Every Red Wings fan had better be tuned in at five o’clock sharp today for the final hockey game ever at Joe Louis Arena, where we have watched the boys hoist four Stanley Cups.
It’s the end of many eras: our beloved playoff streak will end at 25 straight seasons today (while Mike Babcock leads Toronto there… that bastard); we lost both Gordie Howe and Mike Illitch in the last year. But the spirit of Detroit will transfer to our new home next season where the Pistons will join them back downtown.
Look, it’s ok to cry. To yell, to cheer as if it’s game seven of the Finals. But it’s more: it’s the place we all made our home for the last three decades, and I, for one, am going to say goodbye with everything I’ve got. We love you, Joe.
The tickets were so expensive in our hey-day of the 90s and 2000s we could never afford a ticket… low and behold, my brother and I marched in for my very first game two years ago… I sure as hell teared up soaking in my surroundings, it was surreal, like I was finally home. Thank you Ethan for walking so slowly with me after the game, yelling at that bitch ass usher who tried to make us move along. We soaked it all in, just like we will tonight 🙂