So You Think You're a Detroit Red Wings Fan? by Pat Gass

So You Think You're a Detroit Red Wings Fan? by Pat Gass

Author:Pat Gass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2019-01-11T05:00:00+00:00


The Red Wings called the Olympia home for more than fifty years before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979. (G.G. from Hoxie, Kansas, USA—Olympia arena (demolished) from HABSUploaded by Imzadi1979, License: CC BY 2.0; Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11404691)

The NHL came to the Olympia on November 22, 1927, when the Cougars faced off against the Ottawa Senators. The ceremonies that took place that night incorporated professional figure skating between periods and performances by the University of Michigan marching band. Though the Senators spoiled the party by winning the game, 2–1, there was no question hockey was a hit in Detroit.

“Hockey, they discovered, is football set to lightning,” the Detroit Times wrote of the reaction by fans. “The athletes flashed around the big expanse of ice like shooting stars, but every electric movement meant something. They squirmed, dodged, ducked, danced and pirouetted on their flashing blades with such rapidity that at times the eye could not quite follow the maneuvers. … That the pastime has caught on here cannot be doubted.”

James Norris bought the Olympia and all of its interests in 1932 for $100,000, and the Red Wings brought the Stanley Cup to Detroit for the first time four years later, The Wings went on to win the Cup four times in six seasons from 1949–50 through 1954–55 and were a consistent playoff team through the late 1960s.

The Olympia’s original seating capacity was 11,563. On June 23, 1965, work began to add 81 feet to the rear of the building. The addition included more seating and an escalator to improve fans’ access to the upper levels. The seating capacity expanded to 13,375 in 1966, with standing room for 3,300 during hockey games. In 1970, private boxes were added.

The Wings declined in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, as did the neighborhood around the Olympia. When the NFL’s Detroit Lions moved to suburban Pontiac, Michigan, in 1975, the Red Wings nearly followed. However, the city’s offer of a riverfront arena kept the team in Detroit.

On December 15, 1979, the Red Wings played their final game at the Olympia, a 4–4 tie with the Quebec Nordiques. Detroit trailed, 4–1, after two periods but scored three times in the final 20 minutes to earn a point. Wings defenseman Greg Joly went down in history as the last player to score a goal at the Olympia when he tied the game at 18:35 of the third period.

34 The Stanley Cup Final was changed to a best-of-seven format in 1939. Since then, the Final has gone to a seventh game 16 times, but only two of those games had to go past regulation to determine a winner.

Those two games were played in 1950 and 1954, and the Red Wings were victorious each time.

In 1950, the Red Wings were expected to breeze past the New York Rangers in the Final. Not only had the Red Wings finished first in the regular season, 21 points ahead of the fourth-place Rangers, the Rangers would not have a home game, as a circus had priority over hockey at Madison Square Garden.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.