Heroes of Hockeytown

Gettin' used to bad news.

Apparently Tate's shoulder is more banged up then we were initially led to believe. You can read about it a little bit into this post here if you like.

I really hate to send this off-topic but probably the worst part about having lost in the Finals, after the actual losing part, was that every Tom, Dick, and Harry got to trot out their obnoxious pet theory as to why it happened, when what happened was blindingly obvious. As for the OP, Mike Babcock has always said it best: your best players have to be your best players. Right now Hank, Pavel, and Nick are not the Wings' best players and that's no good.

Yeah, no kidding. Hank and Pavel need to get on their horses and get moving. I know Hank had the injury in preseason but he's got six games under his belt now, and Pavel has always been a bit of a slow starter but there's no time like the present. If those two guys plus Nick aren't getting the job done, and that's the case right now, then there's reason to worry, because as good as Leino-Flip-Dano have been they certainly can't carry the scoring for the whole team. I can't imagine the big three staying cold for much longer, the Wings need them producing.

I hope the top line goes crazy and Hank, Pavel, and Bert all get off the schneid and on the scoreboard.

I wasn't crazy about the decision, I was expecting Forcier to come out and was very surprised when he didn't. I still can't excuse Denard, though, he had a ton of time and only needed to get into field goal range, I have no idea what he was doing with that pass when he could have easily scrambled for the first down and stopped the clock.

I specifically mentioned minor penalties (the stats are kept at NHL.com) because that's what actually hurts you, and for many years before his run of missing time he was the leader or near it in minors.

It's just a business move, no use having his salary on the books taking up cap space if he isn't playing.

Almost certainly the reverse is true. It's been a while since he's managed to play anything close to a full season, but when he does he routinely finishes near or at the top of the minor penalties taken list, a dubious honor.

He forgives. But next time...

It can, I've read about some goalies having pregame rituals and stuff that involve staying on the ice at the end of practice until they shoot a puck through the hole and that sort of thing. No, it was through the hole. Relive the silliness.

I've never seen any player get hurt by them. Sometime last season I remember Kovalev got his stick caught up in the hole and lost a tug of war for it with a Bs fan on the other side. If you don't know, they're used for photographers to put their cameras through.

We can only hope.

Well, the freshman QB situation has finally unraveled in Ann Arbor. Forcier was bad and Robinson played well right up until he made the worst throw imaginable and threw away a very winnable game. Gotta learn to crawl before you can wind sprint, but your days will come yet young dudes.

Just need the Kings to hang on, the Avs to break their tie with the Hawks, and for the Yotes to come back against the BJs. I want a 1-4 Central tonight.

Blues down 2-0, second intermission. Keep it up, Kings!

I was planning on making a more criticism-laden post and this was on my mind. His favorite play right now seems to be trying to take that bad angle wrist shot at the net with Homer in front; that's worked before but it's a low percentage play, it hasn't worked so far and he ought to just reset the offense instead of throw the puck away. He got off to a delayed start with the groin injury but I'm waiting patiently here for Hank to get some goals too. He was set up a few times but hasn't been able to finish yet.

Very proud of the defensive effort the guys put in tonight. Ozzie made the one huge save on AO and otherwise he was kept real quiet by the Pavel-Hank tag team. I wasn't buying into the "lolz Wings lost all dem gols" meme that was spread all over this summer but with Franzen out that might be a little closer to reality and these are the kind of Ws you need.

Hang on guys...

Great pressure, but they have to finish.

Oh, Wings PK, how many games will it be before you don't give up a goal?

Flip wouldn't shoot at an empty net.

Iowa QB made a critical error ever throwing at Donovan Warren.

This is exactly how he looked with the Flames last season.

Can't believe there wasn't a whistle.