An informal report from the ‘All in 4 ALS’ game

Red Wings forwards Andrew Copp, Robby Fabbri, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, defenseman Jake Walman and prospect Andrew Gibson all took part in the “All in 4 ALS” game on Saturday at Windsor’s WFCU Centre.

The Spitfires pulled out the stops for player introductions, the anthems, and the presentation of several cheques to the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and causes which will further the care of Bob Jones, an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators and Windsor Spitfires alumnus who’s battling ALS.

Larkin scored two goals en route to a 10-6 Team Tkachuk win (with Larkin and DeBrincat playing on Brady Tkachuk’s line, ironically enough).

Over 40 current and former Ontario Hockey League alums, a gaggle of current and former Windsor Spitfires, Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde, assistant coaches Bob Boughner, Jay Varady and Alex Westlund and many more folks rallied around coach Jones on Saturday, and the WFCU Centre was at least 3/4ths full for a charity hockey game in August, which was pretty damn impressive.

I was one of the only official media members in attendance–there were certainly lots of folks following along from the Spitfires, Senators and TSN, but their videos might be coming out over the next couple of days and weeks as opposed to tonight, because, well…

When you bring that many hockey types together to celebrate the life of someone who is battling a fatal disease, it’s one big party. I was able to speak with Red Wings coach Lalonde after the game, but only because Dylan Larkin (who got married last weekend) was heading to a wedding out-of-state, and was unable to stop for a chat.

Given the back-up at the Ambassador Bridge on the way home, I understood.

I took the heavy hint from the atmosphere that the event wasn’t really meant to be buzzed by the heavy-hitting media corps of one, so I asked coach Lalonde whether he could make any sort of assessments out of a summer hockey exhibition game, to which he replied that he’s getting to know DeBrincat’s personality;

Coach Lalonde was in awe of the way that the community was rallying around “Jonesy,” but he told me that people who’ve been around hockey for as long as, well, I have shouldn’t be surprised that the hockey community takes care of its own (and I am not, honestly, having been doing the blogging thing since 2006);

And coach Lalonde said that he’s getting his family settled in Metro Detroit after having to spend a year as a bachelor while his kids were in school in Tampa Bay, which had been very good. With that, I let him get back to the party:

What did I see on the ice, myself?

The usual. Dylan Larkin may never eclipse 80 points, but my goodness, even in a summertime exhibition game, where players are double-dekeing and dipsy-doodling, Larkin drives play, drives play, and drives play;

Alex DeBrincat is going to take some time to adjust to being a Red Wing in my estimation, but that’s not a bad thing. He was almost at a disadvantage because he was trying to tuck home passes from puck hogs, and he tended to defer to Larkin, the puck-carrier, and Tkachuk, who hammed it up more than hammering it home;

Robby Fabbri looks like he’s getting back to health and full speed;

Michael Rasmussen, to his credit, lurks around dead areas near the net and loves going to the top of the crease or the periphery of the net to sniff out pucks, and he can’t seem to help but work hard;

Andrew Copp’s work ethic is always there, as is his attention to detail, even if there are times that he can’t seem to land a puck anywhere near the net (ha);

Jake Walman has speed to burn at times, but he’s at his best when he’s reading off his defensive partner (today, that was Anaheim’s Cam Fowler) and doing his best to keep his game simple;

And Wings prospect and Soo Greyhounds defenseman Andrew Gibson is steady, strong and simple in the best sense of the term. I sensed an edge that we weren’t seeing during summertime shinny, too.

More than anything, I was impressed by coach Jones and the very clear hockey family that’s going to be there for him when the road gets harder–because, sadly, it’s going to get harder from here on out.

It’s not particularly easy to get to the WFCU Centre if you’re not familiar with the twists and turns of Lauzon Avenue and Lauzon Road, but the facility is excellent, and I’ll definitely try to take in a couple of games if I’m at all able this upcoming season. Some of you told me on Twitter that Windsor’s a pizza town, and I’ll have to explore that as well.

On Saturday, which was a mercilessly humid summer day, I got in, I went to Harvey’s for a hamburger, and I got out of Canada and went home to check in on the aunt, who wanted Chinese food for dinner. That’s why this little entry is so late, but the day as a whole was a success.

I got to visit my favourite country that’s not my own, I watched a community of athletes, coaches and alums come together to form a family around someone who needs it, and I, “Yes sir, no sir, yes sir, yes sir’ed” my way through customs on the way home. All in all, a good adventure goes in the books.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

One thought on “An informal report from the ‘All in 4 ALS’ game”

  1. It was an awesome game! (And George – Next time, take the tunnel.) Larkin was amazing. He also got an assist. I thought DeBrincat played well. Harder to evaluate the Blue team Wings from where I was sitting. I know this is a Wings post, but Sergechev was terrific, along with Brady Tkachuk. Most of the Wings’ coaches were there, including [former] Coach Mike Babcock. It was an excellent time.

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