New guy, needing help

[steviebhoy 3]

Hey guys

Im from glasgow in Scotland and looking to take on the Redwings as my NHL team...Ive watched NHL for years, but my sport is football, or soccer for you folks...My team is Celtic but I was looking for a team with a deep history in NHL...something I can relate too...Can some of you point me in the right direction of players, history, etc as from what Ive been told it sounds like the Wings are the team for me

Thanks for any help in advance

Cheers guys

Stevie

[MabusIncarnate 5,359]

Greetings from the United States, and welcome to the site!

It really all depends on how far back you want to go, as an original 6 NHL team the Red Wings history is rich and deep, a good place to begin would be researching and learning about the legacy of Gordie Howe, one of the all time greatest players to ever grace the NHL and wear a Wings sweater.

If you aren't looking to go that far back, the early 90's would be a good place to begin, when this team finally saw a turn around when Nicklas Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman, and Sergei Fedorov became part of this franchise and began creating legendary milestones. You also have the vicious rivalry sparked by the Kris Draper incident between Detroit and Colorado, and how that all escalated and made itself an important part of Red WIngs history.

There is a really good dvd box set titled The Detroit Red WIngs: A Celebration Of Champions that has a ton of great information, classic games, important events, and their more recent championship games. It's a wonderful place to begin as a new Red Wings fan (I'm confident you'll become one of us... one of us... one of us) and start submersing yourself in everything that makes Hockeytown great.

I hope this helped, and look forward to seeing you develop as a fan of one of the greatest teams on the planet.

[steviebhoy 3]

Absolutely brilliant and exactly what I was looking for ...thanks very much...my mind is pretty made up on the Red Wings to be fair as it seems it has as much history in the NHL as my team does in football...soccer will always be my first love but american sports have always interested me and ive been a big follower of the NBA all my life (im 32 now) just recently picked up on the NFL and NHL but my cousin playes Ice Hockey here in Scotland and ive seen some of his games and its awesome...but yeah Red Wings rule as far as I can see so far...thanks for the history stuff...im in work at the minute and will read up on this later in my shift (dont finish till 1am)

Thanks again

[Ekmanc 586]

You should get the NHL gamecenter live if you haven't got it already. You can watch all NHL games live online and even after since the games often start in the middle of the night for us Europeans. Gamecenter is incredibly cheap if you're in the UK.

[steviebhoy 3]

You should get the NHL gamecenter live if you haven't got it already. You can watch all NHL games live online and even after since the games often start in the middle of the night for us Europeans. Gamecenter is incredibly cheap if you're in the UK.

superb mate thanks for that im on it already

[Ekmanc 586]

No problem, there's also a couple of documentaries on youtube that go through our last 3cup wins, they're called Return to Hockeytown 1,2 and 3 and definitely worth a watch,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eei9akJBYCE

Edited December 28, 2013 by Ekmanc

[rrasco 1,312]

Not to mention, one of our boys played for the Braehead Clan last season during the NHL lockout.

[steviebhoy 3]

absolutely brillinat olks./..thanks for all your help so far...looking forward to watching and supporting the team...whats this winter classic all about...i realise its outdoors which is ace...but whats the story to it...is it a redwings thing or an NHL thing or whot?

[rrasco 1,312]

absolutely brillinat olks./..thanks for all your help so far...looking forward to watching and supporting the team...whats this winter classic all about...i realise its outdoors which is ace...but whats the story to it...is it a redwings thing or an NHL thing or whot?

It's supposed to be a 1-time a year thing for two teams to play an outdoor game as a throwback to pond hockey, so it's an NHL thing that started in 2008. However, the NHL decided to run out and schedule something like 4 more outdoor games this year to ruin the novelty of the Winter Classic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_Winter_Classic

Edited December 28, 2013 by rrasco

[KATIEBARTHEDOOR24 426]

Here's a great book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2481440.History_of_Hockeytown

You can also go to the red wings website and read all the history. From the very beginning to now. Including many little known facts.

[Swayze 81]

You weren't on vacation last month in the ABC islands, were you? I chatted with a guy from Scotland who came up to me because of my Datsyuk jersey (in Curacao, more specifically).

[steviebhoy 3]

You weren't on vacation last month in the ABC islands, were you? I chatted with a guy from Scotland who came up to me because of my Datsyuk jersey (in Curacao, more specifically).

Nah mate wasnt me, I wish I was in the ABC islands...stuck here in not so sunny Glasgow making the newspapers for tomorrow

[Kira 451]

First of all, let me also extend a welcome handshake (or hug, if you prefer). Welcome to Red Wing Nation!

As far as history, like someone said, it depends on how far you want to go back. Me, I go back a long way, but that's because I'm a lot older than most of the people on this board.

There are some great DVD sets out there, including one that has three documentaries about the '97, '98 and '02 Cup runs, and 5 of the best games ever - May 16, 1996, which ends with a Steve Yzerman blast in double overtime; March 26,1997 - a date that lives in Red Wings legend; June 2, 1997, the last game against Philadelphia for the Cup; May 31, 2002 (I remember that game and laughed my ass off); and June 3, 2002, triple overtime in game 3 of the Finals (I remember it went on til 1AM).

There is also a book called "What It Means to be a Red Wing". It's a very nice book with short essays written by players from the 50's until now, including Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly (and the more you dig, the more you'll find about those guys), and Ken Holland. The 90's section is quite good; Nick Lidstrom, Kris Draper, Chris Osgood, Tomas Holmstrom, Brendan Shanahan and Chris Chelios. It also has current players with Pavel and Henrik. It's a beautiful book. I remember the first time I saw it, I sat in the middle of the bookstore reading Pasha's essay. And he has autographed my copy.

I hope I didn't scare you off with all this, but happy hunting!