Hack&Lube

I'm not trying to badmouth him, just trying to point out that he really needs to take advantage of and be grateful for this opportunity he is getting and then to make amends with the people he has wronged. You can probably see I'm from Calgary and there were quite a few stories floating around for those 2 seasons and articles like this show they aren't unfounded. Hope he does well.

Draper himself said that he wasn't on speaking terms with Darren because of a lot of things that happened for years and it took something for them to sit together and talk about helping DMac back into hockey. He is very lucky to have friends that can help him so much. He earned a lot of goodwill for his years of service to Detroit, that counts for something, but I don't think any other player in the league would get a chance like this.

I've seen this story now (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...RTS05/802260397) and indeed I know that Grinder is one of the most popular characters in Detroit but he was a pretty awful guy up in Calgary, married a girl, abandoned her, but not before racking up 20 grand in gambling charges on her credit card, took her truck, and drove to Detroit, giving her his "Dear John" via a note he left in their house along with other debts. I hope he truely realizes that he is being given a chance almost nobody else in the league would ever recieve let alone most human beings. It's very much undeserved and he had better realize how fortunate he is to still have friends in good places. It's not even about him battling his own demons and fixing his own problems, it's about all the people he has hurt along the way and continue to hurt or even arguably stolen from. I wish him the best of luck and hopefully he makes the use of the NHL paycheck he'll be recieving instead of squandering it again (and also repaying those that he owes so much to)...but if Stevie Y was the epitome of class in the NHL on and off the ice, DMac is the epitome of a lack of class off the ice.

I said months ago that Cleary was Detroit's best player against the Flames and this confirms it (i can't find the post, it might have been on Detroit's board on HF). Cleary has always been the best Detroit player against the Flames and I'd say he was your MVP.

I'd like to mention the Darian Hatcher elbow to the head on Matthew Lombardi in 2004 that concussed him for 1.5 seasons. Hatcher only got a 2 game suspension for that. The suspensions given out this year were done so based on Collin Campbell's pre-playoff meeting about discipline this year and so the Flames were made the example which is how it should be. I feel bad for the coach though (although Playfair is not very popular amongst Flames fans anyway) since the 25K is a big chunk of change for a coach who makes a mere fraction of what the players under him make.

I meant that Detroit HAS LEFT to possibly face.

The Flames also didn't have Pronger and Nieds Special in front of Kipper. Poor guy got shellshocked by a much better Detroit team. Honestly, I think the best goaltender Detroit could possibly face is either Turco or actually Luongo. But Anaheim definetely has the better defense which will inflate Giguere's abilities. Luongo has proven in situations to be > Kipper, even this Flames fan will admit that.

Only if you give us the secret to super geriatric hockey players (Hasek, Chelios, Howe). If Kipper lives as long as Hasek, then the Flames better hold onto him.

Message to the Wings: The Flames seemed to be fine exactly 3 years ago before the new CBA The money is well spent, just the good coach decided to move upstairs. Also, I know Detroit has a great farm team, the Griffins. The Flames AHL team, the Omaha Knights won their division and is playing their first playoffs ever. Hopefully there is some talent down the pipeline, something the Flames have not had for a decade. Moss, Giordano, and Krahn will probably head down there right now. That Moss shot over the crossbar will always haunt me, but even if the Flames did win tonight, Detroit would have won back in the Joe. See you NEXT YEAR

Congratulations Detroit. The Flames didn't deserve to win the series. They lack any sort of system and were dominated in shots by 2:1 ratio the entire series. Detroit deserves to move on not only as the more talented but harder working and more disciplined team. I'm personally glad I slept through Game 5, I heard that wasn't pretty for Flames fans to see. Embarassing.

I agree the refs blew it on that one since Iginla should have gotten the initial elbowing penalty too but Dom deserved his penalty for the feigned baseball-bat headshot at Iginla behind the net in retaliation. I don't see why the refs didn't give Iginla the initial penalty as well. Perhaps this is the case of the boy who cried wolf. We've seen many vetran refs in the league (face it, most of these refs have been doing this job for 10+ years) finding it easy to call diving or something against Dom because they are used to seeing it. Like they are used to seeing Roloson pulling his temper antics and call him out on them as well (even if they are legitimate). We saw what happened when Hasek dived in that last regular season meeting between the two teams. You guys are overreacting...just like Flames fans who were calling for the entire NHL squad be demoted to the AHL and swapped with our Omaha farm team for games 3-4. The Wings dominated with 33% more shots.

I think it's a good sign of true, realistic hockey fans when the fans of both teams have equal amounts of massive distrust and fear of their own team's abilities. Good fans, unlike some other fans who only believe their teams can do no wrong. BTW, this Flames fan has no faith in the team's ability to win on the road, therefore Detroit - Ace.

Hasek truely dominates when he's on his game, even as a 40-year old, he's Vezina capable. The problem is his temper which shows itself every now and then (such as when he assaulted and underwent a lawsuit from the other player when they were playing inline hockey casually back in the Czech Republic).

Flames fans generally agree that there is no way in hell Babcock is ever outcoached by Jim Playfair. Babcock is the superior coach. A few things just didn't go the Wing's way in the past two games despite arguably dominating. Game 5 will be the real test.

Flames fans are as scared to death as you guys. With the upper hand in home games left, the odds are in your favor. We have been given little to trust in the Flames road ability.