Midwest Guest

Photo Friday: See a whale of a hockey game in Plymouth, Michigan

I've noticed a couple of posts lately telling how some folks are enjoying minor league baseball games this summer as a family-friendly and affordable alternative to high-priced Major League games.

Baseball season is winding down soon, so let me offer another alternative for those seeking affordable family fun and fast-paced sports action--Junior Major Canadian Hockey League (CHL) games!

The CHL includes teams in Maine, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania and Michigan as well as teams from all over Canada. Team players are 16- to 20-year-old athletes at the beginning of their professional hockey careers, so you'll see a high level of play and watch at least a few players who will eventually play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) is part of the larger CHL. Regular readers of Midwest Guest know that I'm a big hockey fan, and we own season tickets for the OHL Plymouth (Michigan) Whalers.

Did I mention that I've always wanted to ride an ice resurfacing machine?

Whaler games draw lots of families with affordable tickets and special value or group packages.

Kids attending Whaler games enjoy interacting with Shooter, the team mascot. You may meet up with Shooter in the stands, and some lucky kids may even get to join Shooter on the ice for a little one-on-one hockey.

Check out my post from yesterday for a few more hockey action shots, and find out what I like so much about Whaler games!

Also--missed out on BlogHer swag? Check out Tuesday's post for a chance to score a little kid-friendly swag I picked up at BlogHer.

It's all part of my lucky 13-month blog anniversary celebration.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Plymouth Whalers prepare to drop the puck on 2009-2010 season

Drop the puck!

Regular readers of Midwest Guest know it's occasion for celebration as I hold a harbinger of advancing autumn in my hand--tickets for a Plymouth Whalers pre-season hockey game.

The Whalers are part of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), a Junior Major-level team where 16- to 20-year-old athletes competing to become part of a National Hockey League (NHL) team often start their professional careers.

Our Whaler season tickets are an affordable alternative to high-priced NHL "Big League" tickets and mean we can feed our hockey fix with high-level, fast-paced hockey throughout the entire season.

We've had Whaler season tickets since the early 1990s, so we've seen former Whalers like David Legwand, Chad LaRose, Pat Peake, Todd Harvey, Robert Esche, Fred Brathwaite, James Wisniewski, Chris Thorburn  and Bryan Berard at the early stages of their professional careers--before they eventually landed in the NHL.

The Whalers, mindful of their largely family-oriented audience and Michigan's sluggish economy, held the line on ticket prices this year. A 34-game season ticket package costs $269 to $399, while individual game tickets cost $11 to $15. The team offers several other value package and group pricing plans, including a special 9-pack ticket package for $90 to help celebrate the team's upcoming 20th OHL season.

We've got great center-ice seats, although there isn't a bad seat in the venue's 3,500-seat hockey arena configuration (the arena holds as many as 4,500 for concerts, graduations and other events).

Some of my favorite things, beyond the great hockey action, about watching a game at the Whalers' arena? Great aisle seats, reasonably priced Canadian beer (not the over-priced, watered-down dreck that passes for beer at the NHL arenas I've visited) and the Whaler practice of playing both Canadian and American national anthems before each game, even for games between two U.S.-based teams.

We always look out for hockey action when we travel, even in the summer.

We went out to Erie, Pennsylvania last month and checked out the home arena of the OHL Erie Otters. I tried a door, and it opened. Imagine our surprise to find we'd stumbled onto an Erie Otter practice session!

As you can tell, I'm more than ready for the season to start and eagerly anticipating our first look at this season's team at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 5 at a pre-season game with our cross-river rivals, the Windsor (Ontario) Spitfires.

The Whalers open their regular home season at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, September 19 against the Oshawa (Ontario) Generals at the Whalers' Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Drop the puck!

Joe College dons his graduation cap and gown, as well as a hockey mask and skates, and prepares to take the ice at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena each year between Christmas and New Years Day.

No, this isn’t some sort of bizarre hockey school graduation ceremony! But it probably is a dream come true for many young hockey players as they prepare to play on the same ice known as home to many Detroit Red Wing hockey heroes and as home to the annual Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) College Hockey Tournament.

Arena mascot Joe College is just one of the traditions associated with this venerable college hockey tournament. The two-day tournament, conceived as a showcase to promote the sport and encourage interest in playing hockey among American-born athletes, began in 1965 at the old Olympia Stadium in Detroit. When the Detroit Red Wings moved from Olympia to their new Joe Louis Arena in 1979, the GLI moved to the Joe as well.

We’ve attended nearly every GLI since the tourney’s debut at the Joe because we enjoy the skilled level of play and find tourney tickets more accessible and affordable than going to pro hockey games. It’s also interesting when players we followed during their college careers make it to the pros, and we can tell people we remember seeing them play in the GLI at the Joe.

Michigan Tech and the University of Michigan teams serve as the official tournament hosts, with Michigan State University as a traditional third tournament participant. The fourth tournament team comes from among one of the other top men’s college hockey teams in the nation, with the Fighting Sioux from the University of North Dakota filling the fourth tourney berth for 2008.

Even though the Joe is a big-city arena, hosting the college tournament brings some of the more quirky features of a collegiate contest to the pro arena. Michigan Tech accounts for some of the most colorful customs with the DaWGs Pep Band clad in yellow-and-black striped overalls playing their live rendition of “No Beer!” and mascot Blizzard T. Husky taking the ice with Joe College to skate and toss T-shirts into the crowd between periods.

The teams quickly get down to some serious hockey once the whistle blows, though.

Two games played during the GLI’s first day determine the line up for Day Two’s consolation game and final championship game to determine which team raises their banner to hang in the Joe’s rafters until the next Great Lakes Invitational.

The GLI is definitely one of our favorite holiday traditions!

© Dominique King 2008

See a whale of a game!

I dread coming home from a trip and seeing the bin full of accumulated bills, catalogs and advertising circulars the mail carrier inevitably leaves on my front porch. But I dutifully dug through the mail pile earlier this week after our return from a trip to Connecticut and Rhode Island, separating the bills and bank statements from the rest of the please-donate-money, please-buy-this and vote-for-me ephemera before finding what I really sought on the bottom of the bin—my season ticket package from the Plymouth Whalers!

Everyone knows that I’m a rabid hockey fan, and folks are constantly asking me about the Detroit Red Wings once the season starts in September. I love the Red Wings, but high prices, and limited ticket availability for the pro games mean that I see very few Wings games in person. And I don’t watch a lot of games on television.

I opt instead for the excitement of affordable live hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth (MI) Whalers.

The OHL Junior Major League players are 16- to 20-year-old athletes starting their pro careers, with a good number of them eventually making it into the “Big League” to become part of a National Hockey League team. The high-level young talent means fast-paced and exciting hockey for fans and the opportunity to see many players before they become NHL stars.

We’ve had season tickets for the Whalers since the early 1990s. Whaler alumni we’ve watched in the early stages of their professional careers include: David Legwand, Chad LaRose, Pat Peake, Stephen Weiss, Todd Harvey, Robert Esche, Fred Brathwaite and Bryan Berard.  We also invariably see players we recognize as alumni from other OHL teams playing on teams throughout the NHL when we do watch a Wings game on television.

Whalers’ individual tickets cost $11-$15. The 34-game season ticket package costs $269-$399, which includes free parking and line-up cards for center-ice ticket packages. Pricing plans also include family value packages with hot dogs and soft drinks, group ticket plans and mini-season or flex packs that make going to a hockey game an affordable and fun trip for families and organizations.

A road game is a nice excuse for a weekend trip, and we’ve visited places Saginaw (MI) and a batch of Ontario cities like Windsor, Guelph, London, Kitchener, Sarnia and Sault Ste. Marie to watch Whalers hockey. Busy border crossings in Detroit and a schedule filled with weekend home games at the Whalers’ arena in Plymouth make road trips a little more problematic these days, but the Whaler practice of playing both Canadian and American national anthems before each game gives the outing to Plymouth a bit of an out-of-town game feeling for me.

So, look for me at center ice, singing along with both national anthems and enjoying a Canadian beer as I watch the Whalers open their 2008-2009 season by facing off against the Erie (PA) Otters on Saturday, September 20.

Better yet, check out the Plymouth Whalers schedule and join me out at the arena this season to enjoy some great live hockey action.

Drop the puck!!

© Dominique King 2008