Red Wings, their mothers head to Florida for two-game trip
By @StefanKubus –
This is one road trip where the Red Wings will have to be extra tidy.
Fresh off the NHL All-Star break, the Wings get back into action Wednesday night as they begin a quick, two-game road trip against a familiar divisional opponent in Tampa Bay. This time, they’ll have their mothers with them along for support.
Captain Henrik Zetterberg said assistant coach Tony Granato was the one who pushed to make the trip happen.
“Last year there was some talks about doing a moms’ trip, but it didn’t really go through, but this year we made it happen,” Zetterberg said.
“Mom was always the one in the background who kept everything together. I don’t think they get enough credit for that, so it’s nice now to give a little bit back and have them with us this trip so they can see what we do and how road trips are.”
Zetterberg added that his dad is certainly jealous. Each of his parents, father Goran and mother Ulla, typically come overseas once or twice a year.
Waterford native Dylan Larkin said he’s looking forward to having his mom along for the trip, recalling her efforts in supporting his hockey dream.
“Taking me to practice and really helped out at times, so I think it’s going to pretty cool to spend this weekend with her,” Larkin said of how his mom took care of him. “To have her see how we live on the road and have her come out with us, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Defenseman Kyle Quincey remembers the mad rush of leaving school and heading straight to the rink without time for a proper meal, an all-too-familiar journey for many youth hockey players and parents.
“I just remember her making pizza pockets and wrapping them in tin foil and that was our dinner from school on the way to the rink since we lived out in the country,” Quincey said. “We had an hour drive most times, so there was really no time for dinner, so our dinners were on the fly a lot.”
Macomb native Danny DeKeyser said when you’re young, “you really don’t know any better,” but looking back as an adult, you really realize and appreciate all the sacrifices the parents make.
“She was always driving late, staying up late for my practices, taking me around town to different rinks, that kind of thing, and then she would always have to wake up early for work the next day and get at work and make some money,” DeKeyser said. “She supported me throughout all my years and she’s a big part of the reason why I’m here today.”
Sault Ste. Marie native and head coach Jeff Blashill said his mother is unable to make the trip, but he will have one of his two sisters, Deb, along with him for the festivities.
“I know, personally, the impact on my life that my mom has had is certainly equal to that of my father, so these trips are probably two-fold, one to say thank you and certainly the moms deserve the thank you’s equally as much as the fathers and two, to get an inside glimpse of what the players’ lives are like, what our lives are like,” Blashill said. “I know they certainly live it close from afar, but to be on the inside and really see it is I think is a great thing.
“I know we have an unbelievable bunch of guys that are of great character and great men. What an unbelievable job they’ve done of raising these guys, so it’s certainly appropriate that we do this trip.”
Back to work
Though it’s an opportunity for the Red Wings to spend time with their moms, a good number of which came from overseas, they also know it’s time to refocus with a crucial back-to-back series of divisional games.
“I think it was nice to just go away and took time to recharge, not really think about hockey,” Zetterberg said. “Obviously, this year we have two days, it’s huge for us. Yesterday, we just came back and basically got going again and today was more focused at, ‘We’re back at it.’ We’ve got two big games coming up here, division games and we’re right there, but all teams are winning and we have to keep getting points if we want to be in it at the end.
The Red Wings’ bench boss said the latest focus for his group on the road trip is to reduce turnovers. Blashill said his staff collects stats internally and noticed that the Wings’ record is significantly better when the team limits turnovers.
“The ten games we turned the least number of pucks over per game, we’re 7-1-2. The ten games we turned the most pucks over per game, we’re 2-7-1, so let’s make sure we focus on that area and I think that’s a real viable stat we can look at and say, ‘We need to be better in that area.’ It seems to correlate directly to winning and losing.”
Blashill added Petr Mrazek will start between the pipes against Tampa Bay, but had not yet decided on a starter for Thursday against Florida.
Larkin’s teammates impressed by All-Star efforts
Zetterberg didn’t get to see Larkin compete in the Skills Competition, but he certainly heard about him breaking the 20-year-old record for the Fastest Skater event set by Mike Gartner.
“I didn’t see it, but I heard that he was the fastest skater, so I feel better now because, if I’m two steps behind him, he’s the fastest skater in the world, so I’m pretty fast, too,” Zetterberg said with a laugh. “It was fun after seeing some highlights, just the way he went there and performed. He had a great time and how can’t you when you’re 19 years old and you go over there and you break records and almost win the whole thing, too, in the final there. It’s good for him that he got that experience and also meet the other guys. He’s one of them now. He’s one of the best players in the league and it’s fun for him to go and meet and spend some time with them.”
DeKeyser echoed Zetterberg’s thoughts.
“He represented the team, the organization really well, and we knew he was a heck of a player and he was gonna do just fine, but it’s impressive.”
Larkin, himself, said one of the biggest things he took away from Nashville was seeing how the veteran all-stars acted, both on and off the ice.
“I just think how they treat their peers, treating everyone with respect and how they have fun doing what they love,” Larkin said. “I respect that a lot and it was pretty cool.”
He added that he was able to spend a lot of time with Montreal’s PK Subban and Florida’s Aaron Ekblad, whom Larkin will face Thursday in Sunrise.
“He’s an awesome guy, he treats everyone with respect, so I appreciate that,” Larkin said of Subban. “All the guys were really nice, got to hang out with Aaron Ekblad quite a bit, so it was just cool hanging with them.”