Wings Win Round 2

It was a close one. I know my Wings well, so when they were up 2-0 over the Ducks in the second period, I thought, "This is going to overtime."

The Wings often have trouble maintaining a lead against tenacious teams. I can see what mood they're in from the TV screen. Some nights they feel like keeping their foot on the gas. Others, they get lazy and allow a team back in. Sure enough, it was 3-3 late in the 3rd, until Dan Cleary sewed it up in the last three minutes to make it 4-3.

Now, it's Chicago's turn. They're infamous for coming back when down two or three goals, so the Wings will have to be merciless.

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Robbed? Sure. But What's New?

Were the Red Wings robbed of a chance to win the game in overtime?

Sure, but what's new? I don't mean for the Wings, but for teams everywhere. Officiating in most sports is terrible, and bad calls happen on a regular basis (this is the negative side effect of Super-Duper-All-Sports-All-The-Time packages: you get to see a ton of games but also get to see a ton of bad officiating).

In The Red Wings' case, a loose puck was inches from the goal line, sitting there like a big black pancake. Marian Hossa reached out and knocked the tying goal into the - tweet - net. Oops. The ref "lost sight of the puck." No goal. A minute later the game was over.

It was a terrible call with a terrible excuse. Refs lose sight of the puck all the time. Show me a scrum in front of the net and I'll show you an "out of sight" puck. Refs usually wait about two seconds before killing the play. In this case, the ref lost sight of the puck for maybe a millisecond before blowing the play dead. Even so, the video shows the puck over the line before the sound of the whistle.

Or does it? And here's another funny rule in the NHL: the sound of the whistle doesn't matter. It is the referee's intention to blow the whistle that counts. So if his hand is halfway to his mouth, and he's a little late in tweeting his little toy, the play might still be dead. And it's not reviewable.

So robbed, yes. But bad officiating in the NHL is a proverb. You have to play through it. Every team in any sport is playing against two teams: their opponent, and the officials. Both must be overcome in order to win a game. Maxim: officials are not unbiased - they just want all teams to lose.

I thought the Wings looked flat out of the gate. The Ducks wanted it more. But around the halfway mark the Wings picked up their game and skated with it. They outclassed the Ducks at every turn in the 3rd period and doubled the Ducks' shot production. Hiller was on his game and made some good saves, but the Wings - and this is worrisome - had a lot of trouble giving puck support in the offensive end.

Still, the Wings looked good in the third period and should be able to carry that over into game 4. Whether an official feels like deciding the outcome of that game as well is, of course, up to him. To overcome that, the Wings have to do what you're supposed to do to win games: score more.

Photo: The Freep

Wings Win Round 1

One stunning fact occurred to me last night: if the Wings won game four, they'd be the first Stanley Cup champ in seven years to win the next year's first round series. I hit the internet and found out that Colorado was the last champ to do it since 2002. Weird.

The Wings looked like a veteran team last night, though a sloppy one. Maybe a 3-0 series lead had put some complacency in their skates.

They had a 3-1 lead...and blew it. They had a 5-3 lead...and blew it. They won the game anyway, 6-5. Ironically, it takes a good team to blow two two-goal leads yet keep their wits about them and pull out a win.

Columbus fans were angered by a late penalty call for too many men on the ice, but the refs had to make the call (and I am no fan of refs): when the one-too-many-man is the first one to touch the puck when he comes off the bench, then he forces the ref's arm to go up.

I've always believed that teams need a loss once in a while, just to teach them a lesson. While the Wings didn't lose last night, it was good that Columbus gave them a dogfight and reminded them that playoff hockey isn't supposed to be easy.

Photo: Getty

Classic

The third installment of the NHL's Winter Classic went off without a hitch, unless you're a Blackhawks fan.

One thing that struck me while watching the game is that the Winter Classic always has an exhibition game feel to it. This year's was no different: Wrigley Field, outdoors, people sitting on apartment rooftops to get a look at throwback uniforms and players on the bench wearing toques.

It was cool to see Bobby Hull, Ted Lindsay, Stan Mikita, and a bunch of other old-timers show up. The "3rd period stretch" of Take Me Out to the Hockey Game was hokey, but the crowd dug it.

As spectacle, the Winter Classic is great. Then halfway through the game you realize that there's two points on the line and the game is for real.

The Red Wings knew it. They struggled early on, going down 3-1 in the first period. Then they turned up their game, controlled the puck for next two periods, and won 6-4. The Blackhawks' fourth goal came with only seconds left, making the game seem a lot closer than it was.

The Blackhawks had better learn something from this. Chicago was on a 9-game winning streak and riding high until running into the Red Wings. In the back-to-back series the Wings took them to school and outscored them 10-4.

Youth, meet experience.

Photo: Yahoo Sports

Looks Like Trouble

I've spent the last two months blogging about the US election. It's a good thing I held off until September, or I'd be totally burned out by now. Still, pondering the ups and down of this election cycle is nothing compared to the worrisome news that I got last night.

The Red Wings have turnover trouble. A lot of it. I haven't seen the Wings give away the puck this much in years, if ever. Last week I watched a game and thought, "Ah, they're just rusty." Then I watched Wednesday's game against Anaheim. The Wings lost 5-4 in overtime, and a lot of it had to do with turnovers and penalties (they gave the Ducks two 5 on 3 power plays; that is not how you win hockey games). Last night I watched the San Jose game, and it was more of the same. The Wings managed to stay out of the penalty box, but again they turned the puck over like a hot potato. One turnover in their own end was so outrageously bad that I wondered if it was an intentional pass.

It was the second game of a back-to-back, so I can cut them some slack if they had slow legs, but open ice turnovers are mental errors, not physical. When you add the fact that every team gears up to take on the Stanley Cup champs, turnovers are deadly.

There's no need to panic. The Wings are still first in their division, and they've won 7 of their first 11 games. The last two losses, however, are a bigtime wake up call. Anaheim and San Jose are good teams. They're hungry. Both teams believe they should have been in the Cup final last year, instead of the Wings. They are the Red Wings' biggest contenders for the Western Conference this year, and they have just sent the Wings a message: you need to play your best hockey to beat us.

What's troubling about the turnover trouble is that it's a discipline issue infecting the whole team. The Wings have always been a team with extraordinarily crisp passing, but lately it seems like none of them wants the puck as much as the other guy. Coach Mike Babcock is going to have to kick some ass in practice and tell these "champs" to get on their game before this becomes a habit. If not, the Wings will have a winning season and get booted out the second they face San Jose or Anaheim in the playoffs.

Cup Comes Home

Detroit had the Red Wings parade today, and I caught a bit of it on TV.

Sports parades are never very thrilling. Since the city doesn't have more than two days notice that the team will win a championship, there's no chance of putting on something akin to Pasadena. The parades of any sports championship usually involve a lot of pick-up trucks, Ford convertibles, and a couple of high school marching bands.

One thing that was very apparent from the parade coverage was Detroit's Channel 4 needing to re-think who they're going to have on the desk during parade commentary.

No offense to the lady sitting between the two hockey commentators, but she constantly embarrassed herself. Here's a couple of highlights. See if you feel my pain:

Hockey guy: "Well, here he comes, Mr. Hockey."
News lady: "Oh. Yes..um..."
Hockey guy: "Gordie Howe."
News lady: "Right, Gordie Howe! Did he win any Stanley Cups?"

And:

News lady: "Here's the Miller Genuine Draft float."
Hockey guy: "That's the Zamboni."

Photo: AP

Wings Win

The 2008 version of the Red Wings showed me a lot, winning game 6 in Pittsburgh after a disappointing triple overtime loss in game 5 - when they were just 34 seconds away from winning Lord Stanley's Cup in the 3rd period, before Pittsburgh tied it. It could have been a heartbreaker, the kind of loss that starts a fall. Instead, the Wings rebounded, going on the road and winning the Cup 48 hours later. They were the only team to win in Pittsburgh's building all playoffs long, and they did it twice, the second time to clinch the championship.

The Wings are Stanley Cup champs again, and the the city of Detroit is partying hard. As is the city's usual manner there's booze flowing, a lot of people in the bars and dancing in the streets - and no rioting or other idiocy. Detroit's fans know how to win.

It all looks good, just like it did the other 3 times in past 11 years. Lidstrom, McCarty, Osgood and the rest of the old guard did a great job, and Zetterberg (Conn Smythe winner - or MVP of the playoffs if hockey's not your bag), Datsyuk, Kronwall, and Franzen have answered the critics. It's worth bearing in my mind that almost no one in sports talk TV/radio picked the Wings to win the Cup. No one will admit it, but several of the critics picked Nashville to beat the Wings in the first round. TSN's experts picked Colorado to beat the Wings, and the Wings responded by sweeping them. It was only when Detroit beat Dallas in the Conference Finals that the Wings were suddenly known as an unstoppable force.

No sour grapes from me, everyone's welcome on the bandwagon.

The Wings' story this year was fun to watch. Darren McCarty came back after retirement. He worked his ass off in the minors and the Wings gave him another shot at the title. Tonight, he's smoking a cigar in the locker room. Nicklas Lidstrom made history by becoming the first European player to captain a Stanley Cup team. Coach Mike Babcock exorcised some demons after losing in game 7 two years ago when coaching Anaheim.

Dominic Hasek proved to be one of the classiest players in the league. After being benched in the first round, he reportedly spent extra time on the ice after every practice throughout the playoffs, keeping loose and waiting for his shot. It never came, but as he said tonight, who cares? He declared it a team effort. He and Osgood won the identical number of games throughout the regular season, so Hasek deserves the Cup as much as anyone else. With all of the goalie controversies that infect other clubs, his relationship with Osgood is a clinic for young kids coming up.

Now the players can savour the victory, while general manager Ken Holland and the coaches smoke a cigar and get ready for next seas--whoops. Back to work already.

Photos: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn - AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Michel Therrien - The Cry Baby's Coach

“He’s a good actor,” Therrien said. “I know our players are frustrated right now. It’s tough to play the game, but Osgood did the same thing against Dallas.

“Our team never goes to the goalie. We never did it, and we don’t target the goalie. You want to talk about experience, he goes to players, and he knows what to do, I guess.” -- Yahoo Sports

That's Pittsburgh Penguin head coach Michel Therrien, after his team lost another Stanley Cup Final game without scoring a goal. "We don't target the goalie." Nice sanctimony, pal. Take it easy on your soother while watching tape of your team's latest embarrassment.

I've got a question for Coach Sanctimony: exactly when did you tell your bush league team to start headhunting Johan Franzen? Was it when the Red Wings had two goals before your team even had a shot on net? Or was it before the game, when you knew you were probably going to get smoked anyway?

Johan Franzen returned to the Red Wings line-up tonight after a couple of weeks off. He suffered a concussion earlier in the month, and doctors hadn't cleared him to play until this afternoon. Tonight, after the Wings were up 2-0, the Penguins went to work.

First it was Gary Roberts, the Penguins' has-been defenseman who was a healthy scratch in game 1. All day the sports media talked about having Roberts back in the line-up, hungry for his stellar play and great experience. What a laugher. In the third period, Franzen passed the puck into the opponent's end. Two seconds later, Roberts skated up behind him and punched him in the side of the head. The refs missed it.

A few minutes later, play was whistled dead, and three seconds later Ray Whitney skated up behind Franzen and sucker punched him in the back of the head. Again, the refs missed it.


There is no way that these two players did not intentionally try to injure Franzen with a sucker punch. They've known about his concussion symptoms since the beginning of the series. Tonight, they couldn't help but see the word FRANZEN written on the back of his jersey. And, when the refs weren't looking and Franzen didn't have the puck, they tried to ring his bell and get him scratched from game 3.

I've always thought the Penguins were a whining, bush league team, and tonight's garbage from their players and coach only proved it.

Photo: CBC

Wings Win Game 1

The Red Wings took game 1 in fine fashion. I won't go on about the refs making another garbage call against Holmstrom for interference...except to say that it was another garbage call for interference. In any case, the Wings won the game and held Sidney Crosby to 3 shots. Good enough for me.

By the way, here's an interesting story about Kris Draper, from Yahoo Sports:

The rugged forward also had a laugh when asked about minor league baseball player John Odom, who was traded this week by the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League to the Laredo Broncos of the United League for 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats.

That’s a king’s ransom in the world of Draper, who was dealt by Winnipeg to Detroit 15 years ago for the whopping price of one dollar. Draper played in only 20 games for the Jets in four years after being chosen with the 62nd pick in the 1989 draft.

“Well, 10 bats are a lot more expensive than one dollar, so that’s not too bad,” said Draper, who has scored 141 NHL goals and won three Stanley Cup titles. “To this day, I never found out if it was an American dollar or a Canadian dollar. That’s the one looming question that I always have.”

Photo: Samuelsson Scores in Game 1/AFP/Getty Images/Jim Mcisaac