Detroit Red Wings get social during NHL playoffs

The Detroit Red Wings have had a pretty busy season. They came in second in the Western Conference and they knocked out the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Now they're working to put it toward the Anaheim Ducks (who, for the record, I hope fry for knocking out my San Jose Sharks).

This article isn't a recap of the Red Wings season, really. It's about how the hockey team -- which has some of the most loyal fans in the league -- has become a bit more social by providing a tool bar solution from Conduit, a company that offers Web site syndication through community tool bars.  The tool bar gives fans faster access to breaking team news and tickets directly from the browser.  The FanBar syndicates Red Wings content and applications directly onto the toolbars which sit on the fans’ browsers.

I've always thought the Conduit tool bars were a good idea for the NHL (which I said last year when I wrote about the MLB's installation -- and I don't even like baseball). The tool bar includes a Red Wings TV gadget to play highlights from the Hockey Show along with complete news coverage of the team, the playoff schedule, the Red Wings blog, and in-depth player information. The Detroit Red Wings also use Conduit’s Desktop Alerts to get urgent news to fans in real-time, such as ticket updates and player injuries.

The Red Wings didn't stop with just the tool bar. They turned the new program into a giveaway opportunity for its fans. While it's now closed, it's still cool. For those fans who downloaded the tool bar they were given a submission page to put in for a drawing of home game playoff tickets during the second round. They had 1K+ submissions in less than 48 hours.

Perhaps the San Jose Sharks will follow. They need to do something for us sad fans.

Update: I heard from Bill Roose with the Red Wings who let me know the team is doing some live player chats. One will happen on Thursday, May 7, with Andreas Lilja (details here) and will also host a WingsLive chat during game 5 of the Anaheim / Detroit series on Sunday, May 10 (details here). Roose said four players participated in the last WingsLive chat. Join them!