"It's screwed up," said Joe Huber Jr. "You may never see guys like Yzerman again. It's a crappy way to go out."Anger spreads among Wing fans
The news didn't come as a complete surprise, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.
The cancellation of the hockey season Wednesday left Hockeytown denizens sad or angry or both.
Casual fans and season ticket holders alike feel like they have a hole in their lives as big as the 18-story mural of Red Wing Steve Yzerman that overlooks downtown.
"It's screwed up," said Joe Huber Jr., 35, an auto mechanic from Ferndale. "You may never see guys like Yzerman again. This could be his last season. It's a crappy way to go out."
Huber's love for hockey is written all over his body. His jewelry and shirts are adorned with the Red Wings logo, and he celebrated the team's last two championships by getting tattoos of the logo and the Stanley Cup.
Jeff Lentz isn't far behind in his support of the team, or disappointment that it won't be playing this year.
His family waited 11 years to become season ticket holders. The family finally received the tickets last year only to begin a new wait this season as the players and owners haggled over financial issues.
"I'm angry," said Lentz, 25, a Dearborn firefighter. "You've got millionaires battling millionaires for an extra million or two. It's more than disappointing."
Other fans echoed Lentz's sentiments, saying they had little sympathy for the players or owners. The real victims, they said, are the fans.
While news about the National Hockey League doesn't generate blaring headlines in most cities, Detroit is different. And, sure enough, after the announcement by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that the season was over before it had begun, reaction in Metro Detroit was swift, and loud.
At The Detroit News Internet site, the Wings Talk forum began to fill with the slings and arrows of misfortune and outrage.
"The greed on both sides is unbelievable," wrote "Attila" of Wales Township.
"The owners, players and the agents all contributed to this fiasco," said "Yooper" of Shelby Township.
Hockeytown has always savored its namesake sport, but on Wednesday residents said the forwards and defensemen were no different from other athletes. All they care about is the amount of money they can scrounge from fans, they said.
Besides mending their broken hearts, residents also have to decide what they're going to do instead of watching hockey. For many, they'll just continue doing what they had done while waiting for the ill-fated season to begin.
For David Gorgon, it means watching his two sons play for their high school team at Gabriel Richard High in Riverview. Truth be told, he prefers watching the youngsters.
"I guess I sound like a dad," he said.
Still, Gorgon, a spokesman for the city of Taylor, said he's sorry to see the season pass. He and a friend split a pair of tickets with each going to half a dozen games a year.
Just to prove his hockey bona fides, he named his youngest son, Steve, after team captain Yzerman.
Other fans said they were conflicted over the ending of the season.
Anne Sadowski, 34, a human resource manager from Macomb Township, wasn't sure whether to be sad, or disgusted.
"I don't know how I feel because, in a way, I'm fed up with the whole thing," she said.
Sadowski, who attends about a dozen Wings games a year, said the players make so much money that they shouldn't have been concerned about a salary cap, one of the major issues dividing them and the owners.
Brad Kress, 43, blamed both sides.
"They should have done more to resolve this," said the commercial lender from St. Clair Shores.
"It just seems like they weren't very good at coming up with something."
As for Huber, the Ferndale fan with Red Wings garb and tattoos, his love of the team didn't stop there.
The kitchen of his home is a shrine to the Red Wings. After moving into the house a few years ago, he planted a team flag on the porch before moving in any boxes or furniture.
He attends five games a year, never misses one on television and listens to talk radio while his favorite hockey team is discussed.
"This just sucks," he said. "They should have come to an agreement. They were so close. I mean, c'mon. It makes you angry."
While the downtown mural of Yzerman may become a wanted poster to some fans, Huber isn't among them.
He said that once hockey returns to the Joe Louis Arena, so will he.
And he'll have his four Wings jerseys, five T-shirts, four bobble-head dolls, autographed plaques, jerseys, books, banners, glasswares sets and commemorative cereal boxes and candy bars.
You can reach Francis X. Donnelly at (313) 223-4186 or fdonnelly@detnews.com.
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