T.Low

I know someone who was going thru a hard time and try to take thier own life...and now 22 yrs later she is the best thing that has ever happened to me, so I married her. She's pregnant with our child right now. Looking at her now, no one would ever believe she ever tried to kill herself. She doesn't waste a moment, overfilling with life, motivates me, challenges me, and inspires me. Good job Ron and "other guy".

Ironic. For so long, young players in the organization have had to leave to get their chance because there was no room at the top with great people like Stevie Y already there. Now Yzerman himself is on the other side of that coin and has to leave to get his chance. It was class that the Organization gave him the job and everything they possible could (GM job not being possible) to help him decide to stay, knowing he would take that experience and knowledge and have to go somewhere else to really apply it.

Still too early to tell; only 11 weeks into GR. We should know as the season progresses down there. He was pretty active on the first game film we saw at 7 wks. pregnant. The Dr. said he was showing off for us, already showing signs of grit with a lot of jump. (Actually too early to tell the gender at this point; we'll see the next time we look at films!) We had one drafted last year but never showed up to camp- (ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg had implanted outside the uterus, in the fallopian tubes). It was hard on the team to be sure, but overcoming the adversity made the team stronger. This season looks good so far. While its great for some teams, we've never really considered looking into free agency, although my wife has a sister that was acquired as a UFA from Korea. At this point, we're looking to build our team thru the draft. But you never know. Thanks for asking.

My nephew is a '95. When he was 10 he scored on Lidstrom"s son, a goalie. Lidstrom sat very unassumingly, alone in the stands with the rest of us watching the game. My brother, my dad, my wife, and myself were all there. Then after the game Nick came over and congratulated him on a great shot and signed his jersey. All the way home in the back seat he kept mumbling "This is the best day of my life". Nick Lidstrom is the genuine article. He is who you think he is, and who you hope he is. My other buddy, the Bloomfiled Hills detective, has a kid that grew up playing Little Ceasar's with Dean Chelios. He would patrol by Cheli's Bloomfield Hills house to check on things for him, as the family would often be out of town at one of their other homes in Chicago or Malibu. Cheli even brought my buddie's kid to his hockey camp in Chicago for free and let he and his kid stay at his house there with Dean and the other kids and a bunch of the fathers. It was summer and everyone was playiing in the pool and eating Cheli's food, then CHeli would leave for a workout while everyone was having fun at his house.

I don't know. Drapes probably wants a 2nd home in Florida anyway. While I don't pretend to know anything about TB's 3rd and 4rth lines, you'd have to think Stevie Y would love to have his veteran leadership, experience and professionalism aboard. And from Drape's point of view, he moves down there, finds a waterfront property in Clearwater or St Pete, the fam comes down to visit at CHristmas, and Easter, and voila, he's got his retirement home in Florida. Sounds like a good deal to me. Edit: BTW NFM, Congrats on the new Avatar. My wife Jen (aka The Jenerator) and I have prospect #1 down in GR as we speak; scheduled to be called up to start Dec 15!

The Bolt fan said Stevie Y is a "good guy"...(heavy sigh, roll eyes).

So far, Wing's fans congratulating TB out number TB fans on that thread 2-1. I'll bet we can keep that ratio going thruought the end of the thread. I can see it now: "What if Stevie Y never inspired the Lightining?"

Oh yeah, and get brand new skates and gloves; everything else try to get used. And rent Mystery Alaska if you haven't already seen it.

My wife did the same thing, and come to think of it, she was about 26 or 27 when she started. I saw her play indoor coed soccer and realized what a hard nosed defensemen she is, rubbing guys out into the boards, a great sprinter, and very protective of her goalie, and totally territorial of the crease. I wanted to play twice a week, so I told her I would go down to the D league and play on her team if she wanted to learn to play. She did and it's been awesome ever since. Her first season we were a defensive pairing together and were unscored upon in 12 games in a row, she ended up being like a plus 25 or something. Her name is Jen so the guys on the team nick named her "The Jenerator". Now I play center on that team and she's paired with this awesome tiny old guy and they're like best friends now, it's hilarious. Former Canuck Garth Butcher runs our hockey program. I told him he needs to get us a big old trophy so when we win the championship we have something to hoist and skate around with and hand off to our teammates. The only thing he could find was this huge old trashed trophy with a big cup in the center and a little golfer on the side, so thats what we used. We called it the Happy Gilmore Cup. It was awesome. We each had it at our house for a week or so during the summer. Ha ha ha. Then the rest of the girls that play at our rink recruited her to go to an all women's tournamnet in Vancouver. It was a hoot. One of the girls on her team was being recruited to play hockey at The Ivy Leauge schools and the girls made it to the championship game but lost cause that girl couldn't make it to that game. Do it, dude, its a blast.

I like Bertuzzi on the Wings, but I'm just saying; we heard that from him just before he went to join Burkee in Anaheim. I hope we get him, and get him for less than $2m.

Bertuzzi will get 45 pts...but in a Maple Leaf jersey. After all, it's that time of year where Burkee offers him $4m per for 2 more years. I'd like to see him back, but money talks.

I want to see a bonafide Big Line; one that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of all other teams: LINE 1 Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen LINE 2 Bertuzzi-Flipulla-Hudler LINE 3 Miller-Abdelkader-Cleary/Holmstrom LINE 4 Eaves-Helm-Draper/Maltby How awesome would Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Franzen be together.

But, per post game media scrum, he is going to "walk out of here with my head held high, I battled hard for 60 minutes...". Even Kelly Hrudy said Luongo has to be better. In his defense, though, most of the goals were break aways or 2 on one's; major lapses in defense and he could not bail them out. Goals 4 and 5 he looked like a deer in the headlights. Oh well, they only have 11 more years.

He had one great playoff series; his first series ever against Dallas. His first game he had aobut 50 saves. He played a great game. Since then... Vancouver's Team 1040 said Luongo was voted most overrated player in the NHL by NHL players. I'm not a Luongo fan, and think it was a mistake to make him captin on a number of levels. The difference between a high dollar puck moving Dman and a lesser Dman is greater than the difference between a socalled Elite goalie (high dollar) and a lesser goalie. Red Wings compared to Canucks are a great example of that theory.

Chicago is acting like a bunch of punkasses and it really is getting to Vancouver. What the heck are the Canucks doing? They're just hitting guys away from the play, not picking up guys in slot or around the crease. They look like idiots out there. Shane O'Brian looks like an idiot beatin on Buffloogian 60 feet away from the net and getting a penalty inwhich they score on. Luongo is asleep, then in the media scrum says they lost there composure again and Mike Milbury says Luongo should quit throwing the team under the bus and start stopping more pucks. I agree. They seem to have no leadership. Luongo can't get smoked then lead the team. No one else seems to step up. WOw, I thought the Canucks were gonna do some damage this year, not look like damaged goods.

Don't most goalies get pulled around the 6 goal mark? I can't believe how far off their game Vancouver got. Chicago is just laughing at them. ""With O'Brien the thing that upsets me with him, and Bieksa, and Burrows, they go and target the Kanes and the Toews," Burish said. "That clown Burrows goes after Campbell. Give me a break, guys. If you want to target someone, come find me or come find Benny." Benny would be Ben Eager(notes), another Hawk with limited ability except when it comes to getting under the skin of various Canucks. "You guys want to pretend you're so tough," Burish, on a roll now, continued after Chicago's morning skate at GM Place. "You want to hit them, you want to play hard, but those clowns are pushing them after the whistle, punching them. ... We just kept telling O'Brien we call him a spot-picker. He picks his spots pretty nice. He knows who's on the ice and when he can be a tough guy and when he's kind of got to shut up." ... "Those clowns, you've got to be careful and they sure paid for it." http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Burish-slanders-clown-community-with-comparison-?urn=nhl,239597 Are the Canucks flying home to Vancouver after just one more game in Chicago?

I agree that he can be frustrating because you know what his potential is/was. However, he cannot perform at that level all the time because the dude has a f***ed up back, in a major way. I've seen what back problems do to athletes; he's gott em and it is what it is. His pay reflects that fact (among others) On the one hand, I don't think he got a single phone call to play last year, not even a thank you good luck call from Clagary. Detroit gave him another chance, so I think his price should stay low. On the other hand, he is now being showcased for the entoire NHL to see again, and he is doing well, so of course he may be a bit more in demand again. Hmm.

Bertuzzi created the drop pass to Franzen by cutting across the lane and dragging the D with him creating a momentary criss cross screen for Nabby and thats all Johan needed to blast one by him. Don't underestimate that play by Bert. Same with his pass all the way across ice between defenders to Raffy's wheel house for the one timer. And the perfect screen and tip for the first goal. It wasn't going in without his redirect. That is how he scored many if not most of his goals in Vancouver. If that first goal didn't happen, who knows what the outcome of the game would have been. it sure set Franzen off on a terror. Bert has great vision, great playmaking sense, and great hands, and he is still a big body out there to reek havoc. His down fall is when he thinks too much and a little too slowly, then he tries to force a play even though it's timing has passed. I think Franzen moves into the scring lanes with such speed and precision that Bertuzzi doesn't have time to think too much, he just sees it and figures out a way to get him the puck. ANd franzen finishes. Do not under estimate the value of Bertuzzi's role in Franzen's goals. Bertuzzi earned his 5 point night.

Thank you for making a posivite Bertuzzi thread. I've seen him in his prime in Vancouver and even though I wanted to root for the guy, there was just something about his attitude that I couldn't get past. Never liked him until he was languishing in Florida and it occured to me that he could be a good trade deadline pickup for the Wings and low and behold thats what happened, although it wasn't that successful at the time. Now I'm glad he's a Red Wing and really want to see him hoist The Stanley Cup. Game 4, last night, Bertuzzi really showed where he excells in this part of his career; playmaking and net presence (which includes scoring in front of the net). He showed his patience with the puck, and his passes to Franzen and Rafalski both were right in the sweet spot for perfect one timers, and they were not easy passes to make. He is most valuable when he plays with a bonafide scorer like Franzen, Z, , and Naslund. His potential value will not be realized if he is paired with Homer (unfortunately, he can only carry the goal scoring bucket for so long). I'd really like to see him find a home here with Detroit for $1.5 or $2m. Bert, Z, and Franzen is a monster line. To swicth it up every now and then,move Z to Pav and Homer's line and insert Filp between Franzen and Bert.

As much as i love hockey, I generally would rather do something myself than watch other people do something. I hate that the playoffs are this time of year because this is the meat of the white water kayak season. I'll schedule as much around the Wings as I can. But if they do not move on to the 3rd round, I'll be paddling, mountain biking, enduro riding and taking overland 4x4 camping trips. I'll mountain bike tonite (right after this post) then catch whatever is left of the Nuck/Hawk game. I'll be planted for the Wing game tomorrow, but will be enduro riding Wednesday after work. Thusday nite is river paddling nite, Friday is mountain biking, the weekends are trips or local rides, or whatever. Generally speaking, if someone knocks the Wings out, then thats the team I want to win the Cup. If a player choses to leave the Wings, THe team he goes to is the team I definitely do not want to win. I don't want Hossa to win; I'd be ok with Sammy winning it again. I'd like Boston to win; don't want Crosby to win again, or even get to the finals for that matter unless it's to lose against the Red Wings. But I want Todd Bertuzzi to hoist the Stanley Cup this year. It's been a rough road for him these last few years and I'd like to think he found his slavation in the Winged Wheel.

This is the most sensible, objective, and succinct observation on the entire incident. The only thing I can add is to emphasize Moore's neck broke as Bertuzzi shoved him into the ice forehead first, very similar in how people break there necks diving into a shallow lake. The pile-on was more in his back region, not neck, and after he was already out cold. I will add that I am a Bertuzzi fan. As a matter of fact, it occured to me that he may be a good fit for the Wings right before they actually picked him up the first time.

You sound like you've been watching someone like Steve Yzerman or Nick Lidstrom captain a team or something. Yeah, the great leaders are few and far between; Devallano and Illitch know how to pick em. That being said, I didn't see anything wrong with his interview at all. HE could have said the usual bulls***, but he honestly didn't have any words at that time for what just happenned. My impression is that he'd rather be ripping the lockers off the walls and throwing s*** around than sitting there talking to reporters.

HALAK! 3 frikin pages and no mention yet of Halak! Dude was a maniac, played out of his mind. He shut them down! Since you guys bought it up, the difference between Crosby and Ovie really comes to light during playoff time and tournament time: Ovetchkin's mindset is "be awesome, be The Man"; Crosby's mindset is "do the things that will make us win". For the respective ages, Crosby is smarter and more mature, but Ovie will grow in that regard.

After Sundays lose in Detroit, one of the announcers said that Babcock has to tell the boys to pack for a western 3 game road trip. This was to have two fold effect: 1) Instill confidence in winning game 7 in Pheonix, 2) keep travel time to a minimum by going stragiht from Pheonix to San Jose. I imagine this is what they ended up doing, does anyone know for sure? It makes sense. (The logistics of pro sports have always somewhat intriqued me.) Its awesome that as a rookie goal tender, Jimmy already has a game 7 win on his resume, especially with all the teams in the Western Semis this year. I enjoyed Tippet's post game homage to the WIngs: "They just took it to another level that we couldn't match".

I agree. I also listen to him on The Team 1040 and he has nothing but high regard for the Wings. He always speaks very highly of them. He has earned my respect.