*Originally posted on September 11, 2008 on NHL Connect

Last Sunday, I had the absolute pleasure of going to the Joe (the Joe Louis Arena) for Red Wings Fan Fest. It took some finagling and shift-swapping and begging and bribing, but I made it there. And, boy, was it worth it.


I got there a bit late (totally par for the course with me) so I missed the first session with Stevie Y and Jim Nill. However, I did arrive in time to grab an excellent seat to see Ken Daniels interview Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman. Unfortunately, the audio equipment was terrible. So I could only hear about half of what was being said.

What I did get was that Gordie had a LOT to say, and Stevie kind of sat back and watched the show until Gordie was done. I’m not complaining about that -just an observation. I was hanging on every word I could make out. 
I mean, Gordie-FREAKING-Howe and Steve-THE CAPTAIN-Yzerman were 40 feet away from me!

Some basics that they talked about (Please keep in mind that every quote and paraphrase by people referred to in this blog is just that – a paraphrase. I did not carry a tape recorder with me so that’s as good as I can do.): Being a Red Wings is an amazing thing. They got a strong sense of pride every time they pulled on the Winged Wheel. They are proud of the organization as a whole and of the players as people. 
(yes – warm fuzzies all around)

Then came time for the fans to ask questions. So I took this once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask a question of one or both of these LEGENDS. What to ask, what to ask???? I mean… I wanted an hour of time all to myself to ask questions. I decided to ask what has been weighing most heavily on my mind…

“Steve, recently Ken Holland gave an interview and he said that you were ready to be a GM. That statement has struck fear in the hearts of those of us that analyze every word out of that genius’ mouth. Obviously, Ken Holland will be around for quite a while and he does an amazing job, which doesn’t give you the opportunity for quite some time. Would you consider going to another team or do you plan to be a Red Wing for your ENTIRE career?” (yeah, I’m wordy.)


That question probably didn’t make him too happy (since he’s in front of a bunch of dedicated Wings fans), but I give him a ton of credit for answering honestly… even if his answer made me sad. Basically, the legend said that he thinks incredibly highly of the Wings organization. And he spent some time praising all the people in the front office. He said that he signed a contract with the Wings with the understanding that he would learn how things worked on the executive level of the business so that he could go further up the chain. Then he said that he has a lot of goals left to fulfill in his career and he may have to go to another team to fulfill them.

Saaaaddddd Jessica. I mean – it hasn’t happened yet – but it could. And that just seems surreal. Not that I blame him… Please, Stevie, don’t leave us!

Anyways, then I got to do some cool things like sit on the Wings bench. Met Ken Daniels and got his autograph. Took a look at all the hardware that they won this season (minus Stanley). Wandered the Joe and met new people - including a guy who is totally going to hook me up at training camp. He apparently goes every year and knows all the inside scoop on where to be for autographs etc. Good guy to know! I met and got autographs from Brent Fedyk, John Ogrodnick, and Johnny Wilson. We even got to go into the press box and the usher was really cool and gave me a guided tour. I got to see where Mickey Redmond and Ken Daniels do their thing and where Bud Lynch sits.

So then, Kris Draper took the stage (they had fixed the audio issue by now) and he told us that the reason that the Stanley Cup wasn’t at the event is because Tomas Holmstrom took it home with him from the day before. Darn, Homer! (whether or not this was true is unclear – Draper may have just been stirring the pot, which would be hilarious)

So Drapes talked for a bit about how amazing it was to win the Cup this year and about how he spent his time with it (yes, even mentioned baby Kamryn Rose’s little ‘hazing’ of the Cup) and how special it was to share it with his kids. Then time for the fans to ask questions. So, of course, I had questions for him.






“Hi Kris, I was wondering if you believe that Homer is a marked man and what you thought about the officiating during the playoffs.”




Drapes: “Well, I certainly think Homer is a marked man now for all of you! After all, you wanted to see the Cup too!” haha!

“I do think Homer is a marked man. He does an amazing job at his position and the opposing teams and the refs know that. He pushes the line and so teams are always complaining about him. The refs watch him really close and they don’t give him the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think that’s fair.”

“As far as the officiating goes, I think the refs did a great job… and I don’t think that just because we won the Cup.” He grins. “Hockey is a really hard game to ref because it’s so fast. I think they did the best they could. They don’t have the benefit of seeing things over and over again like fans do. They have a split second to make a decision and they do the best they can.”




Classy. Verrry classy. Red Wings classy. I am not so classy. I think the league was doing its absolute best to make that series go to 7 games. But that’s one fan’s opinion.

Drapes was asked who his all-time favorite player is and he said Steve Yzerman. Loved that. ALL TIME FAVE is a guy he got to play with and who he still works with. I think that says a lot.

He was asked when he may retire (!!!) and he said he didn’t plan to do that for a looonngg time. (to which I say – GOOD! I love my Grinders.)


Draper was also asked about how Hudler was treated after having the last penalty in Games 5 and 6 of the Finals. He laughed. He said that no one cared in Game 6 – not even Osgood who joked to the media that he would kill Hudler when he found him. Drapes said that he started celebrating 2 seconds before the clock ran out and that he was very thankful that Osgood played the whole 60 minutes.

As for Game 5 – he said that they were really downtrodden in the locker room after that game. Lidstrom walked in and looked around the locker room and smiled. He said, “Don’t worry about it, guys. We WILL win the Stanley Cup this year. We didn’t win it this game. We’ll win it in Game 6.” Then went about his business like he didn’t have a care in the world. How great is that? For your Captain, a guy as respected as Lidstrom, to proclaim that you will win that Cup…. you can’t do anything but believe him. That is awesome. I freaking LOVE this team…