I’m going to start this out with a disclaimer: I don’t have a favorite hockey team.

Seriously, I’m from Michigan and I’m not a Detroit Red Wings fan. Is that blasphemy? Probably, but I don’t know, it’s just something I never full connected to.

Regardless, I think hockey is one of best sports around, and Tuesday’s Red-White intra-squad scrimmage at the Van Andel Arena in down town Grand Rapids proved as one of the coolest experiences of my career.

That career is only six years old, but seriously, this is a game that needs to be downtown every year. It was the first time the game has been played in Grand Rapids since 2003, and the late-arriving crowd of 10,714 loved all ten goals scored in the Red team’s 6-4 victory over the White.

Apparently, the players themselves loved being back too, because it wasn’t just the young guys from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins out there hustling. Former Griffins Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula, now skating with the big boys in Detroit, both scored in the game – Filppula twice.

“It was a lot of fun, I think it’s good for us to get back to this side of the state,” said goaltender Jimmy Howard, who played in Grand Rapids from 2005-2008. “Not only do people support us in Detroit, but they also support us down here – I had four great years here, and it’s always nice to get back here.”

Along with Howard, your stars were there – Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Lidstrom – but there was also a good mix of young Griffins on the ice as well.

The crazy thing about that is there were 15 guys playing in this game between the ages of 20 and 22. If they weren’t, you know, playing professional hockey, they’d be college students just like all of us.

Think about that. What did you do last night? Go to the library, grab dinner at Fresh and then watch the new episode of Modern Family?

Well, on Tuesday, 20-year-old Tomas Tatar was playing in the Red-White game, scoring the first goal of the game for the White team.

Yeah, wow is right.

By the way, Tatar was probably the best player on the ice for the White team last night, he’s going to be up with the Red Wings before January. Mark that one down.

But really, most of the guys on the team are a lot like us. They may play a sport for a living, but these are some of the most laid back guys out there, and they lived right in downtown Grand Rapids – just like so many GVSU students.

“I’ve told all my best friends from home that, off the ice, this was as much fun as I’ve ever had,” said defenseman Niklas Kronwall. “You know, you go to dinner and you end up at a karaoke bar – you have a beer and listen to some guys sing some songs – it was a great time in my life, and I’m really happy I was fortunate enough to play here.”

I know what you’re thinking, but no, Kronwall said he never had his American Idol moment on the karaoke stage, but fortunately another former Griffin, Jiri Hudler, had his.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I did some Grease music, from the movie. That’s my specialty.” said Hudler.

The Red Wings, Grand Rapids, karaoke – it doesn’t get any better than that.

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