Thoughts on a Three-Day Michigan Weekend and the Dallas Stars' Weak Ending

It's all about Saturday night, now

Great state, what state am I in?
Compass roses bloom again
Home of the water, Canada's daughter
Cradled in a crescent moon grin

***

On Saturday, Sean picked me up from a shopping center near the same airport I’m sitting in right now. While I’ve known Sean for a while (and even covered a couple of Stars games in the same press box as him in the 2019-20 season right after I arrived in Dallas), it had been a few years since we’d gotten together. So his offer to let me crash at his and Christina’s house for a couple of days while covering an AHL and NHL game was a welcome reunion.

So on Saturday, we drove two hours out to Grand Rapids, arriving just in time to grab a pregame meal at Van Andel Arena, where the bratwursts and waffle fries are more than enough to take the edge off a day’s worth of hunger.

Oh, and because it was the last game of the season, there’s a tradition at Grand Rapids Griffins games where the press box attendees all get to pick an ice cream treat. I went with the Twix ice cream bar, which is obviously the right choice. After not eating for most of the day, I finished the evening more than adequately fed.

As for the hockey, it was even more rewarding. Getting to see relatively new arrivals like Trey Taylor, Artem Shlaine, and Harrison Scott in person was more than worth the drive, and hopefully Sean and I were able to summarize a couple of things we discuss on those four hours on the road in the podcast the other day.

For me, the strongest impression might have been made at intermission, when a fearsome mythical beast wielded a military-grade hot dog cannon, firing at will into the crowd.

(Griff, as he is known, also fired one salvo into the bottom of the scoreboard by accident, drawing a Philadelphia-grade booing from the paying customers. Those that live by the hot dog cannon will die by the hot dog cannon, as it is written.)