Detroit – The crowd rose and began to roar about three minutes before closing time, with the party nearing an end. And that’s really what this was, a celebratory nod to a cherished era, to a time when the most-festive gatherings took place in the Joe.
There was another unlikely goal by Riley Sheahan, another standing ovation, another batch of octopi on the ice. And as the final seconds ticked down, the echoes grew, just like old times.
Joe Louis Arena is done after nearly 38 years as a hockey arena, and it served its purpose right to the end, as a place where the events and the people mattered more than the gray walls.