Red Wings get more Original Six, Saturday dates for next season

BY GEORGE SIPPLE • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • July 18, 2008 More games against Original Six foes. More games against Eastern Conference teams. More games on Saturday nights. Not to mention an outdoor game Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field, Chicago. Those are the highlights of the Red Wings' 2008-09 regular-season schedule released Thursday. The Wings will host 13 Friday night or Saturday night games this season, compared with 11 last season, primarily because the number of Saturday night games jump from four to eight. "We wanted some more Friday and Saturday games," said Steve Violetta, senior vice president of business affairs. "If you look at the research, Fridays and Saturday are either 1-2 or 2-1" among favorite days of the week for fans to come to games. The first Saturday night home game is at 7 p.m. Oct. 18 against the New York... [read full story]