Joey Payeur
Brenda Hanzuk walked down the aisle of one of hockey’s historic buildings for the very last time with what was even better than a Stanley Cup ring on her finger–ensuring it won’t be her last time walking down an aisle.
The Fort Frances resident and now fiancé Brad Fairnington spent the weekend in Detroit combining a celebration of hockey’s past with a big step forward towards their own future together.
It all started when Fairnington, a devoted Detroit Red Wings’ fan, got it in his head that he wanted he and his Montreal Canadiens’-loving partner Hanzuk to be on hand for the closing days of the legendary Joe Louis Arena, which has been the home of the Red Wings since 1979.
“I saw that Detroit and Montreal were going to play the second-last game there, and I thought it would be real nice to get tickets for that game and the final one [Sunday] against New Jersey,” noted Fairnington, who claims Hall-of-Fame centre Steve Yzerman as his hero.
“So I went on StubHub and paid a little extra than face value for the seats,” he added.
“We were a little leery walking in Saturday night, a little nervous [that the tickets were fakes],” chuckled Hanzuk.
Their worries quickly were erased when they were granted access inside the arena without any difficulty.
What Fairnington hadn’t told Hanzuk beforehand was the additional research he had done after getting the tickets.
“I had thought about proposing for a while, and I figured I had to try and see if I could do something since we were seeing our favourite teams together,” he explained.
“I looked on the Red Wings’ website and saw that there was a link where you could put your name in for doing things like birthday wishes and other things, including proposals,” he added.
“I decided I was going to give it a shot.”
The big moment arrived during the first intermission of Saturday’s game–and Hanzuk almost unintentionally wrecked the whole plan.
“I was trying to go to the washroom,” laughed the bride-to-be.
“Brad said I should stick around because he thought they were going to do something special during the intermission and I said OK.”
That something special was a message on the Jumbotron scoreboard hanging above centre ice scripted by Fairnington, asking for Hanzuk’s hand in marriage after 19 months of being together.
“I was happy, stunned, surprised,” said Hanzuk. “It was an amazing memory.”
And her answer?
“She said ‘yes’ or she wouldn’t be in the truck right now,” joked Fairnington, who surrendered bragging rights to Hanzuk after the Canadiens won the game 4-3 in overtime.
It would have been tough to top Saturday’s events, but Sunday’s last stand at “The Joe” came very close for the couple.
“They had a red carpet laid out, and past and current Red Wings’ players were walking on it to get into the arena,” recalled Hanzuk.
“The amount of people there was extraordinary,” she added. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Detroit beat New Jersey 4-1 to send the arena out in winning style, with Hanzuk even relenting and donning Fairnington’s Red Wings’ jersey to be a Detroit fan for the day along with the rest of those on hand.
A post-game ceremony was held on the ice, with speeches from both Yzerman and the NHL’s all-time winningest coach, Scotty Bowman, who led the Wings to three Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, and 2002.
“We were very, very lucky to get to see one last game in ‘The Joe,'” said Hanzuk, who revealed no date is set for their special day yet.
“When it happens, it happens.”
