Adventures of A Red Wings Packrat: Voodoo Doll Edition...

I recently discovered that I have an entire drawer full of Red Wings merchandise. I also have several shelves in my room devoted to the Wing-related memorabilia that I’ve collected over the years (I’m the world’s biggest packrat). Some of the stuff is pretty odd, and since I have nothing better to do this week, I thought I’d write about some of them.

Many of you may recognize this little beauty. It’s the Patrick Roy voodoo doll that the Free Press printed during the Wings-Avs series in ’02. It’s the original newsprint stuffed with Kleenex and sealed with staples. It really is a piece of artwork. During that series, we printed off several copies of the voodoo doll and they were abused in various ways. One found a permanent home underneath the bedpost in my brothers’ semi-bunk beds. It was subsequently forgotten and discovered months later. Another copy was repeatedly thrown against the wall in the family room when the Wings were firing shots on him. If I recall correctly, one of my brothers went the traditional route and stabbed one of the copies with a pin over and over again. For my part, I had another copy that I just shook nervously whenever the puck was in play (well, right up until about halfway through the first period of Game 7).

This particular version, being the original, got treated a little better than the others. As the only surviving voodoo doll (that we know of…who knows what we’ll find in my brothers’ rooms?), it’s enjoyed a place on my memorabilia shelf for the last eight years. In related news, the fact that it’s been eight years since the ’02 Cup makes me feel really old. My personal favorite touch is the 666 on the back.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of my random collections. Next up is Nick Lidstrom’s beer bottle. How did I acquire that, you ask? Tune in next time I decide to stop being lazy and write another one of these to find out.