‘Heartbreaking’ farewell to the Joe
Fans join their heroes for the last Red Wings game at Joe Louis Arena
There were legendary brawls and heartbreaking losses, four Stanley Cups and a lot of octopuses.
About 20,000 fans filled the Joe Louis Arena’s worn-out red vinyl seats Sunday night to revel in the memories and watch one last Detroit Red Wings game at the iconic arena. It was an emotional day for fans and hockey heroes alike.
“I’m an emotional guy, I wear my emotion on my sleeve,” said Darren McCarty, who grew up playing hockey in Leamington before winning four Stanley Cups as a Red Wings enforcer. “I’m not afraid to be sensitive. I’d be surprised if I didn’t choke up.
“I don’t think you’re going to be a blubbering idiot but I think at some point you will get choked up. How can you not?”
The farewells began hours before game time when thousands of fans lined Steve Yzerman Drive to watch Red Wings players and alumni walk the red carpet.
“It’s heartbreaking, but it’s time,” said fan Kay Raymond after getting Frans Nielsen to sign her jersey. “We now know how the people at Olympia felt when the Olympia closed. Now the Joe is going to close, they’re going to knock it down but we’re going to a beautiful arena.”
A pre-game ceremony honoured current Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, whose 1,000th game was his last at the arena. When former captain Steve Yzerman stepped onto the ice, the deafening cheers drowned out the arena announcer.
Seconds later, several fans were embracing the time-honoured tradition of heaving a dead octopus onto the ice, a throwback to 1952 symbolizing the eight playoff wins the Red Wings needed to win a Stanley Cup.
The Joe was built between 1977 and 1979 at a cost of US$57 million to replace the deteriorating Olympia Stadium. Named after the former heavyweight boxing champ who grew up in Detroit, it’s one of only three NHL stadiums without a corporate naming sponsor.
The Red Wings played their first game there against the St. Louis Blues, on Dec. 27, 1979. Detroit lost 3-2. The arena hosted the 32nd All-Star Game later that season in front of what was then a record crowd of 21,002 fans.
The Red Wings won their last game in the Joe 4-1 Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.
Some of the greatest and most loved players ever to lace up called the Joe home. The long list of greats might start with such recognizable names as Yzerman, scoring titans Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan, defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom and Bruise Brother Bob Probert.
Since their run at The Joe began, the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups — 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008. They also went to the playoffs in 25 consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in North American pro sports.
Along the way there was the occasional epic brawl, such as the melee on March 26, 1997, between the Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche.
Jeff Gerard from Windsor, a fan since the age of six, witnessed most of it first-hand.
“Three Stanley Cups, two of the victory parades — one I was overseas for and couldn’t attend — the fight against the Avalanche, McCarty being the hometown boy and redemption for the hit was just perfect,” said Gerard, 41.
But hockey fans weren’t the only ones to fight their way through the constantly crowded corridors, brave the famously foul smelling stairwells or make the hair-raising climb up those perilously steep steps to the main gate.
The Joe also hosted countless other attractions, including the 1980 Republican convention, WWE main events like the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, and hundreds of concerts.
Canadian rock trio Rush played the first concert there in February 1980. Max Webster, another Canadian band, was the opening act. The Joe has hosted a steady stream of music legends in the following four decades, from Prince and the Eagles to Frank Sinatra, Kid Rock and Bob Seger.
The first of many concerts there for Windsor’s Mike Malec was AC/DC. He was 17. The band members weren’t the only ones putting on a show.
“I unfortunately saw one of Detroit’s finest go flying down the stairs,” said Malec, 48. “He was breaking up a fight and got involved, and ended up down at the bottom amongst 10 other people who went down the steps.”
Brawls, whether on the ice or in the stands, weren’t the only controversies at the Joe.
Hip-hop group N.W.A. almost started a riot in 1989 when they performed the song (Expletive) the Police. Things reached soap opera heights in January 1994, with “the whack heard ‘round the world,” when Olympic skating champ Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in the corridor between Cobo Hall and Joe Louis Arena.
“It’s definitely an arena that’s got a legacy, both hockey and other sports, concerts,” said Gerard. “Everyone’s got a memory from the Joe.”
One of McCarty’s favourite memories is soaking up the arena scents while smoking a cigar and riding on a golf cart to meet the media after winning in 1997.
“You can’t forget the smell down here,” McCarty said in the media room in the bowels of the building. “Just the whole hockey, springtime, humidity, sweat, champagne and everything else. The smell is one of the things I’m going to miss the most.”
The Red Wings will move next season to the new $732-million Little Caesars Arena on Woodward Avenue.
You can’t forget the smell down here. Just the whole hockey, springtime, humidity, sweat, champagne, everything else.