I must admit I was one of those that took for granted that we would win on Monday and hoist the cup on home ice. We originally planned on heading down to Cobo Joe's but decided to stay closer to home. I know I don't have to discuss the heartbreak of that goal with only 34 seconds left in regulation that tied it up. And staying up to watch triple overtime only to have the cup snatched from us during a horrible 4 minute minor.
ANYWAY ... so last night we decided to head downtown to watch Game 6 on Joevision at the Joe Louis Arena. I've never experienced Joevision, so it was kinda cool for me. And ending up downtown after we won the cup was priceless.
so let me share a fedw (crappy cell phone) pics from last night
Walking to the Joe
While waiting for tickets
The TV news vans downstairs
Our tickets
The octopus on top of the Joe
Another shot of the banners at the Joe
The opening ceremonies (fire on ice)
They even brought out Karen Newman to sing the National Anthem live before the game.
The crowd around us
A shot of the ice during one of the intermissions
a pictar of the Stanley Cup Program we purchased there
My review of joevision in general is that it's not really a place to go if you want to watch the game seriously. The screens, while great during games, were too small and far away to see alot of detail in the seats we were in. And I must confess I kept glancing down at the ice during play to watch it "in real time" cuz i kept forgetting that the game wasn't actually being played in the arena. The crowd was amazing! yelling and screaming like the players could hear. cheering and booing in unison. amazing!!
And lemme tell you the last 3 minutes of play were electric at the Joe. The entire stadium was on their feet screaming and cheering. You couldn't even hear yourself think. It was amazing! I was holding my breath until the final seconds ticked off. And during that frantic time I couldn't help but imagine how much more electric it was on Monday night when the game was actually there...and how deflating it must have been when that goal came to tie up the game with only 34 seconds left.
We stayed in the Joe to watch Hank get the Conn Smythe and then watched as Nicklas hoisted the cup! First European captain in NHL history. STUPENDOUS!
Walking out afterwards people were cheering and high-fiving and hoisting their own homemade stanley cups outside the Joe and all the way thru to the parking garage. And once we made it out of the parking garage there was still more screaming and honking of horns and high-fiving strangers as they walked past your car. Even semi trucks were honking.
It finally died down as we got on the freeway and finally made our way home.
Absolutely electric! I wouldn't trade a minute of it! Almost as fabulous as winning the cup back in 1996-97.
Hoping to be down there tomorrow for the parade. But if I'm not I shall be watching on TV and cheering at home.
If you go, don't forget to take pictars to share!!!!
