Of assorted Red Wings-related note this afternoon:
- ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski penned a day-after recap of the “Stars and Stripes Showdown, which honored the memory of Jim Johannsson:
The idea was born at the 2018 IIHF World Championships in Denmark, the first international tournament with NHL players participating since Johansson’s passing. The U.S. won the bronze medal at the event, and Johansson’s spirit loomed over the tournament.
“We really did rally around JJ at worlds. We wanted to bring a medal home for him,” said Larkin.
The team would hand out a hard hat to different players inside the locker room. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but every guy shared his story about JJ, and how they met him. Something he’s done for them. Everyone has a different story. How much he did for everyone,” Larkin said.
The Red Wings forward decided he wanted to help organize something in Johannson’s honor. Initially, it was going to be a game that featured Detroit players past and present. But when his national team peers caught wind of the idea, they all vowed they’d take part. Soon, the late August event started to resemble a USA Hockey All-Star Game.
Some wondered if these players would be willing to sacrifice the time to travel to Michigan for the game.
From Kane to Matthews to Seth Jones to James van Riemsdyk to Zach Parise, that’s what they did.
“You know, it’s easy for guys to say they’ve going to play in a game like this, and it was a nice thought, you know? But they’re here. And I’d tell everyone in that room that, as good as they are at hockey, they just proved they’re even better people,” John Johannson said.
2. DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner examines the 2017-18 season “numbers” of Niklas Kronwall this afternoon…
79 – Total number of games he played in last season, which is somewhat remarkable, considering he missed all of training camp and the first three regular season games. Captain Henrik Zetterberg, center Dylan Larkin and right wing Gustav Nyquist played in all 82 regular season games for Detroit. Kronwall has played in all 82 games once in his career, in the 2011-12 season.
4 – His four total goals were his highest number scored since the 2014-15 season when he notched nine.
23 – Among Detroit’s defensemen, his 23 assists ranked second on the Wings defensive corps and fifth overall on the team. Mike Green led the Wings defensemen with 25 assists and Larkin’s 47 helpers were tops on the team.
3. In the “participatory items” category, you can vote for the next round of Uni Watch’s Grand Rapids Griffins jersey design contest:
Voting for the third round of entries in our Jersey Design Contest is now open! ? https://t.co/lYsdinIUnL
Finalists from groups one and two have been announced and can also be found at the link ⤴️ pic.twitter.com/92ZmNpuNoJ
— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) August 27, 2018
4. In the multimedia department, part 1, from the “Stars and Stripes Showdown”:
A. In pictures:
#NTDP alumni played a big role in yesterday’s Stars & Stripes Showdown at @USAHockeyArena! #ForJJ pic.twitter.com/dtsQmIAJkR
— USA Hockey NTDP (@USAHockeyNTDP) August 27, 2018
The 2018 Stars and Stripes Showdown in photos. #ForJJ
? | https://t.co/ci4nCk1KW5 pic.twitter.com/QsN45mBMhg
— MiHockey (@MiHockeyNow) August 27, 2018
B. USA Hockey posted some of Brad Galli’s interviews with players, coaches and very important people during the Stars and Stripes Showdown…
5. From the Joe Kocur Foundation’s charity softball game:
A. Dean Potter of Digital First Media posted a 218-image gallery from the Kocur Foundation’s charity softball game;
B. And “The D Sports Media” posted an interview with Joe Kocur…
As well as a simulcast of Art Regner’s interview with Kris Draper:
