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Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom signs the back of five-year-old Tyler Burke's jersey after the team's second practice in as many days at Prospera Place Thursday. (Photo Chris Stanford)
By Pieter Uni
Jim Swan and his son looked on in amazement, as the Detroit Red Wings ran through drills during their second and final practice in Kelowna.
For Jim, the chance to take his son to watch some of the top players in the world’s top hockey league was too good to pass up, even if it meant playing hooky from work.
“It is good for the kids to see NHL players up close and for my son, it is a good experience,” said Jim, whose son Taylor plays for Westside’s midget house team. “To see the speed and skill of the players, it is great for Kelowna itself, so many people have come out to support.”
For the second time in two days, Prospera Place was packed with Red Wings’ and NHL hockey fans, and Jim said he isn’t shocked with the reception the Wings have gotten from Kelowna.
“I am not surprised, a lot of these people they haven’t seen NHL players … so I figured it would be sold out,” he said. “We came from Edmonton and we never saw an NHL practice, so it isn’t surprising that people lined up to see this.”
For his son, Taylor, it was an opportunity to get a close up look at one of his favourite players.
“I get to see Pavel Datsyuk and how good he is at stick handling, his explosiveness in the offensive zone,” said Taylor. “Is it amazing to see players of this calibre.”
For the players and members of the Red Wings organization, the reception from Kelowna fans was tremendous.
“I think obviously we expected some people, but yesterday to come out and basically have a full building and today probably, I’m guessing, 3,000 people on a mid-week (day) to watch a 45-minute practice, is unreal,” said Ken Holland, Detroit general manager. “It goes to the passion of the Canadian people for the sport of hockey and the opportunity to see an NHL team and our players had a fantastic time here.”
For Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom, the time spent in Kelowna offered a great way for his teammates to recharge their batteries before making a final charge towards the NHL playoffs. Detroit currently sits in eighth place in the Western Conference, a mere point ahead of ninth place Calgary.
“It has been great experience, it has been fun coming here, I have never been out this way before,” said Lidstrom, who went up to Big White during his off-time. “I think we needed a couple days away from playing games … and we had a good skate yesterday and today so it has been a good few days for us.”
The Wings will now leave Prospera Place and the Okanagan as they make their way to Edmonton for a Friday night tilt with the Oilers.
While the adventure to Kelowna has been a big hit with the Red Wings players and Kelowna fans, Holland said the organization will wait to see if the trip pays dividends.
“It has been an awesome couple of days, but at the end of the day we are in the winning business. We go into Edmonton and Vancouver, if we lose two it wasn’t as good as we hoped. If we go on a four-game winning streak, we are going to think it was awesome.”
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Posted: 10/03/18/ 10:18a.m.
The Detroit Red Wings will be back on the ice of Prospera Place at 11.am. today.
The NHL club will conduct their second practice during their brief visit to Kelowna before the team resumes regular season action tomorrow night.
Check back with Kelowna.com for coverage of the Red Wings’ visit.
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- Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom signs the back of five-year-old Tyler Burkes jersey after the team's second practice in as many days at Prospera Place Thursday. (Photo Chris Stanford)
One Response to “Update: Fans play hooky to watch Red Wings final practice”
Tags: Detroit Red Wings, Kelowna, ken holland, nicklas lidstrom
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The picture of the five year old is my son i asked the photographer if he could email me the photos of him. if at all possible that would be great. Thanks in advance Mike Burke
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