DETROIT — With the Stanley Cup back in Hockeytown, thousands of red-and-white clad Red Wings fans jammed downtown in muggy heat today for parade celebrating the city's third major sports championship in six years.

Spectators jammed Woodward Avenue for the parade that was to end with a rally at Hart Plaza on the city's riverfront

The Red Wings are following the path of the 2002 hockey team and the 2004 Pistons, who celebrated their triumphs with similar downtown processions. The Red Wings clinched the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

Under sunny skies and with temperatures in the 80s, the parade featuring Red Wings players, coaches and staff began before noon at the Hockeytown Cafe.

Many fans wore Red Wings jerseys and other red-and-white gear. Some wore plush octopi on their heads, a nod to the team's mascot. One woman brought a real — albeit dead — octopus with her and swung it over her head, a la Joe Louis Arena building manager Al Sobotka.

Detroit goalie Chris Osgood became Red Wings fans' knight in shining armor — literally. Ernie Schutt saw a steel suit of armor in a friend's garage and inspiration struck.

"I saw it, man, that would be cool with Ozzie on it," Schutt said.

He washed it, added an Osgood jersey, baseball glove and a couple of stuffed octopi to complete the look. He dragged it along the parade route by placing the torso and head in a red wagon, but left the legs home.

For Corinne Gordon, the parade was bridge-building. The Red Wings' six-game series win over the Penguins gave fans the chance to temporarily put aside the economic doldrums and the mayoral saga that have dominated the news for months.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide, Christine Beatty, face criminal charges, including perjury, stemming from testimony during a whistle-blowers' trial in which the pair denied having a romantic relationship. Kilpatrick and Beatty also are accused of lying under oath about their roles in the firing of a top police official.

"There's been so much doom and gloom and separation between the city and suburbs because of what the mayor has done," Gordon said. "This brings people together."

Associated Press writers Margaret Harding and David N. Goodman contributed to this report.