puckloo39

I am familiar with Cheech, since he was a rookie, in fact. Let's put it this way: he's no Tootoo! I mean that in the nicest way. Cheech is a fiesty player, but I don't think of him as dirty, not at all. He's aggressive, yes, but we have guys who will be watching his every move.

Hi, Greg. I am very sorry to hear about Warren and his valiant fight with his illness. I am a Wings fan, but I am very familiar with the Sharks and I am sorry Nabby lost his mentor and friend. I wish Nabby all the best, except against my Red Wings, of course! We will do our best to beat His Nabs, but the Wings will certainly respect and honor his commitment to Warren. The Red Wings are exactly the same sort of guys the Sharks are -- classy and committed to winning the right way! Prepare for a fun tilt! The Sharks will now be meeting up with an elite team which is also on a mission!

no pun intended, right? We are glad to have you and looking forward to some great games.

this can only be a good thing! Except, we still have to look out for Don VancouverMassenhoven, if we meet the Canucks next round.

I don't hate SJ either. Nothing to hate there. I used to go to games a lot (business trips to SJ at the time meant getting to go to hockey games, for me!) I found San Jose fans to be amongst the most knowledgeable and fun fans anywhere. They are utterly passionate about their Sharks, and love them as much as we love our Wings. I sat behind three guys one time, each of whom had a fresh, Shark-themed tattoo on his bicep. Talk about commitment! If you all thought the Calgary 'Dome was loud, wait til you hear the Shark Tank get to rockin'. It's deafening, or used to be. Get ready for a fun ride! I agree about the quality teams. But, I don't expect to have to worry about fines and suspensions, with San Jose as an opponent. The Sharks are not Calgary... in, oh, so many ways. Offhand, I can't think of a goon on SJ squad, honestly. I have a list from Calgary. I know people eyeball Cheechoo as a candidate for being a bit "overzealous" but I also believe the Wings can keep him under control, so he doesn't have a chance to be a bad boy. The Sharks will play hard. The Wings just have to play harder. And I think they can, of course.

We need to finish the Sharks off, fast - in four would be nice! I am leaving town for a week, going to - of all places - California, on May 5. So, it would make me happy to have the 2nd round over before Saturday, and know the Wings are moving on. Yes, I know that won't happen. But I can hope, right??

Oh, man... I feel bad for Turco. He was great in this series, and he deserved better. Poor Stars. Ducks will dismantle the Canucks, I betcha.

too bad, Dallas fought a tough battle in this series... sorry, Stars. Bring on the Sharkies.

update on Homer I didn't see this in the thread. Probably no Homer for the Game 1, Rd 2 opener on Thursday, this says. We shall see, he is a big tough hockey boy. But better safe than very sorry. At least his eye seems OK.

Win it for Vlady got my vote. That is what the Red Wings are all about. Team, heart, family: they are one and the same with the Red Wings, like no other club I've seen. It's why they "deserve" to win it all again. I'm not biased, you know.

Miika was stellar for you guys. Better luck next season, just not against the Wings, OK? Thanks!

He certainly wasn't the worst one. Who knows (not us) that Hasek wouldn't have been just as good as Kipper at stopping all those shots on goal, that Kipper could see. Dom stops what he sees, as well. The goals that got past Kipper were not all incredibly brilliant goals, like Mules GWG last night. No one could have stopped that one. If one dismisses Hasek's contributions to the win and infer that he was just along for the ride, I think that's just not right. Sorry.

best thing about Dallas (besides the fact that the Wings are in Turco's head -- at least in the reg. season): it's in the Central Time zone, so the games won't be starting at midnight to east coast folks. I go to a lot of games in Dallas, and the main issue with AA Center is that it's multipurpose, but so are a lot of arenas. I have not actually seen bad ice there, really. If the weather holds in the 70s and 80s here for the next series, it ought to be fine. Wonder if I can get into a game if the Stars are our next round?

Not to perpetuate this little carousel, but Dom actually doesn't control how many shots he sees. If he had seen 40+ SOG per game, who says the result would not have been the same? It doesn't seem right (to me, anyway) to brush off Hasek's contributions to the series win by constantly saying how much "better" Kiprusoff was just because more pucks got through. Quality, not quantity. Hasek himself said he felt good about the games and was glad he won, but that he might have felt differently (and more tired) if the numbers had been reversed. He's too humble, that's his problem. I think Dom and Datsyuk both got little recognition for the frist round series win. That's OK, though. In time all things work out the way they should. gimme Turco. He's been on a mission in the first round (which the Stars haven't won yet, BTW). All the Wings have to do is play exactly like they did in Game 5 vs. Calgary, and Dallas won't know what hit them.

I heard he's taking the entire team to Appleby's for dinner. Time for an upgrade from McDonalds.

I thought several players were stellar, including my newest boy-friend, Franzen. Drapes was great, so were Cleary, Calder, Cheli, Dats and yes, even Bobbert Lang. What impressed me was that everyone contributed at crucial times in the series. Depth is good! Nick and Dom were fantastic, but I expected that out of both of them, it's their job to lead and be there when the team needs them most.

We survived the first round nastiness of Calgary, in part because of Hasek's contributions. Somehow I think the next round can't be any worse, in some ways. Dallas would be a fine opponent, and Marty will probably lose some steam. He has a lot on the line tonight with that gigantic, "can't get out of the first round" monkey on his back. Let's see if the Stars can do this or not. Back to topic: I don't really understand why Dom got such a low "approval rating" by the experts. Maybe I should not call the commentators on Versus that, but I guess when all you hear pounded into your head every single game is "Kipper is the best, Kipper is the best..." people start to take it as gospel. Dom won 4 games out of six, like he was "supposed" to, with a .922 sv% and 1.57GAA. He made huge stops when needed. He was a difference maker. The fact that he didn't get 250 shots on him is not something he controls, and it should not diminish the accomplishment. No, he didn't get shutouts, but it was so close a couple of times, it wasn't even funny. Dom doesn't care. He likes "W"s better than SOs. Dom is greater than Kipper. Dom is moving on in the playoffs and Kipper is not. I think that about says it all.

I am right there with you, FF!!

Poetic justice that Mule got the game-winner, after what McLennan did to him.

OH, thank GOD!!!

unfortunately, I suspect you're right. Something they couldn't take care of at the rink, not good. Poor Homer.

please, make it stop with the announcers smooching Kipper's butt. Please!!!!

LOL @ Versus... "Warrener was lying on the ice as if that was a serious injury." Call it like he's a Wing, guys... the word you're looking for is dive.

because??? Remember, Versus announcers won't mention him, since he's a Wing.

anyone else notice that the goals Kipper lets in tend to be easy stops? That goal by Lang was bad. Maybe the Wings could just act like they don't care or something and that puck would pop right in behind Kipper!!