Emmerton's excited for return to JLA's 'classic feel'
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| Red Wings forward Cory Emmerton (left) battles defenseman Ian White for the puck this week at Troy Sports Center. (Photo by Bill Roose/Detroit Red Wings) |
TROY, Mich. – Red Wings forward Cory Emmerton hasn’t been in the league long enough to have played in every NHL building. But of the 21 rinks he has played in since making his NHL debut two years ago this month, there’s nothing better than 20,000 hockey-crazed fans at The Joe.
“The Joe is my favorite place to play with all of the history that it has and all of the great players who have played there and the fans just seem to live with every second of the game,” Emmerton said. “It’s a great place to play and I’m just excited to get back there.”
Emmerton has been part of a small group of Red Wings players who have participated in informal skates at the Troy Sports Center during the lockout, which was finally settled last Sunday after 113-days of labor unrest.
The abbreviated season schedule won’t be known before the players’ association ratifies the new collective bargaining agreement this Saturday. Emmerton said when the season does start and the Red Wings return to Joe Louis Arena for the opener, he’ll be elated
“It’s going to be awesome,” he said. “Obviously it’s been a long time. Skating here in an empty rink – while it’s fun to be here – it’s a whole different feeling when we have the fans like we do here in Detroit.”
Of the 30 current NHL arenas, 25 are less than 20-years-old. The Joe, which opened in 1979, is the fourth oldest building in the league, after Madison Square Garden (1968), Nassau Coliseum (1972) and Rexall Place (1974).
Still, Emmerton, who grew-up outside of London, Ontario, prefers the advantages of playing in comfortable confines of JLA.
“It’s got that classic feel of a rink,” Emmerton said. “Obviously, the newer rinks are amazing and all of the technology and the amenities that they have. But when you’re at The Joe, it feels like you’re there for one reason. You’re there to watch a hockey game and to get the experience to see it in a pretty historic rink that has been around for a long time.”
