WpgMikos

Was looking into something Winter Classic related and came across this note on Wikipedia: So I guess we can lock in our bets that the Capitals will make the Finals, representing the East. Of course with the Wings representing the West, looks like its going to be a throw back to 1998. Of course we know how that ended.... Not that it's a crazy prediction to suggest that the Capitals could make the Stanley Cup Finals, but if you were making a guess what % would you put that they make the Finals? Player Longevity: Guys from that 98' team still playing with the Wings: 4 (7 total in NHL/KHL) Draper, Holmstrom, Lidstrom, Osgood. (Knuble, Kozlov & Fedorov) Guys from that 98' team still playing with the Capitals: 0 (1 in NHL) Gonchar

Watching the Oilers is like watching a Jr. team. They could be dangerous in a year or three but not right now. Watched about 5 minutes (courtesy of that free NHL Centre ice package)

Still working. Wow. Very cool. Didn't realize you could switch between feeds. Was watching Phx broadcast and then switched to the guys on TSN.

Only been to 1 game so far this season (Wings/Oilers on Thursday) with announced crowd of 20,066. The Joe was pretty full that night. Lots of people from Windsor to see Taylor Hall. Crowd was pumped up (especially with the Wings scoring 6).

Went to Game 1 of the 2009 Finals. Bought tickets on Ticketmaster. Can't remember cost but was around $100 I think. Only negative was that we got generic tickets and not the fancy Season Ticket holder tickets. of course let's hope that we hear this after Wings take 4th game in 2011 Stanley Cup... Also went in 2004 to Game 6 of the Flames/Bolts in Calgary. The Flames released 300 tickets on the Thursday before the game (Game 6 was on a Saturday). There were 3 of us who called at 9am, and 2 of the 3 got 2 tickets each. Couple of my buddies bought tickets off ebay and joined us for the drive down. The seats were not assigned so you got to sit in the upper section wherever you got a seat. We arrived like 2 or 3 hours early and were WAY up but at least got center ice. Flames President Ken King came out before the game to thank the fans which I thought was cool.

Lucic had a trick for Boston tonight. Excellent end to that game.

Stupid hit by Meszaros

Of course I turn it on and the scoring stops. Is Lecavalier not playing?

Philly has 7 goals, and my boy Jeff Carter has 1 frickin point. Ugh. Crazy game. This hearkens back to the mid 80's.

The Wings had their own 40 year drought(1955/56 to 1995-96) and while thankfully not something the Wings have had to deal with in a long time check out some of the current droughts suffered by fans elsewhere; A couple of things I found noteworthy from this list; 1) Kings & Blues fans have put up with too many years of futility. 2) I never realized that the Blues went to 3 straight Stanley Cup Finals. 3) Jets/Coyotes - 30 years of futility. (although Wpg did manage 3 Avco cups in the 70's). 4) Unlike some of the teams on this list with droughts over 15 years, neither the Jets/Coyotes (30 yrs) and Sharks (18 yrs) have ever made a Stanley Cup Finals. 5) Of the teams that have never made the Stanley Cup Finals, 5 were from the West and 1 was from the East. Question: Which team on this list do you think is most likely to win the Stanley Cup first? Guess: My thought, in no particular order is; Capitals, Canucks and maybe Bruins.

What's interesting (or depressing if you like those teams) is if you expand this list of droughts beyond hockey. While some of the city's have had good success in other sports (LA - basketball, Boston - baseball/football, St. Louis - baseball/football) of those with 2-4 professional teams, a couple haven't excelled in any other sports for some time. Toronto - MLB Blue Jays (92 + 93) Buffalo - AFL Bills (64 + 65) Washington - NFL Redskins 92, NBA Bullets (78)

Problem is that would still leave a bunch of Sutter's in the organization. Brent - Head Coach Brian - Director of pro personnel for the Calgary Flames organization Darryl - GM Duane - Director of player personnel for the Calgary Flames organization Ron - Scout. Sutter's have quite the fiefdom over in Cow town.

How do you think that call went? Phone rings. Brett Sutter: Oh hey dad, just got to Abbotsford, what's up. Darryl Sutter: Hey son, you and your 1st cousin Brandon are pretty close huh. Brett Sutter: ya dad we sure are. Darryl Sutter: we'll you're going to be spending some more time with him. we've just traded you to Carolina. Brett Sutter: thanks dad.

Thinking back to the 1989/90 Stanley Cup, as much as I was happy for a Smythe Division team to win (again), I believe I was pulling for Andy Moog to beat his former team (although there was something kinda awesome about Billy Ranford). I believe that they played the longest game in playoff history (like 3 OT's) during that series.

haha. Good point.

Glad that Callahan got 2 points tonight since I have him on my Fantasy Team. The move by Dubinsky in OT was pretty sweet which set up Callahan for the OT winner.

I remember years ago at a Winnipeg Jets game something similar to that happened. Can't remember which game it was though.

Great marketing by the Bruins.

I wrote about this a few years back. Glass Bangers: True Fans or Morons? My conclusion was the only people we should see up against the glass are fans like this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91wKnJ4SFkg While I'm not a fan of Glass banging, my least favorite thing to see at a game are the guys on the phone who stand up when the play is close to them so they can get on TV for a few seconds.

My cousin got me a ticket to the Wings game vs. the Oilers. Anyone going to be at the game?

Good times at the Joe last night. Fresh ice: Before the anthems: Anthony Michael Hall showed up(had to wikipedia him): Oilers got steamrolled by Wings: And the #1 Oilers fan was this guy:

I'm sure you guys discussed it during the game but how nice was Datsyuk's hit on Penner in the 3rd! The crowd went nuts.

Good times at the Joe tonight. It felt like I was watching an NHL team battle an AHL or Junior team. The Wings outclassed the Oilers and I was surprised that Edmonton managed as many shots as they did. About only time Oilers were in the game was during the pre-skate; Ndamukong Suh popped into the Joe for 2 periods. See if he would learn to stay till the end of the game, perhaps the Lions would learn to win in regulation.... Game Over: Best Oiler tonight was this guy doing his best Blue Man impression;

He looked great tonight. My 1st live game of the season. Practicing his stick handling during pre game warm up: Was hoping he would have put it away on the break-a-way (be aware I tried video'ing while watching, which = shaky camera work);

Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? lol. I'll be the guy wearing the Jets toque.