betterREDthandead

Because it wasn't roller hockey?

No. A huge part of our defensive strength is our forwards.

When was that, 1959?

Any bets on whether our mayor will still be around to collect when the series is over?

Haha no way....I watched that this morning. Some LGWer you are....didn't even pimp the website

Would you seriously think it's OK if a Predators fan chucked a catfish on the Joe's ice? Anyway, Matt's right.....one fishmonger in the city is not going to stem the flood. Hell, his octopus might still end up on the ice....like so: (Wings fan from Ohio walks into the market.) Wings fan: One octopus, please. (flashes Ohio license.) Fish guy: Are you a Wings fan? Wings fan: Um, no. Fish guy: That'll be $40.

Do you really? (NTTAWWT of course)

<--- Now you do. I'm not torn, exactly. My decision is made because the Wings are at a higher level of the playoffs than the Pistons. I like hockey better than basketball, and if I were honest with myself the Pistons almost always come in last of the four Detroit teams in my personal hierarchy. But I hate saying that, because I do love the Pistons. Around here there's a lot of "NBA players are thugs" mentality, and the NBA does have a really annoying me-first, forever-clubbin', check-out-my-posse, kind of element to it. But that's unfair to a LOT of the league, too.....especially the Pistons. People who check out the Pistons will see that a lot about what they love about hockey players and the NHL is embodied in the Pistons - hard-working, very competitive, and most of all very unselfish. For the most part the Pistons are made up of solid family guys too, not the Shawn Kemp kid in every city type. That's Joe D's stamp on the team. And when the Pistons are successful it's not just Kobe Bryant scoring 50 and never passing, it's a team thing and a joy to watch. (And the Joe could really take a lesson or two from the Palace about atmosphere.) So yeah. I'm not happy with Bettman. It's like the decision is made in a vacuum. I understand HNIC wants Saturday nights. Fine. What's wrong with Tuesday-Thursday-Saturdays instead? Throw us a bone here. (And I'm perfectly aware that this is a problem that fans in most other cities would give their left nut for.)

Those are the best because they result in leg injuries to somebody's head. Ah, playoffs and the blatant lies on injury reports.

Nah. Malkin being on the 2nd line gives Pitts the advantage over ours, easy. But no answer for Staal? Come on man. Who is he the second coming of? Give us a little credit here....I think we can handle a 19-year-old rookie, I don't care if he is a top 3 draft choice. It's not like he's tearing up the league. Staal is one of the least of our worries.

Staal. Dupuis isn't likely to be the one carrying the puck across the blue line.

I expect a Herculean effort from Drake. 39 and playing in his first Cup Finals....that is a tremendous, tremendous motivator. Guaranteed, if the Wings win four games to take the series, one of them will be thanks to a heavy dose of role player scoring.

I bet we see the Game 6 lines again. Babcock's big on sticking with an adjustment that worked, at least he has this year. And Drake-Draper-Samuelsson combined for 2 goals, 2 assists in Game 6. Even Sammy chipped in with an assist. The guy I don't want to see out there against Malkin and Malone is Hudler. He's not that great defensively to begin with and he gives up like 50 pounds to Malone.

The wheel goes on the right side of the jersey - player's right. That patch is a little to the left of the hub. So it looks like they're going to squeeze it in between the collar and the C/A.

Lilja hasn't played much in the playoffs because Babcock made a switch early on and stuck with the same lineup when we got on a roll. However, regular season, Lilja saw almost 20 minutes of ice time a game, and was 3rd on the team in PK minutes. Key member of the PK....I'd say so. Absolutely. Gill is a big PKer. Lilja's a big PKer. Gill is big and slow. Lilja's big and slow. About the only real difference is that Gill has a little bit of an offensive touch....Lilja's presence on the scoresheet is rare. But Lilja has a cooler nickname. Advantage Andreas.

I'd still rather win the faceoff.

I think that Dats (97 points) and Zetterberg (92 points) match up nicely against Crosby (72 points with injuries) and Hossa (66 points). I don't care that Hossa was a Thrasher most of the year....that is a huge gap. Oh, come on. The third line is Draper, Drake, and Sammy, as it stood in Game 6. Better than a sharp stick in the eye....not better than the Pens' third line. I don't know who the Pens have on their fourth line.

True. How are Fleury's acting skills? Can he surreptitiously trip somebody skating past the crease while the refs aren't watching? Maybe he can finish the concussion that Turco started on the back of Homer's head. Turco was a master of these things. What Turco did not do well, except for Game 5, was stop the bloody puck. Here's Dallas Drake in Game 6, in front of the net, hacking away at the puck, and Turco stands up. Naturally, the puck goes in while Turco is busy extricating himself from that uncomfortable ice. Mind you, the Wings will continue to crash the net. So if Fleury focuses on stopping the puck rather than tripping, slashing, cross-checking, punching, and arguing, he might find the success that Turco did not.

I have a theory, which I just made up, that says that when the NHL created the trapezoid and the goalie no-go zones, somehow Sammy got mixed up and thought the goalie no-go zones were actually the Mikael Samuelsson Designated Shooting Lanes.

Gill = Lilja. I think they are the same player. Point #2. From an offensive standpoint, the Pens' 2nd, 3rd, and probably 4th lines are better than ours. However, Datsyuk and Zetterberg don't get broken up any more. Babcock tried that against Nashville on the road so as to create matchup problems and it failed. So for now, and probably for the series, they're together. Whether you like Crosby/Malkin or Datsyuk/Zetterberg as the top duo, there's absolutely no denying that Dats and Z are two of the top four forwards in the series. Two of the top four beats one of the top four, so, not a wash. Advantage Wings on the top line.

I think you were right to worry about Lundqvist, he's a very good goalie, but the Rangers' offense is one of the weakest in the league. 25th in scoring during the regular season.

This is complete fact. Our top-6 forwards have shooting percentages in the double digits. Team average is a little over 9%. Sammy? 4.4%. Takes more shots per game than anyone but Zetterberg and has 11 goals to show for it. Sammy is also worthless as a playmaker - fortunately he plays a wing. He's a decent player without the puck. Good responsible player in his own end. But his shot is just terrible, and there's no excuse - he practices it enough during games.

My favorite beer that I can usually find is Bass. On tap only though. It's not as good bottled up. Everyone loves them some Sam Adams, myself included. Their summer brews can't touch their winter ones though. Big Rock is a western Canada brewery that makes some really, really good stuff. Again: best on tap. For the cheap stuff, Coors Light and Labatt Blue are the best. Overseas, I was partial to Cisk, which is a Maltese brew, and Tiger beer. Apparently you can actually get Tiger beer here in the States, but I'd never, ever seen it til I went to SE Asia. Very, very popular there. Good drinkable beer too. The bad s***: Heineken, Miller Anything (especially High Life), Molson.

Bump. Some people have Jenny Craig, and some people have Wii Fit, and I have LetsGoWings.com. So. For me, Round 2. Who's with me? My own background: Last spring I weighed myself just before heading off on a 19 week deployment and realized I was tipping the scales at a ridiculous 196 pounds. I'm 5'7" and weighed a buck forty-five coming out of high school, so 196 shouldn't happen unless I'm carrying around a couple of medicine balls. Made a vow to myself I'd never, ever in my lifetime see the other side of 200. Made it my goal to lose a pound a week over the deployment and succeeded with flying colors, losing nearly 25. So last summer was a success story. But....then we got back, and I had better things to do than work out, and then the holidays, and now here it is a year later, and I hit 191. Damn. Really, over the year it's a net loss of 5 pounds - I should have been so lucky in previous years. So, I'm back on the treadmill and the weights with a renewed vigor. And I'm doing some interval training too - they say this helps the heart and the metabolism. (Last week I overdid it big time and was still breathing heavy over an hour after the workout. Yikes.) Now that I have a job with more regular hours and less stress, I expect to be able to keep a routine. Again, my goal is a pound a week, for however long I can keep it up. To keep myself honest and give myself short-term goals, I'll post here every time I drop 3 pounds. Today I weigh 189, so my first four goal dates will be like this: June 6: 186 June 27: 183 July 18: 180 August 8: 177 Time to see if I can meet or beat this schedule. Now, who's with me? Summer is the best time to work on getting fit.

Read the forum rules: There will be none of that.