Memory Lane

This morning I was telling Ya-Ya about the time that Jake and Rich and Grandpa and Grandma sat on folding chairs at the end of the visitors bench at the old Olympia Arena in Detroit.

Toronto Maple Leafs were playing the Red Wings that night. Lanny MacDonald reached over the boards and said to Jake who was sitting either right at the end beside the door onto the ice or the second chair in, anyway Lanny McDonald said to Jake, "Hey kid, touch my stick for good luck". Jake was shocked, I think, but did as Lanny asked. That night Lanny scored a hat trick.

After the game grandpa and I yelled at Lanny to give Jake his stick but he didn't hear us. That was a wonderful evening. We have never before nor since had seats like that. They were folding chairs right at the end of the visitors bench. Grandpa often held the door for players to go on and off the ice, more for protection from getting wacked with the door.

That was one of the last hockey games they held at the Olympia before they built the Joe Louis arena downtown. Ya-Ya and I got talking about this because she noticed the octopus hats that Red Wing fans wore last night here in Nashville. She wanted to know what that was all about. She was fascinated by this story that we told her.

I was just thinking, what was the name of that restaurant we used to go to often before the games in Detroit? Was it Carl's Steakhouse? That was where I first had pickled herring - yum.

Now I know where Rich gets his love of raw fish!

Grandma