SliderJeff

Well, that was fun. That played out about exactly as I assumed it would. Let's take it from the top: Hasek played about as poorly as I've ever seen him play. This is no surprise, as this season has arguably been his worst showing in his Vezina-era timeframe. He gets paid to stop pucks. Not a couple. Not most. ALL. Yes, he is allowed to let some in, as he is not infallible. But he's PAID to stop them all. He's not coming close. Yes, he's got some company when it comes to sucking it up from a percentage standpoint. That being said, I've watched several games with Brodeur and Kiprusoff this season and it's NOT the goalie that's losing games for those teams. They can't score to save their lives. Not exactly the Wings problem. Secondly, the power play continues to suck the suck out of "suck". Why is that? Well, I'll tell you why. Because we employ the same PP strategy we have since the early Bowman era. Amazingly enough, in the past 13-15 years, several teams have picked up on this strategy and have formulated defenses to battle it. It's Mike Babcock's (and his host of assistants and yes-men) job to adjust to the things the other team puts on the ice. Babcock suffers from the same affliction Dave Lewis and a host of others did prior to Bowman... hell, even Bowman suffered it some times. The affliction? Inability to adjust. It's what happened to Tressel (GO BUCKS) and OSU last weekend and it cost them a BCS championship bid. Babcock does this time and again. Third, the defense sucked today. Period. Nuff said. Fourth, Khabi played like he has every game against the Wings... good enough to keep his team in it even when they didn't deserve to be from an on-paper standpoint. Fifth, the Hawks have superior confidence. They will not be intimidated by the Wings. They've come from behind all 4 games, IIRC. They have faith that the Wings will self-destruct in some way, regardless of how many shots they put on the Wings' netminder. Sixth, 4 scoring chances on 6 shots to start the game for the Hawks. Yikes. I have no idea what to expect in tomorrow's game. I'm frankly so ticked off I'm considering not watching so that I don't spoil my early Turkey Day vacation any more than I already have. I'm sure I'll end up watching, but damn if my stomach isn't feeling sour already. If it WERE a reality to send Hasek down, I honestly believe that would be a good idea. At the very least, it would shut the Hasek homers up as far as their argument that not seeing enough shots is why he is slurping at the toilet bowl. Anyway. At least one of my teams one today. Sorry to all the Wolverine fans. It'll be weird not screaming against Lloyd Carr anymore. He was a great coach, no matter how you look at it. Shame to see Hart and Henne so banged up too... even though I can say that deep down I was glad they were less than 100%, bastich that I am. GO WINGS! Break the slump! Later, Jeff in Houston

AMAZING! Let's see how many seconds we can hold onto the lead. As Beezer noted, that was damn close to a check from behind, but the Hawks got away with plenty in the previous 3 games, so I call it even at worst. GO WINGS! I still stand by my Hasek comments. This is NOT the guy we wanted to have back. He needs to pull his head from his butt and decide if he is the Hasek of old or just old. Later, Jeff in Houston

How quickly you forgot his amazingly horrible performance last game, as well. They should have stuck Cheli in net and stuck Hasek in the hearse tonight instead of vice versa. Later, Jeff in Houston

Holmstrom saves the game. 2-2. And a shortie against no less, thanks to Hasek. Yay! (and Frick!) Send Hasek to go park cars.

Nice job, Hasek. Bourque again. Can we pull s*** s***head already. This guy is NOT ready for this game. This is beyond unreal. The Hawks are now, if not before, completely in the Wings' heads. Friggin hell, Jeff in Houston

Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath if our previous 5-3 record is any indication. Yep... nothing. Nice. Jeff in Houston

See, this is EXACTLY the s*** that loses us games against these assholes. We just put on a clinic in how to keep it in their zone for like 2+ minutes and couldn't do s*** to put it in the net. Now we have PP, which has been anemic against the Blackhawks... and anyone else that pressures out points. And once again, Hasek makes a routine save look incredibly difficult. I've never been a Hasek fan, but this guy is showing every indication of being washed up. Yes, this PP is scrpiting itself... chance after chance and not a point to be seen. Pissed off, Jeff in Houston

Me too (wearing jerseys to work). In fact, I have my old Nike Authentic Yzerman jersey on as we speak here at work. I routinely wear various jerseys I have during the Winter months. I just wore this particular jersey here today because I didn't want to iron last night and had to be up at 5am today. So yeah, it's 94 degrees out, but I've got my DRW gear on. Later, Jeff

Awesome! Thanks! Regs, Jeff

I looked in the gallery, but couldn't find that cartoon with the Superman thing. Can someone point me to it? Blind as a bat, Jeff

Did you get your issue resolved? Bets guess is that they consider you to be in the "viewing area" and therefor subject to the blackout rules. I don't recall how close Toledo is to Detroit (i'm from the Canton area but live in Houston) but sometimes the blackout radius is upwards of 100 miles. The fact that the games are not selling out this year will do nothing to help the blackout situation, unfortunately. As far as having both the sports package and Center Ice, IF that game is not blacked out, you should be able to watch it on EITHER channel 6xx or 76x or 77x, i.e. FSD or the CI channels. All they really do is remap the 76x or 77x channel to show what's on FSD (channel 6xx). Regs, Jeff

Yep... that was the sound of the season ending. Thanks for a decent cup run, Wings. Thought you had more in the tank than this... but it looks like the Flames/Sharks series' took too much out of you. The Ducks clearly have more luck, fight and all around life left in the tank. I'll keep TIVOing the game, but my stomach can't handle watching this crap any longer. The team on the ice right now is not the team from Game 3... and we needed a BETTER team than the Game 3 Wings to have a shot. We'll see what the off season brings. Have a great summer, Jeff

Looks like the zebras are back to turning a blind eye to Duckie interference and slashes to the stick. I think I counted 4 times that sticks have been slashed out of the Wings' hands... not a call to be seen. The VS. troglodytes feign ignorance... life goes on. Anybody else think that the play Dats got the gate for was a hand pass to the guy that shot it anyway? Play should have been stopped alot earlier. No big deal... just another case of the ref's needing to visit the local optician. What a shocker. That being said... Wings have looked good here and there. Hasek looks positively Manny-like. Can we railroad spike his ass to the goal so he doesn't roam? All the luck appears to be shifted in the fDucks favor in the first 20 mins. We'll see what happens the next 20. C'mon boys! Wake up and put that puck in the net!! GO WINGS GO! Later, Jeff

Yeah, this period was stunning. It's amazing how you seem to lack f*** all when you actually get called for the s*** you've been doing all series. And the gooning makes it's presence known with Donger leading the pack. What a real surprise. f*** 'em. Toast them, Wings!!! GO WINGS GO! Jeff

Was I the only one looking at that "34 for 34" stat on the penalties and envisioning seeing it as "34 for 35... streak ended"? HA FUGGIN HA! I LOVE IT! Keep it coming strong, boys. Man, tough first game back for Kopecky. I can't forgive him for that first penalty, but that second one was just real bad luck. That being said, these penalties were there before he went down with the CB injury... so it's not like it's something new. He just needs to settle down and play his game the way the rest of the boys are. Dom has looked real good so far and the rest of the team is just a machine. Still need to tighten it up a little in the defensive zone and we need some more shots on Jiggly-Puff. All in all, I'm happy, but there's room for improvement. LET'S PUNISH THEM! GO WINGS GO! Later, Jeff

.... and THAT, my friggin feathered fowl, is what you call the Red Wings "A" game! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAW! Kick ass and take names, boys. 40 more minutes exactly like that. You know, I find it hilarious that the same amount of gushing for the Wings doesn't happen as it does when the Ducks do something on VS. I'll skip hearing The Mullet and company talk between periods and just keep reading here, where the ocassional sane person posts. GO RED WINGS! Regs, Jeff

And once again, my hard earned dollars are paid to DirecTV to see a glorious GREY FRIGGIN SCREEN on the high def channel instead of the game like it's supposed to. Thanks, Center Ice. LET'S GO WINGS! Bring it hard and strong from first minute to end of game! CRUCH JIGGY'S NUTS! Later, Jeff

Hi, Steve... I mean Draperfan... I mean Steve. Now adding another member to the "I'm bored and you're ignored, jerky" list. Jeff

Amen, pornie. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Hey Donger, go away and don't come back unless I need to hail a cab!" Later, Jeff

f***. Wonderful. Now we get to listen to even MORE dick slurping from the VS. morons. f*** the Ducks and f*** VS. GO WINGS ON TUESDAY! Regs, Jeff

Ok, Rough opening couple minutes and then they were back to being the Mean Red Machine! ME LIKEY! How 'bout some props for our man Maltby? I know lots of people were saying he wasn't worth signing again, but you got love those timely goals. And the setup of Lids for the game tying goal.. .LOVE IT!!! C'mon boys.. put these Ducks down 2 PP goals a minute or two into the 3rd. LET'S GO RED WINGS!!! Regs, Jeff

Also, just wanted to check... at what point did obstruction stop being called a penalty? If I see one more Red Wings forward wearing an Anal-heist defenseman when carrying the puck into the zone, I'm going to reach into the tv and smack the crap out of Schick and co. Fuggers. Later, Jeff

Yikes, that was a terrible period. We're totally being outhustled, outhit, outshot... out-everything out there. This period needs to be a 180-degree about face if we want to have any hope of winning. Lots of hockey left to play, but for the guy that does the "20 Minutes of Hockey" updates... I'd say we are minus one very large "CHECK". C'mon boys. Couple posts saved us being in a 3 or 4-0 hole. It's only one goal, but damn... 6 shots on Jiggy won't do it. The puck won't have eyes for us every night. Later, Jeff

Hmmm.. guess I'll be toggling between all 3 stations trying to find the right damn feed to record and watch. Thanks for the update, wingschamps. Regs, Jeff

Hey guys, Just checked the ol' DirecTIVO for tonight's game and see that it's on some channel I've never seen before called BHD1, channel 730. Any idea what this is or if it really IS something that someone with Center Ice and the HD Package will see? Thanks, Jeff