by Mitch Albom | May 11, 2009 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
Long before the empty-net goal by Henrik Zetterberg, long before Darren Helm saw his espresso energy pay off with a red light, long before Pavel Datsyuk amazed everyone with a puck flip over the net as if he were tossing a pizza, long before Jiri Hudler bunted the puck over the goalie’s shoulder into the net – yes, bunted, in mid-air, I’m not getting my sports mixed up – long before all that drama and exhaustion and waiting and nail-biting and cheering and music and fireball explosions, long before all that Â
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there was Johan Franzen.
by Mitch Albom | May 1, 2009 | Detroit Free Press, Sports
"Is it the nose?"
"No comment," Kris Draper says.
"The neck?"
"No comment."
"It’s above the waist, right?"
"Yeah."
"The elbow? The lower lip? The upper lip?"
"No comment," he says, laughing.
It’s nice to hear him laugh. He hasn’t laughed much lately. About three weeks ago, Draper suffered some freak injury that the Wings will only identify as "upper body." He hasn’t played since.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
If you were driving around Tuesday night listening to the Red Wings game on radio — and as it turns out, that could be the last hockey game of the year
— you might have heard a segment between periods called “Spotlight on Amateur Hockey.” It’s an odd little program in which announcer Budd Lynch, with his deep, resonant voice, talks to kids about their hockey, in this case a 13-year-old:
“So . . . I see you play defenseman.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you enjoy that position?”
“Uh-huh.”
“How’s your coach?’
“He’s good.”
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — A bead of sweat was working its way down Jon’s forehead, dripping from his thick, sprayed hair and toward his cheekbone. He tried to ignore it and held his microphone straight, but man, it was hot, damn hot. The heat seemed to burst from the subway grates and the restaurant fans and the exhaust pipes of buses that rolled past Madison Square Garden, past the rows of blue-uniformed riot police, hundreds of them, just waiting, leaning on their barricades, wiping their foreheads. It was June 14, the latest day in hockey history, and the fever was on 33rd Street.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
NEW YORK — A bead of sweat was dripping down Jon’s forehead, from his thick, sprayed hair toward his makeup- covered cheekbone. He tried to ignore it and hold his microphone straight, but man, it was hot, damn hot. The heat seemed to burst from the subway grates and the exhaust pipes of buses that rolled past Madison Square Garden, past rows of blue-uniformed riot police, hundreds of them, just waiting, leaning on their blue barricades, wiping sweat from their foreheads. It was June 14, almost summer, the latest day in hockey history, and the fever was all over 33rd Street.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
SALT LAKE CITY — The big boys parachute in today, as stealthily as a special ops maneuver. They drop from Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago. They hit the ground running and are whisked to headquarters. They get their uniforms, their instructions, their heavy equipment.
They get one practice.
Then their games begin.
Welcome to the Olympics, NHL players. Nice of you to join us. Of course, we’ve been going for nearly a week now.
The Opening Ceremonies? Beautiful. Too bad you couldn’t march in them. Heck, you couldn’t even watch them. You were busy playing NHL games.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
NAGANO, Japan — I have this nightmare every now and then. I close my eyes, and I am back in Barcelona, watching Charles Barkley tell a packed audience that the NBA had arrived, so the rest of the world “should just take their ass-whipping and go home.”
I wake up in a cold sweat.
Like a switch thrown by Dr. Frankenstein, the original Dream Team spawned a monster too large to subdue. Letting multimillionaire basketball stars into the Olympics was like letting Imelda Marcos into the Athlete’s Foot.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
Already some people are licking their chops at the thought of Petr Klima coming to Detroit. Klima is a hell of a hockey player — maybe the best in Europe. Fast. Strong. Gifted.
He is also 20 years old, alone, and in the middle of defecting from his country, Czechoslovakia.
Early last week, he disappeared from a hotel in West Germany, where his Czech team was training. The whispers began. He’s doing it.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
Can I tell you something about the NFL draft? It starts early. Can I tell you something about the NHL playoffs? They end late. So only a complete fool would try to cover the latter in Canada and the former in the United States within an eight-hour span, right? Only an absolute idiot?
Hey. I had a plan.
by Mitch Albom | Nov 21, 2008 | Detroit Free Press
Sometime today, a plane will land in Toronto, and Red Wings coach Jacques Demers will get off, along with Bob Probert, and they will take a car to a suburban office building.
They will walk into a private boardroom. Someone will take their coats. They will shake hands formally, and everyone will sit. Then, the man in charge, perhaps in a deep solemn voice, will give the long-awaited signal.
Turn on . . . the TV.
And they will watch a hockey fight.
