C-TownWing

Sorry to hear that dude, best of luck to you guys. As someone who had to watch game 6 from my fiancee's hospital room, I can relate a little. I'm pretty well spent and glad both things will be over with after tomorrow. If the Wings win, I'll stop screwing around on LGW more than working at work. Well, until next season anyway.

For real...I woke up excited today, then I realized a few seconds later that oh crap, it's TOMORROW. Lame.

I'll do you one better--this is the kind of career-defining game that could swing anyone who still doubts his HOF worthiness. Win another Cup as starter, win a Conn Smythe (it's his if we win, no question) AND do it with a dominating SCF game 7? What else would anyone need at that point? He'll be huge for us, because he's always huge for us. Edit: Damn, looks like eva and I are in agreement. I thought I was being freaking insightful by bringing up HOF.

During most of game 5, I was at a wedding reception. So I DVRed the game and successfully avoided the score. Sweet. But when I got home, I decided I had to know sooner than if I watched the game. So I waited until just before 11, when I knew it would either be over or in the OT intermission, checked it on my phone and went crazy. Then I watched the game, and that was a damn good time, with zero stress. I have to admit, doing something like that is an appealing option, because I may die otherwise. I almost passed out during game 6. But it's game 7 for the Cup, you HAVE to watch if you're able. I'll just get loaded in advance lol. And no, I will not be watching the ceremony if we lose. It's not a Crosby/Pens thing either, I can't even stomach watching the other team celebrate after a regular playoff win, let alone the Cup. This would be way different than 1995 obviously, and the obvious pick as toughest loss ever. ...or it might be the greatest win ever. We should know in about 47 hours.

Same here...I really thought we had very little shot at game 6, so it didn't do too much to shatter my confidence when we lost. Honestly though, I have no idea how to feel about this. Nobody under about 60 has seen the Wings in this situation before, where one game either wins the Cup or eliminates you. I'm scared to death and excited as hell at the same time. I'm thinking around 75%, based on next to nothing. That's the number that popped into my head when I first saw the question.

I'll be honest, I don't think it'll be remembered all that fondly. And this isn't an officiating rant either, I'm freaking sick of those. 1. It's lacked that signature game. Last night was the first one-goal game of the whole series, as crazy as that is with two great teams going at it. Last year, every game except 1 and 2 was decided by 1 goal if I'm not mistaken. Game 7 may turn out to be that game, but who knows? Series do generally end up getting defined by the clinching game, so in that sense, 2009 still has a blank slate. 2. Everyone outside of Wings and Pens fans hates the Wings and Pens. If we're being brutally honest about things, most fans of other teams are rooting for a black hole to suck both teams into oblivion on Friday. 3. There's no underdog to get attached to, no unusual contending team on the verge of winning its first Cup. Even on the player side, nobody doubts that the Pens' big guns will get one at some point so they don't count, and Hossa hasn't endeared himself to, well, anyone at this point. There's no Ray Bourque story, nor is there a 2003 Ducks/2004 Flames hardworking surprise team. I think hardcore hockey fans do appreciate the level of skill on display for both sides, and that all games except 4 and 5 have been tight, even if they were decided by more than one goal. But I also think that these three things might prevent it from being one of those series that people still talk about in 20 years.

Perth wants the Cup more than Sydney.

Your argument was basically "everything points to a Wings win, which means the opposite is going to happen, because Friday's Opposite Day." I'd like to hear how that's logical. Kind of sounds like the opposite of logic actually.

Oh, I completely agree with you. I just thought it was funny that the team we're trying to beat at home had already won a road game 7 this year. It was slightly funnier before I knew he was just asking about finals.

Just because I love looking crap up. The home team is 12-2 all time: Home team wins: Toronto over Detroit, 1942 Detroit over NY Rangers, 1950 Detroit over Montreal, 1954 Detroit over Montreal, 1955 Toronto over Detroit, 1964 Montreal over Chicago, 1965 Edmonton over Philadelphia, 1987 NY Rangers over Vancouver, 1994 Colorado over New Jersey, 2001 New Jersey over Anaheim, 2003 Tampa Bay over Calgary, 2004 Carolina over Edmonton, 2006 Visiting team wins: Toronto over Detroit, 1945 Montreal over Chicago, 1971

Huh. You're right. I didn't even realize that until you pointed it out. 11-1 at home this playoff year. Nice.

Hate to break it to you, but the Pens did it this year, against Washington lol. Blew them away, as a matter of fact. I'm perfectly calm though. I really didn't think we would win tonight, and we were still thisclose to tying it up. The "old" and "tired" team got stronger as the game went on. I really like our chances Friday.

It's almost impossible to lose 4 of 5 and still be playing. You'd pretty much have to be up 3-0 or 3-1 in a series, lose two, win a closeout game, then lose the first two of the next series. Or be up 3-0, lose 3, win, then lose game 1 of the next series...point being that it almost never happens to teams that aren't eliminated.

Reebok makes most of their "official" hats (like the draft hats) out of plastic now, so that's less of an issue. I remember dropping one in salsa a while ago, and was making plans to buy a new hat...then it wiped right off. Unfortunately, last year's hats were New Era I think, and mine is stained. This year > last year on both shirt and hat IMO, so hopefully we win. I could do without "Back2Back" on ours though (look closely--just above the logo on the hat, near the shoulder of the shirt). Save replacing "to" with "2" for text messages, please and thank you.

Agreed, the guy didn't deserve 99% of the crap he got from us. It'll be interesting to see if anyone gives him a shot...I kind of doubt it because he clearly looks done to me, but we'll see. I hope so, I've always liked the guy. But if not, congrats on a great career and best of luck with the voters in three years (could go either way with the HOF thing).

...and the Lakers have been in the finals 6/10 years from 2000-2009, with 3, maybe soon to be 4 championships. Obviously, if you lose in the finals, you're also losing to the eventual champs and have been to the conference finals, etc. Not saying the Spurs don't have a damn good argument, they do. And they have my eternal gratitude for denying the Cavs a couple years ago. Just saying it's not as cut and dried as you make it sound. Of course, the fact that there is an argument kind of works against both if you're comparing them to Patriots and Wings, who don't really have a competitor for recent success in their leagues.

Don't forget the Browns But yeah, I agree. The Patriots have been declared done several times when they lose this player or that player, but they persevere, because they have a tremendous organization. And Tom Brady, although it should be mentioned that they still managed 11-5 without him last year and barely missed the playoffs. MLB doesn't have a salary cap. NHL does, but the gap between big and small market remains. In the NBA, you're set as a good team for 10 years if you're lucky enough to have one great player because of the nature of the game. The NFL's the only league that limits team spending AND where every team makes enough money to spend up to that limit. Therefore, I have lower expectations for the dynasties there.

What I was going to say...as much as I love the guy, our PK sucked when he was healthy too.

Truth. For the cap hit, there's not a better goalie out there, period. Maybe even not factoring the cap hit. Yes, I know what his regular season this year was...but is there an active goalie you'd rather have in the playoffs? We're damn spoiled to be fans of this team. I was just reading something from The Hockey News saying that we'll never be better than we are now because we'll either lose Hossa or a bunch of depth. Even with Ericsson, Abs and Helm being stories at different points of the playoffs and known to all, they STILL don't get it, do they?

Good thread, I like the kid. Like the whole family actually, Eric's one of the few non-Wings where I'd consider a jersey. That regular season game at the Joe this year that they won in OT, he just took over late in the game in a way that his more celebrated teammates never really have against us. He's much too good to be a #3 C, which is all he'll be as long as he's teammates with Crosby and Malkin. Hopefully he eventually finds his way out of their shadow where he can become a star player.

I hope to be burning up a credit card on official championship hats and shirts roughly 12 hours from now. My 2008 hat has some crud on it, I need a new one. Make it happen boys. Just match their intensity in the 1st period, because they'll be desperate. After that, our killer instinct takes over. My only prediction: if we're not losing after 1, we'll win.

Yikes...flashback to the first time my gf saw Murph and said "he looks like a pedophile with that hair!" There's no touching Babs in this area...no guy his age has a right to that hair, it's sick. Just to add something productive to this post, I could do without hearing about energy levels. Usually immediately preceded or followed by something about how the Wings are old. But it's not a Wings-specific thing, I just don't like the phrase.

True when it comes to the Wings, since limiting it to 10 years cuts off our 97 and 98 Cups. Since the 2009 Finals are now underway, I think you could probably argue that the Spurs 1999 championship is outside the window as well, making it 3 for each. And of course, the Lakers are in good shape this year too. IDK, if someone were to ask me the dominant NBA team of the last 10 years, I'd say the Lakers without really hesitating. All due respect to the Spurs though. The Yankees don't belong anywhere near this conversation though. Big money, big hype, no results (in the last 10 years).

I don't watch enough baseball to know if this is still the case, but I remember a few years ago, ESPN was big on getting all the accents on the Spanish names. Given the nationality diversity in hockey, I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a push for that with the NHL.

Win. I'm not sure when "compete" became an adjective or a noun, but it's freaking annoying. Sometimes, I'll hear something like "he has a lot of compete," along with the usual "he has a high compete level." I'll stand up and admit that I like Doc's unique way of saying things--drive, cancel, spikes, paraphernalia, etc. It adds a uniqueness to the broadcasts that you don't see anymore. I'd hate to see what you guys would say if LGW was around in the heyday of the legendary Danny Gallivan.