Bad Vlad Forever

He's one of the top scorers in the NHL at present, was a beast last year in the playoffs, and scores CLUTCH goals. He's special. /thread

Don't get me wrong, I love the Wings. Hossa has been amazing for us.....but that was a slapfight in the grand scheme of actual hockey fights. Pathetic.

wish i could be there. i have a friend who entertains clients there, but the detroit tickets always go fast

The ice was god awful. Guess that's why it used to be called the pond! It didn't help that they had the Mite team shootout at the end of the 1st. Zambonis came on too late to let the ice freeze again. Lotsa whining on the Ducks boards about bad reffing. Shocking. I've never ever ever ever heard a "referree's suck" chant at the Joe. Please tell me Anaheim is the only place that does this? Completely unclassy

The only positive I saw for Anaheim last night was Giguere. He made a few incredible saves on the Wings going side to side and literally robbing their free goal from them. He hasn't had a great year, but he had a very admirable night last night. Anaheim had some really sloppy, missed passing and fanned shots as well. And it looks like Donger and Needleweiner are having a harder and harder time holding the blue line in the offensive zone. Embarassing given their pedigree. It's a disservice to their rather capable, young forwards and centers. The first period was a pretty big snoozefest all around, and I'm really glad to see the game pick up after that. 1/2+ of the crowd, myself and wife included were in red and white. That's always inspiring as hell. Great win Wings! Keep Hudler on for as long as you can please!

Thanks for noticing! It was insane. Actually, most regular season games at the Ponda vs. Detroit yield a half and half mix, or more....favoring the Wings! Here's a small sampling of the people at the ponda for the warmup skate. I love it and it makes me miss living in Michigan a ton. Snow and all! In fact, it was 75 degrees with hot santa ana winds blowing after the game, and it just felt way wrong.

Will they make it available for sale to the masses?

850K is way too much for someone who was somewhere between invisible and abysmal in the playoffs last year

i believe the ducks had 19,000 in the parking lot last year one of the guys that skates on my team was all excited about it and bragging. i just shook my head

making the playoffs 18 years in a row is definitely a 'rocky road'

cheli really needs to bow out gracefully now. i've felt this way for a few years now, but now that there's another cup involved, it'd be great timing

buddaj was a beast for colorado when we played that series....i'm just sayin!

well done. hopefully this inspires chelios to bow out on top as well

if you all remember game 2 of the SCF where roberts and i forget whoelse were taking pot-shots at franzen's head in their frustrated, scoreless state! then babcock confirmed in this pre game presser for game 3 that the nhl came to talk to them today. he wouldn't say about what, specifically. one reporter asked if it was about the obstructions that therrier was whining about, and he said something to the efffect of 'no, i don't believe that was brought up'. my guess is that they were telling babs not to retalliate and let the refs handle the franzen situation, and i'm sure the pens got the 'no more blatant hits to franzen's head' speech at the same time. just a guess. but it would stand to reason that nobody took any cheap shots at franzen (that i saw) after that point. glad he's ok! and with cup now!

Nashville was the scary team. That whole scoring in twos business. They were the only ones that put us on the defensive for any stretch of time.

also, an observation: i've never seen so many players tossed out of the faceoff circle as the wings this whole playoff additionally, i've never seen a team in the playoffs get called for more offsides than the pens weird

i think if you look hard enough, you can find a penalty every time a team marches down the ice. old nhl, this wasn't a problem as much. slashing, tripping, hitting we're more accepted and you had to be pretty blatant to get a call against you. nowadays, things like that hudler tug at the end get called...but only sometimes. it's much more open to intrepretation. for the most part, i feel that the series was evenly called (sans the 5-3 opportunites). and if the wings had their act together a little better on the PP, we'd have buried the pens in 4. i want the old nhl back! i'm tired of hearing "2 minutes for playing hockey" calls.

has nothing to do with the actual games, but i was lucky enough to be in detroit visiting when the colorado and dallas series were going on. one day i wore my home jersey around town, and everybody stopped me on the street, in restaraunts, in parks, etc.... to talk about the wings. it's times like that when i really miss living in detroit, and it pretty much drove home the notion for me of moving back someday. i want my kids to grow up in that kind of environment. where people are just good to each other. where people are taught to tend to the needs of others before their own. detroit as a city, and michigan as a state....are hurting, but it is to this day, one of the nicest, classiest, most sincere areas i've ever been. that said..... -kronwall hits -franzen's OT goal vs. preds -sweeping colorado -the 8-2 game 4 -owning turco -fleury tripping during warmup in game one and being laughed at -shutting out the pens through 2 games -hudlers game winner in game 4 -living with the anguish that was game 5 (34 sec) -the monster, clean hit on crosby -fleury scoring on himself -DARREN HELM

i'd love to thank the media for underestimating the wings the entire playoffs. for doubting us, telling us how great jose theodore was, how amazing turco was, how dallas was the 'giant killer', and how pittsburgh is too young and fast to ever be caught thank you all from the bottom of my heart now eat it! THE DETROIT RED WINGS ARE THE STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!

got the old time hockey champions hat, the vertical flag to rub it in on the ducks fans that surround me, and the black cursive shirt for my wifey would love a classy old time hoodie too. oh well RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

agreed, thank you so much

i'm seriously considering buying a helm jersey. that kid has more heart than crosby has ego

For my 3 and a half year old son who watched his first stanley cup finals with his old man "he shoot, he score!" -my son

THE HIT ON CROSBY!!!!!! HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME

DETROIT RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS