#19forPresident!

Well I would say the Ducks as a whole just lost their composure after a point, but really Pronger was the only one who showed poor sportsmanship, for everyone else it was just built frustration leading to stupid penalties in my opinion. What happned that aggrivated everyone, pretty much in the hockey community, but obviously in the Detroit community was Pronger's arms up high hit to the back of Holmstrom's head. I think Neidermayer (who hit him from the front at the same time as Pronger did from behind in case you didn't see the play) was trying to hit him clean, he had a shouler high which is fine, at that point Homer sees him coming and it's his responsibility to try and keep his head in his helmet. The only responsibility I think Neidermayer deserved is that while Holmstrom didn't see Prongs coming, he did, but to be fair to him I also don't think Robby knew Prongs was gonna run him high and hard with his arms up on his head like that. What Pronger did, as one sportscaster put it well, was "preditory in nature". By coming hard from behind with his arms up high to the back of Holmstrom's head / neck area when he knew that there was no chance of him seeing the hit. Also Pronger had not recorded a single hit the entire game up to that point, and suddenly he goes high and hard from behind on a guy who he had noted verbal and physical battles with in front of the net earlier in the game, which implies intent and premeditation. Listen I don't think the Ducks are truly a bunch of goons, I do think Pronger doesn't know how to handle himself when he's frustrated to the point of endangering other people. I believe that for the most part the Anaheim organization puts a solid line of hard nosed quality guys on the ice shift in and shift out. Now having said that they might want to take a look in the mirror and remember that themselves because there is a difference between hard nosed hockey and head hunting, Chris Pronger for one forgot that last night and disrespected himself, the game, as well as our teammates and his own. They are better than that as a team and they know it, we're all just fortunate Holmstrom is still in good health and was able to get back on the ice after getting stitched up. All in all I think Pronger is giving your boys a worse name than they deserve, but anybody thats followed his career knows this is typical stuff for him when he's behind the eight ball in a game. I can remember a game we played against St.Louis where they were behind and Pronger tried to head hunt Yzerman, who sidestepped him only to see Pronger injure himself on the play. So he has a history of making poor decisions, its just unfortunate that something like that even happens in a game where people can fight face to face if they really want to and only simply face matching penalties. He knew Homer wasn't going to play that game so he didn't give him an option, now his team will have to suffer for his mistake. Really its just a shame, I would rather play our best lines against Anaheim's,and when Pronger is playing smart he's a big big part of the Ducks best hockey, but what he did was unexcuseable and he and earned himself the suspension.

Wow, I didn't realize Honda Center was that high up there, and I couldn't believe MSG was no.1, must be from all the different events they host, because their geographical location seems pretty good for strong ice.

I'm no expert on maintaining a nice sheet of ice myself either, but from my understanding it takes a relatively experienced and knowledgeable staff to keep one top notch, and location helps alot. Humidity levels in relation to teperature is a big factor, but to what extent or how they control it to perfection I have no idea. I do know every team in the league fills out forms assessing conditions of the hosting arena on everything from locker rooms to the ice surface. Having said that I would imagine if it was a big problem they would know and have taken some appropriate steps to adjust it before playoffs came around. Then again it may be somethinig they can't control to an extent, like Dallas' terrible ice, when people say you have home "slush" advantage its not too good . If I had to guess using common sense, I'd say the problem might be the overall ground temperature there being so high which may cause some challenges in keeping perfect ice, along with how well Honda Center may or may not seal in / keep out moisture and heat. It really didn't look to bad on television, the boards seemed pretty crisp too, but then again seeing it on TV and skating on it are two completely different things. Would be cool if they asked players stuff like that in postgame, but its probably the last thing on anyone's mind after a game like the one they played.

Hey Getzlaf15, I am going to give you props here. Most people who want to come around taking trash do it based on little fact and lots of stupidity. After reading this I think you may just be one who is knowledgeable about the game, and just happen to be on the confident side. You've said some things to people that aggrivated me in a couple posts over the last few days that made me question that. HOWEVER, when things didn't wash your team's way you came back to admit the facts of the game, and you were just as hard on your team as you were on some of our posters after the first couple of games. Anybody that pays attention knows both of these teams run a solid line on every shift, and they wouldn't be here if they didn't. So I for one appriciate someone who can take their bumps as well as they give them out, good post.

The best part about it was, coach said in the postgame that it was all part of the game plan to do this, they had it set in their minds to play these lines on the road to combat the so so numbers from our stars in away games. Babs would make a hell of a poker player, could have fooled me having that all laid out, worked out great for us tonight.

Hey hey, a former Toledoan, greetings from the glass city! That hit Pronger made today looked like something you'd see at a STORM game didn't it? Sounds like you had a good time, Kenny H always seemed like a nice enough guy but you never know until you run into someone in person, good to hear he was a class act. A puck on top of that, plus a decisive victory, sounds like a winner to me, grats .

In the postgame press meet (Postgame Press Meet) he said they checked him for a concussion also when he was getting stitched up. If they thought his health was at risk I don't think they would have let him take the chance, so I say if the docs clear him then thats fine by me. I doubt they would put a huge investment like Homer out there when we are up by that much if he wasn't ready to go either.

I knew quality Ducks fans were out there somewhere, every team has good fans and bad ones. I'm just glad more of the good are coming around here. I don't want you guys to think we automatically despise all Ducks fans, you have just been misrepresented by a handful of ignorant people that happen to be bandwagon Ducks fans, or just fans that know nothing about the game. Everyone who knows the game knows that Niedermayer took the fall for Prongs on that hit. They had no business tossing anybody but Prongs, but the cookie doesn't always crumble the way it should. Suspension or not the wrong call was made and the league will most likely rectify that somehow. Also: Demoliton man said in the postgame press meet that he took 13 stitches to the face in the dressing room after that. When asked if he thought the hit was dirty he implied in his classic Swedish accent that he DIDN'T see the hit coming, and had no idea what happened. Here's the video if you want to see him speak about it, also Val, Bert, and the coaches speak. Postgame Press Meet

You proove even more that you know nothing about hockey by even implying that Lidstrom (no N) would ever take that hit, because he wouldn't. If you can't see the hit coming, which Pronger knew damn well he didn't see it, then its cheap, and Lidstrom isn't a cheap player, good luck even find a boarding call against him in his career. Compare career PIMs between Pronger and Lidstrom and you will start to grasp why this is a retarded comparisson. I'll save you the trouble...... Chris Pronger has 1241 penalty minutes career. Nicklas Lidstrom has 372......AND he's played TWO more years. So no that argument doesn't wash, you haven't any idea what you're babbling about, you're just firing blanks to seem tough. If you said Chelios it might have worked, but then you would have to know what you were talking about first to do that. So NO, we're not hypocrites, you just have no idea what you're talking about.

Comments like this are why I am convinced that there are no real hockey fans cheering for the Ducks, just bandwagon fans cheering for the team thats winning. Do you even know what offsides is? Seriously...... Anybody thats watched hockey for more than five minutes with their head located somewhere out of their lower intestinal tract could tell you that was a cheap shot. Ray Charles could have called that, he's dead, AND BLIND! Hellen Keller would have called that, she's dead, blind, AND MUTE! Please save your clueless remarks for clueless fans. I feel sorry for the few REAL fans of hockey over on the Ducks boards that actually see the dumb things you say here while representing their community. That was cheap no two ways about it, only question is will Bettman stick your boy the the suspension he deserves.

You know for a minute or two I was pissed that nobody took it to Pronger, I mean Shanny or Darren would have been in for 5 with swollen knuckles in a heartbeat. BUT! Thats not what we want to do, Ducks want us to fight, they want us to get nasty right back, because its their game and not ours, we aren't fighters we're winners. While those two can go hand in hand, I think Babs put a leash on that one quick, I would bet Lilija would have had at him but I like what we did. Just let them embarass themselves in front of paying fans, great momentum shift for us.

Absolutely, Rob hit him with a shoulder, maybe a bit high but a shoulder is still pretty clean in my opinion. When you get both hands up to the back of someone's head and slam it into the glass like Pronger did though you should be held accountable. I'm not sure if the ref's had a bad angle or what, but it was clear to me watching it on TV that Pronger did alot more damage than Rob N, and it wasn't by accident. I don't care how frustrated you get out there, you're supposed to be a proffesional, save that crap for the ECHL, Prongs just went down another notch on the respect meter in my book.

I haven't heard anything new, last I saw they were saying he could be ready mid May, so who knows Hopefully sooner rather than later, Kronner is an animal out there on the ice. His physical presence alone is worth the price of admission, not to mention he has a great offensive sense about him, definitely not a stay at home defenseman.

You'd know better than me, sounds like you've been down that road. I always get something on the sides so I've never sat in the corners, I don't see what would be in the way, but obviously you have a little more experience with that than me.

Well assuming the comments are even true, don't mind Prongs he's just bitter from all the hard times we gave him in STL, think of him as the defensive version of Hull. "I'll blow my best years in STL choking in the postseason, then I'll hop around until I can leetch a cup from someone! Brilliant idea!" We'll probably end up signing him in a year or two, we have a knack for picking up the oldies but goodies that can't find the elusive silver hardware. Don't get me wrong the guy is a great player, but so was Hull and he picked Calgary in the 1st round so I don't believe everything he says.

Holy spandex uniforms Batman! We have a Ducks fan with a sense of humor!! (The Dom pic is freakin great btw ) Welcome! From this post you seem alot more relaxed than your predicessors, many of whom just wanted to tell us our team is old and crappy yadd yadda, same old whatever. You'll have to excuse us we've had a ton of great fans from SJ to exchange razzes with last series, and not many fun spirited Ducks have made it out of the woodwork yet so we're kind of dissapointed.

Heh, I have to say, no offense to the few and the proud, but overall Ducks fans have been the least enjoyable to root against. It makes me miss the Teal Army, they had several classy guys over here last series. Seriously just don't let guys like this get to you, frankly I wish I could block him myself. I mean he comes here calling us kids telling us what its like to play through injuries to win, etc, etc. Getzlaf15, in case you have forgotten, Detroit has 3 cups in the last 10 years, our team knows all about playing through pain in the postseason, we've seen them do it. We're all fans of the sport, we're just as aware of what goes on in the playoffs as anyone. You're not educating anyone, you're being obnoxious. Is it anybody's series? Sure, thats the beauty of it, the worthy teams are still standing. The Ducks put a great group on the ice every night, many of whom are playing hurt too, if you go all the way more power to you. But if you're gonna stick your nose in our terriotory spouting aristocratical rhetoric down at us like we're ignorant I would preffer you put a lid on it. If you don't like some people's comments in here remember you're on our MB, naturally some people will be biased, but they aren't being biased on over on your MB so show us some respect please and don't be on ours. If you haven't got anything nice to say, can't poke fun in good humor, or can't contribute positively to a debate as a hockey fan in general, then just stop. Grow up and move on. We're all hockey fans here too, nobody is going to crucify you for rooting against us with style, but getting conceited and belittling us is just pointless. I digress, I hate arguing on message boards, and there is no reason to make something that should be fun (rooting for our teams) an annoying un-enjoyable experience. So please respect our community or don't bother trying to contribute. (edit: for spl, too early to function )

For people that didn't go to Sunday's game 2, the wives of the Wing's players held a charity sale of autographed pucks for $20 a piece with all proceeds going to the Red Wings Foundation. I'm pretty sure they've done this once before earlier in the regular season, and I think they'll do it again probably next season too. Also they had two pucks that were signed in gold, and if you pulled one in gold you got the puck you paid for, and you got to meet that player and have a jersey personally signed for you. They set the pucks out randomly with the certification of authenticity over the top backwards so you can't tell who you are getting, but its hard to go wrong for $20 to a good cause. I spent $40, got Drapes on my first one and the second puck I pulled was Stevie (which just about made my day besdies the loss ). Pretty good luck since one of the gals there said only a couple of his were in the bunch of several hundered they had. Just figured I'd give you all a heads up for future games, keep your eyes open for this stuff in the gameday section @ the official website next season.

There were hundereds, they started selling them at 5:30 when the doors opened, and they still had them out to buy 2 hours later right before puck drop (I didn't check at intermission too busy hitting the beer and the bathroom ). Obviously I don't think they had one for everyone that bought a ticket, but the people that knew about it and got there before game time had their's easily, along with lots of others who didn't find out until they showed up.

Well he does look off in my opinon, not sure if its dusting off the cobwebs, typical nagging playoff injuires, or if its something more. We all know everyone plays hurt to a certain extent this time of year, so I'm sure someone coming off of a recent back rehab is feeling the pain game in and game out if anybody is. How serious is he hurting? Your guess is as good as mine, I haven't heard anything confirmed, but if it was something huge we'd know about it obviously. Then again Crosby played the last 2 weeks of the season and the first round with a broken foot, and Calder has played with a broken hand supposedly, so everyone's definition of serious is a little different .

Thats up top by the nose bleeds (keep in mind thats still good seats in there) should be no obstruction whatsoever. Only thing I wouldn't like is they are in the end corner, which makes viewing the other end a bit "obstructed" imo, but just because its so far away. As far as physical obstructions you will have no problem that I can forsee, one of the better arenas as far as poles, handrails etc blocking vision. here's a link to the Joe's seating chart so you can see JLA seating chart

He's just old school, he's good, and usually clean but thats how old school D men do it, especially in the playoff atmosphere. Him and Cheli could probably trade notes on some of their schenanigans, although I highly doubt that Cheli would ever use Selanne's head for a support when standing up off the ice. Anaheim just plays an in your face style, could be misconstrued as disrespectful, but they're just trying to get us to worry about the rough stuff and forget about the game. Only thing I didn't like is we can't really afford to lose people to fighting, but if Shanny was still around I can just about guarantee he'd be in the box with swollen knuckles after that incident. Personally I would like to see Burt earn his spot in that category, but that's neither here nor there, someone will need to fight before this is over and he's alot more expendable compared to some of the others seeing as his offensive production is down right now. Granted Burt has had some chances lately, he's a great weapon offensively, but if I could nominate anyone to knock em' down and drag em' out when the rough stuff hits, it would be him.

Its up in the air right now, alot of people around town are speculating as to what they're going to do. The Red Wings contract lease at Joe Louis Arena ends in 2009, ownership has stated interests in both a possible renovation of the current venue, or the construction of a new arena. Let me dig up an article I just read about this the other day and I'll edit this with a link. edit: here is the link, latest I've heard as far as what they're going to do venue wise in the future. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...METRO/704050388

Yeah you're not kidding, you won't stop that one w/o the hockey gods helping you out 9 times out of 10. I thoguht they deserved the win though, Buffalo deserved another shot coming up big at the end of regulation, but they were stale in OT, out hustled in the corners, and outskated down the ice. Props to the Sens for 2 tough road wins, and GL to Buffalo; anything is possible, but coming back in that series will be very very difficult. As for me, here's to a game 7, gogo Sabres get back in it so you guys can beat each other up and down for 2 weeks.

The place where the cameras are at JLA are actually pretty killer location, they'd be perfect seats if you could have them. The only problem is that when a goal is scored they need a way to raise it up a bit, can't blame the fans for getting up but you're right about their angle for those moments. But then again I don't give a damn if I'm watching a celebration or not, if its on TV I'm gonna see a replay in 10 seconds anyway, and if I'm there in person I'm standing too. Also I don't think when they built the place that hockey's TV presence was a big of a concern as it is today. As far as fans seating, you can't get a bad place in there, no obstructions other than people that can't hold their water. As to the comment about people getting up, you can get up and walk down during play (as with most places), they just won't let you back up unless there is a stoppage. But you will have this problem at just about any venue, lots of beer drinking = lots of pee breaks. Those annoyances are to be expected though, but here is a truly annoying incident I experienced at game 1 vs Calgary. With about 5-10 minutes to go in the 3rd some guy that couldn't hold his booze was standing in the middle of the isle hammered stagering around in front of everyone trying to get people to do the wave. Meanwhile people were trying to watch Calgary's pissed off last minute frustration scrums on the ice, I mean who doesn't want to see a good fight if it happens. So there we are tryinig to see the action and this guy is waving his arms and screaming, I seriously thought he was going to get jumped. He had about 30 people yelling stuff at him, and a few of them threatening him. My favorite quote though was some guy that yelled "Im trying to watch the game jack@#$, now sit down or I'll sit you down!" I about lost it.