Geoff currently stars as Eddie Latekka on the ABC drama, October Road. Prior to that, he made appearances in 7th Heaven, Reunion, and the hit film, Wedding Crashers. Geoff was born a Detroit Red Wings fan and will follow the Wings throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.


First of all, for those of you reading my brother George’s blog, don’t bother – you Avs fans might like it a little better, of course – but for those of us who followed the Wings/Avs matchups throughout the 90s, this is the only blog you’ll need to read.


I almost feel lucky that we go to watch one of the greatest rivalries in sports, that we were fans right from the beginning. It was funny, when the Avs got a team, and started battling the Wings in the playoffs every year, all of a sudden I hated my friends.


I remember specifically, there was a guy (I won’t say his name, of course), that to this day I still want to punch when I see him. He was a couple years older, and we were watching one of the Wings/Avs playoff games, this guy comes in and he threw my Red Wings hat on the ground. I didn’t even really know him that well, but right then and there decided I don’t like you or any other Avs fan from here on out.


Of course, that’s just for hockey games between the Avs and Wings. I guess outside of that, I could be friends with an Avs fan (lucky for George).


That’s about the time when I really began to feel like we were fans. When we were younger growing up in Detroit, we got into hockey, and we played and loved the Wings, but then we moved up in the mountains in Colorado (way up – our school only had like 400 people), and all of a sudden there is no ice anywhere except out on the lakes. So our entire school district didn’t have anything hockey, and we kind of lost a bit of our passion.


So it was a distant thing with us for a little while. When we’d go back to Michigan our friends were still into it and they’d always talk Red Wings hockey, it was almost instilled in us the way we got right back into it, but in Colorado I was a Wings fan but I never really followed it, felt it. If anyone asked me I was a Wings fans, but it didn’t mean a lot to me until I started following more and more. The last 15 years or so have been better.


I’ll give the Avs credit for one thing though, instilling a feeling of “this is my team” in me. It took a healthy rivalry and a dislike of the Avs to really get me into it. Because right away, from the first playoff series, the rivalry started, and I was into it. My love and devotion to the Wings happened as soon the Nordiques became the Avs.


So I guess for that, I am grateful.


Mich Ohio State, Yanks/Red Sox and there is no way you can’t put Wings/Avs in there as the best I would love to see them meet, but I would also love to see them out in the first round. As soon as they got Foote and Forsberg they started ringing.


My favorite Wing of all time has always been McCarty so I’m thrilled that he’s back, Actually, a cousin of ours was in Grinder, McCarty’s band, and I’ve had the chance to meet and speak with him.


He’s my favorite, he epitomizes the blue collar, hard working, beer drinking kind of guy, and that’s what I like about him. I’m sure other teams have that, but McCarty, Draper Maltby; those are the guys for me. When I think Wings, they’ve been there for so long, 10, 12 years or more, that they epitomize what the Wings are to me.


The Wings, they’ve always had solid scorers, but what keeps them going is those gritty players. That’s what makes the Red wheel turn. And this season, with McCarty, Cleary, Drake, Maltby, Downie, even guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk who work as hard as anyone – I think that a return to the Finals isn’t out of the question. It would be nice, it’s been too long since the last Wings’ parade. I would know – I was there.


Heck, I wouldn’t have missed them for the world.


Actually when we won the Cup in ’02, we were dead broke, but we took red eye flights to get back and watch the parade. The last two times we won, we didn’t have places to stay even, we came back just to be a part of it. It’s really the only team I really care about, and then to a lesser degree, the Lions, Tigers and the Pistons.


But, to the series.


I believe in the Wings and I believe if they play their game, they will win this series. As long as the Wings go in and do the little things, you know – protect the net, play physical, play smart and all that, then I believe they will move on. I think they learned lessons from last season.


This year they’ve made sure they have bigger guys, they have a team almost built to handle the Ducks, should they meet. This year, it seems like they have the horses, and I don’t think they’re going to get pushed around.


I was actually doing some research for this blog yesterday, I went back over the season, over the Nash games, and I noticed a lot have been close. There were a lot of 2-0 and 1-0, games, a lot of 1-goal games, so you can tell this series is going to be close. But I don’t think over seven games series that Nashville will be able to stay with them.


The thing is, and I know I’m speaking for Wings fans everywhere with this one, that it’s hard to feel confident about it because I’ve watched them get beat when I thought they could win. Regardless, I won’t miss a minute of any of the upcoming games.


I’m not working on anything currently, I’ll be leaving in a few weeks but for now it’s all hockey for me. I have two movies coming out this year: “The Express,” a film about the first African American Heisman Trophy Winner, Bernie Davis coming out in October, and then like I said I’m shooting the movie “She’s out of my League,” which we’re shooting in Pittsburgh.


I’ll actually get to see some of them play. I’d rather watch the wings, but hey: playoff hockey is playoff hockey. It’s all outstanding. What about those games last night? Unreal. That San Jose team, even though they lost, looks very dangerous.


So I’ll be watching tonight, with my Center Ice subscription and my Wings hat ready to roll. This is it, it starts tonight.