Cern

It's a Holocaust of the rods and cones in my eyes.

I'm kinda that way with the Boston, though its in part because my dad is a Bruins fan. I've been watching them more closely the last few seasons and they've been a pretty exciting team to watch.

It's like a golf handicap

HUDLER! Nice offensive play

I actually had an Avs jersey when I was a little kid, but it was more because I liked Sakic than because I liked the Avs. :|

Even though the raw score dosen't necessarily reflect it, I would say Detroit's last game fit the bill. Same kind of shot differential I'm used to seeing from the Wings, and several posts were the only thing that kept it a one-goal game.

So first you're suggesting Hossa is replaceable, then you question his replacability? Even if I were to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume the first statement is sarcastic, again, if placing some asinine bulls*** clause of Red-Wingness onto players as a litmus test of who should play would mean that Conklin is prohibited from starting the WC, then Hossa, who has been with the organization for THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT OF TIME, should equally be prohibited. f***, even Helm has been associated with the franchise longer than Hossa has, let's put him on the first line and give Hossa five minutes of ice time. So yes, I was mistaken. I was thinking your logic was misguided when in fact you're using no logic whatsoever. Having a laughably shallow definition of 'historic' is unfortunately your problem to resolve, not mine. If it was exclusively about having an original 6 matchup, every outdoor game would be an original 6 game. It's not arbitrary, but it's not as much about the hokey heritage bulls*** you seem to insist it has to be. And frankly, it'd be a huge mistake if the players saw it that way too. It's a game that's taking place THIS season to determine the standings in THIS season's playoffs, publicity stunts to boost ratings and new jerseys to boost merchandise sales be damned. Both franchises are old? Big ******* whoop, the Wings could be playing against the Lightning for all I care (and on that note, notice how NONE of the teams who have played outdoor games are sunshine teams, even if they're the away team. This is why the Wings aren't playing the Sharks - although it'd probably be an awesome, exciting game, the significance the league places on the whole outdoor, classic, winter hockey atmosphere is likely to alienate a huge chunk of the sunshine team's fanbase, which dosen't do anything to boost ratings). And given that with the exception of the game in Boston Conklin has been for the most part less sloppy in net than Oz has this season, why in the f*** would you want to DECREASE your chances of getting two points? Because Osgood has been a Red Wing for longer? What kind of bulls*** reason is that? If Oz shows himself worthy of playing the WC, then by all means he should. If he plays like s*** leading up to the game at hand, I really could care less about how many seasons he's been a Red Wing. It's that simple.

THANK YOU. Neither goalie 'should' start until they've actually shown themselves capable of doing well leading up to the WC.

The point is, his statement makes no sense. Osgood should play if he's playing well, placing some assinine clause of Red Wing 'authenticity' as a factor on who plays in the WC is ridiculous. If he's playing like s*** in December and Ty isn't, play Ty, end of story. Personally I roll my eyes a little at the hokey legacy-of-the-franchises slant people slap onto the WC. It's a special game but potential snowfall aside, this game is first and foremost about THIS season, not the 80-odd seasons that have preceded it.

In a perverse way, I like Avery. I hear a lot from friends who are fans of other sports that they really lament how boring player interviews are in the NHL compared to the NBA or the NFL. Avery does something to shake that up, shame he gets hammered any and every time he stokes the flames. In any case, it's absurd how someone like Chris Pronger very nearly got away with attempting a concious skate-stomp on someone's leg - and even afterward got a reduced sentence from the 30-game benchmark - then Avery gets shut down instantly for trash-talk that nobody would have given two s***s about if it was said on-ice. Besides, Cuthbert is a stereotypical little puckbunny. Avery was crude but damn if he wasn't right on the money. Plus, tonight's Calgary-Dallas game would have been EPIC if he was skating. In other news, I think 'sloppy seconds' should now be the official term for a Phaneuf assist.

By that logic, we should make Hossa a healthy scratch for the WC. Besides, it's not like Ty Conklin 'embodied' any kind of long-term history of the Penguins franchise last year.

How? The argument is that something shouldn't be deemed as bland/hideous on the basis that something that looked ten times worse isn't being used. My example demonstrates how absurd that argument is. Just because it happens to look better than the worst third jersey in recent memory dosen't mean it's GOOD.

That's like saying nobody should have a problem with me kicking a puppy because it's quite an improvement over the Holocaust.

UGh god, even with the MST3K guys that movie is unbearably dull.

Rumor has it that third jerseys are going to become mandatory for all teams in two or three seasons. Would make sense what with the desperation for extra revenue and all. If they scrapped the shoulder logos and (maybe) swapped the colours so that it's predominantly red I think the WC jersey would make a great third, though.

You don't like Tampa Bay's but have no opinion on Ottawa's? They're THE SAME JERSEY

I find that the case with football, baseball, AND basketball, honestly.

I'm always amused by this. Pretty much every game this season LGW freaks the f*** out about everything that went wrong. Go to a forum for the opposing team and more often then not they're ecstatic about how well said team played against the Wings. EVEN IF THE TEAM LOST IN THE PROCESS. Penguins excluded but that's just because they still have a stick up their collective ass concerning the Wings. Nearly passed out when he made that save, btw.

Just got back from the game. A very Jeckyl-and-Hyde effort tonight, there were stretches where the Wings just couldn't get the forecheck going to save their lives, others when they seemed to treat forechecking like child's play. And man did Hossa look good, he seemed to do everything short of getting a puck behind the goal line tonight. No in-person autographs tonight - understandably, the players probably weren't in the mood. Chatted with their bus driver for a bit and he gave me a signed Samuelsson card, though.

Were you at the Nov. 2nd game too? I found someone from Victoria outside the arena after that game, we found the team bus and got autographs. Anyway, Who else is crashing GM Place tomorrow!?

Hudler with a ROCKET

He stuck around long enough to deny Pittsburgh two points, and his absence bodes well for us on Monday. I'll accept this. Lots of franchise goalies getting injured this season so far.

I've been hearing rumors that third jerseys are going to become mandatory within a season or two, so even the Wings might not be safe anymore in that regard. I'd hardly complain if they used the Winter Classic jersey sans shoulder logos as a third, though.

You know what, I think I saw one of these at a jersey store downtown. I'll check up on it this weekend and try to report back if it's still there. I think the Winter Classic jerseys should be avaliable in-person by then too.