Playoffs

Several of Jim's family flew into Michigan last weekend to celebrate Ruth's birthday.  Ann Marie and Carol bought tickets for the whole gang to go the Red Wing Playoff game!!!! 

Oh man.....oh man......oh man!!  Can you believe it??  It was AMAZING!!!!  :)

Rally Al - the team's mascot - was in out on full display.  So here's the back story:  At the beginning of the NHL, there were six hockey teams.  Detroit was one of them.  Back then, there were fewer games to win for the grand prize:  The Stanley Cup.  The octupus became the symbol of the fight for the cup.  Eight legs = eight wins needed. 

At several of the games, a fan will throw an octopus onto the ice.  It usually happens right after the national anthem.  The crowd goes NUTS when this happens!  The guy in the photo below is in charge of removing the octopus from the ice.  Until recently, he would always fling it around to get the fans fired up.  One of the visiting teams complained about getting octopus "matter" on them during this show and the league threatened to fine the Red Wings each time it happened.  Now, Mr. Octopus Grabber will wait until he steps off the ice to do the deed.  So gross......but so true! :)

Delanie's favorite player......Patrick Eaves. 

I wish I could explain just how LOUD the arena gets when the game is about to start.  I swear, I could go to 1000 games and it will always feel like the first. 

The dynamic duo.......Datsyuk and Zetterberg! 

Go Wings!! :)