May 31 2008
Red Wings in the Woods
What does a Detroit Red Wing do during an off-day in the middle of the Stanley Cup Finals? Well, he heads to the woods and trails, of course. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press has a fun story about a Detroit Red Wing team trip to Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands. Excerpts and link:
They’d returned just that morning from Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, where they arrived early Thursday afternoon and spent the rest of the day enjoying a wealth of activities on 3,000 wooded acres in the Laurel Highlands, about a 90-minute bus ride from Pittsburgh. With two days between games, the Wings figured it would be a great opportunity to get away from hockey, physically and mentally. They lead their series against the Penguins, 2-1, after a 3-2 loss Wednesday, a defeat put further into the past by what turned out to be a fun off day.
Kronwall, Lilja and prospect Jonathan Ericsson took along Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen to the rope course and were suspended 40 feet in the air for an obstacle course before relishing a 250-foot zip line back to ground level.
“We went rope climbing in trees,” Lilja said. “It was great. Franzen and Sammy were there, too, but only the three of us went up. I guess they’re afraid of heights. We eventually got Sammy up to try the zip line, but there was no talking to Franzen.
Chris Chelios did opt for a water sport of sorts, as he went fly fishing with a group that included Henrik Zetterberg.
Zetterberg caught a trout, rumored to be 15-to-17 inches, the only successful fisherman of the bunch. He had just as much fun watching Chelios try his hand.
“You’ve got to have patience with it,” Zetterberg said. “He had a lot of them on but he couldn’t get them to the shore, so he was mad.”
Chelios had so much trouble casting that at one point, half the rod came off and landed in the water.
“I guess I would say I didn’t bring anything to shore,” Chelios conceded. “I had some on the line. I got frustrated. I’ve never fly-fished before and I didn’t like it and I’ll never do it again. You’ve got to have a little touch, a little more technique. Fishing should be relaxing. I thought I’d try it because I’d never done it, and now I know I don’t ever want to do it again.”
BTW, it’s a fairly open secret that many of the Red Wings are avid mountain bikers. Players like Chris Chelios and Kris Draper are often seen on the trails at Highland and Pontiac Lake State Recreation Areas. Here’s a related discussion on the Michigan Mountain Biking Association forums:
http://www.mmba.org/viewtopic.php?t=57241&highlight=chelios
Here’s a link to a Pennsylvania Laurel Highlands tourist site: