United As One

[13dangledangle 968]

I'm curious as to what brings us together from all over the world(ontario here) on a daily basis to support the greatest team in sports. So I'm starting with a story of how I beacme a fan and look forard to seeing how all of you started following them as well.

When I was a little boy my father took me to see my first hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens (1989ish). I loved hockey and I loved the Maple Leafs, until that night when I saw for the first time Stevie "Wonder" Yzerman! I couldn't believe how he played the game, even at eight years old I could see he was a leader of leaders and a champion of champions. He ended up scoring a couple sweet goals That nite and I Was a fan for life and made my dad buy me his jersey, which he caved and got for me a few months later...but here we are in 2010 and I'm sitting around in my Zetterberg jersey, here's to another 20 LGW!

[kook_10 1,705]

My dad took me to the Old Red Barn before I was old enough to remember - probably around 3 or so in '78. I started playing myself the next year at Canfield in Dearborn Heights. I learned the game with the Wings and went to many games at the new Joe until we moved out to LA in '84.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Yzerman and the Russian Five for me.

Eventually, I tagged on to some of the other players also, like Shanny, Lidstrom, McCarty, Draper, Maltby.

[gcom007 1,465]

I don't even remember.

As far back as I can remember hockey has been there. I think I spent more time in roller blades and ice skates than shoes growing up. I was playing in the streets all spring, summer, fall and even winter when there wasn't a pond around. Thankfully I grew up on a street with some other kids that played too. If I wasn't at the pond or on the streets, I was either at school or the ice rink be it for open skating, practices, games, clinics, whatever.

Hockey was life, and life was good.

Oh, and I'm from Detroit...

So I guess it's pretty natural that I grew up obsessed with the Red Wings. I still remember (and I still have it somewhere...) the first poster I ever had of Steve Yzerman in mid to late-80's glory. Steve was my hero, 19 was THE greatest number, "C" was the ultimate badge of honor and the Detroit Red Wings were MY team.

I'm proud to say I still love this great team and this great sport more than ever every year.

[stuck in socal 56]

Day I was born.

[dirtydangles 1,328]

supporting the wings is a rule in my family. I'm not about to break tradition. even if i wasn't told to love the wings as a kid, i still would have. there's no other team for me and when i have kids, they will love the wings too.

[hooon 1,089]

My dad grew up in Detroit, so before I can remember... I was a Wings fan. I grew up in Texas in the late 80s and early 90s, was on the only Mighty Mite hockey team in Houston (the only other team in our league was in Dallas, which made for an exciting 4 game season) and where we played on the undersized ice rink at the mall in Houston.

When I was 9 in 1994, I spent my Aunt's wedding holed up in a coat room at some hotel to listen to game 7 of the first round vs. the Sharks with some teenage coat boy on a little pocket radio that he had. It was a great wedding, so they said, but I was inconsolable about the Wings loss that night.

Like others have said, the majority of my childhood was spent in driveways and culdesacs playing roller hockey, or maybe in the basement doing breakaways with my brother and trading off who plays goalie.

All the while, I was obsessed with the Wings. I idolized Darren McCarty growing up, as well as the entire grind line. Fight Night at the Joe with the turtle incident is still one of the greatest nights of my life. In 1994 we got our family dog, which we named Ozzie, after a certain Red Wing rookie, and at 16 years old, he is still alive today (I theorize a connection between his and Osgood's longevity). I got to meet Scotty Bowman once as a kid at an airport by chance, and he humored me with a few good hockey stories.

I was never good enough nor driven enough to continue playing hockey competitively after high school, but I retained my fanhood, and perhaps even strengthened it by enjoying hockey vicariously through a great NHL team.

Hockey is the greatest sport in the world, and the Red Wings are the greatest team in the world.

Ah, memories.

[T-Ruff 47]

My parents and my brother went to Calgary to visit family. They went to a Flames and Sharks pre-season game. They bought my brother a Flames puck as a souvenir and arbitrariliy chose a Red Wings puck to take home to give to me. I started being captivated by this sport on the highlights and shows like "That's Hockey" on TSN. Per the puck, I was drawn to the Red Wings; winning ways and players like Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan, and Lidstrom sealed the deal. Wings fan for life

[Yellowknife Redwing 57]

Started watching the team in '88 for two reasons: Steve Yzerman and the Winged Wheel

[sherwood40 16]

This is a great topic to talk about with everyone. I started when I was 9 years old when the Pistons really started making a push for championships, so then it made me wonder what other pro sports detroit had. So thats where I began to become a big detroit fan. Then a year later we get Fedorov, I still remember the game where he had 5 goals, the way Yzerman played the game. Between those 2 I had to play hockey, the only thing my family could afford was me playing roller hockey with my family(8 of us=7 boys). And till this day I always will be a big detroit fan(hoping the lions can do something, I miss Sanders). Todays sports athletes need to learn what they do on or off the playing surface affects kids, I looked up to Yzerman and Sanders when growing up, know there are basketball players pulling guns on eachother in locker rooms. WINGS FOR LIFE

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Fedorov vs. Coffey in the All-Star game fastest skater final. Was a Red Wings fan after that.

[NGKEIB 32]

When they started winning cups.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

When hockey used to come on ESPN, my dad would have it on at nights while he was doing other work during my kid days, so I slowly started gaining more interest watching the sport. That and me/my brother hada few hockey video games at the time. Just decided to start like the Red Wings in the 95-96 season and there ya go...

[oldredbarnman 13]

Growing up in a young neighborhood in the 1960s, it was full of kids who played/loved sports. Summertime was baseball and the Tigers, in the fall it was Lions football, and when the ponds froze and the snow fell, it was all hockey. Back in those days, Nankin Lake and Stark Pond in Hines Park would freeze over, and Wayne County would clear off the snow, so the people could ice skate and play hockey. The ponds would be packed with kids, and adults. So it was part of our winter culture. Play hockey during the day, and watch and listen to hockey at night.

Gordie's career was winding down, at least as a Wing, but I remember watching Red Wing hockey, listening to Budd and Bruce. I've been hooked ever since. The Winged Wheel has been my team for over 40 years.

It was tough early on, watching the Wings struggle through the 1970s. Seeing Mickey score his 50th goal on tv in 1973 was one of the few highlights. Dan Maloney "clothes-lining" Brian Glennie in 1975; Marcel Dionne leaving for L.A.; the 1977-78 season when "Agressive Hockey is Back In Town", and the Wings had this town on fire by making the playoffs, and beating Atlanta in the first round, and even giving the mighty Canadiens a battle in the 2nd round.

My dad wasn't a hockey fan, so I didn't see a Wing's game in person until the fall of 1978. Going to Olympia for the first time was a real treat. The building was old, but the atmosphere was electric. The Wings beat Chicago 7-2, Vaclav Nedomansky scoring a hat trick. It was also the game Bobby Orr would score his last NHL goal. After that game, I went to as many games as I could. Unfortunately, that would be only for 1 1/2 season, as the team moved to JLA in 1979. (I did see the last game at Olympia, a come from behind 4-4 tie against Jacques Demers and the Quebec Nordiques, and the final game in the Old Red Barn, as the current Wings played the Red Wing Oldtimers.)

Once again the Wings were in disarray, but my buddies and I kept going, because we were Wings fans, but also hockey fans. Seeing the top teams and players, and many nights seeing the games in the lower bowl, while paying for the cheap seats.

In 1985-86, I split a season ticket, but the Wings hit rock bottom, winning only 17 games. After the 1986-87 season, I again bought season tickets, and have had them ever since.

When the Wings won the cup in 1997, it was the greatest feeling in the world. My dream had finally come true, seeing a Stanley Cup Championship here in Detroit.

We have been so fortunate to have an owner who had the passion to do whatever it took to make the Wings the best organization in the league. We may not win every night, or be Stanley Cup Champs every year, but I will always be a Red Wings fan.

[TACKS 0]

I grew up in northern Michigan so never got to go to games when I was young.

I use to listen to wings games on an old AM radio that would fad in and out....That was in the 60's. Just the wild excitment from the play-by-play was enough to get me hooked.

Went to Michigan State during the Amo Bessone (Amo's Army!!!) years, but still loved to listen to the wings....

Now at least I get to watch them......Thanks to FSD.....Have been to 1 game at the Joe my entire life....

I still like to listen on the old AM radio once in a while though..........Days gone by....

[Guest micah]

I grew up in WI - we have no team. My parents were from MI originally and my dad was a Tigers-Lions-Pistons-Red Wings fan (in that order) so I suppose I picked it up there. I've loved the game for as long as I can remember.

[henrik40 76]

Been a Wings fan as long as I can remember. My dad is a diehard Habs fan but grew up in Detroit. We would always root for the Tigers together so I think as a little kid I must have thought my dad was a Wings fan. He still doesn't know how I'm not a Habs fan.

[dobbles 252]

i like my story even though some people think its lame...

even though i am from illinois (though not near chicago) i didn't realyl know what hockey was until the 1992 olympics. i recall in my 5th grade class that we watched some medal round game that the u.s. was in. the only thing i remember was learning what a hat trick was.

though that exposed me to hockey a bit, it wasn't until 2 years later that i got into hockey. the reason? nhl 94 for sega. my friends and i played that game all the time. it was super fun. my favorite team to play as? the red wings. the top line of yzerman, federov, and ciccarelli was unstoppable in that game! so because i enjoyed hockey in that game, i started watching it on espn. and from there a life long passion was born. even though i have still never had the chance to see the wings or any nhl game, i have been to about 100 minor league games in several leagues and was a season ticket holder when we had an ahl team here (quad cities flames)

the explosion of the internet allowed me to really start following the team in 2000, but in the last few years with internet streams and center ice has finally allowed me to watch most wings games. i used to only get to see them when they were on national tv, or if they played the hawks and it was on the chicago channel.

thats my evolution. all born out of a video game.

[hokeychik22 17]

i think i officially became a fan in 97', in 5th grade.

My first hockey game i watched was with my dad and it was wings vs. av's. Draper was driven into the boards and beat on by Claude Lemieux. McCarty ganged up and retaliated on Lemieux. Mac was my fav player then. drapes was and always will be a fav to me. also since then i've always loved hockey fights..

have loved the wings ever since.. :goalie2:

first game i went to at the joe, was vs dallas in 99'. brett hull was against the wings, he has always been a favorite of mine too. it was upper bowl, but pretty good seats. my uncle and aunt got tickets for them and my dad and I, a birthday present.

Edited January 14, 2010 by hokeychik22

[hokeychik22 17]

I don't even remember.

As far back as I can remember hockey has been there. I think I spent more time in roller blades and ice skates than shoes growing up. I was playing in the streets all spring, summer, fall and even winter when there wasn't a pond around. Thankfully I grew up on a street with some other kids that played too. If I wasn't at the pond or on the streets, I was either at school or the ice rink be it for open skating, practices, games, clinics, whatever.

i remember my brother,sister, and I would always play street hockey with the neighborhood kids. we had the net and sticks always. my sister and i were always the goalies. loved yelling car and trying to scramble to the curb. the best part was i live in a court, so it was kind of shaped like a rink.

[hankzet40 233]

Stevie was my favorite player growing up and I'm also a little ashamed to admit I was a front runner when I was kid as well. Got my first jersey for my confirmation gift in '96 and went to my first game in '97. My elementary grad gifts were a '97 champs hat and shirt.

Been to around 10-15 games and have not missed one here since '04. This has been my team through thick and thin and it will be for as long as I live.

[VM1138 1,921]

When I was younger I didn't follow sports all that much. But in '97 I have vivid memories of watching them win the Cup while I was at my aunt and uncle's house. I was 11 or so at the time and the excitement just has an impact when you're young.

Around the same time I started playing hockey video games, never got to watch too many games so I would read the recaps every day in the paper. When the Internet became more widespread I followed the website and the NHL site religiously and followed stats pretty much day to day. I started watching virtually every game I could in the 2000-2001 season.

Since then I've grown to appreciate other teams and the sport in general, but you know how it goes, you dance with the team that brung ya. It certainly didn't hurt that they've been great teams ever since I started following them that gave me plenty of years to appreciate what we're witnessing. Now I'll be a lifelong fan, so that's pretty cool.

[egroen 384]

I was really young, but already playing hockey by 1980 -- watched the Miracle on Ice with my dad and still remember it to this day. Unbelievable!

Couldn't not be a fan of the Oilers in the 80s, but always rooted for the Wings, despite them struggling a lot at the time.

[blues_demitra38 11]

The 2007 playoffs.

[bonan78 1]

My mom re-married in 1985 and we moved to Mt. Clemens from South Carolina, and although my limited sports cheering interest at the time was torn between my Mom's New England roots (The Celtics were at their peak, the Patriots had just come off a Super Bowl appearance, and the Red Sox had the Rocket) and my new step-dad's Missouri roots (KC Royals won the World Series, the Chiefs were competitive at the time), I was looking to branch out and form my own loyalties. Enter a birthday present of a AM/FM boombox, and discovering a game called hockey on the radio, I was immediately drawn to the exciting fast-paced play-by-play announcers, the roar of the crowd carried over the 2" speaker, but mostly the exploits of Steve Yzerman, who I was convinced was the greatest hockey player in the world. Moved overseas in 1990, lost track of hockey for a couple of years, but then in 1993 my family moved back to the states and with the advent of Cable TV (something my Mom did not allow until then), I was immediately drawn back to hockey as the Great Wayne Gretzky was leading his team into the Stanley Cup Finals against Montreal and some guy named Roy (pronounced 'Waah'). Well, it didn't take long before I was re-acquainted with the Red Wings and Steve Yzerman, along with his new (to me) teammates like Fedorov, Lidstrom, Coffey, Ciccarelli (sp?) and Konstantinov. I broke my foot in 1995 due to repeated kicking of the coffee table during the Finals, and celebrated like a madman in 1997 when the drought was over. Now, living in Florida, I have been able to educate my wife (who had never seen snow or ice before meeting me) about the great game of hockey, and she has become a rabid Wings fan just like me. Also, got to take my son to his first hockey game last season when the Wings came to Tampa, something I will always remember, and he will have to look back at the pictures because he was about 3 months old at the time. For me, Red Wings hockey is a part of life.