DETROIT (Reuters) - You can buy a house in the Motor City for the cost of a playoff ticket, but for the Detroit Red Wings, home ice is priceless as they meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Stanley Cup winner-take-all Game Seven Friday.
It is the second consecutive year Pittsburgh and Detroit have clashed for the Cup and Joe Louis Arena has been a virtual fortress for the Red Wings.
Last year, the Penguins were shutout in the opening two games of the finals in Detroit while their only win in the Motor City required triple overtime.
This year, in three games at "the Joe" the Penguins are without a victory and scored just two goals.
"We've just been way more comfortable on home ice in the playoffs," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told reporters on Thursday. "We were a great road team in the regular season.
"We haven't been as good in the playoffs.
"This is where we work. This is where we live. It's our fans, it's our city and we're proud to be from Michigan and have the opportunity we do in front of our fans."
The Red Wings' march to the Stanley Cup last year provided one of the few feel-good moments for the battered city, where property fire sales have seen houses exchange hands for as little as $100. Game Seven standing room tickets have been advertised for $275 on one ticketing website.
Another championship parade would no doubt help lift the mood of Detroiters, who are at ground zero of an economic meltdown that has crippled the auto industry and sent unemployment and foreclosures soaring.
The hardships being faced by their supporters have not been lost on the Red Wings and their coach who has witnessed the devastation first hand.
"People that don't live here have no idea what it's like in Detroit right now," Babcock told reporters. "I know in my neighborhood, and I live in a nice neighborhood, the foreclosures and the kids in my kids' schools that got to move and dads don't have jobs and people are helping them -- it's incredible.
"They don't get to come to the games, they cost too much.
"But they get to watch them on TV and they get to enjoy it, and get as fired up as we do ... To me, that's a fantastic thing."
"I enjoy being here in Detroit because the people care about hockey so much."
(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Ian Ransom; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Source: Reuters
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