Red Wings' Justin Abdelkader to Appear at Allen Park Meijer

The Muskegon native is among two Red Wings set to appear at six Metro Detroit Meijer locations this season.

Red Wings fans can meet one of the team's star players Tuesday in Allen Park. Detroit Red Wings forwards Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm are set to appear at various Meijer locations throughout the Metro Detroit area during the 2012-13 season, signing autographs and interacting with fans at six different Metro Detroit Meijer locations.   Abdelkader, a Muskegon native and former Michigan State Spartan, kicked off the season-long campaign on Monday with a stop at the Canton store. On Tuesday, he'll be at the Meijer in Allen Park from 6-7 p.m. The store is located at the Fairlane Green at 3565 Fairlane Boulevard. Four additional stops featuring Helm and Abdelkader are scheduled for the months of March and April in Madison Heights, …

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Detroit Red Wings Announce 2013 Schedule

Hockey season is finally here, but Dearborn-area fans are split on whether or not they'll be going to a game this season.

With the NHL lockout officially over, the Detroit Red Wings have announced their 2013 schedule. The Wings will play 48 games in 99 days as Detroit looks to extend its 21-season playoff streak, the longest current streak in professional sports. Tickets to all 24 of the Red Wings’ 2013 home games are set to go on sale this coming Thursday, Jan. 17, beginning at 1 p.m. Dearborn Patch Facebook fans were split on whether or not they'll support the Wings season after the lockout, which lasted for nearly four months amidst union disputes. "This year I'm on strike too...they will have to negotiate for next year with me," wrote reader Andrea Haag. "They don't deserve my money," agreed reader Joe Adams. But some just can't ignore the lure of their …

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Do You Support a New Sports Arena in Downtown Detroit? Join the Conversation

Leave a comment to let us know what you think about a possible new sports arena in downtown Detroit.

Do You Support a New Sports Arena in Downtown Detroit?

Leave a comment below to let us know what you think about a proposed development in downtown Detroit that could be the new home of the Detroit Red Wings.

Do you support a new sports arena in downtown Detroit? That’s what Patch wants to know this week after Mike Ilitch announced plans to develop a new district downtown that would include a “multi-purpose events center,” according to HuffPost Detroit. The new development could replace Joe Louis Arena as home to the Detroit Red Wings, the NHL team that Ilitch owns. Olympia Development said the events center alone could create 5,500 jobs and that the entire development would create approximately 8,500 jobs. What do you think? Do you want a new arena downtown? Would it help Detroit? Would it help–or hurt—other communities in southeastern Michigan? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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Hockey Starved? Wings Alumni, Carhartt Play for Charity in Dearborn Friday

Proceeds from the game will benefit people with disabilities served by the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center.

The NHL lockout is still ongoing, but that doesn't mean Red Wings fans can't get a dose of hockey action. On Friday, Dec. 7, Red Wings alumni will take on Carhartt employees on the ice of the Dearborn Ice Skating Center at 7 p.m. for a good cause. The DISC is located at 14900 Ford Road in Dearborn. Proceeds will benefit the Macomb-Oakland Regional Center, which serves 5,000 people with disabilities in Macomb, Oakland, Wayne and nine other counties. Tickets for the general public are available at the door for $10, while tickets are free for people with disabilities and their caregivers or family members who accompany them. “Carhartt and the Red Wings Alumni have made a difference year after year in the lives of thousands of our people,” …

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Neighbor Remembers Budd Lynch as 'Nicest Person You Could Meet'

Memorial services for the late Detroit Red Wings announcer, 95, are Friday and Saturday.

A neighbor of the late Budd Lynch, Tonia Rosalee Deliz, remembers him as a wonderful, funny man who called her Liz. Lynch, a longtime announcer for the Detroit Red Wings, passed away at age 95 on Tuesday. His funeral service is open to the public, and memorial contributions can be made to support children through The Guidance Center in Southgate. Lynch’s funeral service is likely to be very well-attended, Deliz said, because so many people knew and liked him. “He was so friendly and down to earth,” she said. “He was very independent.” Despite the loss of his arm (during World War II shortly after the D-Day Invasion at Normandy), Lynch would golf and drive in winter snowstorms, Deliz said. And he would never let her help him take out his …

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Wyandotte Remembers Longtime Resident Budd Lynch, 95

Community members knew Lynch as a friendly gentleman who helped many charitable causes including The Guidance Center, which has set up an endowment fund in his honor.

With the passing of longtime Detroit Red Wings announcer Budd Lynch, 95, of Wyandotte, many in the community remember him as a great man who was never too busy to say hello or help a charitable cause. Mayor Joseph Peterson said he knew Lynch for more than 35 years. They met when Lynch was a customer at a Mobil gas station at Northline and Biddle, where Peterson worked when he came home from the Vietnam War. Lynch also was a military veteran, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II, his obituary said. He survived the amputation of his right arm. And Peterson knew Lynch from when he coached hockey for 27 years, Peterson said. Lynch’s late wife, Thelma, worked for municipal services. “Budd was a top-notch guy,” Peterson …

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Column: Lidstrom Retirement a Loss to Hockey—And to Fans

University of Michigan-Dearborn graduate Samantha Elliot reflects on the retirement of the Detroit Red Wings great after 20 seasons.

In three months, the Joe Louis will reopen their doors. The ice will be a crisp white, the smell of hot dogs will drift through the corridors, and a sell-out crowd wearing red and white will fill the seats. Detroit Red Wings hockey will be back under way, but the atmosphere in the arena will be different as a new game of hockey emerges. A game that, for the first time in 20 seasons, doesn’t include Captain Nicklas Lidstrom. On Thursday, Lidstrom announced that, after much thought and consideration, he doesn’t feel that he has what it takes to play at the level he expects of himself and will be hanging up his skates. When the Wings’ season ended this past April, speculation of Lidstrom’s retirement was the topic in Hockeytown. It wasn’t a …

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