Sprsquirt7

Good read

When i was a little kid I loved Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. Thus I was a bruins fan for those years before I became a redwings fan. I will be rooting for the bruins and regardless of injuries I still think that a hot goaltender can spoil any series, and Rask is a very good goalie with some momentum behind him.

Not gonna lie Wing_nut but your so off base its hard to read your post. If you honestly think that he cost us every single game solely your delusional. He has given up a soft goal in every game yes, but if you've watched the games he's stopped some ridiculous chances. Chances that the Sharks came by because of poor team defense. I don't care what goalie you are at that high of a level of play if the team in front of you doesn't play very good team defense you will not succeed. Go Troll somewhere else, its just annoying seeing people like you come and bash Howard or any other player for that matter (besides williams lol)

Its mostly envy of how we are run and how we are successful. The problem with comparing us to the yankees (which i absolutely hate) is that they are governed two completely different ways as far as play acquisition. There is no salary cap in baseball. There is a salary cap in hockey. Obviously this isn't that old but yes we maintained success in a league that is promoting everyone be the same kind of thing. The other reason why people hate yankee's fans is because in all honesty they have a holier than thou attitude because its new york. New york is a major hub of everything from sports to entertainment to politics and thus makes them think that new york is the best place ever and no other place can even compare. I think we as detroit fans differ in that we are proud of out team but don't have bad accents that only enhance the ****** attitudes.

That's a borderline assessment, according to the precedent set by the league this playoffs it should have been called. But when has the league been consistent this postseason. If say marleau missed or howard saved that 2 on 1 and the puck continued does it change the outlook that this was an irrelevant play. When theres a technicality rule you can't really talk about circumstances.

I have faith in the team and will always cheer my heart out until they are officially out... I still believe no matter how dim the light may be. Not everyone will share how i feel.

I don't know what it is about being a wings fan to me, but i always always have faith in them. I believe they are going to win all the time. It might be the fact that they usually do really well even with a few early collapses in the playoffs they tend to not disappoint. I have the same feeling before every game i see, that they'll do well, win the game, and put on a hell of a show. Im always excited for them, which may cause those harder falls when they do let me down. But like the OP said, this series is just so...not normal, I don't even know what to expect from anyone in the series and hoping things will bounce the wings way. GO WINGS!

And all those moronic fans wrote in 2 nights later saying "Halak is a brick wall! Nothing gets past him!", "Going to the cup on Halak's shoulders!" and s*** like that. I wish I could figure out why people who claim to be fans jump ship constantly at the sight of a bad game or something negative...its not just habs fans, every team has them...they just tend to be the outspoken idiots.

It was Abdelkader I believe. two bodies came rolling out right by him. If he had interfered with the play would that have been a too many men on the ice call? Or do you call interference on him even if he's playing a player with the puck?

The high stick and the trip happened almost simultaneously. A penalty on Franzen was the correct call. The no call on setoguchi was not the correct call. Also he dove like a champ on that "high stick". I yelled out "He fricken dove!" as soon as it happened and the announcer actually said something funny when watching the replay it was along the lines of "Setoguchi got hit in the wrist and lost control of his legs". I was cracking up at this...even if he got hit in the chest/maybe face.

We have some work to do to get to 2k!

Posted in the game 2 victory, GL to the wings!!!! Giving as much good vibes as I can!

Alright I have a story that i assume most people will enjoy. I live in chicago so I have to watch the redwings games on VS, nhl network and if all else fails a third party website that does live streams (no center ice available by my provider). Anyways tonight was one of those nights, there were two links available. I tried the first one, really grainy and just not a good view. The second one was better but it crapped out at the 10 minute mark of the first period. I go back to the site and try the second one again. I get a new feed from the same link. I think ok its clearer than the other one lets do this. Well the game goes to commercial break. So the screen goes black but then it goes right back to a feed of JLA, where i can hear all the announcers for TSN talking to each other and talking about the game and various other things. And so the meat of the story begins... Now it starts off with them being professional and figuring out what they will talk about after the break, who they will go to first and second, organizing their highlights. So im interested in all of this because you never get to see this kind of thing. The first period ends and literally the entire intermission is a shot of the scoreboard in JLA counting down the intermission. There is a little conversation but nothing major. The second period begins and the goal happens. Pierre is non stop about "if they just made the rule always the shoulder they wouldn't have these issues." Which was a good point but he said it about 5 times during break then another 2-3 times during the actual live feed. Second intermission. The funny stuff starts happening. One of the announcers in the booth is talking with pierre and they are talking about being aggressive and he starts doing this devilish voice saying "Vengeance Now!!! Vengeance Now!!!! Vengeance Now!!!". Then goes all serious 5 seconds later for the live feed. After this they had a feed of the "fan cam" which basically just shoots the people in the stands. And its on a rather portly redwings fan is on the picture and this is a verbatum quote from pierre "look at this fella...wonder if he bought two seats?". The other announcers start cracking up. Well the third period starts and it goes pretty uneventful as far as commentary. Then pierre drops this perfect gem: The song Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce was playing in the stadium. No prompting, no prior conversation Pierre in an interested and curiosly optimistic tone goes "Who sings this song?!?". I started dying laughing. The wings then went on to win 3 to 0 and it made for one of the most entertaining viewings of a redwings game i've ever had. I'll be looking for this feed again, thats for sure!

Datsyuk is the best candidate, I wrote about it in the other thread a bit. Having that many take aways above the second place person is just rediculous. The major differences are the +/- and the short handed TOI. In my opinion +/- is more important than shorthanded TOI. I wonder if the people voting will take into consideration the teams that these players played for and what they actually went through. Datsyuk had a glorified grand rapids team for quite a few months and Kesler played with the #2 scoring team in the NHL, who never really struggled as a team. If that is taken into consideration it would make a huge difference in the sway of voters.

One thing about this whole put your best shooters first and go down the line until you get to the weakest is that there is the assumption that the goalies are going to let goals in. Even the very best players in the shootout are at 50%. Most other shooters are far below that and the good shooters are right around 30%. Assume that you throw your top 3 players for the shoot out out there. And the other team throws out 1 top guy and 2 good guys. You each score one goal, who appears to be the better coach going down the line, or who is in a better position to win. You've used your top 3 while he's only used 1 of his top 3. Granted this is a hypothetical but realistically i've seen plenty of shootouts go past that 3rd round even if they have put out their best players for the shootout. I believe we had a shootout earlier this year in which Babcock held off using Fillpula until round 7. He used him as a reaction to their player scoring. Filp tied the shootout up and a couple rounds later miller scored the game winner. Filp would be considered one of his better shootout players but was used strategically, not mindlessly. And i know the argument already "well if he played him a round earlier they wouldn't have had to even go that far". The thing is you can't compare a no pressure shot vs a pressure shot and how that affects a players ability to score.

Was just looking at some stats and thought i'd revive this thread since the season is over. Most people in the thread have leaned towards kesler as the favorite. I'm not sure about this but is it remotely possible for the best two way forward in the league to only have a +1? Kesler is a +1 on a team that has the second most goals scored in the league. Regardless of shorthanded time on ice or blocked shots, a +1 is nothing even close to being a top 2 way forward. Don't get me wrong +/- isn't the only factor because obviously ovechkin isn't this amazing defensive player, but the +/- is the validation to the other factors being considered in my opinion. If someone has all the other stats but a low +/- it doesn't shine as well to me.

I use channelsurfing.net My computer runs fine on all the plugins and streams they have. Havn't had any viruses or anything. I've always had a good enough stream. I've had 1 bad stream but i've watched probably 15 games on it and it has been good most the time. So i'd suggest that one for a free one.

Duffies is a bar i just thought of that had Detroit on, along with hawks on some of hte other tv's. Not exactly a sports bar but they might have it. It would be hard to find a place not showing whats on versus unless you know that they are DET fans.

Does it have to be at a bar, because if not its pretty easy to see online through various different streams?

Draper has certain aspects you'd want in the playoffs from a fourth liner. Defensive responsibility, grittyness, experience, and leadership. These things are very key. He'll do what he has to in the situations he's put in. I don't think he will take over a game by any means, and his offensive output is down of course but when you need a line to stop that second or third scoring line it could be beneficial to have someone like that. Playoff hockey is a grind, williams doesn't play with that sort of extra effort that is needed. Williams just hasn't cut it during the regular season, and im pretty sure he won't in the playoffs. Fortunately the series will be won with our first 3 lines. That fourth line are role players mostly.

Vinny is still an awesome player. The problem is he was delegated to the second line with no real help. They have Tanguay but he wasn't near what they thought he could be. Downie brought the grittyness to the top line which made them formidable and that powerplay is sick. If they get some sort of finisher besides tanguay or if Purcell is actually as good as he was in the AHL he'll have a turn around year...if the management doesn't send him somewhere else.

I've personally played through 2 different shoulder injuries. Labrum tear and cuff tear. It hurts and every tear is different because of where it could be, different positions would hurt more. Also the people who can't do those things do not have the major athleticism and strength of a professional athlete. Small tears of the cuff can have almost no effects with simple PT. And of course with more strengthening its possible to postpone surgery and play at a relatively high level.

As much as you want to think that the injury would have made him this unbelievably crappy player you'd be wrong. The shoulder injury is completely expectable to play through. If the tear was that bad he would not have been playing. His shot would have been weaker, but it would have still be a good shot. This is not a random person with a shoulder injury, its a professional athlete with muscle to compensate in ways most people cant. Injuries always affect players and I can guarantee you that when you win the stanley cup 75% of your players are injured in some way or another. It reminds me of one thing I read from gretzky, it was a recollection of him losing his first finals appearance. After he lost he saw his team walk out of the locker room without injuries in relative good health, then saw the other team injured and getting treated...genuinely injured. Thats a slight tangent but the point is that everyone is injured. Also injuries don't remove hockey sense and positioning skills. His legs were fine as far as I know. He is a goal scorer who didn't score. I'm not blaming him solely for the loss, but he fell face first on what is expected out of him.

I think its not the fact that Hossa is solely to blame. I think most people are more blaming him for basically falling face first on expectations for the type of player he is paid and is. Hossa is rediculous, unfortunately I live in Chicagoland area and don't have access to other teams so I watch the hawks. Hossa is a very skilled and unique player. The fact he is paid that much means he is supposed to perform in those situations. He was making that much money and struggled in the '09 playoffs especially the finals. The reason people blame him for the loss is that he didn't live up to his reputation, paygrade, and expectations.