SouthernWingsFan

Indeed. Thanks for everything Hasek!

I ordered the gray Stanley Cup champs t-shirt, as well as the red one with the Wings logo on the front/roster on the back. I also ordered the book that was being promoed on redwings.nhl.com. I'll get the Championship DVD as well, just not sure if I'll get it ASAP or wait to get it for my birthday in late August. Will also buy the next issue of SI (not hard-bound one) next time I'm around Barnes and Nobles near my house, I think the last issue covered only up to game 1 of the Finals so far. No hats or anything, I rarely wear hats of anykind.

I really only recall one game where McCarty just played downright awful with plenty of penalties, the final game in the WCF against Dallas I believe. I like the prescence that Downey brings on the ice and off the ice. I was lucky to watch the CBC broadcast of the post-game SC celebrations interviewing everybody and the like on YouTube and they were commenting on Modano wanting Downey to stay in Dallas in his brief stint there, and how Downey accepts his role being a stick-up man and a 4th liner. McCarty just brings a little bit more to the table offensively than him, and I think the penalty troubles outside of that one game against Dallas are a bit overblown. I'd love for both to stay. I'm not going to cry over spilled milk though if Downey departs b/c even though I like what he brings, what he brings other than fighting/sticking up isn't much from what we've seen. And before anybody responds back at me with, "Well SWF, I guess you just want to see our team play soft again and get run over and not have anybody stick up for the team!" remember that this team rarely retaliates or does stupid stuff after a whistle to a degree to where games sprawl out of control physically or with a whole bunch of penalties. They've won and won fairly handily without having to resort to that all that much. Again, I like Downey very much, but the attachment that is had towards him by people just because of "enforcement skills" and very little else is a bit overboard sometimes.

If this was the case with McCarty bringing nothing to the ice, then Downey would have been playing in the playoffs, and McCarty wouldn't have. DISCLAIMER: Yes I do like Aaron Downey.

If God was all powerful can he make a rock so big that he himself can't lift it?!!??!!?!?

Blondie - One Way or Another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhUHdvhMKpg

Why not... I think it's safe to assume, and McCarty probably knows this as well, he's not going to be even a 2nd liner. He's not the hockey player he was in the late 90s, his playing time will probably be limted. I just think though that he's just on cloud-9 getting the chance to play again. He was at rock bottom and is trying to do things to get his life back together. Successful so far at kicking alcoholism, looking like he's getting some semblance of family back together again with his kids and communicating with his ex-wife, and starting to make some living again doing something that he loves. It's just an amazing comeback story and I'd love to see it continue next year. Trust me, it's not going to come at a huge financial or personnel expense (in terms of "holding" talent back) to the Red Wings.

Some scary stuff indeed. And I know playoffs are all about trying to play through injuries and playing hurt etc. For the Red Wings specifically, you don't have to look further than Holmstrom or Flipper this playoff year. And you can say the same for plenty of other teams in the playoffs as well this year or any other year. Was it frustrating to see Franzen looking like he was skating and doing things without much difficulty while he was out of the lineup? Without question, and he was probably the most antsy or frustrated as well. I remember the few topics that were created questioning his "heart" or "desire" while he was out hurt. Things like this really piss me off especially when some of us absolutely have no clue what brain/head injuries are like and the severity of them (myself included), or some of us even having much idea of how it is to be injured at all physically.

Nah, it's not just you. I was able to watch most of the broadcast on the 'Net from work and audio started going in/out for me for about a 5 - 10 minute stretch when the parade scene got to the stage area. What can ya do though, better than seeing/hearing nothing and for the most part we all got the gist of everything.

When broadcasting a game for 3 hours, it is virtually impossible for a broadcaster to do his/her job as normally as possible without a fan of some team, it doesn't matter which the team is, claiming bias against the favorite team and all of a sudden, "THAT DAMN ANNOUCER HATES MY TEAM OR IS BIASED!" And the fan of another team could easily make the same claim from that same annoucer at a different point of the game where he or she gives the other team/player credit from the favorite team of the first fan. In this specific scenario, you can imply it in a way that we don't want analysts to have any opinion at all. Well, that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Perhaps maybe it is just as simple as they are insinuating the same things that many people in here have been commenting about in recent memory, frustrating with the inconsistency of how all officials call the game. Let annoucers be biased towards a team or player, let them comment on if a call was bad or what not, doesn't bug me one bit. I watch live games on TV for the action on the ice or playing surface, not what broadcasters have to say. I already know there are going to be forms of bias to some degree by all annoucers and if it is a local broadcast, there will probably be some homerism to a certain degree, so I take a lot of these opinions with a grain of salt, nothing to get too excited over.

That's a Bud Light man!

Oh yes you have! In all seriousness though I was upset in the beginning to see both of them go. First with Schneider. He was a good offensive-defenseman obviously for the Wings during his years there. And I learned in the beginning that signing Rafalski to replace him was a good thing, but honestly before the season started I knew very little about Rafalski's game. Thankfully, advantage turned out for Detroit here. I was pretty excited that the Wings made a trade for Bertuzzi last season at the deadline. I get the whole "Moore-Bertuzzi" incident, I don't care to debate it now, I was just curious to see what Bertuzzi could do on the ice and was well past the "incident". Even though he served up a pretty disappointing playoffs overall last year, I would have definitely not minded re-signing him for at most roughly $2M a year because he was once a dominating power forward but was (or is) a health risk at the time. I certainly don't blame him for wanting to take more money elsewhere as he did this season, but thankully that advantage went to the Wings again since Bertuzzi underperformed this season overall I think for Anaheim. And actually, we 3-upped Anaheim. We took Mark Hartigan away from Anaheim as well!

I was lucky enough to watch most of the parade while I was working and hearing him yell in the Czech accent was freaking hilarious, I had to cover my mouth a few times from yelling out loud and disturbing the office. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little tipsy this day.

I was fortunate to watch most of the parade streaming on the Net while I was at work and saw Osgood out there. I think it is a safe bet that pretty much all the players, understandbly so, were (or are) just worn the hell out from the congrats and all the celebrating and just want to go home and do nothing for a few days. Osgood could have easily done that after the parade/celebrating, but to see him stay out there for an extended time really has to make you love the guy even more. This takes absolutely nothing away from the other players as well obviously. Regardless, here is to Osgood! :beerbuddy:

Forget the quality, I could still give you a bear hug for posting this. I really didn't have time to read or watch post-game analysis or the celebrations until after work last night, so it was ANOTHER long night this time playing catch-up, but this was well worth it. While I'm definitely thankful to have NBC broadcast the game and their celebration stuff on tape, CBC's coverage was obviously more extensive, good quality or no. I'm just glad I got to see this. The brief interviews to Aaron Downey and Mark Hartigan were hilarious, and I loved Chelios' and Datsyuk's favorite player skits.

I really want to try to understand the other side of the fence since I'm probably one of the very few to where promoting the hell out of Crosby doesn't get to me. What's the reason why most of you are sick of the Crosby promoting? Is it Crosby himself? Do you all think they should market somebody else heavily (outside of Ovechkin)? Is it the NHL in general for putting most/all of their eggs in one basket, Crosby being the "basket"? Promote more stars? Is it just a "Red Wings" thing to where you want more focus on the Red Wings? Anything else I'm not considering or am I asking the wrong questions? Maybe you all do get what I am about to say, but from the angry posts towards all the focus I don't see it. There are definitely other marketing alternatives, but I don't see the harm in one of the alternatives being promoting the hell out of Crosby since he's so young and so talented and looks to have so much upside in terms of production on the ice and potentially leadership. Not a hard marketing concept to me. What's wrong with that, and what's wrong with him or the NHL in doing this? EDIT: NC WINGS FAN answered my question(s) to some degree while I typed this post. Any other reasons?

Pittsburgh has a team full of young up-and-coming stars and Sidney Crosby is a good start of the first thing an average Joe Blow might think of who probably doesn't watch the NHL much. Of course they'll want Pitt to win first b/c that's the team/player that most people will probably identify with first.

This isn't just a Red Wings thing....would I like to see more stars marketed other than Crosby? Without question. With that being said though, it is basic marketing. You pimp and promote the hell out of your main product. The NHL has decided that Sidney Crosby is that product (or person I should really say). He's still young so barring injury he's going to be in this league for a good year and he has the talent to consistently be one of the better players in this game, and I don't care if I get blasted for what I'm about to say, overall he handled himself very well dealing with outside distractions and the media and I didn't see too much whining from his side, especially only being 20 years old. He's a good person to help promote this league, he'll be here for a while. Again, I'd like to see more stars in the league marketed, but you guys want the sport to be more popular right? A way to do that is promoting your main product. You can't have the league get more popular by not promoting Crosby, doesn't work that way.

Sweet! I don't have Direct TV but I'll get my parents who have it to TiVo the deal and I'll watch it over the weekend.

I could go with the default answer of 00.0 game 6 in Pittsburgh winning the Cup last night, but I will selfishly go with the entire playoff game I attended live. I was just in the Detroit area for literally 1 1/2 days but flew up the day before game 2 of the 2nd round game between the Wings and Avalanche that Saturday afternoon. First playoff game ever seen live, and just saw a totally dominating game for the Wings where they won 5-1 and saw Franzen score a hat trick.

I'll play, but keep in mind that each Cup is still very special in its own way and the rank should not diminsh the ones I put on the bottom. 1998 - Nothing comes close to seeing Konstantinov holding the Cup while being wheeled on the ice. Just very touch. 2008 - Very special b/c I started getting NHL Center Ice immediately after the lockout when I knew the Wings would not be on ESPN or very little on national broadcasts (at the time). I have barely missed any games since then, the same with this season, and it was just amazing to see the team win their first Cup without Yzerman as the main leader on the ice and in the new salary-cap era. Very few people thought the Wings would do it since they couldn't spend as freely, and it's like the torch has passed from the old rosters of a few years ago to new leaders. Nothing against Yzerman whatsoever b/c he's always going to be the man, but this team showed they can win without him on the ice which is what I am proud of. I knew this team damned well and was glad to see them just about every step of the way win it all. 1997 - I realize this was the first Cup for Detroit and the area in over 40 years, but I just didn't understand and get how important the Red Wings were to the area and how big hockey was in Detroit since I only started getting into hockey and the Red Wings in the 1995-96 season. 2002 - Still very special obviously with all the Hall of Fame talent. And Detroit or fans shouldn't feel guilty whatsoever about "buying" a Cup, if you want to call it that. The rules and the game were different, it was a capitalistic system where you could spend freely and the big spenders could get the bigger names more often than not. While that obviously doesn't always yield success (see NY Rangers of those years), fortunately it did for Detroit that year.

Much thanks, hope you all stick around!

Let's see... Hockey is normally played on ice, but can sometimes be played on inline surfaces. Penalties result from such things as hooking, tripping, interference, cross checking, and high sticking that usually are two minutes. Sometimes, a high sticking penalty can result in a 4-minute penalty if you cut somebody. Icing occurs when a team shoots the puck from beind the center ice line and the opposing team (not including the goaltender) cannot realistically play the puck before it crosses the goal line not in the goal area, resulting in a face-off at one of the two faceoff circles in the other end of ice. Goals can be scored on a power play when you have more players on the ice than the opposing team, on a penalty kill which is essentially the opposite of a power play, or at even strength when you have the same amount of players on the ice as the opposing team. Even strength goals can occur when teams each have 5 players on the ice, 4 players, or 3. Guess I don't know anything about hockey then..........try again sunshine.

<----Went to bed around 1:30am my time (2:30am for Michiganians), tried to wake up around 4:15 to watch the end of the game again on NHL Network (no DVR or TiVo for me yet, have tape of game on NBC ), but fell back asleep until around 6:15 this morning. Have to head to work for 8:00am, thankfully with zippo hangover.

I can guarantee you Penguins could easily make claims that the Red Wings got away with more as well. Overall correct me if I'm wrong, Detroit had more PPs in the series. Look I'm with everybody that the officiating is inconsistent. It is hard for me though to really just flat out hate one or two referees (yeah, even O'Hallaran ), I think it's just more that the interpretation of the rules is way, way too subjective. I know it is impossible for many rules calls to be just black and white and you're done with no grey area, but it needs to have as little grey area as possible. Again, I don't dislike any referee. I was personally an official at a much, much lower level than professional, just collegiate intramural leagues in basketball and soccer. The people playing were competent and decent enough to where the pace and flow of the games were still competitive and fairly fast. I made my fair share of good calls, bad calls, no-calls, etc. just like NHL officials. It's a tough gig at any level when you know YOU CAN'T WIN and you'll always be pissing some players or fans off in the course of the game. What needs to be done is to have officials get in as close too 100% agreement on rules/penalties.