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I bet Joel is sweating right now. Either that or he is right now preparing with an extra level of work as he is bound and determined to succeed. I cannot wait!

He may hang them up either way. I expect he wants to be a significant part of the team and this has not been a good year for him. However many people have had bad years, found the problem, fixed it and came back better then ever. Who knows. If Malts does retire I hope he finds a place in the Wings organization since he has been such a huge part of our teams success for a long time.

Thank-you for bringing up that sick moment in history. That goal from 2007 should have never counted and it cost us the momentum and then the series. Tonight was redemption!!

Oh man great comment. I remember the same emotions from when I was young during the crappy seasons when we were the Sharks of the time. I wear my Jersey to work the day after we are finished for the season. Tomorrow is too soon and I do not want to have tears stain my jersey..

I am one for bad mojo, bad karma or what ever and we had too much of it last night. 1. Rafi coming back - I love him andI think he did fine last night but sometimes when a team is clicking at full speed bringing a guy back from injury can throw off the balance. Makes a team take longer to get going. I think that is why we started so slow last night. 2. I agree that proclaiming we are going to finish the series last night bad not good. Look at all the teams that have planned championship parade routes (vancouver) and then failed to deliver. I think in both cases the real problem is that these things get into the heads of the players. If you get cocky then you are caught flat footed, it is that simple.

The Players Union has the option to extend the CBA until something like 2011. If I recall correctly they have already done this or stated that they plan to. It has been very good to the players.

If you are looking for some more great stories on why many of us are Wings fans then take a look at an older thread asking the same question: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=41961 There are some awesome stories in there, many of which are good enough to make anyone a fan. Go check that thread out, you will be pumped for tonight! Here is what I wrote in that thread:

In it to win it like Yzerman! Time for some Duck hunting!

Low blow, I love Little People Big World!

Haha makes me think of the Incribad song "Jizz in my pants" lol

I am putting my money on a lawn mower accident. If sakic can put himself out of the game with a snow blower injury then Rafi can hurt himself with a mower. It would be tragic and yet just another addition to our teams fortunes when we play against the Ducks. 07 our D is all hurt, 09 our D gets 8 days rest takes a break to work on the lawn and one is taken out by the mower!

I suspect that the medical staff decided that they were not sure what the problem was and to ensure that moving him did not make it worse they brought out the stretcher. It does seem overkill in retrospect but at the time they were likely just operating in the best interests of the player with an unknown injury in the neck (or what turned out to be the upper lungs).

I am sorry guys but this one is all my fault. I watched the whole games yesterday but whenever I left the room to get snacks, let the dog out or whatever, the Ducks scored. Then after 2 overtimes my wife told me we had to leave the house to get groceries. I knew we had to do this on Sunday but I was hoping the Wings would score before we had to leave. Well she used the "I'm pregnant" excuse, which is like kryptonite to a good husband. I had to stop watching the game before the start of the 3rd overtime, which as we all know was shortly before the ducks scored. If I had continued to watch the game, oz would have made the save and we would have won. I am sorry guys, I officially turn in my team badge and accept my 24 hour suspension. I will accept my badge back just before the puck drops on Tuesday at which time I will have matured, seen the error of my ways, and will diligently watch the entire game. Look for a goose egg out of Oz!

Still no responses! I really hope he is in there. I love Ericsson (what is his nickname?) as much as most but I would like to see Rafi with Lids, then bump Chelli so that we can run a more even number of mins for our D-lines. Sitting Chelli in a long game (like on Sunday) really pushes the rest of the D.

I agree with most on here, keep Matls in the line up. When Helm, Kop, and Malts were on the ice in game 2 helm would through a hit, kops would get into position but Matlby would grab the puck, help grind it out and seem to add a calming presence on the ice. His experience was a big factor in the success of that line. Now if only Helm would have scored!

Wow this is really sad. Big thanks go out to him and his family, for sharing his story with us, and for taking part in the contract signing. It makes for a very inspiring story, and yet a very tear jerker one at the same time. God rest his soul.

I have been thinking the same thing. Sweep or we win in 5. Our offense is better then 2 years ago, our defense is better (no one is hurt, that cannot be replaced) and our goalie is ready to add to his playoff numbers.

I was assuming his poor play was stemming from the loss of his father. His dad died on December 12 2008, since that time I do not think he has been the same. I am not knocking jijy, in fact I empathize. I imagine that when my father passes on I will have a hard time focusing on my work, and I do not need to concentrate as much as an NHL goalie. He seems like a strong guy, and from what I have read it seems his family is strong. He will bounce back and play great. His career is far from over. He needs to get his confidence back, get the focus back, and start loving the game again. But hey who knows I may be totally off base since I do not know the guy, but I want to see him back as a top goalie again. The big question is whether it will be with the Ducks or with another organization. They dumped Bryz in favor of Jijy, will they do the same with hiller? They should be able to trade for some good players in this off season no matter who they keep. (Yes they could keep both but why not get some more scoring). If they were to trade jijy, he is earning something like $6 million per year so he would not be sent to a team close to the salary cap. It would be cool to see him in some of the struggling markets. He could turn a teams fortunes around.

I think that clip was really funny. I love that the announcer pointed out that Varlamov cannot speak english so he has no idea what Avery is saying or why he should be upset about it. That is just one of the funniest things. As for Hockey Matters, who compared Avery's antics with Mr. Hockey, wow you have no idea. Gordie was a bastard, one tough SOB. He would toss an elbow in the corner as you were trying to hit him, just to let you know not to do it again. He would fight, push, toss, and play some hard nosed hockey. He would not b$#ch whine, scream, throw his glove, talk poorly about women, all antics that Avery uses. If Avery were to play hard, hit hard, and slide a few cheap shots in during a hit I could see a comparison, but he does not do this. Gordie was a tough SOB but he was nothing like Avery.

Good job on the bracelets! I love that you are getting involved! As a 28 year old man who cannot grow a beard I am considering jumping into this fun. Is it alright for a man to join? Has anyone seen the Canadian commercial where they scan around the dressing room zoomed in on the legs of the players. They are all very hairy. Then they pan up to the face and we see that it is a woman's team. The lady says "What it's the playoff's". This time of the year rocks!

Great article, thank-you for posting it.

After the text message incident the only way MacT could have been removed as the coach (and kept dignity) is to step down and make the claim that he is doing it for the better of the team. This was something that many people saw coming as soon as the text message thing happened. I mean what kind of an owner sends a text to a sports radio station.. lol

As much as I am not a fan of the guy the upset chance has me worried. From something like 1997 - 2007 one of the #2 seeds (in the east of west) was upset each year by the #7 seed. It is a cause for concern and our boys better not take any chances. (read this on kuklas) I should add that the fact that Clement claims that Hitchcock is the best coash in the NHL playoffs marks him for a know nothing fool. Hitchcock is a great coach but he has not won the cup in a long time. Just some food for thought.

I was just about to post the same questions in a thread. Thanks for beating me to it. I know that Babs has stated that Helm and Lenio are going to play in the playoffs but what I (and I assume the thread creator) want to know is have the rosters been announced for game 1? Have the players been called up? Is anything official? I have to do my playoff draft tomorrow night and we do this thing where you can pick a sleeper. Basically before the draft starts everyone writes down the name of someone no one else will pick (during the draft) and the paper is hidden and put in a safe place. Then after the draft if your player is still available you get them on your roster. Basically a free late round pick. Last year I picked Darren McCarty and he was good for a couple of points. This year I am thinking either Helm or Lenio (if they are called up).

I love the wings and all the players, but the poll on TSN.ca is to vote for the best play not player or team. I volted for Bobby Ryan because that move was just cool and done at full speed. Dat's play was great but it was a team effort that made it great which for me moves it down a notch. In my plays of the year I love the individual effort more then the team effort. I know the team effort wins games (as we see by how amazing the Wings are) but still the individual deke is just breathtaking. Hagman's was very nice but it was against Florida, not the most skilled of teams and it all happened in what seemed like slow motion. Just my 2 cents.