Shockwave180

I've been looking all over NHL.com (heck, it's even in the banner Matt has scrolling across the top of the page advertising Winter Classic merch), but it doesn't seem to be listed anymore. Are they sold out? Anyone know where else they might be procured?

I was wondering about this. I've become increasingly fascinated over the years with our complete domination of any team coached by the Q. Whichever of those two records is correct (or even if it's anywhere close), that's amazing. Also, according to my own math, the Wings have now beaten Quenneville 12 straight times, including the postseason. The last game against Colorado in '07, eight games last year, and the first three this season. Unreal.

Absolutely dead-on. I never got tired of their woes over the last decade-plus, and I never get tired of seeing the Wings beat them. Their fans are so filled with bile and hatred towards us that they can't see straight. Incidentally, we now lead the all-time series against them 354-254. Not bad.

I love it. Anyone who doesn't appreciate these kinds of gags after the election we just went through has no sense of humor.

Absolute joke of a sequence by Lightning management. Hire a guy who's been out of the game for well over a decade, then fire him after 16 games. 16! Ridiculous. Melrose was a strange choice in the first place, but to hire a guy and only give him 16 (!!) games in charge is utter madness. For once, I feel for Barry.

Let the gloating begin. Well-deserved, too. I thought he was the best GM in the game?

I will never understand why they chose to do this at Wrigley instead of Soldier Field. Soldier would've had double the capacity and a much better all-around view.

Great job, Jacqui. Represent.

Well-played. Seriously, though, if the Wings can go 7-1-1 without playing anywhere close to their best hockey...wow. That's scary. But in a good way.

I can't believe it...I move up north and can't make it to RWNW events anymore...and they get to see a shootout win the first time I'm gone. Still, hope everybody had fun. We always do.

No, but complaining about Holland and claiming we don't have enough grit five games into the regular season when we just won the Cup with nearly the same roster is ridiculous, in my opinion.

Yawn. Maybe we should wait till we're not defending Stanley Cup Champions to start complaining about having too little grit again.

Hilarious. I was disappointed that the Q wasn't going to be around to coach one of our hapless rivals and get eliminated by us this year. And now, he's back! And with our biggest up-and-coming rival! This is amazing. I love the Hawks. They never cease to provide comedic entertainment, even after the death of Father Bill. Team Chaos strikes again.

Way too early in the season to start gloating. The Ducks started slowly last year, and a bunch of people here predicted they would miss the playoffs. That didn't happen (although getting surprised by Dallas in the first round was almost as good). Well, I guess we can gloat a little. But not too much.

Yes! Hockey season is back, baby. Btw, does anyone have the all-time head-to-head record between the Leafs and Wings? I know that as of several years ago it was tied, and if memory serves, I think it's currently at 271 wins each. I can't find it on any game previews, though.

I feel for the core group of loyal Nashville fans, but the annual "Will they or won't they" speculation gets old. I would love to see another team in Canada. Still, I don't think this is really going to happen. Bettman is committed to keeping the Preds in Nashville, and until that changes, it's going to be very difficult for anyone to move them.

This sounds great. I subscribe to a similar site to get European soccer games streamed. My only concern is how vulnerable these guys would be to getting shut down once the NHL gets wind of it. I see they're based in the Netherlands, which helps, but I'm not sure it would be enough. Anyone want to fill me in on what assurances they can give that they'll still be online by next June?

Russia is flush with multi-billionaires who have money to burn and an overly competitive fire to stoke. We've already seen this in European soccer; Russians have come in and bought out several top British clubs (most notably Roman Abramovich with Chelsea FC), and have started flinging immense and unrealistic amounts of money around. Now they're starting to do the same with hockey. And it's only going to become more prevalent over the next ten years or so. These are all people who were extremely fortunate and well-placed when the Soviet Union crumbled and took over major oil companies and other newly-available property. They have almost unlimited cash, and Russian sports is starting to become extremely competitive with North American leagues in terms of available money (if not overall talent levels). It's hugely shady, but it's something that the NHL is going to have to watch out for, even with the recent agreement in place.

This. I'm a little biased, I guess, because I met Schneider before Game 6 of the Conference Finals last year. He was incredibly nice and gracious, and posed for multiple photes (with his red cast on his wrist). I do think we were slightly better off without him, as things turned out. But let him be.

Great article, and I especially loved his kicker: "As Edmonton's Kevin Lowe said of Burke, 'He's like the Wizard of Oz. You pull the curtains away and there's not much substance.' He'll be perfect for the Leafs." Zing! So true, on so many levels. Life is good.

Bloody heck, it's the ESPYs. Who cares? We are the Stanley Cup Champions. Repeat ad nauseum, and smile.

Everyone's talking about Tampa Bay...how about one of our biggest Western Conference threats getting a whole lot better overnight? I mean, we stack up against anyone, but still.

I'll be honest: As happy as I am for all of our guys, one of the most enjoyable elements of winning a championship is watching your hated rivals foam with jealousy and bitterness. In that spirit, I looked at just a couple topics on Blues and Hawks messageboards, and gleaned a few gems: In a topic entitled "Things that are more enjoyable than watching the Wings win the cup": "Having your house foreclosed Being fired Finding out your girlfriend is a dyke Finding out she won't let you join in Having a branding iron to the groin Letting a cow give you a cleveland steamer Learning you have terminal cancer etc" "Hopefully their plane with crash tonight on the way back to the s*** hole of America, Detoilet." From the Hawks' main messageboard: "I hope Detroit riots itself into the ground tonight. May the city burn." "Detroit sucks and wouldn't have made it past the 1st round if they played the Hawks." I haven't looked at any Avs or Leafs boards, but I'm sure you'd find similar sentiments. Feel free to post additional idiotic, bitter comments or excuses from rival fans, co-workers, or online sycophants. Conspiracy theories? The Wings were just lucky? Detroit still sucks? Post 'em all here, and laugh. Laugh long and hard. After all, everyone hates us, and we don't care. Because we are the champions, and their worst nightmare has come true. Again.

You weren't here for the Great Goalie Wars of 2006. Many deaths.

I vividly remember these annual "Thank You" threads after the '03, '04, '06, and '07 playoffs; it was always a "smiling through the tears" moment to thank a great webmaster for maintaining a great place for us all to commiserate. Heck, during the '05 lockout, we weren't even sure if there was going to be an NHL in the future. So, finally, it's nice to have this thread after a season that had a truly happy ending. Congratulations, Matt, and thank you. You deserved to see this championship as much as anyone.