Gizmo

Port Huron announced in mid-May that they'd signed a new lease with the city and would be back for 2009-10... so far so good. However, IIRC their average game attendance last year was something like 1,500 people. You can't keep an IHL team afloat with those kind of numbers unless you're also doing something like selling contraband out of the back of the arena! One possible twist to watch is that reportedly the league by-laws have a 3 year "no compete" clause when a team departs. However, it isn't clear if the IHL would fight their departure or if some creative lawyering and legal form filing could make them a "different" team on paper.

I'm not going to carry on and on like a lot of Pens fans about the officiating... but I'll just say that after last night the Pens lost all rights to complain about the officiating hurting them.

With two kids playing travel/HS hockey, plus drop-in for me, I'm at Wings pretty much every day of the week from Sept to March.... so I hear you. I think Wings is safe for the foreseeable future, unless Greenleaf wants to cough up the nut for a new stadium, which I don't think has been discussed. They're talking about the usual hotel and restaurant taxes, etc. All that's being presented now are the results of a feasibility study.

nevermind...

I don't think the K-Wings will be going anywhere... They're owned by The Greenleaf Trust (Ted Parfet sold the teeam to them shortly before his death). They manage the finanacial nest eggs of the Upjohn/Parfet and Stryker families and other trust fund babies. They're heavily invested in the local community and I can't see them taking their ball elsewhere. Also, on the docket of the Kalamazoo County Commission meeting tonight is discussion of a new downtown hockey stadium as part of a new development plan. If they to make it to the ECHL, I think it would be a good move. However, I think a new downtown stadium is premature. Wings Stadium was built in 1971, but it has a great location on I-94 and, better yet, it's paid for. Also, in recent years the K-Wings rarely sell out the place. I'm a proponent, especially as a taxpayer, of building the demand first, and then meeting it.

Reportedly Dayton will have an IHL team coming on-line next season. If so, they'd hold at six team... assuming Flint or Port Huron don't implode in the off-season.

Well, Paul Pickard announced he was stepping down as IHL CEO/Commissioner to return as the K-Wings President on May 22nd... so draw your own conclusions!

His was the first game worn Wings jersey I added to my collection... Got it off the clearance rack at HTA!!!

Perhaps because there are two conference finals, but only one Stanley Cup Final?!?!?

That would be Jet Black Stare - Ready To Roll:

And on top of that, the contact knocked Ozzie's stick out of his hand, the Pens kept the puck in our zone and Ozzie spent what seemed like 30 seconds in the crease with no stick while the team tried to clear the puck. I'm not sure how we got the better end of that deal!

I'm not sold on Ozzie's "high stick" on Staal either. I understand the concept that "a player is responsible for their stick", but Ozzie moved around the net, his stick was on the ice in a "normal" position, and Staal skated right into it. I understand you can't give goalies license to clothesline attackers, and I understand that "intent" doesn't matter with a high stick call, but Ozzie wasn't swinging lumber or lowering the drawbridge.

Believe me, you're not alone... I won't relax until it's over unless we get lucky and go up 3-0. Pittsburgh is a dangerous team and have already roared back from 0-2 this playoffs. Detroit needs to stay hard on the gas.

Earlier in the playoffs they were using the Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) "last stand" speech from X-Men 3. To my ear, it sounded on TV like they're still using it. Video Link

Nope... Let's win the thing first! But Ozzie's chances look better after tonight!

Let's not forget that we've hit several posts too in the first two games! IIRC, Z (or was it Hossa?) hit one in the first few minutes tonight. Nobody seems to be factoring those into the equation.

That was a rare moment of objectivity!!! If Malkin had scored last night after they tripped Kronner, you do think anyone on NBC would have been P-n-M'ing about that one too!

Unreal.... 1 on 3 to boot!

I agree... that was pretty "whine free".

So do these people really think that the JLA boards had magical properties tonight that they haven't had all season? I mean, honestly...

Hey, it's NHL "on the fly"! (joke for NHL Channel subscribers)

Way to go guys! Helm rocked! Aardvark eater rocked! Z didn't score, but he neutralized Cindy. Fleury's butt was our 4th forward again (and his leg was getting into the act too). Ozzie... what can I say... awesome and he's still got his mojo going. Just split the rest of the games, and it'll be happy dance time again!

Well I think I triggered another Wings chant in the stands at the Indy 500 this year, but it was better this time. I'm a photographer that works in the pits during the race. I wear a Nomex suite for safety, but for the last two years I've worn a Wings caps along with it. Last year I was out on the starting grid and my ear realized that there was a "Let's Go Red Wings" chant going on behind me, but it petered out just as I turned around. This year I wore the same get-up, but I added a 2008 Stanley Cup t-shirt underneath for good measure. Well, I was out shooting Scott Dixon's car and I heard the chant start up off to my left. It was a group of fans high up in the stands underneath the Paddock seating. Since a lot of people come down from Chicago for the 500, there were some boos that responded along with a weaker "Let's Go Hawks" retort this year. In the mean time I unzipped the Nomex and displayed my t-shirt. Oh, and one of Graham Rahal's crewmen told me that the Wings were going down. The team is based outside of Chicago. If you'd like to see what I shot at the 500: Click Here

Speaking of Red Wings and racing, on Carb Day at Indy on Thursday I was in the pits talking photos of Paul Tracy... and I realize that he talking to Larry Murphy. I tought it was him, and them as he starts to move away I look at his hard card crendential and sure enough it reads "Larry Murphy". He was there with the Versus crew that's been covering Indy all month. He got away before I could say "Go Wings!" or take a photo.

I liked "aardvark eater" better!