Rob the Badger

I hope the Griffins find a way to solve the Bulldogs. The dogs have won their last five games ending the regular season and 3 of those have come at the Griffins expense. The Bulldogs have home ice advantage and the Griffins have been ravaged by the injury bug. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but things do not look good.

I have a feeling that the cap is going to force the Wings to make some personnel moves that they don't want to. Some of the older players who get paid a lot might have to move on to make room for less expensive players like Leino. Time will tell, but I think that is the writing on the wall.

I was at the game last night. I thought the team looked unfocused. They weren't being responsible with the puck, the turn overs killed them. There were some bright spots. They had their offensive chances. The one thing that I really didn't like was that they separated the Dat-Zet-Homer line. They were one of the best lines last season, I see no reason to break up such a good unit. Hossa can play on the second line with Franzen and one of the other forwards (Sammy, Hudler, Fil, Etc) And with all of the forwards they had to choose from in training camp, I can't believe that they have Kopecky on the roster. I have watched him play for years in Grand Rapids and I have not been impressed. He's soft in the corners, he is a defensive liability, he takes bad penalties, and he whines. I can't believe that he beat out guys like Helm, Downey, and many others. One of my favorite moments from last nights games was when the Leafs started yelling their "Go Leafs Go" chant when they went up 3-1. The section next to them started chanting "Raise Your Cup". Yes, they won the game last night, but the Wings won the regular season and the championship last year. When you look at the big picture, it's pretty obvious which one means more. I think it would have been a good thing to have the teams first game of the season to be a road game. Get away from the Joe and the home crowd to play a game or two in a hostile environment. Get focused on the season and then have the banner raising. I'm sure they'll bounce back with a much more solid game Saturday in Ottawa. I'm Rob the Badger, and I approved this message.

Last night, Sid the Kid, got a goal, two assists, and a fighting major. That qualifies him for the GHHT, with an extra assist. The three points in one night isn't a surprise, but of all people to get a GHHT........

I think that the NCAA hockey rules are about as good as they get as far as the actual play of the game is concerned. If you added fighting to it without any instigator rule, it would be about perfect. The restrictions on goalies playing the puck and the idea of adding new lines to the ice is just stupid.

If someone wants to claim that the Wings bought the cup in 2002, I'll listen to that arguement. But the wins in 97 and 98 were much different. The salaries were not out of control and we were playing with plenty of home grown talent.

How many players are the Wolverines going to lose this year to the tournie? It's bad timing, they used to own the GLI, won ten of them in a row a decade ago, and now they can't keep a consistant line up for the event because they lose some of their best players year after year because they compete in a different tournie. It'd be nice to be able to see them put their best 'product' on the ice for the GLI this year.

The Griffins put on a pretty good game tonight. They outshot last years Calder cup champs two to one and managed to grind out a 2-1 shoot out win. The game had a simular feel to the win that the Wings had against Nashville the other night. It was a physical game and the Griffins had a lot of jump. They've now won 65% of their last ten games and are quickly recovering from that horrid losing streak they had earlier. They're only two games below the .500 mark, no small feat considering the hole they had dug earlier this season. It's been a nice turn around so far. I hope they can build on this momentum and keep going in the right direction going into the play offs.

Hedberg had a similar play this year during a shoot out. He came out to challenge the shooter and took a dive at the puck. The only difference is, that forward had his head up and saw the approaching goalie, so he didn't end up head over heels. No penalty.

I watched him during his time in Grand Rapids. I think that he can be a 1/2 a point/game player in the NHL providing he can stay healthy. He was able to put together a great resume' in the AHL without too many injury issues. I don't know if the problems he's had in the NHL have been flukes, or if he is truly injury prone. I think he's a great guy and a great talent. Hopefully his injury issues are behind him and we can see him become a consistant top 4 defensemen for this team.

Back in Howe's day... there were NHL players that had to have second jobs just to pay the bills. Read some of the books from players back in those days. It wasn't uncommon for people to congratulate a player for winning the Stanley Cup while he was pumping your gas, or bagging your groceries. If Gordie wants to be the schill of the old era, I'm fine with that. I'd rather see him selling books and opening taverns, than going without.

If he were the Jagr of five or ten years ago... sure, but he's lost more than a step, and his numbers this year aren't exactly stellar. I wouldn't pull the trigger on him. He'd be better off going to a team that has a lot of youth that could use a wiley veteran presence in their locker room. Detroit has enough veteran leadership and enough scoring threats as is.