Left at lunch on Saturday, got to Windsor at around 3:30, unpacked at our hotel right next to the tunnel and got dressed, then hopped into the car and drove across the border and parked near Woodward, the main drag.
The area around Comerica, Ford Field and Little Caesar's is really nice. Couple of old gothic churches, lots of restaurants and open space. While the Joe's spot on the river was cool, this is way more central. Comerica in particular is so open, it almost doesn't look like a stadium, just looked like part of downtown. We were about a 15 minute walk from the rink as parking before 6pm was completely booked, probably because the Raptors were in town to play the Pistons earlier in the day.
We stopped at Hockeytown Cafe and had dinner there. Got seated right in front of an Yzerman display of course
Tons of Wings gear but a noticeable amount of Tampa gear as well.
The rink opened at 6:30 for an 8pm game but it was already lined up when we arrived around that time which was great to see. The inside of the new rink is fantastic. Nods to history all over the place. Tons of restaurant and food options everywhere in the clean open concourse, DJs playing music, a drum line. Lots of staff. Bought some stuff from the store but the hat selection was unfortunately very limited.
We had seats in the upper bowl. Good views, not a ton of leg room. There were tvs up top and you could watch replays of Vasilevsky just goalieing the shit out of the Wings. He had an incredible game with multiple unbelievable stops.
Rasmussen got hurt and is out when he blocked a shot that you could literally hear in the top of the opposite side of the rink.
Brayden's first goal was a beauty. A little saucer pass from Kucherov to Point at full speed that he put a cross-body top-shelf snipe on Husso. Kucherov is inredible to watch but he's also blink and you might miss it. Just needs a touch to make ridiculous plays that are easy to miss.
Man can Walman ever skate. He got a ton of shots, can push the play in the offensive zone but get back. He and Seider both kind of got caught on the Point goal but the Wings had 4 guys there and got caught flat-footed on a great play.
The Wings played a great game overall. The atmosphere was fantastic, really engaging. Great experience overall and we'll gladly be back. The Joe was fun and a lot of great memories there but the new barn is fantastic.