To Detroit

The teams got a break. They got to sleep in and catch a little more water park time. Thats where the "Fun" began. The 12 story Holiday Inn had three elevators, but only two were working. Because of the volume of people, it took an average of 20 minutes to catch an elevator. These delays set a bad tone for the day as it set us running a wee bit late.

But alas, Master Planner Don Schaap had things well in control. The buses rolled into Trenton at 2:00 and the stop was nothing other than the Porcelain Palace..... The Famous White Castle Hamburger restaurant. Forty minutes later, the buses were rolling again towards Joe Louis Arena and the PeeWee's special game at "The Joe".

Yea, its that special of a Barn!

The PeeWee's finished their game losing 6-1 to a team called the Eagles. After they changed back into their street clothes, the teams got on the "People Mover", an elevated subway that loops around downtown Detroit. The People Mover is nearly 3 stories above ground. Dinner was in "Greek Town" which was on the opposite side of the loop. Players were partnered up in groups of 5 with their chaperons and went to different restaurants and returned to "The Joe" in their groups.

The People Mover was nearly empty when the teams boarded towards Greektown, but on the way back, it was a much different experience. They were packed on the cars like sardines with Red Wing jerseys everywhere. At each stop more people tried to fit on the train cars. Once reaching the arena, everyone piled out of the cars and into the arena.

From the top rows of Joe Louis arena, the players got to see the Red Wings beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1. After the game, the teams boarded the bus once again to head back to the rink in Trenton where the Midgets along with some Bantams were to meet their hosting families. The rest headed to the Best Western only a few blocks from the Rink.


It was a rather busy and fun filled day.