AndaPanda

My fiance and I are planning on making the trip to Detroit all the way from Montana so I will defintely keep an eye of this thread to find out information. It would be the first NHL game for both of us so I can only imagine the feeling.

I live in Helena,MT and the the only local sports channel is Altitude. I am wondering if anyone else that has Center Ice is being blacked out of games outside of their local markets? I tried to watch the Red Wings and Wild on Saturday and was blacked out of that one. Tonight, I was going to watch Cunucks and Rangers and I am blacked out of that one. Just wondering if anyone else is having any issues? Thanks in advance.

I am beginning to think that this issue is with my cable provider Optimum. I called them and asked about this and they gave me some pretty interesting answers. I have contacted the Wild and they responded with a few other questions to help figure out why the game was blacked-out for me. Thanks to all who have responsed and I will keep everyone updated.

Thank you everyone for you replies. I have Optimum as a service provider. Wings4Life19 - Please keep me updated on your situation because it sounds like we are in the same boat. If I hear anything on my end, I will let you know. I work a lot of nights so I record all the Wings games and it is frustrating coming home and not being able to watch them. drumnj - Thanks for the advice to call Optimum and see about the zoning, I will do that.

So, I am one of the girlfriends that didn't like hockey at first, but look at me now. Instead of my boyfriend posting on LGW...it's me. It started off when the Wings were playing the Flames in the playoffs in 2004. I didn't like hockey at all and I made him watch it in another room. He kept pressing me to at least watch a game and it didn't even have to be a Wings game. In fact, he said that I have to pick my own team and he wasn't going to "make" me be a Wings fan. I finally gave in and starting watching games. I became a Wings fan in the beginning because of Chelios. Now, I am a fully obsessed Wings fan...probably more so sometimes than my boyfriend. We get Center Ice and we watch every single game in our "spots" that give the Wings luck. I even got a little Parrotlet bird and name him Ozzie. I have asked my boyfriend what would have happened if I picked a different team and his response was "I knew you would pick the Wings because they are the Red Wings and how could you not love em."

I don't want Lids to retire...my boyfriend and I are going to Detroit for a couple of games next season. We are driving from Montana and it would suck if Lids wasn't there. I just want him to play one more season so I can see him play in person.

During the playoffs, came up with the nickname "Abaracadabra" for Abdelkader. It stuck and now both my boyfriend and I refer to him as that. I also call Mike Ribeiro from the Dallas Stars "Meerkat" cause he reminds me of one.

I have watched football for a very, very long time and never have I seen any player be marketed as the face of the NFL. I see commercials during football season with different players...heck I even see commercials featuring fans of different teams much unlike the Center Ice commercial that only featured the Pens fan. I am pretty sure that I could come up with a marketing strategy that could help the NHL and maybe actually make it more popular, but having one player be the so called "face" of the NHL drives fans away. There is a guy that I work with that doesn't watch hockey, but he likes Cindy...how the heck do you figure that happened? It's because Cindy gets shoved down everyone's throat and instead of him helping the sport, he has now become the villain. I for one don't want a "face" of the league, I think there should be many "faces." Pick some veterans and some youngsters and see what happens. In closing, I just have to say that I know who the better team was...they may not have won, but I am still proud of the team and thankful that we have Lids as Captain!

LOL, I actually cancelled the NHL Network this morning....I refuse to have Crosby shoved down my throat anymore.

Where did you buy it?? I love it and I need one!

I have a special pair of pj's that I wore the night before every playoff game last year. That trend has continued this year. It is pretty funny because the pants have holes in them and the elastic waist is coming undone, but I still wear them. Next, I cannot buy anything Red Wings related while the playoffs are going on. This comes from my boyfriend who was waiting for his Datsyuk shirt in 07 when there were playing the Ducks. He got the shirt, wore it and then they lost. Last year, it worked! I have a couple of blankets that go on my bed. I have a certain way of folding them and a certain order of how they are stacked. My boyfriend has some pretty interesting ones. We have a toilet seat that he customized himself. On the top is the Red Wings logo and then on the bottom is Hockeytown. It is a pretty awesome seat. Anyway, depending on whether it is a home game or an away game determines if the seat is up or down. Finally, I have a bracelet that I got last year. I haven't worn it at all in these playoffs, but I have it on right now in hopes that it gives them good luck.

My boyfriend turned me into a Wings and hockey fan. I was never really interested in hockey. I actually made him watch the playoff games in another room when they were playing Calgary a few years back. I started watching hockey at the beginning of the 2007-2008 season. We would watch any game on Versus. He told me that I had to pick my own team because he didn't want me to like the Wings because he made me or something. I tried watching a couple other teams, but I would always pay attention more when he was watching the Wings. I ended up really liking Chelios and then Zetterberg. I told my boyfriend that it was always his plan for me to like the Wings and that I would pick them on my own just because they are awesome. He has said that he knew that I would become a Wings fan because who couldn't if you watched them. Now, I love the Wings and I love hockey. It has become one of my favorite sports to watch. I love all of the players and hopefully next season we will be able to make it to Detroit for our first game!

My first time posting in one of these threads...hopefully I give off good juju! Anyway, today is my 6-year anniversary of togetherness with my boyfriend. We are both Wings fans so we are both hoping that the Wings give us a nice present with a win!

Finally! Yeah...Ericsson!

Great....the same ref crew!

Huds! What a beauty!

Woo Hoo....Franzen...makes me feel a little better!

First time posting in a GDT. Go Wings...gotta get the goal back and did anyone hear what Daniels and Murphy were talking about concerning Cleary and Draper and how Cleary is spoon fed by Datsyuk and Zetterberg.