Miss Wing Queen

Ha, ha. I love that basically, Ken Holland did all this for s***s and giggles.

TSNBobMcKenzie: Nabokov (DET) claimed by NYI.

Ah, Edi, you're bringing back memories from my youth with these Carlton Banks gifs. Love it! "It's not unusual . . ."

I started looking into the same thing myself last year around this time. I had skated as a kid when we lived on a lake, but hadn't been on the ice for at least 10 years. As a girl trying to get into hockey, I thought it was going to be impossible to find anything that could take me from a complete beginner to recreational league level, especially starting as a 28-year-old adult. I started out with a learn to skate class at my local rink. I did a second learn to skate program this past fall. Money and time have prevented me from improving at a faster pace, but I have found places with programs geared towards women. But I've talked to different people, and they said to get through the skills offered at the Basic 5 level (follow the US Figure Skating guidelines) because that would give me the best amount of skill to play well, enjoy the sport, and not get hurt (too much)! Now whether you can do this on your own or with classes is up to you. There are plenty of adult learn to skate programs out there, you just have to find the right one for you. My first one was all adults. My second one was ages 8 and up, and I felt like the only giant out there (although one very jealous giant watching eight-year-olds mastering a hockey stop and making it look so easy). Whatever you do, remember you are doing it for yourself and to have fun. Enjoy the process as much as the end result because even though your skill set may be very limited at first, you'll never forget how happy you are when you first master a backward swizzle or how alive you feel leaving the rink after a good session.

Just a thought, but what if these pretzel type theories come about like this: Some team claims him. They decide to trade him and Detroit claims him back. We use Nabby until the trade deadline, and then trade Nabby back to the team that originally claimed him. I get all mixed up with waivers and trades and such, so I might have the rules all wrong. Whatever the case might be, Kenny is a genius no matter how this ends.

Did Ericsson just kiss Helm?

Dear Red Wings, 3 Red Wings goals to lead the opposition and then giving up the lead = letting in 3 opposition goals and coming from behind to tie it up. Either way, please play 60 consecutive minutes. Thank you, LGW

Edi's pics are working just fine for me. Anybody else having problems?

That was sweet, Bert, but I would have laughed my ass off if you missed that open net. Hush your mouth.

Ken: "Anytime you want to jump in here, Mick . . ." LOL.

Something or someone sure ruffled Mic's feathers before this game.

I'll take boring over disappointing any day.

Love Eaves on the 1st line. Mickey: "Oh and look. They're ahead!" Ha ha!

Love how Ken drew that out, intentional or not: "Shi . [t]. . cago on Saturday."

Babs got smart and told the team the game was at 7:30pm Central time so that they will be playing like it's the 3rd period by time they actually start the game!

I come home for lunch, and this is what I find. Make me wonder if my co-worker receiving a text from her old boss who now works for Ilitch, stating "OMG!!!" is referring to all this. I could never pretend to know all the inner workings of Ken Holland's brain, but I can see where he might be going with signing Nabokov. 1.) We have a more reliable backup and/or tandem for Jimmy compared to MacDonald. 2.) I do believe Ozzie will be back in early March, but I don't know who will be out to make room for Nabby's cap hit (maybe Miller. 3.) This is a tryout period because I think Ozzie will be given the chance to take us out through the playoffs if he performs well, but I believe this is his last season. So this sets up a possible goaltending option for next year, already tested out. 4.) Competition, competition, competition. You light a fire under Jimmy, Ozzie might step up his game more, or Nabby might win out over all of them. Either way it's a healthy dose of competition for all three. 5.) If Nabby doesn't clear waivers, Holland has something else already up his sleeve--maybe another deal already planned with a team who may claim him, for us to get their goalie? Who knows but Holland? For the most part, I see it as a possible good move if all works out. The only thing is I hope Ozzie has not played his last game. He deserves a better closing to his career than this.

Well said, Loo. This is a team, and as a team, they are losing. None of this falls squarely on one player's shoulders. The defense was starting to decline in early December, and then as we lost our most defensively-sound players, it continued to go downhill. That has a huge impact on how good the goalie looks and plays. But I do think, Jimmy needs to work on problems in his own game. We all know he can play much better. I just would like him to start making progress before April (and I know he can and will).

Well, he can go pout in the time out section with the other crybaby then. Correction: It would help if I read the article first. It's completely understandable to want to spend time with a loved one if their health may be failing.

I'm still doubting these "rumors." I've not seen any articles stating that the team feels he is out for the rest of the season. But at the same time, there have not been many news stories since his surgery to tell how well he is progressing, so it's up in the air. Here's a Detroit News article that states: "Holland expects Osgood to be healthy enough to return by March 1 and Modano by March 15." Until I hear otherwise, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that early March is when he will be coming back. Good to hear Jimmy will be back in goal on Thursday. I really feared the injury was worst than it has been based on how bad knee bruises usually are. MacDonald did better than I thought he would, and some of his saves reminded me of Jimmy's from last season. Although, I was getting a laugh every time Ken Daniels would shout "Oh, MacDonald . . ." when he made a great save because my mind always automatically added: "had a farm, ei-ei-oo." I just hope Jimmy can get back to how he was playing last season and at the very beginning of this season because he really needs to carry us a bit until we start getting guys back.

It's amazing how we all thought that nothing could top last year, that it was a fluke of a season, but then we get to this season and all the injuries we've had already. Just looking at the list of injuries from last year and this year, it's too much of a coincidence to be anything more than inconceivable. 2009-2010 Injuries September: Helm/2-4 weeks shoulder, Lilja/indefinite head (from prev. season) October: Franzen/4 months knee November: Fillpula/6-8 weeks wrist, Williams/8 weeks fibula, Kronwall/4-8 weeks knee December: Ericsson/2-3 weeks knee, Cleary/4 weeks shoulder, Zetterberg/2-4 weeks shoulder January: Holmstrom/3-4 weeks ankle February: Maltby/out rest of season shoulder 2010-2011 Injuries September: Draper/6-8 weeks shoulder November: Modano/3 months arm December: Datsyuk/4 weeks wrist, Cleary/4 weeks ankle January: Stuart/6-8 weeks jaw, Osgood/6-8 weeks groin, Howard/day to day knee, Holmstrom/3-4 weeks wrist And that's not even counting day to day injuries (with the exception of Howard). Last year, we kept looking forward to the Olympic break, knowing we'd start getting healthy afterwards. This year, it's the All-Star break. But what is funny is that some of the comments about recently injuries are almost word for word the same as last year. Insert Datsyuk for Z. This is just unbelievable. But Babs always preaches that catch up hockey is losing hockey and that when you're playing more in your end, you're on your heals more, so there's more chance for penalties and for getting hurt. It sure seems like that's a good reason this year, since our defense hasn't been great and neither have our starts. Either way, let's hope the injuries are done (knock on wood).

I think this is in Swedish too. I could almost watch these all day. The Nick one gets me every time. Great job! Now we just need one for Babs when he's gone on a mini tirade.

Well, I think this proves (in case it wasn't obvious) that the blame for these high goal games is 80% defense and 20% goaltending. Three goaltenders now, and the trend is still there. Granted, Jimmy can perform better, but Osgood was doing pretty well, as is Joey. This team needs to fix these flaws because in the long run it is costing them more than they realize. Sure, they are pulling wins out, but the team has to play harder to get those wins, more injuries occur, and the players that remain healthy are taxed too much during the regular season and don't have as much to give during the playoffs (example: Lidstrom with 29 minutes of play tonight). This is three years running that we have had continuing issues with a lack of proper defensive coverage. Why is it that players that don't perform are let go or traded (Leino, Lebda, Williams), but McCrimmon still has his job? I fail to see what positives, if any, are keeping him with this team. Yes, we more than likely will make it to the playoffs, and may go deep, but our Achilles heal since the 2007-2008 season is the less than stellar defense. On a positive note, great grinding game by the 3rd and 4th lines. I am thankful that we have such talented rookies and call-ups. It makes it me very excited to see the talent and youth coming up in the Wings' future.

It always make me think of that scene from the Pink Panther where Steve Martin is taking speech lessons. The tutor keeps trying to get him to say, "I would like to buy a hamburger." But as Clouseau, he can only manage, "I would like to buy an umberger."