GENS B - Detroit Pre-Playoff Festivities

[gesundheit39]

While the Detroit Red Wings barely squeaked into the playoffs, they aren't letting that damper their mood. Normally a taskmaster, coach Scotty Bowman lightened up and agreed with Shawn Burr's idea to have the first annual Pre-Playoff Festivities and even participated in the event as well.

The festivities, held at Joe Louis Arena, included a large family barbecue, a piñata in the shape of a puck, and a team competition of many events. The players also invited 50 children from Children's Hospital of Michigan and their families to join in the fiesta. The party was a charitable event that raised $400,000 for the Hospital.

The highlight of the occasion though was the team competition which included events such as a potato sack race, the three legged race, a wheelbarrow race, and an egg race. One other item that needs mentioning is that all of these events were conducted on the ice, thus increasing the level of difficulty of the events as well as the comedy level.

When asked what his favorite part was, team comedian Burr responded, "personally, I thought watching Riendeau missing the piñata by a mile was the funniest part of the event. But then it reminded me of how similar it was to him missing pucks in games, so maybe I need to think about your question some more."

Mike Sillinger and Dallas Drake came in first in the team standings, beating out Dino Ciccarelli and Yves Racine for second. Sillinger won the potato sack race, while Drake came in third in that event. Sergei Fedorov tripped a few feet past the starting line and fractured his jaw despite wearing a protective helmet. "He's going to kill me for laughing so hard, but I couldn't help it," remarked Paul Ysebaert. " I thought he was taking a dive like he usually does in games just when he's about to get a good scoring opportunity. And when he stood up, he had the same unbelieving look he does when he doesn't get the call, haha!"

The three-legged race was a tight one, won by Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom, but Sillinger and Drake came in second. "Another great event, Burr has such an imagination," said John Ogrodnick. "Watching some of those guys try to skate with a teammate was almost as laugh-out-loud funny as watching them skate normally!" Burr chimed in "But for some people it worked out well, like McCrummy (McCrimmon) who normally has two left feet. He and Sheppard are slow as turtles, but they had good rhythm. I'm still amazed they came in third!"

The competition seemed well in hand for Sillinger and Drake by the final event, the egg race, but they almost pulled a Munson. The race involved one skater skating the length of the ice with an egg cradled in his neck, then having to pass it to his teammate without using hands, and then having the second skater skate back to the other end. Whoever broke an egg had to skate back to where they started and get a new egg. "Mikey and I, we kept screwing up that egg exchange, people might have thought we enjoyed necking like that, eh," said Drake. "This event was a disaster for Probes (Probert) and Bowman," laughed 12th line center Jim Hiller, "Scott'ys got no neck!"

"It's all about the kids," said Burr. The children all took photos with team members and received autographs on the photos as well. "Obviously the boys and girls liked the candy from the piñata, but it was priceless to see them smiling while standing next to their favorite players," added Burr.

"Plus, I kept a couple copies of the photos, especially the ones with Probes and Gerry (Gallant). I'll put the pictures under a sign which says, 'Who has more teeth, little Johnny or Bobby?'," laughed Burr.

[Evan]

Just brilliant. BRILLIANT!

[hokkeefan]

wow!