#19forPresident!

Standing up in the Joe at game 5 after we scored the go ahead in the third, with my voice hoarse and my ears ringing from all of the "WE WANT THE CUP!!!!!" chanting.

Thats marketing for you though, the NHL has picked their horse so the broadcasters rode it for all its worth, just like the other examples listed in this thread from other sports. All that matters is that all the right people took home the trophies.

I laughed my ass off when I saw that, you've gotta know the guy to get some of his humor, but to a Wings fan that was classic

I'm in the process of moving into a new place, so I'm supposed to be up in about 4 hours for that, followed up in the afternoon by a nice stint of 2nd shift action. If I drop some furniture or slack off at work, oh well!! Furniture can be replaced, and my boss already knows I'm a freking wing nut so he should be expecting a full blown hangover performance out of me tomorrow!! in the words of the great Ron Burgandy, DRINK IT IN!!!!!!!!!!

That's the Captain for you, can we clone him? The guy was damn near too humble to take the podium at his own retirement ceremony, so you knew he would keep his nose out of the camera's and his lips off the cup in public. Never ceases to amaze me

*salute*

Awesome, I was there for game 5, so if it wasn't for Bettman's henchman and the best game Fluery will ever play in his life then that would be confetti in my hair!! Oh well still one of the best games I will ever watch in my life..... Anyways, Grats! Glad to hear you're enjoying it as much as I am!!!! CLOUD.....*******......NINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE!!!!!!!!! WON!!!!!!!! THE!!!!!!!! CUP!!!!!!!!!

I doubted Hudler, never openly on the boards, but to myself which is still enough. I said to myself, this guy doesn't have the size to earn his spot, and he's prooved me wrong, and I couldn't be happier. Way to go Huds!

nobody comes to supper when crow's on the menu

I went to game 5, and I ALWAYS buy the jersey of the player I have a gut feeling about, not that thats too hard with this roster, but last year it was Datsyuk in game 2 vs the sharks, this year I bought an authentic Zetterberg Stanley Cup 08 patched and certified edge jersey at game 5 of the finals........$350 later plus the price of admission we didn't win that night (MUCH to my dismay) but two nights later............WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Hank deservedly earned himself a Conn Smythe...... Apparently I should buy a jersey on a gut feeling at every playoff game I go to...... Anyways I'm too drunk to type right now, but I just wanted to congratulate everyone and say.............. WE!!!!!!!!!!!!! :octo: WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :octo: THE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :octo: CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :octo:

I couldn't agree more. The bad calls in this game didn't end up effecting it directly, talk about momentum shifts or taxing energy levels with the penalty kill, whatever, but those kinds of calls could have easily effected the outcome in a more obvious way than that, and in a SCF OT game that is a piss poor call to make, much less twice.

Man I thought about getting out the dvd's myself, but seeing as I'll be at the game tomorrow I am really really really hoping I get a first hand, up to date, version of the same events. And yeah DMac has been through so much @!#$ personally and in his career that it would be impossible for him not to inspire some people to put out that extra effort when his half toothless mug is screaming at them. Also the mere mention of Joe Kocur brings a smile to my face, one of the true heavyweights of his generation. I remember some of his epic fights but my favorite Kocur related incident was the game when we played the Blues and he was on our coaching staff, there was a bench clearing brawl and Kocur got so pissed off he threw a folding chair on the ice, probably more so due to frustration that he wasn't in a position to pummel any of the people irritating him like he used to be able to.

I think everyone can agree with that, and it does get a little annoying reading a complaint or insult every other post. But for as many fans as any given team has, especially this team, a certain amount of tasteless and out of spite rhetoric is bound to and always does make it's way onto the boards, ours and everyone else's, especially during the playoffs. Not condoning it, because I'd like to see it trimmed down as much as anybody, I'm just saying that it shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Now here I have to respectfully disagree with you. First of all Lidstrom is the best player right now period, and probably will be until he retires. Having said that I'll move onto the Datsyuk & Z critiquing. I have a couple of friends that are Pens fans so I've personally kept tabs on them a little more in depth than the average western conference fan does, but I think to say in general that the fans here are judging Crosby on this series alone is kind of an insult to the level of attention some of these people have for the game itself and their knowledge of the league not just Red Wings hockey. The next comment makes me wonder if you're watching it yourself because you criticize, no you laugh, at the the suggestion that either Zetterberg or Datsyuk are better players than Crosby, and then in the next sentence you remark at our quality defense, even saying it has "blinded" us to Crosby's ability. (I'm not quite sure what you meant by that but if our defense is shutting him down that much then we should be happy because he and his supporting cast are being outplayed) Not to mention you've just countered your own point, because our good defense doesn't stop at the back end, Zetterberg and Datsyuk are two of the best defensive forwards playing the game, without them our "good" defense becomes much less so. Unlike most premier offensive talent in the league they put almost the same time on the penalty kill as they do the power play, not because nobody else can do it but because they're very sharp defensively, just look at Datsyuk's take away numbers this season or Zetterberg's 5 on 3 play last night for a couple examples of their defensive work ethic. That in my opinion definitely makes them more valuable than Crosby, because while we could argue that he might be a slightly better setup man or goal scorer, Hank and Pavel are a lot closer to Crosby's offensive talent then Crosby is to their defensive talent, and based on that simple fact I would rate them as better players on the whole. TSN will never agree to that, but strong defensive plays don't pull viewers to the highlight reels like pretty goals (even though those two have plenty of those as well), that and their native son will always be preferred over "Euro" imports, just ask grapes about that I'm with you again here about bashing to a certain extent, the occasional "reeeaaaaaaffff!" comment, or avatar with Crosby sucking on a pacifier are all in good fun, but pointless explicit insults are pretty uncalled for and tasteless regardless of what he does or doesn't say in a presser. As far as his comments, I don't think he said the "right" things necessarily, but again I agree with you that he can't just shove bundles of praise our way and hope to boost his team's confidence. He seems confident personally, but I think he is smart enough to know his own locker room and how they will respond to what he will say, and judging by the way Malkin sat with his head in his hands for 15 minutes before he spoke to the press last night, as well as Therrin's ongoing obstruction witch hunt, I don't think the rest of his team is feeling the same spirit right now so I can't be mad at him over his unwillingness to give "respect" to our lineup. Having said that I think the same rule can be applied to our players and why they aren't afraid to give the Pens bench praise. All of our guys have seemed confident and cautious through the whole series, maybe it's our experience showing but nobody has shied away from talking about the Penguins talent or their respect for it. Even Babcock flat out says when we were outplayed in his pressers, which is a night and day difference to Therrin's approach. But all this stuff is just for us fans to be entertained by, the game's over, at that point there is a winner and a loser so who cares what words are minced after the fact. It's simply intended to give us fans something to talk about, which is always a successful mission!

Crosby: "Detroit Sucks" Hank : "Thank you, get outta my way!"

Zett's stick check on Crosby during the 5 on 3 was just about the most epic thing to occur in the history of the world since they invented pajamas with a crap flap.

Sweet fancy Moses, the beer in my face just about became the beer on my keyboard reading that

You know, I've heard alot of people critique Hudler's value because of his size or lack thereof during his career here, and I have to admit there were plenty of times that I could very well see their point. All I can say is thank God I'm not Ken Holland or Mike Babcock. They've seen this kid's value from day one and never gave up on him and we've certainly seen the results this playoff year, I feel ashamed to have ever doubted him myself. Yeah maybe it was a soft on goal on Fluery's part last night, but its the effort that made it possible and Jiri gave 110% every shift. Like some others have said already, 4th line scoring absolutely wins championships. When you get to this stage the other guys spend their entire practice getting ready to shut down your big guns its the guys like Huds and Filpps that slide under the radar and have to pick up the slack. I'll be damned if they haven't shown they want to win a cup, which is more than Pittsburgh fans can say about some of their headline players like Malkin. I guess my point is I'm proud as hell of everybody on this team, but especially guys like Hudler that never quit even when they're overshadowed by our franchise players and most fans don't buy their jerseys. Go get those damn rings gentlemen, because one thing is for sure, if you do you'll have earned them!

My tickets arrived today It's nose to the grindstone time, we need to take care of business Saturday because we can't afford to give them another inch back into this series more than they have already taken. Its shaping up to be one hell of a ride, if we can batten down the hatches and not miss a step these next two it would make a perfect ending at home. Its a long road to that though outcome though, here's hoping for a return to game 1 and 2 performances.

I see your point, and it is a valid one, one that we've all felt. But as a fellow Red Wing loyalist I want to pull you back from the edge because you're showing symptoms of Penguinitis. After 3 games of being subject to the whinery that is the Penguins fans when they are losing, it seems that horrible trend is catching on here like an airborne virus. Let them botch calls all they want, we'll freaking win through it because thats what champions do. Hit homer, hit Ozzie, hit whoever the hell you want to, no amount of bulls*** is going to stop us when we're playing like we did in game 1 and 2. Remember how many BS penalties we took in the first game? And we still played Pittsburgh out of their freaking equipment that night. We don't need home ice, the refs or the media in our pockets, or every call to go our way, when we're on top of our game the only thing stopping us is ourselves. We're better than this complaining crap their organization has shoved at us from their head coach right down to the fanbase. If we can take one example of what to do right from Pittsburgh as fans, its to follow our coach's example. Therrin cried foul and they hopped on board, so just like Babs in his pressers lets ******* suck it up and accept the good with the bad, forget about it and start thinking about the only thing that matters now, then next win. We're the winners, they're the whiners. I'm too damn proud of this effort on the whole to complain, even as bad as I want to over some of the crap, it will be that much sweeter to win despite it all.

I can't think of anybody else I'd rather have behind our bench. He doesn't take crap from his players or anybody else, and he doesn't dish it out either. He's honest, to the point, and almost always doing / saying the exact thing you would want him to as a fan.

To add to what Probert 5 for Fighting has already said, obstruction is usually seen when a defending player hits a man without possession, is outclassed in speed or ability and they use their stick, hands, or some other means besides their body to take the opposing player off the puck. As someone else simply put it on another forum when the rule changes were made, pretty much anything besides a check can be called interference or illegal "obstruction" at a ref's discretion, it just happens that the refs don't see anything wrong with our defense tactics to classify them as illegal and personally I agree with that assessment. So the long and short of it is, Therrin is complaining about legal obstruction, aka defense, and his team's lack of ability to break ours down. It sounds like a him problem not an us problem to me, but the guy is frustrated and doesn't know what else to say so I guess he's hoping they will call penalties for playing defense from here on out.

:thumbup: Its always good to see Jiri, his attitude is second to none, he's just happy to be living when he could just as easily be bitter and pissed off about his situation. Tough break for him, he was a force to be reckoned with and hadn't even hit his prime, but having said that living is a much bigger priority than a career.

Greeny and Golic have an entertaining show to a certain extent, having said that, thats exactly what it is, entertainment. First off they work for ESPN, so their hockey knowledge is gimped by nature, on top of that if you watch them regularly you know their knowledge is probably best spent on the sport of football and just look at how many of their week to week picks are wrong during the season. I wouldn't put any stock in it, Greeny is a broadcaster not an expert, not to mention he's the "funny" guy of the duo Golic knows sports more, and even he doesn't know anything about hockey, and he'd probably be excited to admit it, hell he might even get a bonus for that somewhere in his ESPN contract.

Well I guess if we aren't prepared for bad ice in Dallas already then thats our own fault, its never good down there.

There's a reason nobody listens to grapes, mainly because its impossible to hear him over his clothes