Flip-check

That is sad, but it's probably true. When Mickey was announcing "2nd Fighting Major of the night" I was thinking- How many times can you count THAT happening on the ******* Detroit Red Wings?

Saying nothing! Just.. do your thang Reem! Downey is waiting after the game!

No kidding. That goal was dirty, Datsyuk was just filthy on that goal. I wasn't even really watching the game (it was on in the other room) but then BAM! I want to see more like that out of Dats.

No names?!?!!! That's the point of jerseys! But I TOTALLY forgot the purple West. Therefore I add Ozzie's West All Star and I'd probably want a Feds too hahaha. Also Lou you're right on the old time Sabres - their original jersey is just great.

It's freezing literally so yeah I know! Gimme the snow and no cold and we'll be all good World kthx. I need a new classy winter coat though. I have a good snow coat, I bought a sweet white jacket lately, but now I need to get something in the middle.

I remember Chip'n'Dale! That was one of my fav tv shows as a kid. On a sidenote, it's surprisingly beautiful out today. My ass should be outside. It will be.

If it were any other goaltender racking up Dom's submediocre stats, they'd play Ozzie til his heart burst or the hot streak ends. He's not though, and that's why they don't. If he doesn't improve at some point then he'll just wind up riding the pine, but they're doing this now, I suspect, because he's the guy they've gambled on twice now in two years. It's an investment like anything. What else do you do with an all-star caliber goaltender that is cold and playing like crap? Just throw him out there and keep throwing him out until he starts to stick. It'll stop at some point (the patience of the team), but right now this is a wise course of action. If my armchair hockey analysis is anywhere on target, but any other explanation doesn't make sense to me from a pro standpoint.

I know, me too. Downey is playing smart and that's perfect. and on a totally irrational basis for Downey playing more, I just find the games FAR more entertaining with him in than out. It's enough to make me want him in all the time which also makes me glad I'm not Babs (kinda sorta! )

I also was thinking that when sizing the two up, if it were the third line maybe.. but all the same, every bit matters. It matters less on the 4th line but general skill still matters. And Babs doles out more minutes to Drake anyway, so he must think his skill is worth them. Even if people never understood why Lang got the minutes he did, Babcock isn't dumb/crazy/suddenly afflicted with Down syndrome and it applies here too.

It wouldn't be as funny if it were renowned Brodeur caliber goaltender Chris Osgood (* In a parallel universe) taking a nosedive. I'm really not interesed in pursuing the fact because it isn't that big a deal to me, but it's the same point: you're being petty. Like it or not, that's what you are showing of yourself.

So laughing at the prospect of Dom being demoted isn't cheering? Come on OsGod, call a spade a spade. Man up on that one.

Like others commented on the +- issue, it's not perfect but it's not a useless stat either. It has merit obviously. That said it doesn't worry me much with Drake. I think people overlook that he's probably a better skater than Downey and has more speed, but the games where we need some noise made, it's really no question who gets the nod.

No one said you did. What my point is is that your attitude is petty. Not being a favorite is one thing: cheering for their failure when they haven't done anything malicious to deserve it is another. That's the thing that is off-kilt. It takes energy to be petty, so I've never understood any people who are.

lgw barf

Seconded. I would like to see Ozzie in a tutu as well

Call off the search parties. Someone get this man a warm blanket, medical teams, and a cold beer. Welcome back aflac!

What makes you act this way? I don't even have any favorable leanings for Dom, but your joy in watching "elite" players fall is bizarre to me. It reminds me of St. Louis fans whenever the Red Wings are brought up. edit: you likely won't respond to this. That's fine... I don't exactly know why I asked, except perhaps expecting you'd have if not a good, then at least an illuminating answer.

That's what I pick up from him personally. My first impressions on people usually are accurate, though it'd be nice to be wrong here... but I get the feeling that he's probably an overly self-important tool, to say it nicely.

We've got another six or eight decades to go Lou, it might happen! It really does suck to deal with that though. I like your pointing out the name value (that's really the heart of it) and that match-up -is- the best likely draw... it's just a shame it probably won't happen. I wonder if it'd help hockey for a year or two though.

You assume the universe is fair and proper (or that everyone looks at the players equally). Osgood really isn't a household name goalie... so even if he did deserve to be the starting goaltender of the West, it's highly unlikely that he would. I don't know who picks the rest of the roster, but someone or group does.

That's what I was thinking too! Glad you got some good answers Wingnut. Yeah, JLA is really as wild as a pack of... lambs , which extends to this area of fan tolerance as well. Maybe I need to see a game where the Joe is really rocking though. I hope.

Make that Las Vegas mountain lion. Mmm does a future weekend in Vegas + Wings game sound good.

Right. I think also though the fact of someone on the team like Downey standing up to this however, will quiet the people who don't understand this -- that it's part of the game. Plus I think the fans who've grown used to the "classy" Detroit Red Wings also have gotten -unused- to the idea of deliberately bending the rules to get under a guy's skin. Other cities? They still know, they haven't gotten the idea of hockey being a gentleman's sport -- which it can be, but just not the way some people would like to think. This is what hockey should be... and it's more exciting to see that edge in the game, but again the general fans who praise Detroit's Lady Byng quality probably are the ones who forget quickest that it's part of the exciting undercurrent of an adrenaline-filled match. It sells tickets. And on that point actually, I don't remember for sure with that Buffalo/Ottawa blowup last season harold, but I think the next game after that fight sold out pretty quick I hear. But again on people taking liberties on our guys, the clamor here was much greater last season when all you (as a fan) can do is take it. Now that we have -something- to respond with? Not as much. It's one step out of eight or nine in the right direction, imo. I'm just tossing those observations out there however, even though they aren't directly related to the topic at hand.

If we got the 5-on-3 and Downey got the goal, then the ref also gets a NHL-sponsored drug test for calling a goal after the net's been knocked off.

Whatever you want. That's the beauty of life and choices.