Initial Participants announced for 2012 Red Wings v.s. Maple Leafs Alumni Showdown...PLAYERS REACTION TO THIS GAME GO TO YOUTUBE UNDER: currich5

url=https://servimg.com/view/15986962/2257][/url]
url=https://servimg.com/view/15986962/2259][/url]

Detroit Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland and Toronto Maple Leafs Vice President of Hockey Operations Dave Poulin announced preliminary rosters for the 2012 Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings Alumni Showdown on December 31 at Comerica Park, part of the 2012 SiriusXM Hockeytown Winter Festival Holland also announced that due to overwhelming response from the Detroit and Toronto Alumni Associations, as well as the challenges each franchise faced in narrowing down a multitude of hockey legends on to one roster, fans will now be treated to two alumni games featuring close to 100 players from these two storied franchises for just one ticket price.

“When we began the process of determining who should be on the roster for the Red Wings alumni team, it became very obvious, very quickly that we simply did not have enough room on one bench to hold enough of the many deserving players,” said Holland. “When we contacted Toronto and asked them what they thought about the possibility of two games, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief as they were going through the exact same issues we were in trying to fit all these players on one team.”

Detroit Red Wings alumni members confirmed to appear in December’s 2012 Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings Alumni Showdown include: 50-goal scorers Mickey Redmond and John Ogrodnick; Hall of Famers Luc Robitaille, Dino Ciccarelli, Chris Chelios, Larry Murphy and Mark Howe; all four members of ‘The Grind Line’ – Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Joe Kocur; Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon; and Red Wings® legends Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio.

Members of the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni scheduled to participate on New Year’s Eve at Comerica Park include: Hockey Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler; 50-goal scorer Rick Vaive; fan favorites Darcy Tucker, Felix Potvin, Mike Palmateer and Kevin Maguire; Stanley Cup champions Dave Andreychuk and Doug Gilmour; rough and tumble winger Wendel Clark; 454-win goaltender Curtis Joseph; and Maple Leafs legends Johnny Bower, Ron Ellis and Jim McKenny.