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Avs fan takes Wings' Glendening for quite the thrill ride

August 26, 2015, 8:43 PM ET [6 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Imagine hurtling through the sky at speeds in excess of 700 mph, while dealing with G-forces as high as 7.1.

Now, imagine you are a Detroit Red Wings player and the fellow in the cockpit, the man at the controls, literally with your life in his hands, is a Colorado Avalanche fan.

That was the dilemma facing Red Wings forward Luke Glendening on Wednesday.

Glendening rode along with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels in an F/A-18 Hornet on Wednesday at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich., in advance of this weekend’s Thunder Over Michigan Air Show. His pilot as he flew in Blue Angel 7, U.S. Marine Corps captain Jeff Kuss, acknowledged that his favourite NHL team was the Avalanche, Detroit’s bitter rival.

“Yeah, I’m from Colorado, so I grew up watching the Avalanche but great respect for the strong rivalry between the Red Wings and Avs,” Kuss said. “I told him I respected him as a player and was excited to be flying him today.

“So hopefully that was a mutual conversation.”

Based on Glendening’s level of excitement, the feeling was certainly mutual.

“It was unbelievable,” Glendening. “It’s surreal. It was like the Dragster (Top Thrill Dragster) at Cedar Point times 10. It was awesome. It’s like the best roller coaster you’ve ever been on. Obviously, the plane is special. It was a cool experience.

“Seriously, you couldn't get the smile off my face up there. It’s such a special memory that I’ll have forever.”

Inclement weather didn’t permit Kuss to go all out when they got airborne, but he still was able to provide Glendening with quite the show.

“We had a little bit of cloud cover so we couldn’t go as high as we normally do, but we got up to 45 degrees, nose high, 5.1 Gs there,” Kuss said. “I was able to showcase what the aircraft is capable of.

“We got on top of the cloud layer here, we went upside down, we went slow and fast, we pulled a lot of G and I think he caught up on a little sleep at one point but other than that he did a nice job.”

Glendening did admit that the G-forces got the better of him and he briefly passed out while in flight.

“Yeah, I blacked out one time,” Glendening said. “I shouldn't have told you guys that but I did one time.”

Regardless, he wouldn’t have missed this chance for the world.

“I was looking forward to it all summer,” Glendening said. “It exceeded every expectation I had.”

As much as he might have wanted to, Kuss didn’t hit up Glendening for tickets to the Feb. 26 Stadium Series game between the Avs and Wings slated for Coors Field.

“He did bring it up, though,” Kuss said. “If there’s time, I’d definitely like to go out and see that. That would be great.”

Training Camp Schedule
The Wings revealed their training camp plans for next month. Camp will commence on Thursday, Sept. 17 with the 16th annual Training Camp Golf Classic at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa prior to four days of on-ice practices from Friday, Sept. 18 to Monday, Sept. 21, held at Centre Ice Arena in Traverse City, Mich.

The first group is slated to hit the ice at 9:30 a.m. Red Wings players, prospects and tryouts will be split into three teams – Team Delvecchio, Team Howe and Team Lindsay – as they practice and scrimmage during camp.

Camp will wrap up with the annual Red & White Game at noon on Sept 21. The Red Wings will return to Detroit before traveling to their first pre-season game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets for all events are available online at www.centreice.org. Prices for practice sessions are $10 for standing-room only, $15 for reserved seating and $20 for the mezzanine. Tickets for the Training Camp Alumni and Celebrity Game and Red and White Game will start at $20 for standing-room only, $25 for reserved seating and $30 for the mezzanine. Select 2015 training camp merchandise will also be available for purchase.

For additional information, please contact the Centre Ice Arena offices at (231) 933-7465.

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