red wings open house!

Gym buddy Emily & I enjoying my second home.

Awww yeah, Jonny.

One thing (and they are few and far between) I love about working in the Automotive industry is that every so often we get some great perks like free sports tickets.  Wednesday night I had pretty much zero plans except hitting the gym on the way home from work and then a night in with my cats making shepherd’s pie and taking down Halloween decorations, and then a buddy of mine (also in the industry) sent me a text asking if I wanted to head down to Detroit with them for the Red Wings Season Ticket Holder Open House, which – of course!

I’ve done a lot of Red Wings events, but I’d never been to this one before – it ended up being similar to their HockeyFest event, but a little more focused & unique, being tailored to people who spend a whole ton of money on tickets every year and all.  There was a two hour window to get players’ autographs (you were guaranteed two with your tickets, but you didn’t get to choose who you got), which gave me the opportunity to pick up a handful of new autographed pucks to add to my living room wall decorations (I’m not a huge autograph person, and if given the opportunity I’d prefer to have a picture or a conversation, but I’m also a sucker for fun home décor & I have a set of autographed pucks adorning a couple mounted sticks above my mantle, so this was a fun chance to get more autographs without having to sacrifice something I’d want more – especially since you weren’t allowed pictures at all), and then bunch of other events going on around the concourse.  

400% where I want to be at all times.

Joakim and his sweaters; most favorite.

Table of beauty, right here.

I'd make that face too, if I were stuck between those two, Gus.

Swedish beauty.

Got my BFF a personalized puch; Kronner only misspelled her name twice...

My living room sticks are getting a little full...

We did a quick locker room tour (I’ve been in there before at the Toast of Hockeytown a couple years back, but never got to come in through the back way, so it was pretty neat seeing the bowels of the Joe), nabbed some autographs, took some cheesy pictures with a slew of banners, giant octopi, & whatnot around the concourse, and then it was time for the best part of all: skating on the ice at the Joe!

On the ice at the Joe!

Best gym buddy <3

Again, I’ve been down on the ice before for a post-game MACPA event, and also for the Toast, but never gotten to actually SKATE on it.  It was definitely awesome to be able to look around and have the same view the players have during games.  I spent hours teaching myself the tricks of skating at WMU’s Lawson Arena when I was in college, but I don’t get the chance to do it much anymore, especially not in an arena that seats 20,000+! 

We were only able to skate for 30 minutes, which didn’t satisfy my craving to be on the ice AT ALL, so I’m planning on making up for it by hitting the rink near my house tonight! (After a sparge structure-planning meeting at “K-Building”, of course…Aldebaran is back on tap!)

Thanks again to Emily & Jerry for giving me an awesome opportunity – hopefully my auto industry job comes through with some freebies I can return the favor with!