When and why did you become a Wings fan?

[OldnotDeadWings]

Early 1960s. Though I did admire Boom Boom Geoffrion and smacked many, many slapshots into snowbanks, the Wings came with being from Gordie territory and having a slim personal connection. Saskatoon is just up the road from the (long-gone) family farm, and family history contains (probably) tall tales of my dad pitching against him.

 

[JPE123]

Moved to Detroit in 1994 from Chicago. Had been a life long Hawks fan. As a kid I used to go to the stadium in Chicago and watch Bobby and Dennis Hull and Stan Mikita. Even caddied as a kid for Stan Mikita in a celebrity golf tourney. In 1994 when I took a job in Detroit, the company I worked for had seasons tickets to Wings games. I immediately fell in love with the Wings. Loved Stevie Y and Federov and the whole gang. I never looked back. I moved back to Chicago area 4 years ago and have never gone to a game except Wings games. The whole Bill Wirtz thing soured me on Chicago and I adopted Detroit. And I love the Wings

 

[SpookyTsuki]

When I was born i was a fan. Loved playing and watching. Family equals wings fans. So if they were the dead things. I probably wouldn't care about hockey and watch football or something

 

[waltdetroit]

I was in 1st grade back in the days of B&W TV when the 3rd period was telecast. I went to my first game at the Olympia Stadium on December 29, 1957, a 2–2 vs Boston Bruins

Why? It's the best game ever

 

[Marky9er]

As a kid there was Gretzky, Lemieux, and Yzerman. Yzerman emerged as my favorite, probably didn't hurt the Leafs had no appeal whatsoever besides the Gardens. I used to get Red Wing games on am radio, way back before streams or nhl ci, or even dial up internet. Don't know who called the games, but I loved every minute of it.

 

[Konnan511]

Nhl 94

 

[Classicnamesup]

I was born in Winnipeg and a big Jets fan. Eddie Olzyk Jr was one of my good friends at school. When the Jets relocated I was so crushed. However, at that time the Wings were the best. Such a beauty team back then, epic battles with COL. No way I was cheering for PHX

 

[Z40]

My dad has been a diehard fan since the days of Howe and Lindsay. I was born in '85 and grew up around it. I have fond memories of going to The Joe to watch the likes of Yzerman and Fedorov. I remember the excitement of our back-to-back Cup wins in '97 and '98. I didn't really start to learn the intricacies of hockey, and appreciate it, until our '08 and '09 playoff runs.

 

[H3ckt1k]

11 year old me saw this
Zetterberg instantly became my favourite player and Detroit my favourite team

 

[Kronwalled55]

I've lived in Michigan my whole life, but I didn't become a big fan until 2007. I used to only watch playoff games growing up, but when I went to my first game against Phoenix I was instantly hooked. Lidstrom scored the game winner and they held onto the lead to win. I started watching every game I could and it was one of the best decisions I made.

 

[PelagicJoe]

St Louis native here. I got into hockey becaise of Sega Genesis. I used to like the Blues, but my uncle and his lame Blackhawks always beat my ass in NHL 94. Finally I said forget this and took a new team, the Red Wings, and I beat him. I said to myself "I just found my favorite team."

 

[TopShelfYzerman]

I became a wings fan in 95' when two things happened. My uncle/aunt got me into playing house league, and two, the wings were at the beginning of their dominance. I was a lone boy in a family of 5 woman so sports were never a big part of our lives. My Uncle and Aunt who are well off, decided to pay for my 1st season of hockey, and gave me his sons (my cousins) old equipment he grew out of. This kicked off my obsession with hockey. Soon I was collecting cards, playing organized roller hockey, and eventually playing for my highschool. I stopped playing since I moved on to join the military, but since then my passion has never lessened. I am currently in the process of buying new equipment so I can rehash old memories and play in a beer league.

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

I grew up on the Atlantic coast, I had a friend who started playing ice hockey so I did too. Grew up in a Baseball family, so my parents didn't know anything about the game. So as a 5 year old, I just asked my dad to name some teams so that I could pick one to root for. He mentions the Red Wings eventually, and that ends up becoming my team since red was my favorite color. Here we are about two decades later, and they've been my team ever since.

 

[minitrucker83]

Born and raised in STL but as a baseball fan. My parents were friends with a couple that had a son my age and played in the same baseball league. We were on rival teams and I really didnt care for the kid. At a friendly get together the son was rooting for the blues during a blues vs wings game around 1993. I decided to root against him and the blues and it stuck. The next year I quit playing baseball, played soccer for one year, and then moved to hockey and never looked back. The first stanley cup finals I watched was 93-94 Mtl vs La.

 

[KJoe88]

Born in '88 in Dearborn, MI and started watching in '94/'95 due to my parents watching them. I was kind of naturally introduced to the Wings like many people here. And I'm glad I was. I love this team.

I fondest memories will be the '08 run because I was older; the cup run was a more gratifying and I was able to appreciate it more. Also, really the entire millennia when Datsyuk and Z took over. They were so good. Just untouchable on the ice together.

Until this day I'll never known where the time has gone.

Cherish hockey and your favorite players. I wish I cherished Pavel and Hank more often because it may be a while until we see two Wings as good as them.

 

[minitrucker83]

St Louis native here. I got into hockey becaise of Sega Genesis. I used to like the Blues, but my uncle and his lame Blackhawks always beat my ass in NHL 94. Finally I said forget this and took a new team, the Red Wings, and I beat him. I said to myself "I just found my favorite team."

STL representing the DRW. We've probably passed each other a few times at Kiel/Scottrade center. My go to line when a blues fan gives me **** is "atleast we both hate chicago". Never fails, lol. Look for a 30ish yr old male wearing a Howe jersey and I hope u give your STL buddies as much grief about the Yzerman double OT goal as I do!!!

 

[BegemotManiac]

I'm from Kazakhstan, ex-USSR republic.

We've got a cable TV somewhere around mid-90s. And there was ESPN. Broadcasting NHL. So if you are a Russian guy in the mid-90s, loving hockey, your natural choice to cheer for was Red Wings. Obviously because of Russian five.

 

[GrafSk8r12]

It was around 95 or 96 when I first started getting into hockey thanks to Ice Hockey on the NES. NHL on Fox was showing a Wings game, and they had an interview with Sergei Fedorov. I focused on him for the rest of the game and was a fan immediately.

 

[PelagicJoe]

STL representing the DRW. We've probably passed each other a few times at Kiel/Scottrade center. My go to line when a blues fan gives me **** is "atleast we both hate chicago". Never fails, lol. Look for a 30ish yr old male wearing a Howe jersey and I hope u give your STL buddies as much grief about the Yzerman double OT goal as I do!!!

Ha. I use that exact same line about Chicago all the time. My boss gives me crap abut the Wings all the time. I eventually told him that joke about why Blues fans drink from bowls, because all the cups are in Montreal and Detroit.

 

[Squirrel in the Hole]

I've been a Wings fan since I can remember. Native Detroiter, but I never found the affinity I have for the Wings in any of the other professional teams in town. I've successfully transplanted my love of hockey and the Wings to a very small pocket of Aussies in Sydney (except for the prodigal brother-in-law who lived in Montreal for 5 years).

 

[YmondHC]

They had the most europeans in the early ninities.

 

[Hammettf2b]

Playing the old NHL games I always picked the Wings because the #91 guy was soooo fast. Then I would make some trades to have a line of Bure-Fedorov-Bure. Did that with every NHL game haha. Been rooting for the Wings ever since and Fedorov is my all time favorite player still to this day.

 

[needzmoarcleary]

Born in 87, went to my first wings game at 5 years of age. Winnipeg vs Detroit at Joe Louis in 1992...Wings won. Actually one of the wings tossed a puck over the glass to me..I bobbled it, dropped it and someone else picked it up and ran away however been a die hard ever since.

 

[BSHH]

While I was not an overly huge hockey fan back then and the NHL was very difficult to follow from Germany in the 90ies, I became interested in Detroit after they signed the Russian stars. By mere coincidence, I intensified that interest in 2008 and was lucky to celebrate the Stanley Cup win soon. I know what you are thinking right now, but I am sure that I would have become addicted anyway.

Gruß,
BSHH

 

[jaster]

Don't remember exactly when. But I was born in Detroit and my grandpa started taking me to games at the Joe in the late-80s. Have played hockey my whole life and have been a die-hard Wings fan for as long as I can remember.

Was fun knowing people, including my wife, who worked for the Wings over the years. Used to get all kinds of insider nuggets, and occasionally play Score-O during intermissions (if you went to games in the early 2000s you may have booed me once or twice). Have gone to TC for training camp a couple times and met several Wings around town (and went drinking with some Griffs). Speaking of which, I ran into Drapes a couple weeks back in Madison during a Michigan-Wisconsin hockey game. He says hi to you all.