Detroit fans go wild for Stanley

Francis X. Donnelly Catherine Jun and George Hunter / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- While the Red Wings celebrated in a distant land, their fans rejoiced in the friendlier, more raucous confines of Metro Detroit.

From noisy neighborhood taverns to a vibrating Joe Louis Arena, residents hailed the winning of the team's first Stanley Cup in six years Wednesday night.

Coronations, it turns out, can be held in absentia.

"We're the champs," yelled Todd Parker, 25, a Southfield nurse who watched the game at The Joe. "We're the best."

As confetti fell from the catwalks and rock songs blared from the sound system, 9,000 people agreed with him. They hugged each other, high-fived and screamed themselves hoarse as they watched the Wings take turns hoisting the Stanley Cup.

In Royal Oak, celebratory crowds were contained inside police tape on Main Street, where cars moved at a slow pace, blaring their horns to join the chorus.

A crowd of 350 at BlackFinn in Royal Oak chanted "Ozzie, Ozzie" as they watched goalie Chris Osgood raise the silver trophy on the television screens.

"We needed something to look up to," said Eric Fowler, 24, of Clawson.

The streets of downtown Detroit and the suburbs filled with the cacophony of happy motorists, blaring their horns, hanging from car windows, shouting their glee over the Wings.

Despite the madcap road scene, police reported few arrests or incidents in the celebration of that rare spectacle, a professional sports championship.

Detroit police blocked some roads into the city to prevent disturbances. It received an assist from a higher power as a late-night rainfall helped thin out the crowds.

In Utica, the revelry continued two hours after the game. At Hatchy's, two dozen patrons toasted their favorite hockey team.

"It is better being around friends," said Shannen Manfrieda.

Meanwhile, workers at Metro Detroit Airport worked into the wee hours of the morning to prepare a welcome for the returning heroes.

Inside a private hangar, workers covered tables with red tablecloths. Champagne was put on ice. Grey Goose vodka and other top-line liquors were set out by bartenders. Red and white balloons reached high into the cavernous building.

As for the fans, Wednesday was the second go-around for many loyalists, who had repaired to The Joe and neighborhood taverns two days earlier in the hope of spying an NHL title.

They returned Wednesday with the same goal.

This time, the dream was deferred no longer. The goal was accomplished.

Fans had packed a plethora of establishments, from the roof of Hockeytown Café in Detroit, with its oversized screen, to Mr. B's restaurant in Royal Oak, with its 29 televisions.

"It's going to happen tonight," predicted Sharon Hanson, 26, a Ferndale waitress who arrived early for a good seat at Cheli's Chili Bar in Detroit. "We're going to party Wings-style."

She didn't elaborate what Wings-style meant but suggested it involved beer, lots of it.

In a sports-crazed region, the most manic party was held at Joe Louis. Even without the team, 9,000 fans cheered wildly as they watched the game broadcast on a four-sided jumbo screen.

The lack of action on the ice may have been different but the scene in the stands mirrored Monday's game. The only thing missing were Pittsburgh fans, who, truth be told, weren't really missed.

With Wing fans dressed in team jerseys, the sea of red swelled with every shot on goal.

The crowd chanted and danced. It brought beach balls and Stanley Cup replicas. They cheered whenever a Wing appeared on the screen and booed every Pittsburgh Penguin.

"It's just like we're at the game," said Paige Dunn, 28, a Livonia college student whose SUV was adorned with Wing flags and decals. "It's better than watching at home."

With or without their team in the vicinity, here is how Metro Detroit awaited Lord Stanley's silver chalice:

Mike Johnson scooped up five cigars from a Ferndale tobacco shop Wednesday night.

No, the 18-year-old Oxford resident wasn't celebrating the birth of a child. He was anticipating the birth of a Stanley Cup championship. He handed out the Pepto-colored Swisher Sweets to his four buddies over a pre-game dinner of hot wings at Buffalo Wild Wings in Ferndale.

"If they lose tonight, we might have to smoke 'em anyway," he said.

Then Johnson had a better idea. If the Wings lost Wednesday, he would save the cigars for a celebratory smoke for Game 7.

Big screen event

It was "Hockey Night in the Shores" at the home of Todd Richards. Nearly 40 friends and family filled the front yard of Richards' home on 10 Mile in St. Clair Shores to watch the game on a 52-inch television placed on the front porch.

Waving to passing honking cars, Richards and his fans revived a Stanley Cup tradition to gather in the yard that is decorated with Wings posters and an illuminated sign to watch each game in the series. "This brings everyone together to have a good time," said Richards, a warehouse manager at Wayne State University.

The biggest crowd he ever drew was in 1997 when 150 people showed up to cheer the first Cup victory in decades.

Fan flies in from Hawaii

Some folks traveled great distances to watch the Stanley Cup finals in Detroit.

And then there's Jeremy Gabbard, 30, who traveled here from Honolulu. That's in Hawaii.

Gabbard took an eight8-hour flight to see Game 5five Monday night and stuck around to see the Game -6six broadcast at The Joe.

And he's not even a Detroit native. He became a Wings fan while growing up in New Zealand and seeing a TV special about the team.

He had tickets to Game 7 but wanted to see the team secure the championship as soon as possible.

"I want it done tonight," he said at The Joe. "A Cup is a Cup, no matter where it is."

Too blue for Red Wings

Not everyone in Metro Detroit was obsessed with hockey.

At the Greyhound bus station in downtown Detroit, few people knew or cared a championship game was being played.

"Red Wings? I don't follow hockey," said Ron Ameen, 55, a Jackson native who read a Wolverine comic book as he waited for a bus to Charlotte, N.C.

He said he has too many problems to worry about such trivialities as a Stanley Cup championship.

He doesn't have a place to live. He doesn't have a job. But he's hoping his luck will change down south.

Any predictions for the game?

"Man, I don't know," he said. "I heard something about the Red Wings almost winning a championship, but it's not really my thing."

Detroit News Staff Writers Steve Pardo, Edward L. Cardenas, Mark Hicks and Oralandar Brand-Williams contributed to this report.