Well..another year has passed and we are in the playoffs again even though this year, it was a nail-biter right until the end…but they dug down and made it…I am excited about the games starting tonight and, for the last year, we start again on the west coast which means the games don’t start here until 10 or 10:30…kind of late for an old guy but I am going to be good all week so it might not be that much of a challenge…they have been playing like a team for the first time this season and seem to be peaking at exactly the right time…there is hope for next year with the move to the east and all early games….I have the gear on already and I am going to take a nap this aft to try to prepare….with the way that Hank, Pavel, and Jimmy are playing, we may be able to surprise some people and get to the next round….we can only hope…Go Wings!
Tag Archives: Detroit Red Wings
Just some stuff…
Well…even after reading three real newspapers and 8 more online, I have not been able to come up with a topic that grabbed me today…so, I am just going to talk a bit and see what happens…it has been a long sports day today and the good thing…or two good things is that the Wings won and looked good doing it…and that Manchester City lost…yay….that means that Man U can go up 12 points in the BPL if they win their match in the morning….I have been having a pretty good day today but still feel crappy….have gotten much more cleaning done than I expected and that will make tomorrow an easy day….I really don’t like the weather channel naming winter storms…it just seems weird to say ‘snowstorm Nemo” and I think there will be backlash…but, who watches that anymore anyway? Since I got my smartphone…my weather comes from the internet from many different sources and I never turn the tv to weather anymore since you can’t get what you want when you want it….one question…who runs political attack ads against someone who is not running for anything? Oh…it’s the idiot Rove….who has an ad up attacking Ashley Judd just in case she decides to run against Mitch McConnell….a real case of someone who has more money than brains…and who is giving ole Karl more money…after all, he burned through hundreds of million in the last election and everyone he supported lost….keep it up…geez…
Thankfully, I was wrong…
Well….while I was over at J and K’s last night, we were talking about the prospect of even having an NHL season this year and I felt that there was not going to be one…thankfully, I was wrong. Woke up this morning to the news that the NHL and the players have reached an agreement and there will be a season starting in two weeks! It has been one of the things that has been a big hole in my life since the fall, not being able to watch the Wings on a cold wintry night with a cocktail and texting…so, let’s play!
The first Red Wings update…
Well…I completely forgot that today was the first day of free agency for the NHL and I thought I’d do what is probably going to be a running set up updates as the signings happen…there were a couple of developments today…not the big blockbuster that would come from signing Suter or Parise, but a couple of players that might help did sign. We’re familiar with Sammy (Mikel Samuelsson) who played for us on the last Stanley Cup team….and Jordin Tootoo from Nashville….Tootoo could add a little grit and meanness to the team but I am concerned sometimes when an abrasive player is added to our finesse team…but, the league is heading in that direction so maybe we have to keep up. One signing that I’m not so sure of is is the Swedish goalie that played for Toronto last year…and they gave this guy 1.5 million for 2 years…why not give one of the prospects in GR a chance? That’s what they are there for, after all.
Oh, the goaltender we signed is named Gustavsson….still not sure that was a good idea…especially with a 2.98 GAA and a.900 save pct from last year…
Thanks Nick…..
Well…just finished watching the press conference where Nick Lidstrom announced his retirement and it is a sad day for those of us who love the Wings but even more than that, it is a sad day when the classiest person in hockey, or any sport really, leaves the game. Nick has been the one constant since I have avidly followed the Wings and this will diminish the fervor somewhat I’m afraid….one thing that is gone for me is the confidence that when an opposing player breaks away and comes down the ice, that Nick will handle it….there were many times, watching with my friends, that I said out loud when that happened, “we’ll be okay, Nick’s got it..” and now I can’t say it anymore and that is going to be hard….
So, I’ll leave it at this….thanks Nick….it is cool when someone adds more to the world than they take…we’ll all miss you…
This could be Nick’s last game…
Well…it has been a weird series for the Wings….it appears that they have outplayed the Preds in every game, and the stats back that up…but, when you look at the score, we’re down 3-1 in the series and tonight could put us out. But, the thing that will have me watching this one is that, if we lose, it could be Nick Lidstrom’s last game as a Wing and that is something that I really don’t want to happen. Nick has been the one constant in the Red Wings team since my youngest son got me started watching them 18 years ago and it just won’t be the same without him…but, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself and we’ll win and keep it going….I have changed it up by shaving off the playoff beard and there will be no gear worn tonight…have to try something….
Punks and thugs on the ice…
Well…I wanted to cool off for a while before I wrote this one given the events in the Wings game the other night…and I wanted to wait to see what Shanny was going to do before I weighed in…but, now’s the time to get in my two cents…in case you didn’t see it, after the end of the game Wed night, Shea Weber…the thug defenseman for the Preds, slammed Hank Zetterberg’s head into the glass so hard that he broke his helmet…the kind of nonsense that I thought the league was trying to take out of the game to protect the players…unless it is a Red Wing getting hit, I guess. The worse thing about it was that Weber didn’t get anything but a paltry fine…no suspension…oh, they did give him a 2 minute penalty….that can never be enforced…and they said “bad boy, don’t do that again”….that punishment will keep him from doing that again….yeah, I laughed at that one, too. Then, in practice yesterday, we see Weber and one of his thug teammates joking and laughing while re-enacting the hit. One of the themes that has been repeated in this series is that the Preds wanted to build themselves to be just like the Wings…and they may beat us in the series, but these no class punks will never have the class of the Wings players and organization….that is something that is earned by being classy and respecting the other players and the game of hockey…
One last thing…keep your head up Weber…payback will come…maybe not tonight, but hockey players have long memories…where is Darren McCarty when we need him?
Let’s Go Red Wings!
Well…it is the start of playoff season in the NHL and my team goes off tonight against Nashville in what makes me feel really uneasy for the first time in the past 20 years….and yet, there is a component of excitement, too, that I quite enjoy….nevermind that almost all of the sports commentators pick the Preds, anything can happen in the playoffs. Oh, crap, I’m now spouting cliches instead of just talking about this wonderful time of the year…a time when I put everything else on hold, get my workouts and bike ride in early, and switch into the gear in the middle of the afternoon….the past couple of playoffs have been different with the group scattered and tending to the new phases of their lives but I am slowly getting used to it…getting used to following the game with a few of us by text as the thing unfolds but still sharing the good and bad…and that is a good thing, just different…but times and lives change and we need to be able to roll with it…I’ve gotten better at it lately…crap, this one was supposed to be about the Wings…not my life…so let’s get back to it….I am a little encouraged that we will have everyone back but Helm for tonight’s game but I think some of the guys aren’t quite up to speed from their injuries….I will predict this, and probably look ridiculous tomorrow, Frantzen will get a hat trick tonight and we’ll win 4-3…..I will try to keep up with commentary after every game so look for it tomorrow….Let’s Go Red Wings!!!
One last thing….the Tigers go this aft with Verlander on the mound and the last undefeated record in the majors…should be a good one against the Rays….
Let’s do some sports…
Well…it is a big sports weekend so I thought I’d just noodle around a little and comment on a few things that have caught my eye and that are rattling around in my head. First…when have they ever moved the college bowl games from January 1st? It is just too weird to have all of the games on the 2nd and have pro games on the 1st….but it is cool to have the Lions playing the Packers Sunday…and a friend of mine is going to be in the stands at Lambeau Field in the cold and I hope she has fun…it looks like the Packers are going to rest a lot of their starters so we may have a chance to get to an 11-5 season which would be really cool. The Wings have been playing well at times but I really want to see what they can do if they play a whole game instead of just parts of them….but, their record over the last 15 is pretty good so I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…and they play Chicago tonight which I am really looking forward to and to the game tomorrow which is a rematch with the Blues from Tuesday night…one that we won but it was a trial at times. Okay, that’s enough for this one…I may come back and add to it if something strikes me…if it does, I hope it doesn’t hurt…
Talking a little sports…
Well…I just can’t get the outrage machine working today so I think I’ll talk a little sports instead…first, I was just about in shock yesterday when the Lions came back to win it in the last few minutes…but, as I said earlier, they are going to give me a heart attack if they don’t stop this nonsense. I mean, if they can score two touchdowns in the last 5 minutes, where the heck were they for the first 55 minutes? I guess the only thing we can do is just go along for the ride and hope it continues. Then, we have the Wings who have been playing so hard lately that even when they lost last week, I was still pretty happy with what was going on…so darn entertaining that I hope they keep it up…especially now that they are third in the Western Conference and making a run at the top. But, this
west coast swing is going to be tough on the watching with the games starting at 9:30 at the earliest…especially after a couple of cocktails…but, it’s a bad problem to have….more later…