kipwinger

For years my father has claimed that the league "hates the Wings" or "wants Detroit to lose" or whatever. I constantly have to remind him that we are the most successful organization of the last two decades. If there is a conspiracy against the Wings, it's the least successful conspiracy ever. Why would anybody give a rat's ass about an ineffective conspiracy?

rook·ie /ˈro͝okē/ Noun A new recruit. A member of an athletic team in his or her first full season in that sport. bad rook·ie /bad/ˈro͝okē/ Noun see: Smith, Brendan People keep screaming "rookie" like we don't know what it means. But there are rookies who play mostly well, and rookies who play mostly bad. Yes Brendan Smith is a rookie, he's a bad rookie. His rookie season is noticeably worse than that of Kindl, Ericsson, Kronwall, etc. Will he get better? Sure. But that doesn't mean that he isn't a god awful rookie. He is.

Right and their fans (and players) were saying the same things when we were winning. If the refs called every penalty that they saw every game there wouldn't be any 5 on 5 hockey. Remember two games ago when Abby got the crosschecking penalty after his fourth whack at the guy? Would you have been happier if he's gotten after the first one? What about every charging call? We did that a whole lot in the beginning of the series and got away with it. They won those games because we play like s*** in the third period. AND because nobody in our top six has been effective. Hossa, Toews, Kane, and Sharp have outplayed Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filppula, Abby and Cleary. The stats don't lie. We've gotten production out of our bottom six. They've gotten production out of both and it shows. Here's hoping Jimmy stands on his head again in game 7.

I can't believe that we're still talking about this. Refs on the ice thought it was the right call. The CBC announcers thought it was the right call. The NBC announcers thought it was the right call, and now Fraser thinks it's the right call. The only people that don't think so are the Detroit fans. We all need to get over it and perhaps ask ourselves why our team consistently gets outplayed in the third period. Despite having frequent leads. And despite at times overwhelming play in periods one and two. If you think that call was what lost us the game, ask yourself this: "Why did he have a breakaway in the third period at all? Why haven't we had any?"

Haha that cracked me up when I heard it. Torts is a comedy goldmine. p.s. What I wouldn't give for Dekeyser in the lineup instead of this thread's namesake.

So I didn't get to watch the game (except for the last few minutes). Anybody want to give me a summer...without blaming the refs?

Yikes, this got out of hand pretty quickly. I think I just threw up in my mouth.

I'm not so sure that it's because Quenneville is a mediocre coach, he's a good coach, but he's doing what any coach would do...trying to free up guys. The problem is, EVERY Red Wing forward (aside for that lovable Brunner) plays good defense. He's mixing and matching trying to find open ice for these guys but the only way he's going to get any of his top line guys free is to try and get them out there against our third line and that opens up a world of hurt the other way when Pav or Hank's line is out against your third line guys. In an interview earlier this week Quincey was talking about how Bab's has really preached "swarming" on defense, and not playing man on man. Right now Chicago has no answer for it and Quenneville is searching in vein for open ice.

So anybody else ready to concede that Kindl has the best point shot on the team? Aaaand he was hard along the boards last night. I liked his game. Then again I like everybody's game any time you win essentially every single puck battle and scoop up virtually every loose puck. Good game boys! Post Script: Is Jonathan Ericsson the strongest man alive?

I don't know about down state, but up here in Mt. Pleasant it seemed like everybody and their sisters were out for the game last night. Bars were packed and people were going nuts for every big save, penalty kill, goal, etc. Maybe hockeytown isn't getting it done like in the past...maybe. But up here in Northern Michigan s***s getting wild on game night.

Yeah they deserved to win that game in the same way that the kids camped out in New York deserve jobs. Entitled little s***s. Who's winning the match...

I honestly don't think the phone lines die down because people don't want to talk about the Wings on their show. I think most (but not all) sports radio shows pander to the lowest common denominator. Basically, the shows are stupid. It's typically a couple of blowhards shouting other each other and occasionally spitting out the odd catch phrase. So basically it's PTI on the radio. As such, if you're a sports fan but you're not an idiot you stay away from those shows as much as possible. And since the shows attract idiots, it makes sense that they would want to talk about the sports easiest for idiots to follow...e.g. the NFL and NBA. Why talk about gametime decisions, line combinations, strategy, etc. when you can talk about endzone dancing, arrest records, drug use, and on and on and on. Sensationalism attracts idiots, and there are a lot of idiots with opinions on dumb things. Don't believe me? Ask yourself why reality tv exists, or why the comments section on any Mlive.com article is mind numbingly stupid. It's too bad too, because both the NBA and the NFL used to have a good product. But in trying to expand their fanbase they tapped into the demographic most detrimental to any organization...idiots. Idiots love spectacle, and that's what those sports have turned into, and that's what sports radio has to sell to keep listeners.

Hell I hope you're right. If they're gooning it up they're taking penalties, and it's real hard to score goals when you're short handed. I want them in the box as often as possible. I don't think they will be early in the game, but if we can take a lead they'll lose their heads.

I'm nervous as hell already and there's still six hours to game time...ugh. Key tonight is to score early. I'm sure Quenneville has been preaching discipline for a couple of days and his guy aren't going to let it get out of hand...unless we take an early lead and then start with the rough stuff. No way will they be able to maintain their discipline if they are down. Here we go boys, let's get after them!

What the hell is Detroit going to do with all these prospects. They've got prospects coming out of their ears and no place for them to go. Good problem to have, but man, you hate to see them stagnate or leave for nothing.

So what you're saying is that your neighbors have lots of time and heartache to account for each spring?

I was just telling my girlfriend about this and she said, "well it is his mother, he has a right to be pissed". To which I responded, "well it is the Stanley Cup playoffs". She sighed and gave in.

Well they did say the Red Wings would be getting a Swiss sniper didn't they? Talk about accuracy.

Well I think Smith is undoubtedly tougher in front of the net, and he's a decent penalty killer. But White would surely not turn the puck over as much, and hasn't been known to take penalties the way Smith does. So I guess I don't really know who I'd rather have out there, but lord knows I'm hoping Dekeyser makes it back sooner rather than later.

What Smith are you talking about? Surely not the one who had two interference calls against him and a load of turnovers. If Dekeyser were healthy tomorrow Brendan Smith would be in the press box until someone got hurt or training camp started.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could put on about 10 more pounds in the offseason with professional training and fitness coaches. Bulk this kid up to 195 and you'll see every area of his game improve. I'm looking for him to be a big deal going forward.

I agree to an extent, but you can't you "being a rookie" as an excuse for everything. Not every rookie defenseman struggles like this. And Smith was supposed to be better than most rookie defensemen. Furthermore, while he's playing against tougher competition in the playoffs, that doesn't explain why he's been so poor all during the regular season. He doesn't need traded, but the fact is he's got a lot of learning to do before he can be considered a reliable NHL defenseman. And that's the same whether you're talking about the offensive or defensive side of his game.

He's coming along, and has a long way to go, but I truly believe that if you can skate well enough to keep up then you can play defense in the NHL. Maybe he won't be a world class defensive foward, but if Brunner can skate along and lift sticks, poke check, etc. then he'd be doing all that was asked of him.

Yeah that 03-04 season was terrible. What with his 31 wins, 2.24 goals against average, and .910 save percentage. Just awful. This is getting lame. Put ANY player on a worse team and their numbers will decrease. You don't think Patrick Roy would suffer if he played for a garbage team?

Torts is a jackass for a lot of reasons, but this isn't one of them. He's clearly screwing around and has a smile on his face the whole time. There's enough youtube evidence of Torts acting like a huge jackass that everyone should know the difference. This one is tongue in cheek.