Better Halves

Introduced in 2003, players’ wives and girlfriends team up to assist the Griffins in their community endeavors. For example, in 2011-12, the Better Halves sold bracelets to help raise money for the families who lost loved ones in the tragic Russian plane crash on Sept. 7, 2011 that claimed the lives of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, including former Griffins players Pavol Demitra, Karel Rachunek and Stefan Liv. Throughout the 2024-25 season, we will be highlighting the wives and girlfriends to give them the opportunity to share their stories. Be on the lookout for the better halves out in the community once again this year. 

Skylar Gettinger

Get to know Skylar Gettinger, Tim Gettinger’s wife, in our third Better Halves spotlight of the season. Skylar has known Tim since 2016 and she shares her story about her own hockey career, her new clothing line, the backstory on how she met Tim, and much more. 

Give us your backstory. Where you’re from, childhood, hobbies, etc. 

I am from Commerce, Michigan, which is about a hour and 45 minutes away from Grand Rapids. I have lived in Michigan for most of my life and played hockey growing up. So, I did a lot of traveling and that took up a lot of my time. I went to school for a year in upstate New York and played hockey there. Then I decided I wanted to switch things up and take a step back from hockey. After that, I finished school online and then moved back to Michigan after living in Connecticut for four years with Tim. 

What are some of your passions? What do you like to do in your free time? 

Obviously, I love watching hockey because I played but now I get to watch with Tim. I love to be with my family and enjoy making clothing items, which I have turned into a little business of mine. So now, it is a passion and work at the same time that takes up a lot of my free time.  

Talk to us about your new clothing company? 

I just actually started about a month ago and I am doing things for my family and friends for the time being and then in January, I plan on opening fully. We always look for stuff to wear, whether that is playoffs related or just clothing in general, that can be personalized to your team. When I was looking for those types of things, I struggled to find items. There is obviously some stuff out there, but I always wished I could put the ideas in my head onto clothing items. Now I figured out how to do that and will start my business in January. The plan is to start exclusively online and then, if it turns into something bigger, I would love to get into stores for specific teams. 

How did you and Tim meet?

We started talking through social media in 2016 and then we stopped for a while, which is so funny because I use to tell people ‘oh, it’s never going to work’. I ended up going to one of his hockey games in Flint, which was probably in November of 2016, and then by December we were dating. So, it picked up pretty quick. 

You have experience playing hockey as well. Talk about where you played and does that help being married to a hockey player? 

I started playing hockey later than most people and began when I was around 10 years old. I played softball when I was really young. I ultimately had to make a decision between the two sports, and I stuck with hockey. I started playing for Compuware, which is triple A hockey, then played one year with Belle Tire before finishing with Honeybaked for four years. It was a lot of time and travel, and I missed out on a lot of normal things kids do during school, like going to football games. You have your school friends and then your hockey friends. So, it’s like two different lives and it was fun being so busy at that age. Then I played at Oswego State in New York for college and actually played with my sister. We only played one year together when we were younger, since I played up an age group. Then in college, she was a junior and I was a freshman, so we got to play together and that was super nice for my parents.

When I decided to step away, Tim and I were already doing long distance for two and a half years at that point. So, I was kind of over it and I wanted to live more of a normal life and ended up moving in with Tim. It is hard having played hockey and then watching hockey because you do understand the game a little more. Sometimes I will see Tim do something and I’m like ‘why did you do that?’. I think it’s nice that I do understand it because when he is having a hard time or he does want to talk, I do understand where he is coming from. The level of play is obviously different but having played the sport, you do understand the mental and physical things they go through.

What has it been like being married to a professional athlete? 

I think it’s fun for the most part. There is a lot of good that comes from it with them being very flexible with their schedules in the summer. From the outside looking in, I think people think ‘wow, it’s so amazing’, but some people don’t see the bad side of what these guys go through physically and mentally. It’s definitely different when you go to family events because it’s usually just me going and not Tim because of his schedule. That has kind of turned into a normal thing for us. No one asks anymore, ‘oh, where is Tim?’ because they know that he is at hockey. Missing those family gatherings and holiday parties is kind of hard. You make so many good friends in this lifestyle, especially here in Grand Rapids. I have met such amazing girls, and we are all so close. So, I definitely wouldn’t have made those friendships if I weren’t in this lifestyle, and I am very grateful for that. 

What does a typical game day look like for you? 

Now that I’ve started this business, I am very consumed with it all day. For Tim, he is not very superstitious and usually just has a chill day. We kind of do our own thing on game days and I let him do whatever he needs to do to feel prepared. I usually take the dog for a walk, and my family is always in town so I like to keep them company. We see each other in the morning and then he will do his own thing to gear up for the game. He eats the same lunch every day, which is usually the Bistro, or if that is not open, he’ll have Chipotle. Like I said, he’s not superstitious but certainly has a routine when it comes to lunches. 

What are some of your favorite things about Grand Rapids? 

I love going down to the city and just walking around. We also love going out to eat and that is our main thing to do. We are both big home bodies, so when we do have free time we just like to relax. We will usually go out to dinner, go to some parks with our dogs, and just sit back and relax at home. Our favorite spot right now is Gin Gin’s, but we also love going to Butcher’s Union and other great spots downtown. 

How was your wedding day? 

The planning of it was pretty crazy. We got married in downtown Detroit, which was super nice. It’s funny because he signed with the Red Wings on July 1, and then our wedding day was July 28. So, a lot of our wedding day was people excited that Tim was going to be with the Detroit organization. It was such a great day. After dating for eight years, it almost felt surreal to be finally getting married. We had all of our family and friends there, but it was somewhat intimate with about 125 people. It was 95 degrees on our wedding day, so Tim was sweating, I was sweating, and then a really bad storm came that wiped out the power at our venue. Thankfully, by the time we got there the power had been turned back on. You try to make your day so perfect but there is always something that is going to go wrong, but it really was a great day. 

Tim’s game day fits are always one of the favorites on social media. Do you have any say in his outfits? 

If he plays well, he will keep the same suit, but if he doesn’t play well then he will change things up. The funny thing is that he is color blind, and he is very bad at matching the tie with the undershirt. So, usually that’s where I come in and he asks, ‘does this match?’ because he can’t really tell. He will ask me about those things, but he usually keeps things pretty basic. I will say I did buy him all of his State and Liberty coats, so I give myself credit for that. I think you guys posted it, but Dids, Sebastian and Tim were all wearing basically the same outfit. Seems like they need to get some new colors at State and Liberty. All of them basically have the same wardrobe, so it’s funny to see them in the same outfits. If one person sees someone wearing something they like, it magically appears in their closet.  

What are you most excited about for your future? 

Honestly, I hope Tim keeps going with his hockey career and I am hoping my business takes off. At some point, I hope to start a family. I would say those things excite me the most about our future together and I am very happy to be apart of it. 

Any embarrassing stories about Tim or you guys together that you could share?

It’s not really embarrassing but when we first started talking and first met, we actually did not end up connecting again for months. Neither of us would reach out to the other. I remember telling my friend ‘he doesn’t like me’ and then finally he decided to man up and text me. We laugh about it now. Like, what if we both never reached back out and our lives today would not have happened. Usually, you start talking and it’s quick, but for us it was a slow process. We always have a good laugh and talk about what if no one reached out just for the sole fact that we were both afraid to talk to each other.