OhioWing

When I saw the hit I figured one or two games. He left his feet after skating across the rink and popped him high with a shoulder and then the arm came out like a swing as he bounced off. It looked worse than it was the the Duck laid on the ice long enough to get the additional pity added to a 2 minute penalty to make it a 5. All of that said, if that was done to Dats none of us would be defending it as a clean hit and unworthy or suspension. We would be screaming for at least 2 if not more and some of us would be looking for capital punishment. Based on the rules in place now, that was not a clean hit and Abby should have known it was going to end bad. unworthy of suspension - damn fat fingers

on the road for work about an hour north of Philly and can't get my center ice so I have to listen to the Philly announcers. God does this suck.

HobbyLobby has the frames and matting to do it yourself or they have professional framers that will do it for a fee.

I can't say if Ozzie goes into the rafters or not, but if the criteria is he has to be better than Sawchuk that sets a pretty tough precedent. If that is the criteria then how can a forward get up there unless he is better than Gordie Howe and how can a center get up there unless he is better that The Captain? Using that kind of logic, there is pretty much no chance you will see anyone other than Lids get up there.

So we spend the money saved here to overpay Ericsson and bring in Commodore. I can force myself to deal with the Ericsson deal but Commodore? Really?

I wasn't implying take away Bedard's job. I meant give him a shot starting out coaching in the lower levels and see if he has any potential (IF he even has any interest) with the future as a move up - BUT the idea of him broadcasting does sound pretty good. I remember the couple of times he was in the booth during his recovery period and was pretty good.

I would like to see Ozzie at least given a chance to make the team through the training camp and preseason. Sit down with Kenny and work out a contract for league minimum that has contingencies on making the team or some other performance metrics and set it up on the cheap. If he he still has it in the tank to go and doesn't retire, then incentives in the contract could give him a bump from league minimum. He hasn't been his historical self the last couple of years, but with his groin torn up like it was he couldn't possibly be. After the repairs, he should at least get a shot to show what he can do healthy. If he doesn't have it left, then give him a job in the minors coaching goalies and see if he can take on that position for the Wings long term. You don't spend a bunch of money to repair the engine and body on your old car to then send it off to the junk yard to be crushed.

As long as he has an elbow left he has his game.

Big thumbs up on the "my boy Sherman and I" reference

Modano and Napoleon Dynamite is my favorite. When I saw the movie, I immediately thought "Modano needs a haircut."

I had a similar injury, and it likely happened a few saves earlier and this is when it let go. The muscle and tendon connection gets torn or damaged due to a hard shot or violent twist and it kind of feels like a stinger for a minute or so. The next major stress is where it lets go. Even when they cut you open and put it all back together it is really never quite the same. There is some residual tingling and numbness along with some pains - pretty much the same as tennis elbow feels. Unless it is really bad, he should be back before Groundhog's Day - with a little extra something under the elbow boards on his chest protector. It sucks but is a hell of a lot better than a groin, knee or achilles injury.

And now they lose LaRoque. Take away all of the sharp objects and any lengths of rope - massive depression of all fans to follow.

I would make pencil rubbings of the Redwing teams on the cup, then find Claude Lemieux's name on there and get a small turtle etched in beside it. I would then take the rubbings and get them framed and put them up on my wall. After that I think I would probably get as many of the kids from our youth roller hockey league together to check it out as I could and take tons of pictures. Any fund raising done would get split up between our capital improvement fund for the rink facilities and St Jude's Children's Hospital. That would be followed by a nice evening at home with my family, The Cup, a nice plate of sweet sausage alfedo and a visit from Sam Adams.

I started playing again about 10 years ago after not playing for about 15 years and needed to get adult size gear. A friend gave me some old stuff he had. He meant well, but you couldn't really use it for competitive play. The stuff was from the late 70's. There is no doubt the pads are huge now! The chest protector was basically a catcher chest protector with shoulder pads. The blocker was a waffle board with no bend to it and about 3/4 the size of what is out there now. The catcher was really no more than a first baseman's mitt with a cuff on it. The leg pads weighed a ton and didn't have much thigh rise (If you remember the old brown leather leg pads that were four ribs wide then you know what I am talking about). I bought new stuff out there about 10 years ago that was much bigger than the stuff he gave me. The XL jersey I had that easily covered the old chest protector was stretched tight over this one. The new stuff I bought is smaller than what my son bought last year and they were all "36 inch" leg pads and standard blockers and catchers. The board between the thumb and the cuff on the blocker alone added a few inches of blocking surface and the whole glove from the 70's would fit into the pocket of his catcher. I can't even get my jersey over his chest protector because the padding is thicker, comes down farther onto the pants and has clavical pads that make him look like a defensive lineman. I had to go from an XL to a "Goalie Cut" - read tent - jersey just to cover the thing when I used it a couple of times. There is no way that the bigger equipment doesn't help the goalie, but it won't make him a star. The biggest change I see is the dramatic amount of pad above the knee that allows the butterfly goalie to close up the 5 hole so much easier than in the past. Those of us who are the last of the stand up goalies can barely move in pads with that much thigh rise, and all of those young butterfly goalies flopping around would be dead in the water with the short and narrow pads that we like. If you are too slow and get beat side to side it doesn't matter how big you are - you are still going to get beat. BUT - there is also no way the goalies today aren't better athletes, in better shape, and more skilled than in the past. Many of the guys playing with the small stuff back then also had off season jobs to make a living. It is much easier to live on a million a year than a couple of hunderd thousand a decade ago or less than a hundred thousand a couple of decades ago. They couldn't train all year long, didn't have strength coaches, conditioning coaches, goalie coaches, nutritionists, video replay analysis and so much protection by the refs from being hit during games. It is a combination of much better athletes that are getting larger all of the time (compare height and weight of current rosters to rosters 30 years ago) with much better designed equipment (just look at the size of gloves for skaters in the time frame for their growth). These changes were a natural growth process and any changes made will just spur another round of growth. As far as getting goal scoring up, I don't think it is needed. What is needed is an exciting and closley matched game for it to be fun. I hate to bring soccer into it, but they don't have 8-4 games and there is more excitement in the stands than any normal person can understand. I have rambled enough, but it boils down to the fact that the gear has gotten bigger, the players have gotten better, and the shots have gotten harder and faster. It makes for a very exciting game and what is wrong with that.

First off - I am a goalie so I always stick by the goalies - and I think Sawchuck is one of the greatest ever to put on the pads. To say Osgood is not even close to Sawchuck is just wrong. The only place that Osgood can't touch Sawchuck is in shutouts (as if anyone could). Wings Career: Player games wins losses gaa win% Sawchuck 734 351 243 2.44 47.8 Osgood 485 279 128 2.40 57.8 if you figure gaa without the shutout games then Sawchuck ballons up to 2.73 and Osgood barely rises up to 2.48. That only shows that Sawchuck tended to be a little less consistent in what he gave up Playoffs: Player games wins losses gaa win% Sawchuck 85 46 33 2.00 54.1 Osgood 87 52 37 2.45 59.8 Both have 3 Cups (admittedly Ozzie had to watch Vernon win one from the bench). If Osgood can play above .500 for a few more years he should hold all of the Wings records in net except shutouts and Vezina trophies. It would also put him at least top 10 in career stats for goalies. To say it is because he is an above average goalie on a great team could also be said of Sawchuck (look at the cup runs in both careers and some of the greats they both played with). Another cup or a Vezina should make him a solid lock for the HOF if he isn't already. As far as getting his number in the rafters, who can say. It depends on what the criteria actually is and that can be debated forever. If it is on stats, then it should happen up the road. If it is because of popularity then I can't ever see another goalie getting up there. Being a goalie in Detroit is not a job to take if being popular is high on your list of needs. If 30 goes up in the rafters, I don't see it being anything quick like Stevie. I expect the honor to come when Ozzie has been out of the league for 10 -15 years at least and everyone can look back on his era with nostalgia. As others have said, another cup or a Vezina or 450-500 wins and it should be a certainty - with it being on the edge now. It could go either way based on the next few years of his career and it is his to earn or lose.

This is one of the funniest things I have seen - kind of like MXC meets NHL. Some guys have a great "job"