Broken 16

That was my first thought, but if you cut the tennis ball in long strips and crammed them in there, I don't think you would lose anything out of the holes. Maybe very rarely on a freak occurance or something. I'm gonna try it sometime this week. I'll report back.

I think I just got a welt on the back of my leg just thinking about it...

That actually makes sense. You would retain the 'slickness' of a wiffle ball, while adding the weight and 'bounce' of a puck. I'm gonna try that!

I hope so. It would explain how he has suddenly become useless on faceoffs.

Honestly... I wouldn't be too upset. He's still a great defender and offensive presence, but he isn't the Lidstrom of old by any means. If he's done he's done. Time to see what the Wings can do without him. It'll be interesting.

Just so you know... the ball is crazy to play with. A ton of control as far as lifting it and it can corkscrew like crazy on a hard shot.

Please tell me you forgot the sarcasm tag... Howard might be the brightest spot on this team right now. Why would anyone run him out of town?

Well, I tried to stay upbeat in my first post but... If Zetterberg doesn't figure out a way to win some faceoffs, we're done. I'm not really sure who's percentage is the worst right now, but it seems like Zetterberg's are leading directly to goals. Faceoffs are eating us alive.

This. Zetterberg is losing a majority of his faceoffs and is chasing more often. I don't know what he needs to do to start winning faceoffs, but he better start doing it.

I like the way Bab's uses them now. Keep them separate and throw them together once in a while to try and catch the other team off guard.

Not worried a bit. A different set of refs will allow the Wings to play their game more effectively. Either one of those last two games could have EASILY been a win. Not worried about the Wings pulling 1 out of 2 in San Jose. We got this. Pavelski is about to meet reality again.

Not to disregard the rest of your post, but I had to trim that sucker. The problem with your analysis is that you are working under the assumption that Osgood faced the same quality of chances last season. Jimmy is seeing way more quality rubber than Osgood did last season and Jimmy is still keeping us in games till the bitter end on most nights. I honestly don't know how you can expect much more from your goaltender. Seriously. IF the Wings get eliminated, it will be the first time in a long time that nobody will be able to bring up goaltending without looking like a complete idiot.

Right... and it's the way these sticks are breaking that blows my mind. Alot of the time it looks like they just crumble for no apparent reason. Like Lids stick yesterday. That's INEXCUSABLE for a professional's hockey stick to break like that, in that situation. It drives me insane. Happens to Dats a lot too.

Hey... I'm one of those 'Cujo got a bad rap' people. I'd LOVE to see Cujo as our back-up right now.

You can't compare Osgood of last year to Howard this year. For starters... we won faceoffs last year. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Our penalty killing didn't suck. We didn't take stupid penalties as often, etc, etc. Osgood would be in mental rehab if he had to backstop this team.

Seriously... the sticks breaking the way they are is nothing short of ludicrous. Whatever benefit gained from using composite sticks is completely nullified and then some, every time one of them breaks. Back when I was playing more serious hockey (still not REALLY serious though) I switched from wood to composite. I love the weight and the flex you can get... but I went back to wood and haven't regretted it since. Besides... I have to actually PAY FOR my sticks. I almost cried when my $150.00 Nike composite shattered a few tears ago. Never again.

The OP might be on to something though... you think Kenny still has Ranford's number?

I can't help but appreciate someone with the username 'Hockeycoach' thinking that putting Ozzy in at this point is a good idea. Lol. Glad you were never my coach. heh.

When the Sharks had pressure, any tough defensive play in the defensive zone by the Wings was whistled for a penalty because the Sharks routinely folded like a tent and acted like they had been shot. On the other hand... The Sharks are allowed to beat the f*** out of Wings players when they have pressure (Datsyuk with no helmet, being cross checked while he's laying on the ice, Boyle bear hugging Holmstrom and dragging him down to the ice, etc, etc). Some teams are coached to fight for the puck, no matter what. Ignore obvious infractions and play through them to keep possession. Other teams are coached to fold up like a tent at the slightest contact. The Sharks are exploiting the refs right now. The only people that should be embarrassed are the refs for allowing to Sharks to play them like a fiddle. There are many paths that will take you to the Finals. This is one of them and the Sharks are executing it perfectly. Kudo's to them, I guess.

This is a disgrace.

I gotta see this replay...

Or he loves living his life in reasonable privacy while playing on a team with one of the best players in the league. Everybody is different.

I have a bad feeling Lidstrom is going to retire. I hope I'm wrong.

This X 1,000,000

Williams scores three... Wings 4-2 (Draper)