Icteria virens

they were doing this all game, letting them not just gain the blue but all the way to the top of the face off circles. it was ridiculous. and it came back to bite us.

the league doesn't fix games so to speak but they can nudge/push games in a certain direction with schedule (remember round 2 against Pens when the series started on a weekend which hadn't happened in something like 30 years and the Wings got LESS rest for winning that series in 6 vs. 7 games, lidstrom's family jewels being out of commission and all etc) and with ref assignments, which they refuse to spell out any length of time in advance, and yes, the league, all leagues, keep stats on their officials, some more prone to call sticks, obstruction, more majors, etc, Dan O'Halloran, who literally has been quoted as saying he "hates the city of Detroit" reffred games 1, 5 and 7 of the Pens series for instance. Guess who was reffing game 6 two days ago when the league needed a Chicago win for a lucrative O6 game 7? and then you have the NHL higher up who , again, literally admitted in the press that it's good for the league when the series go long, are extended to 7 games for revenue purposes. Sorry I don't have a link right now but all this has been discussed and documented here and other places. and finally, although I haven't checked this year or lately, I know that for many years in a row how do you explain the Red Wings being, over an 82 game schedule, one of the LEAST penalized teams league wide but during the PO's they suddenly are one of the most penalized? How do you explain an Anaheim team that's one of the most penalized during the season and all of a sudden Detroit is penalized more than Anaheim. Has happened more than once as well. And this from a skilled 'soft', euro team as well??? go ahead and respond with snark and derision but the FACTS are on my side, again, it's all been hashed out and DOCUMENTED. see my post above, amazing how they have been in the past one of the least penalized teams over 82 games and then end up getting called for more penalties than even clutch and grab opponents like Anaheim et all. Has happened multiple times. Once is one thing.

if this isn't a penalty, then neither was the other.

Dan "the company man" "the I hate the city of Detroit" OHalloran didn't even flipping make the call.

you're darn right we can, that game should be in OT, Period. that was beyond ridiculous. How was he denied a reasonable goal scoring opportunity????? HOW? that b.s. call directly lead to a 2 goal lead. So yeah, we can talk about the refs. These are supposed to be the best, they are supposed to have earned these games. that call was horrible. his stick was on him for .5 seconds, and that's worthy of a penalty shot? it's not even worthy of a minor.

WTF are you talking about , the refs are the reason this isn't into overtime. How in the f$#@# did he deny him a reasonable goal scoring opportunity? HOW?

LET'S GO RED WINGS!!!!

come on boys! more direct play to the net, get some pressure and crowd the net, we've become too fancy, DIRECT play and simple clearances from our own end LET'S GO RED WINGS

need to play much more simpler in our end and much more direct in theirs, we are wayyyy too passive, not going to net, passing up shots, DRIVE TO THE NET come on Wings, let's get it done. Still have faith.

QFT seems to me they got rid of this in game 7 and 6 etc., less fancy sometimes, more direct, they didn't do this in game 1, need to get back to it.

I do believe that I'm proud of the Red Wings this season I don't believe I'll be able to stop stress eating until the Wings are knocked out of the Playoffs.

I miss a lot of what's been said already but I'd like to comment on the butterfly style of most goalies in the league. it's boring to watch b/c they all do the same thing, go down, cover 99% of the net, they are so big, their equipment is so big - that's enough to do it seems. they are like robots with no imagination. I miss Hasek.

Go back and re-watch it, If Ab left his feet if was 1/2 a second before contact, seriously second and very important point: where did Abs hit the Anaheim player first? was it his head? no. He hit him shoulder to shoulder, if you are trying to say that a player can control incidental follow thru at the speed the game is played you're crazy. and how do you account for players of different sizes? a taller player making a check on a shorter player , well, it's going to be lined up a certain way, should taller players not be allowed to check shorter players? also what if the player being checked bends down lower right before the hit or reaches with his stick for a pass that's just a big off, thus making him lower his body, this happens all the time, it happened on the big hit in the Montreal series, watch the player reach for the puck causing him to lower his upper body, how can a player react given a half second like that? the real problem nobody talks about is the players have gotten bigger, faster, stronger, all the equipment has gotten bigger with hard molded plastic and the ice surface hasn't changed.

he wasn't too hurt to look up while lying on the ice to see if there was a call that was going to be made, no call yet, I'll stay on the ice.

that call was BS the ref was 3 feet away and made no call, if Ab left his feet it was 1/3 of a second before he actually made contact. the $%^&& was lying on the ice with his head up looking around to see if there was going to be a call, there wasn't so he stayed down didn't anybody else notice this? embellishment, dive,

I'm sick of seeing them not defend Howie, they are crashing the net constantly, somebody fight back.

if true that's messed up, we get no Hawks games on TV, they played a pre-season game at the Bradley Center when Gretzky was with the Kings, last I remember. There's just no following. And no attempt. We occationally get Wild games on FS North but not very often. re: Madison, you'd be competing with UW Badgers, Madison's population is only 223K, Green Bay??? Population 104K (amazing they have an NFL Team isn't it? )

WI is not huge on hockey culture. It is not a hockey state. Not at least compared to Minn and MI. most of the Badger games are on at 10:30 on PBS, about the only time your guaranteed of seeing them in prime time is when they play Minnesota. I have far more opportunity to watch Minn, Michigan, Notre Dame or even Hockey East teams play on the 3 Fox Sports channels I get on digital cable than the Badgers. And it's been that way since I grew up. I remember staying up late to watch them at 10:30. The Admirals are on radio, never on TV that I can ever think of. The Bradley Center in MKE , built in 1988, used to host the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown, an annual New Years time 4 team tourney hosted by UW but they've long since moved that back to Madison, about 8 years ago I think. The Bucks are already complaining that the area is too old and want a new one. What would happen with the Admirals? Miller park passed with taxpayer funding by ONE VOTE, he was then promptly booted out of office when up for re-election. People don't want to pay for another area. Funny thing that taxpay funding was 1/10 of one percent!!!!! WI doesn't really have a home NHL market. We get *a few* Wild games on FS North but mostly it's just the Bucks. The economy isn't great in MKE at all, another rust belt city that has relied on manufacturing too much and hasn't changed the plan. People tend to be frugal and I really don't think most would be willing to pay NHL prices to attend a game. Although the Admirals are avg. 12th in attendence this year if you look at alot of the teams below them they are much smaller towns. I just really doubt ppl in WI will pay NHL prices for tickets.

ah, you're posting this on Let'sgowings.com , we do care, if it annoys you don't post here any more. you make a meal out of being 'the contrarian' don't you?

so are you calling Lidstrom a liar then? He said he received no phone call from the league about the new Friday night rule. Watch the video with colin campbell on TSN, he clearly states you must PLAY in the game and makes no mention of showing up and signing autographs. and for crosby to say he's "really" injured and Dats and Lids are "resting" is completely classless no matter what. And I'd say that no matter who would've said that.

again, key word there being GAME, Cindy isn't playing in the game either so he should be suspended. After he had a personal phone call with buttman they made up a new rule on Friday night that stated if Crysby signs a few autographs all will be forgotten, that's the difference and the sticking point.

of course you don't because it weakens your argument.

so basically , according to you, b/c Zetterberg won the CS last year that Pasha has just this year been the better player? He wasn't before? He was the more valuable player in the PO's , his offensive numbers were almost as good and his backchecking and leading the team in hits in the PO's where physical play is up'ed 100 times was far more impressive. Check out his takeaway numbers, best in the NHL. Why was Rob Blake voted the Norris over Lidstom?

exactly, you could argue that sometimes on Detroit teams he hasn't always had to be spectacular (although he's been when needed, last years PO's for example) but when needed and when playing on inferior teams (Islanders, Blues) his play has risen to meet the challenge. He deserves the HOF now.

he's always been better than zetterberg, I remember so many people early in his career saying how he didn't backcheck? WTF? He always backchecked ----coming form the russian school of the center being responsible for that aspect in stark contrast to the left wing lock played by Detroit during the Bowman era. If anybody remembers that why Larionov's line wouldn't play the LWL, the only scoring line in that era that wouldn't.