Wings Blog

Category: Red Wings

Like father, like son

The fourth-annual dads' trip begins today with many of the fathers scheduled to fly in from Detroit to join the team in San Jose.

After Saturday night's game, the fathers will fly on the team plane to Phoenix for Tuesday's game against the Coyotes. Some are planning a father-son golf outing for Sunday.

Marian Hossa said his father is looking forward to going on this type of bonding trip for the first time. Frantisek Hossa coached the Slovakian team in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

"He's been in Olympics, national team, world championships, stuff like that," Hossa said. "So he's been around. But I don't think he's seen anything like this. It's going to be good for his experience."

Kirk Maltby's father, Fred, doesn't like to fly so Maltby's father-in-law, Richard Lictawa, will be making the trip.

"He grew up cheering for the Red Wings," Maltby said. "He gets a great joy out of it.

"They don't just see how we travel and how we are away from the rink and on the ice. They see what we do. They'll sit in the meetings. They just jump right into our routine."

The fathers' trip became a yearly event after Mike Babcock became coach in 2005-06.

In most cases, the dads stay in the same room with their sons.

"It's a great tradition they're doing here," said Kris Draper, whose father, Mike, who has made all of the dads' trips. "It's nice to be able to create these memories."

Tomas Kopecky, 26, said his father is working and won't be able to come in from Slovakia.

"I'm going to have Cheli as my dad," Kopecky said, referring to teammate Chris Chelios, who turns 47 on Jan. 25.