But he grew up WITHIN EYESIGHT OF THE JOE!
I went to Windsor in 1994 for graduate school, the UofW just across the Detroit River from the Joe, I, in an apartment midway between the Ambassador Bridge and the tunnel north of the arena (from downtown).
I am VanIander. Born in Vancouver General Hospital just a couple of weeks before now, just more than 55 years ago, going through most of elementary school in a small coastal town on Vancouver Island (an island longer than South Korea, where i've been working a long time).
I went to IHL rookie and defensive player of the year Viper Sergei Samsonov games. I went to and begrudgedly cheered for a Leafs win during a Red Wings NHL-record-setting win NHL season. I had my heart crushed by watching Coffey circle center ice like one of my Canucks, Cliff Ronning, i much more disappointed by #7 cuz i wore his number - before i was cut in youth hockey, as a dman. Ugh.
Hockey got me my multi-year journalism career (4 to 7 years, depends how you cut it).
Please do not ridicule me for living within eyesight of the Joe (and seeing fans walk up the steps) because it is a fond memory. That said, i was not trying to live there; in fact several attempts to living closer to the University of Windsor were unsuccessful. (I did often buy lunch from Subway while walking to campus - fresh Filipino coconut buns if i cut Eastward)
I was there at the barn in Windsor when Spezza was booed and Ott cheered. Look it up. (It was preInternet so idgaf if google or the like succeeds).