Red Wings rookies go curling in flip-flops to build camaraderie

Remember summer camp?

Remember the ways they’d try to get all the campers to buy into how awesome it was to be sleeping away at Camp Idontwannabehere? The campfire sing-alongs and such?

Hockey development camps are the same deal: Trying to get a bunch of strangers to find camaraderie and make some summer memories. And this being hockey, what better way to accomplish this than with the magical whimsy of curling, a.k.a. Canadian bowling?

Here are the Detroit Red Wings’ development camp prospects sliding down the ice and sweeping their rocks in Traverse City:

Yes, that one rookie who bears a striking resemblance to Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock is in fact his son Michael Babcock, who apparently inherited the charisma gene from his mother.

“Most guys haven’t played it, which is kind of shocking,” said Michael Babcock, in the most Canadian thing ever said by a Canadian.

The most striking thing about this curling video is the fact that the rookies are dressed for the Jersey Shore. Sliding down the ice in shorts sounds about as fun as putting your tongue on a flag pole in December. Attempting to slide the rock wearing flip-flops makes them all look about as sturdy and balanced as Scott Hartnell at the end of a 2-minute shift.

Ah, the chemistry building powers of curling can't be denied!

Alas, these players are all too young for the real chemistry building in curling: