything like what I experienced. Try and get those pictures too.

P.S. As a hockey player... I just gotta say, and I'm sure all you hockey players would appreciate this as much as I do, but skating on the Joe's ice is like a freakin' dream come true. The ice is so smooth, so fast. It's truly unbelievable. You literally feel like you're flying out there the ice is so fast. I'm sure a few of you have experienced it and know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, there's definitely no laptop scanning the ice at our local rink!

Sounds like a great experience. Thanks for the story.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

If anyone has the 48 Hours with the Detroit Red Wings book, it offers behind the scenes looks at the Red Wings locker room/training-weight room/lounge, ect. if you haven't ever seen them in person or on tv, just putting that out.

Great story, and what an experience that must have been. I rode the zamboni back in March '01, and couldn't believe i was actually on the ice at Joe Louis Arena. One of the best experiences I've ever had.

[egroen 384]

Was the "tall guy" Fischer, by any chance?

[uk_redwing 495]

Was Jamie Tardif's name there?

[RedWingedKitten 9]

Envy consumes my soul at the presant moment; I want to use a semi-colon; so i'm gonna use a semi-colon; I just used a semi-colon. Seeeeemmmmmmmiiiiiiii----coooooooolllllooooonnnnnn.

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

Was the "tall guy" Fischer, by any chance?

Haha, I wish. He was a slight red head, skinny, and really tall.

Sorry for the delay, I haven't been near a computer until now.

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

Was Jamie Tardif's name there?

I don't recall seeing it. I didn't look at every locker though because we had 50-some kids and they were trying to make sure everyone got a chance in there.

[SuperCalaFilppulastic! 34]

Funny side story:

One of our last stops was to look at the Gordie Howe statue on the main concourse. As our guide was talking about the statue, she asked: "Does everyone know who Gordie Howe is?"

Some of the younger kids (K - 1st) say, "Yeah" and turn around and sort of look at me. As she is talking about how great he is, one of my first graders walks up to me and says...

"Mr. Gordy, how come you never told us?!"

Yes, some of my kids thought I was Gordie Howe.

: )