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Hockeytown vs the Centre of the Hockey Universe in 2013. God help us all.

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by JR, Feb 9, 2012.

  1. spikechiquet

    spikechiquet Well-Known Member

    GLI maybe only sells out when scUM and MSU play in the final...I don't think Tech and WMU will pull much with fans (except me, I'll be booing the Huskies!)

    I would think they don't expect to sell out Comerica for these games. It's more of a show than an event (if that makes sense).
     
  2. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    OHL games: Plymouth vs. London, Saginaw vs. Windsor.

    Toronto Marlies also scheduled to play the Grand Rapids Griffins.
     
  3. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    That figures - of the two OHL cities that border Michigan, one gets left out in order to make room for the company franchise.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    If they think the GLI, no matter who is in it, is gonna sell out 40,000 seats in Comerica Park, they're nuts. They haven't been selling out Joe Louis over the last decade or so.

    Michigan hockey draws 8,000 a game, a very self-contained and inbred crowd since they're basically sold out for every game. Sparty hockey draws 4,000 a game in a 7,000 seat arena. People won't walk across the street to watch Sparty hockey for nothing. They ain't going to pay 30-50 bucks to freeze ass in a ballpark.
     
  5. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    and there will be 60000 empty seats for the Leafs Wings game.
     
  6. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

  7. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Which team? Sarnia? Sault Ste. Marie?
    Karmanos owns the Whalers, so that can't be the company franchise. Or can it? Well before the Junior Wings were in the OHL, they were playing Junior B in the days of Mark and Marty Howe... and as someone who spent many games in Olympia, I can attest for the heated rivalry in the 1970s between the Jr. Wings (sponsored by Olympia Travel) and the hated London Knights. I can remember a game with the Wings where they trailed 9-8 with 45 seconds left and won 10-9. I can also remember getting thrown out of Olympia (OK, relocated) for throwing a piece of paper on the ice while watching a game against the Chatham Maroons.
    And there was no way the Spits weren't playing.
     
  8. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I'd like to see the Winter Classic in a more southern climate in the near future, namely in Dallas.

    Yeah, I know how much of a crapshoot Dallas weather is in January. But c'mon, the odds of it being 80 degrees when the ball drops in Big D are just as equal as it being zero. Bring it.
     
  9. Sea Bass

    Sea Bass Well-Known Member

    Pretty sure Double J's not impressed with Sarnia being shunned for London.
     
  10. maumann

    maumann Well-Known Member

    Somebody else who remembers the Junior Wings? We went home to Detroit for Christmas in 1971 and 1973, so Dad took us to the Olympia to see the Great Lakes Invitational and the Junior Wings. I'm certain we saw them play the Guelph CMCs one time. My brother still has a puck at went into the very empty stands.

    My favorite player was Bob Dobek, who went on to play in the '76 Olympics and for the WHA San Diego Mariners. I think he runs a golf course management company in San Diego now.

    My biggest regret is not getting to see the Wings at the Olympia, even if they were terrible during that era. What a great old barn, filled with amazing hockey memories. My grandparents had season tickets there for decades, and after Grandpa Cook got too old to go down Grand River, he would listen to the games on the radio.

    Like the Lions have a tradition of playing on Thanksgiving, the Red Wings usually had a home game on New Year's Eve.

    One of the best family stories revolves around my grandmother, who was a petite and somewhat demure woman -- with a bit of a temper when excited. Their tickets were always in the upper deck, right on the balcony (would that be the Loge section?), which hung almost right over the ice surface.

    Apparently a call or two went against the Wings one night, and Grandma Cook began slamming her purse against the railing while yelling at the referee. When she got home, she realized she had broken everything inside that was glass, including a couple of mirrors.
     
  11. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    This event should also feature JJ and Dave Branch in a cage match.
     
  12. Mark2010

    Mark2010 Active Member

    Nice matchup. Surprised they didn't pick Comerica Park, but they can't let a college game outdo them. Michigan and Michigan State played before a crowd of more than 110,000 a couple of years back, which I believe, set a world record for the largest crowd at an ice hockey game.

    Would love to be there.
     
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