The Detroit Red Wings are the most successful United States-based team in NHL history, with 10 Stanley Cup championships, each achieved in either the old Olympia Stadium or Joe Louis Arena.  For 52 years, the Red Wings played their games in the Olympia, as it was simply known among Detroiters. The venue had seats for close to 14,000 people and, due to its design and facade, was also referred to as “The Red Barn.”

Its “passing” – it was demolished in 1986 – was mourned by the hundreds of thousands of people who had played there or watched hockey, boxing, the Harlem Globetrotters and countless entertainers, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis, perform there over the years.

At the time, many thought that the building should have been preserved as an historical site. A U.S. National Guard armory is situated where the Olympia once stood. Inside is a memorial noting the arena’s existence there.

It was at The Red Barn that such Red Wings greats as Sid Abel, Gordie (“Mr. Hockey”) Howe, “Terrible” Ted Lindsay, goalies Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall, and forward Alex Delvecchio displayed their hockey skills.
 
“The Olympia was a loud but intimate building with lots of atmosphere,” wrote Morgan Hughes in his 1997 book “The Best of Hockey.
  
“The boards were egg-shaped and Detroit players learned exactly where to shoot the puck on dump-ins and where to go to retrieve it,” reported Bob Duff in his reference book, “History of Hockeytown,” published in 2002.

Duff also noted that “Detroit won the Cup-clinching games in five of its nine (now 10) Stanley Cups on Olympia ice, including Game 7 overtime decisions in 1950 and 1954.” The Red Wings won four Cups in the 1950s.

The Olympia was the scene of the birth of one of hockey’s most unusual traditions – the tossing of dead octopi onto the ice during the Red Wings’ playoff games.

Two brothers, Pete and Jerry Cusimano -- owners of the Eastern Market in Detroit -- first threw an octopus onto the ice on April 15, 1952, during the Cup finals.

Back then, four of the NHL’s six teams made the playoffs, and there were three series: two semifinal series and the finals. Therefore, the octopus’ eight tentacles represented the number of wins required to claim the Cup.

The Red Wings were unbeaten in the ’52 series when the Cusimano brothers did their thing. And they went on to take the Cup in the minimum eight games. “The octopus has come to be the good luck charm ever since,” according to Red Wings’ Web site.

Olympia Stadium was a great place to watch an NHL game, but as the expense of icing a competitive team increased and the expectations of their paying customers changed, the Wings needed a larger and more modern venue.
 
Midway through the 1979-80 NHL season, the team moved into Joe Louis Arena along the Detroit River in downtown Motown.

“The Joe,” the nickname residents use to refer to the arena, was named after longtime Detroit resident and longtime heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.

“The Joe, which cost $57 million and seats 20,066 for concerts, opened Dec. 12, 1979, with a college basketball game. The Red Wings first played there on Dec. 27, a loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Unfortunately, the arena opened during “Dead Wings Days,” an era marked by futility on the ice. The Wings qualified for the playoffs only twice from 1967 to 1983.
 
Their fortunes began to change in ’83, when the Wings management drafted center Steve Yzerman out of the Ontario Hockey League. An immediate fan favorite, Yzerman soon became the NHL’s youngest-ever captain. (Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby has since earned that distinction.) Today, Yzerman is a vice president wit the Wings.
  
Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Wings began their rise to NHL dominance. Within a span of five years, 1997 to 2002, the organization won three Stanley Cup championships.
 
As the 2007-08 regular season was winding down, Detroit had the best won-lost-tied record of all 30 NHL teams and was expected to skate deep into this year’s playoffs.

As for The Joe, it remains home to one of the league’s most successful franchises and the centerpiece of Hockeytown – but not for long. Red Wings owner Mike Illitch hopes to build a new arena for his team in the next few years.