How do you celebrate 30 years of wedded bliss? With hockey and 8,000 of your closest friends of course! At least that’s how Walleye season ticket holders Jerry and Christine Zalecki chose to mark their special milestone.
“Our anniversary is on Halloween,” explained Jerry. “But we had tickets to Opening Night and thought, you know what if instead of going to a nice dinner, we do something different to celebrate.”
The Zaleckis have been minor league hockey fans since the start of their marriage when they lived in Chicago and would attend Chicago Wolves games. When they moved back to the Toledo area, they attended Storm and eventually Walleye games.
“Once we started going to the Walleye games, we really became hooked,” said Jerry. “We’ve had a partial season ticket plan for five years, but we try to go to as many games as we can.”
So, as Walleye Opening Night and the Zaleckis’ anniversary approached, Jerry called his season ticket rep Sammy Roush to ask about upgrading their tickets for the evening to the A-1 Limo Rinkside Center Ice seats. Sammy was happy to make the arrangements.
On the big night, Jerry and Christine were up close on all the action and were featured on the video board. They were even treated to a surprise visit from Walleye mascot CatTrick, who brought them a small anniversary cake.
“We really enjoyed it,” said Christine. “It truly was a great experience that we will always remember.”