Red Wings announce initial participants for Alumni Showdown

DETROIT - The Red Wings announced today the initial participants for the Alumni Showdown against the Toronto Maple Leafs alumni squad.

Red Wings legends Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio and Ted Lindsay highlighted the former players who will be partaking in the contest.

Also playing in the game will be Hall of Famers Luc Robitaille, Dino Ciccarelli, Chris Chelios, Larry Murphy and Mark Howe.

Red Wings broadcaster Mickey Redmond will lace up for the team, along with fellow 50-goal scorer, John Ogrodnick.

The Red Wings lineup will also include the famous "Grind Line" members, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty and Joe Kocur.

Playing net for the Red Wings will be Stanley Cup winning goaltenders Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon.

In order to accommodate the large number of alumni from each franchise, Red Wings GM Ken Holland said there will be two games.

"When we began the process of determining who should be on the roster for the Red Wings alumni team, it became very obvious, very quickly that we simply did not have enough room on one bench to hold enough of the many deserving players," Holland said.

The Maple Leafs roster includes some big names as well, such as Darryl Sittler, Darcy Tucker, Felix Potvin, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark and Curtis Joseph.

The two games will take place on December 31 at Comerica Park.