Johnny Law

Exactly, you will never be able to control what the refs call and what they don't so take care of business and it shouldn't be an issue. Remember the penguins last year bringing this up because frankly they were over matched ? Refs let stuff go because they don't feel it impacted the play, the let stuff go late in a game, the let things go if both guys committed an infraction, they call things based on who the person is, they call make up penalties. Hockey will never be refereed with even 90% impartiality, the Wings have lost games because they played like crap not because the officiating was poor.

I found out he uses and 80 flex stick, at 210 pounds thats like a whip flex for him.

Anecdotalally wood is more durable though I don't think anyone has actually seriously looked at this. The problem with wood is that due to its unique properties in cannot be uniformly manufactured, wood blades will not come out identically. Its not a huge deal put NHL players are super particular and some are pretty superstitious so many blades end up being rejected by the player. Additionally wood is comparatively heavy, obviously the lighter the stick the faster the shot. First the vast vast majority of "one-pieces" are actually very similar to the older two piece blade and shaft combos. 8.8.08, XXXX, 95, dolo's, Synergy Elite's, S17's all are simply fused two pieces with epoxy and paint. The advantage of the "one-piece" is the lowering of the kickpoint. With a lower kickpoint the stick takes less time to load and therefore you end up with a quicker release a mid kp will make for a harder slap shot as compared to the lower kp as the stick will load longer. Hossa breaks alot of sticks because he's a beast, he doesn't load the stick like other players. Last night on one of his breaks you could see the stick load funny due to the way he applied the load and the quickness in which he did it. He could be running on a relativity low flex too, Hull used a stick in the 70's so he could get a killer slap shot. When you don't pay for them durabiltiy isn't a real concern.

I seriously think that they believe they can score almost at will. When they went down 3-1 they put on a dominant performance, for those 8 minutes or so they owned the flames. After that performance you knew they had the OT winner. Maybe the new lines will help to keep the tempo up, I liked the Z/Hossa line.

Its some unwritten rule in hockey that when you have glass seats a beasty trainer has to spend all night in front of you. They certainly aren't the best for watching the action but they are hard to beat in the coolness category. Great pictures.

Wood blades have a better feel, additionally the vast vast majority of one piece's are actually two pieces with epoxy instead of stick glue and some paint. Very very few are actually a solid piece of composite. Alot of players have repaints too, Z normally plays with a Synergy Elite but that line ends this year. Easton will certainly still make him some if he wants but they may ask him to paint it to look like whatever their new stick is at that time. It happens with all types of equipment - check Thorton's "CCM" gloves if you don't believe me. Crosby apparently uses an unbelievable amount of sticks per game, something like a new stick every few shifts. You can get the 8.0.8 (Datsyuk's Stick) for like $300 on ebay, all the ones I have seen are prostock. It comes out really soon though so if you can wait you can get it for much cheaper.

That is really freaking cool, looks like you have a cool little collection there. For some reason I thought Hudler would have more of a toe curve. I'm not sure what to think about this team, very bizarre right now. It will be interesting to see how they play against the Sharks on the 18th.

Good to see, for some reason I always felt like he wasn't getting a fair shot.

Jekyl and Hyde continues....at least its a win. I would like to see a little shake up in top two lines. Maybe something like this. Cleary - Pav - Franzen Hossa - Z - Holmstrom Hudler - Flip - Sammy Maltby - Draper - Kopy Z is having issues because neither Franzen nor Sammy can really carry into the zone, at certain points teams just stick two or three on him and he's forced to dump it. Part of his success with Pav was the simple fact that you couldn't double or triple up on any of them because they are good enough to get to the other guy and then one on one its lights out. Hossa can carry and with Homer in front it could be serious trouble for the opposition. Franzen lately has been playing the perimeter and wanting to shot, with Pav feeding him passes and Cleary doing the dirty work I could see where that line would work. Who knows though, line combos are interesting because you almost have to see them before you know if they will work out.

Sometimes I wonder if we are all watching the same game. First, in the salary cap era Osgood fulfills on very important function, he is a high value low $$ player. If I remember right he's 1.4 a year that's Draper/Lilja type money. In a league where Jeff Finger get 3, Mark Bell get 2 to sit in the AHL and Gerber is getting 3.7, Osgood is a steal. He's not Luongo but where would the Wings be in terms of the rest of the roster if he was. Second, stop looking at the number of shots and actually look at what type of shots they are. 40 shots from the blue line with no traffic is a lot different than 6 shots from 10 feet out. The Red Wings historically have given up a relatively low number of shots per game but due to their style of play a decent number of them are very high percentage scoring chances. Mistakes by skaters are far more often masked than those of equal magnitude by goalies, lets say Lebda forces one up the middle for an easy turnover but said skater whiffs on the shot or misses the net. No one remembers that like when a goalie lets a soft one in. Lastly, all players are going to go through rough patches. Sometimes its not even directly related to your play, rather the puck just isn't bouncing your way. The difference between the greats and the ECHL players are how they respond to this adversity, Osgood has proven over the last 14 seasons that he can get the job done and done well. Have a little more faith in a guy who has provided so much for this team, it's not like there loosing these games right now. If he continues to be shaky and they start loosing games then maybe its time for a reassessment but that simply isn't the case right now.

3-0 Wings first game all year were they play lights out defensively.

Not sure if the applies to Ericsson as I live in PA and don't get to see the Griffins very regularly but on HNIC radio last night they had a pretty long discussion of NHL caliber players in the AHL. Basic summary was that first off these guys will become unmotivated and there isn't alot you can do about it, second that for NHL caliber guys it is actually more difficult to play at the AHL level. The reasoning is that at the NHL level everyone does their job while at the AHL level you can feed guys perfect passes and see no results. They seemed to feel it was especially difficult for goalies and defensemen as you can look like a total fool if someone else blows their assignment. Again it may having nothing to do with Ericsson's play but I can see where it would be difficult to know you can accomplish a life long dream now but you have to wait a year because of the salary cap.

Quoted for emphasis, guys like Sammy are going to be the key to success in the cap era. Gone are the days you can fill your roster with $$$ guys, the bang for the buck ratio on Sammy is real high. Say what you want about him but 1.2 to Flip's 3 or Finger's 3 is a steal. Someone's going to be the odd man out next year as there are no simple fixes to be found, the key is going to be what the kids in GR can do when the move up to the NHL.

Agreed, some nights the shots just don't fall for you. Alot of good stuff to build off, they finally have some time at home so the practice schedule should be pretty good. I expect some of the finer points of their game will improve after a couple solid practices.

That was my first reaction, I would imagine some guys didn't see it and others remembered who he was. That said though its simply unacceptable, this isn't a spur of the moment in the heat of the game sort of thing. Additionally its a straight cheap shot with the intention of doing serious harm. Like father like son I guess. If he continues to act like this a play at a high level someone is going to teach him a very painful lesson.

[/size]GET OFF MY LAWN !!!!! If you are the hockey oracle you seem to think you are what are you doing here ? The Stars need you !

Ehhh not a bad game all things considered. Nucks stole the extra point with a hot goalie. It happens. Wings overall played pretty well, dumb stuff happened but that's part of sports. Having to play with less guys because of the injuries and the cap seems like it has taken a little toll, guys where definitely a little more tired. Throw in a hot goalie and one point isn't so bad. I don't see how anyone can say Ozzie didn't have a good game, you can't ask any goalie to make those saves on the goals that were scored and he stole a bunch that could have gone in. Franzen's penalty is kind of ticky tacky, I prefer to have the players decide the winner of the game. 4-3 is lights out because there is so much room to work with, the 3 almost always end up smashed together down low in some vain attempt to have a pass bounce off them. Can't wait to see them play the Habs, should be a good battle. Hopefully Cleary and Homer can get back in the lineup soon, still a pretty damn good effort considering they were only dressing 17/18 players.

3-1 All I really want to see though is that they are continuing to turn the corner in terms of defensive play.

The pizza pretzel ones are good too Pretty good game for the Wings, certainly difficult to find motivation when your up by 3. I have only one gripe, Can someone for the love of god please tell Kopy to zip up his frigin pants.

You give almost any NHL caliber player time and space and they will make you look stupid. I'm amazed at how good 99% of the players are at all aspects of the game compared with say beer leaguers or mid level competitive leagues. Both McCarty & Maltby where 50 goal scorers in juniors...... kinda makes you wonder what kind of moves they have .

Pretty good game from the Wings, really liked that they got to the puck first on nearly every loose puck.

Part of it is poor play defensively and not wanting to do the work necessary to dominate. The other part is unbelievably high expectations, you win the Stanley Cup and then nab the best free agent in the game. Unless they win every game 20-0, someone would be disappointed. Some people like to head off any major disappointments early on, so when a team they have bought into and become a full %100 supporter looks like it may be headed for major disappointment some will jump off early to try to avoid the full impact. Its human nature.

Here is a picture of their work, pretty good if you ask me.

I'm thinking 4-2, Z will have 8 shots with 2 goals. Last night I started keeping track of penalties in relation to game score, in a few weeks maybe we can see something that confirms what everyone already knows.

Very interesting... Anyone know if DET. could have any influence on the lines ? For example could Holland call up GR and say "Hey I want to see players A,B, and C in a line so put them together for a few games" ? I'm not saying that is what is going on, just curios.