Road swing through Western Canada, a trip home for some Red Wings

November 20, 1:08 AMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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 The Detroit Red Wings embark on a three-game road trip through Western Canada, a trip home for some Red Wing players.

Chris Osgood, originally from Peace River, Alberta, expects to see family and friends at all three stops on this trip.

“My dad lives in Edmonton, so he’s right there and he always goes to the game,” said Osgood of who expects to see on the first stop on Thursday night. “ He’s been a die hard Oilers fan until I started playing in the NHL, so now they’re his second favourite team.

“And in Calgary, all my friends live about two hours south in Medicine Hat, Alberta. My brother and all his friends come in from there. That’s always the place where I have to get the most tickets, because I have 10 to 15 family and friends come to that game.”

The final stop of the trip is in Vancouver where Osgood meets with his mom and her friends. “My mother lives in Grand Forks, British Columbia, which is like four hours from Vancouver. So she probably comes the furthest. She always comes with all of her friends to Vancouver to watch us play the Canucks.”

While the trip is an opportunity to see family and friends the schedule does not always lend itself to lengthy visits, however the players squeeze as much visiting time in as possible.

“We get a break in between games, so it’s a little less hectic than the last trip to Florida or when we go out west to Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, and Dallas which is really a busy trip for us. This one is good where we can break it up and get a rest in between.

"When we go to Edmonton we will go out a day early, so I will eat at my parents house," explained Osgood of his plans. "We will practice the next day, and we will have some time there. After the Edmonton game we will fly to Calgary, so we will get a day there. We will probably have a practice, but we will still about a day to hang around there. We willplay on Saturday night and we will leave Sunday to go to Vancouver."

Brad Stuart (AP, Mike Carlson)

Defenseman Brad Stuart hails from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, and looks forward to the trip especially the Alberta leg.

“All my family pretty much lives about two hours from both Edmonton and Calgary, so usually most of my family will make the trip up for both games, and it’s always nice to see them,” said Stuart. “Some of my friends will come in from Red Deer, which is about an hour from Calgary and Edmonton, and it’s always good to see everybody.”

As to when Stuart gets to see friend and family who make the trip to see him, he explains it's not always predictable. "Every trip is different, usually I will see them after the game. Somteimes they will come in early, but everybody has work. If it happens to be on the weekend, than that would be the case (seeing them before the game), or maybe the night before I will be able to hook up with some of my family or some of my friends depending on who has what on their schedule. But I usually get to see everybody after the games, one way or another I will get to see everybody.

For goaltender Ty Conklin from Anchorage, Alaska this trip is as close to home as he will get this season, however, there won’t be any family there to see him.

"Nobody is going to come and see me on this trip," said Conklin. "We have a new baby in our house. Everybody is coming here (Detroit), nobody wants to see me, they're all coming here to see the baby."