Leaderboard

Hey Doc Emerick, it's called Nick Lidstrom what?

My older son and I went to the Western Michigan vs. Ferris State CCHA playoff hockey game last night. During an intermission, I noticed probably the smallest Zamboni rider I've seen at Lawson Arena. Talking to a co-worker, I now know how Gideon got his Zamboni ride. His five year-old brother was asked by Western if he wanted the ride, and it was a something that he's been dreaming about for some time... but at the last minute he opted to give the chance away to his younger brother who suffers from leukemia and is going though chemotherapy. Read the rest here (with photos)!

I half expected his plan to be: 1. Become commissioner. 2. ? 3. ? 4. ? 5. Profit!

I'd love to live in a neighborhood full of rich Swedish women, whose husbands are away on the road for long stretches of time. :hat:

DRIVE!

We are 1 point away from being tied for second IN THE LEAGUE. WTF are you talking about? Hitting a cold streak doesn't mean we suck and we need to change the style of hockey we play. I'd like to point out that last year, about this time, you were the person saying we might not make the playoffs, let alone think about finishing 5th. True story.

It's impossible to put together line combos, without worrying about who's lazy or soft. We have too many players on this team that are one or the other. Some are both. Too many floaters in the lineup right now, hence every line would have a glaring problem. These players need to step up and actually care every game, because matching lines around isn't going to magically make them care. Has to come from within.

I watched with no sound, so I'm not sure what the announcers were saying. Assuming they were pretty annoying as usual though. First time I checked, it looked like his right arm and glove was up in the chin area, but it looks okay (pretty close though). Couldn't have been that anyway, if it was, would have been a headshot, more significant penalty. When looking again and focusing on his skates, he does look to jump into the hit a little. His skates only leave the ice by a very small amount, but it looks like he starting jumping into it before he made contact. I'll admit, I'm playing devil's advocate and looking for a reason for the call to be legit. My first instinct was that it was clean. After watching it several times, to be honest, I'd be okay with whatever call they made. Since it was only a 2 minute charging call, there's no big deal here.

Helm could get Flip and Z going? I'm a big Helm fan but IMO he is not a second line player right now. The line would work well, but so would putting anyone with Flip and Z. Your third like would be a 'the third line is lazy and sucks' thread after the first shift. They are all slower and not great defensively.

What kind of pizza did he order?

This argument would carry a lot more weight if we weren't the top scoring team in the league, still 3rd best record overall despite 3 1/2 months mostly lacking in effort. I mean it's hard to criticize guys for 'expecting 3+ goals a night without any effort' when that is what they are getting. 'Dump and don't chase' never works, but unfortunately 'turn on the skill for 10% of the game and coast the rest' works far too well for our own good. Maybe we'd be a better team if we lost more, ironically enough. I don't think lack of creativity or lack of grit is the problem, though more of either would help. Mostly the guys aren't moving well off the puck. You can't be creative when everyone is standing around watching instead of trying to get open. You can't win battles if guys aren't moving in to good support positions. That stuff just isn't happening enough right now. Too much 'let Pav and Helmer (or whoever is hot at the time) do it' mentality. For good or bad, it's worked pretty well so far. It won't work in the playoffs of course, but we just have to hope they turn the switch by then.

"I'm telling you. We're getting sloppy. Our thinking, our ******* attitude, you know? We're not ******* hungry anymore."

i'd like to see him on the 2nd line with good linemates before i make a judgement on him, but i think his work ethic could put him 20-30 goals and 50-60 points on a scoring line.

I actually really like #3. I was watching the NHL network as they announced this 5 step plan. They made a great point about why teams and coaches should hold some accountability to these injuries. There are many players who are on the borderline of playing in the NHL and not playing at all. A lot of these players who give hard hits are the 3rd and 4th liners. Coaches are constantly telling their players that they need to, "finish your check.. hit hard... wear the other team down." For some of these players, the only way that they can maintain to keep their job is to appease their coach. There are also a lot of coaches that will send their goons, fighters, enforcers, etc to send some retaliation for a previous fight or injury that occurred. There needs to be shared blame to all parties for these injuries. It isn't just players who are intentionally aiming to injure. Coaches are putting tons of pressure on their players to almost do anything in order to win. My point is that the players, teams, coaches, and the league are all to blame for the concussions. Aside from Brenden Shanahan working with the equipment and arena's to make the game safer, this is my next favorite point of this plan. I hate to admit it, but I agree with Bettman

The "softer" boards are an absolute necessity. The others are a bit of "look, we're doing stuff" that won't accomplish much. Honestly, increased punishment and consistency for such hits is necessary. Smaller shoulder pads could go a long way toward helping as well. Also, allowing the players more leeway to fight could help, and I'm no enforcer junkie.

I can...

I think the wings shouldn't get TOO creative with their offense and just SHOOT THE DAMN PUCK. Sometimes i feel that none of our top players want to shoot the puck they always want to make that extra pass i mean look at helm and miller they always just shoot the puck from whatever angles they can. Datsyuk Z, Mule, Fip, Hudler, ALL JUST NEED TO SHOOT THE PUCK. Look at what Bertuzzi was getting done for those back to back games he was just shooting it. it's not so much creativity thats killing us it's more of none of our top players want to be selfish IMO.

you forgot a special committee of shanahan, yzerman, etc. that will be in charge of shutting their mouths and agreeing with everything he says.

Some players just do better with a change of scenery. Nuff said.

on top of that... #1 - on the steckel "blindside", why wasn't crosby watching where he was going instead of admiring snowflakes? steckel didn't try to run him over. it looked like he tried to move and clipped a daydreaming crosby. p.s. the game is fast Carman. #2 - hedman didn't clock crosby from behind, he rubbed him out into the boards and crosby ate some glass. it wasn't dirty, he just got rubbed out and didn't brace himself. on topic...the NFL will NOT lockout an entire season. the US will go ******* crazy without football and there will be riots every sunday and monday until football is back. this will not go on long.

Why is this such a big deal anyway? I equate this to arguing about any other bad penalty call. Bad calls or missed calls happen every game. Plus, I can see where someone would call it charging anyway. It's not like he got 5 and a game for it.

Wow, talk about some bitter ex-girlfriends.. Things didn't work out for him in Detroit. I'm happy for him if it does in Philly. Proud of him for the hatty. Not so proud of all the hating.

Lidstrom is injured? I heard nothing of this.

Jezz man just marry the guy already. Your the biggest Crosby fan boy I know and my best friend growing up is a penguins fan.

Best one from last year.