Heroes of Hockeytown

Not used to seeing Lidstrom and Datsyuk make terrible turnovers on the same shift. C'mon guys.

Well that didn't take long. Helm was slow to get over there.

I agree with GoWings and Broken 16 here. While Howard may not have been able to see the puck, it's indisputable that Jones was in a very dangerous scoring position and he had every opportunity to shoot it (with a chance that Janik would block it, which he did not). Howard has to take away the low part of the net; if it goes higher then he can't really do anything about it, given Jones' fantastic shooting position (if not awkward shooting angle), but as it was he got zero lift on the puck.

The Ott Moments of Douchebaggery Counter has been reset to zero for the beginning of the 2011 season. Current status of the OMDC: 0.

I could hardly believe it when I saw Nick throw back-to-back picks in OT. What a sloppy game.

Once and Oiler, but forever a Red Wing. Thanks for everything, Kirk.

Bert's goal didn't strike me as a fluke at all. That seemed to be exactly what Stuart wanted to do. In other words it was a normal hockey game.

I feel my cynicism melting away. The Lions are going to win a football game; perhaps all is not lost. Perhaps there is love, there is beauty, there is truth and justice in this world. Now I see life in a whole new way; I have been re-born.

The comedy stylings of 8 Legged RedWing, everyone.

Yes, this is usually the part where nothing bad happens and the Lions cruise to another well-deserved W.

Normally I would be happy for Train to find employment, but Anaheim? This is just ******* abysmal.

It was during that brawl at the end of Game 6 of their series two years ago. The much bigger, stronger Perry jumped the smaller and fight-inexperienced Rafalski from behind and started pummeling him before he had any chance to react. The same Rafalski that had just returned that night from injury. I wouldn't call it a fight and it reflects as poorly on Perry as any action he's taken in his life.

He moved the ball well enough, but got eaten alive in the red zone. He doesn't have the skills in his toolbox yet to put any touch on his passes (or the recognition of when to use them anyways) and State abused him whenever he tried to zing anything into a tight window. Oh well; he lives, he learns, he runs.

Typical Ducks crybaby sore loser temper tantrum. The only thing I have in common with any of those idiots is that we'll both have plenty of time to watch the Wings in April from the comfort of our own homes.

I think Michigan has hit this strange critical mass between its offense and defense, where the former is very hard to stop, and the latter can't stop anything, and the combined result is that every game is a shootout that comes down to the final possession. While State's defense is probably better than the others they've played, that may only be the difference between a dilithium-fueled 70 yard run and a series of 6-8 yards plays instead. Either way I think Michigan will be able to get into the endzone. If they can capitalize on a Cousins brain fart or two in between his evisceration of the secondary, or get a lucky fumble, it could be lights out. I wouldn't bet against it being decided in the final minute, though.

That is really shocking to see (imagine how Ducks' fans must feel), unbelievable what can happen in a season or two.

I have to say I'm a little surprised with so many talking heads picking Detroit. I thought they were no longer the state of the art with the media, in lieu of the youngerfasterstronger Pens/Hawks/Canucks/what have you.

The past and present Wings motif is brilliant, and the whole thing being blood red all over the place is just intimidating as hell. Other wallpapers won't even know what to do when they're looking at this one. EDIT: Also interesting to see some patterns emerging in the sched. Will you come see me, Thursdays and Saturdays (hey, hey hey), what have you got to lose?

I don't think they're that worried about the playoffs just yet, mindfly. Carman has the right idea. This is basically the ultimate litmus test -- if Ericsson can't perform with Lidstrom by his side, then all is truly lost.

I'm not really much of a gun nut, but I had the opportunity to play around with some when I was Up Norf a while ago and it was a good time. Shortly thereafter I was set upon by a contingent of Viet Cong, and assumed my destiny as John Rambo as I went about my grim work:

Looks like both of them will be icing most of their A-teams, except for goalies. Should be a good test. Unfortunately the 2nd and 3rd lines haven't had a lot of time to play together, but there's still plenty of talent there.

I haven't had the opportunity to watch every preseason game, but from what I've seen Flip and Rafalski have far and away been the Wings' best players thus far. Flip is using his speed to great effect and actually shooting the puck, high and hard. Franzen and Bertuzzi to this point appear to just be tagging along; I can forgive Mule for being a little slow after the injury and Bert is probably just being Bert, though.

Obviously not a particularly well played game, but again, it's the B-team. They managed to coalesce into something resembling a competitive hockey club in the second period, but dissolved shortly thereafter. The only players that were important mostly had a good game. Flip had lots of good jump and Bert and Mule tagged along well. Kronwall notably had a poor game though; Rex was up and down. I guess a lot of people will see five goals on the board and jump to "OMG JIMMY" but the B-team was badly outplayed for 40 minutes and he performed well while facing so many scoring chances.

Christ, where was Ericsson? Don't let Derek ******* Boogard score on you, please.

You can go ahead and blame someone for that goal though, although I'm not sure who it was that was ignoring their man.