Mickeyisms Rule!

Thoughts I had while reading this thread. 1. The Red Wings for a long time have counted on their season ticket base to get them to the sold out point. Season ticket numbers are down this season. I seem to recall that they had a long waiting list for season tickets. They blew through the waiting list this year. 2. People coming in from other parts of the state and region are feeling the economic crunch the same as Detroit is. I know that I took a 25% pay cut in the last year and it still hasn't recovered. Paying the house payment, utilities, and taxes come first. 3. Many people don't even think that tickets are available for games. I know that I used to check frequently for tickets availability only to find that there were only single seats left at the Joe. If I was going alone, that was great! I had some pretty sweet seats when I decided to go down there solo, but if you want to bring a friend or 2, where is the fun in single seats? "Meet you at the trough." 4. Gas prices, whole they have come down, are still not what I would call, "conducive to trips to Detroit," especially when you are looking at a 300 mile round trip. Additionally I think that there are people that stopped watching hockey, or at least curtailed their hockey viewing, because of the lost season. Maybe they want to start watching again this season, but with all of the changes the personnel of the team have seen recently, it is going to take people a little time to reacquaint themselves with the team. For now, I am going to keep my hockey games local, and see the Griffins whenever I can. I have lower bowl seats for the opening night on October 20th, and they only cost me $17 each.

Friday: Pittsburgh @ Carolina Anaheim @ Columbus NY Islanders @ Buffalo Washington @ Atlanta Boston @ Dallas San Jose @ Vancouver Saturday: Montreal @ Toronto NY Rangers @ Ottawa Buffalo @ NY Islanders Carolina @ Washington New Jersey @ Florida Anaheim @ Pittsburgh Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Philadelphia @ Edmonton Dallas @ Nashville Columbus @ Minnesota Detroit @ Chicago Boston @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Calgary St.Louis @ Los Angeles Sunday: San Jose @ Colorado

It looks like this guy grabbed a bunch of quotes from other articles and put them into something that fit what he wanted to write about. The stick taping quote came from the article about Datsyuk being given an "A."

I guess that this all depends on Grigorenko, doesn't it? From the way he was talking it sounds as though he wouldn't, but who knows, it is possible that what dats13 said has some truth to it. As long as he plays in GR on Oct 20, I'm AOK with it.

My first Red Wings game I saw at the Joe (had seen several at the old Olympia, just took a while to get to the Joe), was in the mid 80's against Montreal. There were 2 fights in the stands between fans and I saw one beer vendor get escorted out because he was pouring beer on Habs fans' seats during the intermission. I miss the passionate fans from the O-6. Maybe Chicago will get themselves pulled back together, but its been really boring from the rivalry standpoint for way too many years.

He really looked like a fish out of water when playing back in his defensive zone. If he had been playing with me, I would have been yelling for him to bend his knees, Lol. He looked stiff, for lack of a better term, especially when out on the PK.

You must not have watched the last game. If Grigs was not an impact, then Downey was absolutely invisible this game. I want Downey on the team, but not at the expense of Grigs. It sucks sometimes, but there is only so much room on this team.

Gotta be Joe Juneau. Tied for most assists in a rookie season with 70 with Peter Stastny (still stands today) and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic. Graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering in just 3 years with a 4.0 GPA.

Watching it on Fox Sports Detroit atm. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING # Pos Name 3 D DOUG JANIK 7 R MICHEL OUELLET 17 L JAN HLAVAC 20 C VACLAV PROSPAL 21 L MATHIEU DARCHE 24 C ANDREAS KARLSSON 29 C CRAIG MACDONALD 32 D MATT SMABY 33 D BRYCE LAMPMAN 36 R ANDRE ROY 37 D BRAD LUKOWICH 39 D MIKE LUNDIN 46 R KYLE WANVIG 54 D PAUL RANGER 55 D SHANE O'BRIEN 56 L JUSTIN KELLER 71 D FILIP KUBA 74 C NICK TARNASKY 30 G MARC DENIS 40 G JOHAN HOLMQVIST DETROIT RED WINGS # Pos Name 4 D KYLE QUINCEY 5 D NICKLAS LIDSTROM © 8 L MATT ELLIS 14 D DEREK MEECH 17 R DALLAS DRAKE 18 L KIRK MALTBY 20 R AARON DOWNEY 21 R IGOR GRIGORENKO 24 D CHRIS CHELIOS (A) 25 D RYAN OULEHEN 28 D BRIAN RAFALSKI 33 C KRIS DRAPER (A) 42 C MATTIAS RITOLA 47 C EVAN MCGRATH 50 R JOHAN RYNO 51 C VALTTERI FILPPULA 75 D BRETT SOPEL 82 R TOMAS KOPECKY 30 G CHRIS OSGOOD 35 G JAMES HOWARD

He already has a contract, so signing him has already been done. There is a clause in his contract that if he is not on the NHL roster after a short time- I think its 2 weeks after the start of the season- he can go back to Russia and incur no penalty. I like Downey too, but I don't want to keep Downey and risk losing Grigorenko, who while not as good as originally advertised, is still far and away a better skill player than Downey will ever be or ever has been.

Now I feel all squishy inside

I'm beginning to think that there really isn't anything in this world that you like. 'Course it may be just that I have to look up the nose of your Dragonball-Z character avatar every time I read one of your posts. Mystery, Alaska wasn't a good hockey movie. It was a good movie that happened to have hockey in it. It wasn't about the hockey, but about the people. And of course it was going to look like the hockey part was shot by ESPN. After all, ESPN still had the national TV rights to the NHL when it was released.

You beat me to it. I noticed last night that they had moved it to 4th in the list- AND NASCAR got bumped way down. Possible they struck the deal for next year and are ramping up their coverage? I noticed that this off-season they had a lot more NHL-related stuff than in previous off-seasons. What I really would like to see is that shortly after the baseball season is over, they move the NHL ahead of it. It makes sense that you would want the sports that are actually in season to be the first on your list. Wait and see, I guess, but if ESPN did pick up hockey, you can bet they will do all they can to promote it again.

Just got my tickets for the Oct 20th opening game and also got tickets for the Sept 19th Red Wings practice and autograph session at Van Andel Arena on Sept 19th. More info here http://www.griffinshockey.com/

Come to think of it, the guy was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and smelled strangely of pineapple.

We're toast, man!!!

I believe that Stevie wouldn't have helped the team simply for the reason that HE said he wouldn't have been able to help the team. I think that Steve Yzerman has a better idea of his own capabilities than a fan. I have no choice but to believe him. Do I miss him? Yep. I keep looking for him on the ice. Does he miss playing? I am sure he does, but he has new things to keep him occupied. Would his presence on the ice improve the team? I don't know. People are saying how slow Grigorenko is, but also say that he has good ice vision and can set people up very well. Now, I am not comparing Igor Grigorenko to the Great and Powerful Steve Yzerman, but with his knee problems, he didn't have his old speed, and he had great on ice vision to set up others. Makes me think, though I am sure that there is someone just itching to reply to a thread that he said he was done with twice now.

The ONLY thing I can't stand about the Joe is the men's bathroom. I DESPISE THE TROUGH. I feel like I am pissing in a bathtub, and there is always some guy that wants to lean on me because he is too drunk to stand on his own... come to think of it, that may have been my brother.

I can accept that you are having trouble getting over the loss of Yzerman and Shanny. But I just re-read that article and didn't get any kind of impression that there was a slight to either of them. In fact, it was a celebration of the leadership they brought to the team when they were with the team. The questions posed were things like, "who will step up and fill the vacuum left by these two great leaders?" There were no statements like, "boy am I glad those bums are gone so the Red Wings don't suck anymore." Denial is not a river in Egypt. Yzerman is retired and Shanny is a Ranger. If you are a Wings fan, then you will get over it. If all you are is a fan of Yzerman and Shanny, then you may want to go post on the HF Boards in the "History of Hockey" topic. While I look forward to a new season, you are looking back at seasons gone past. The Red Wings STILL KICK ASS. They just have different people doing the kicking.

I gotta agree with Curban above me, here. Every time you post you kvetch about the loss of Yzerman. Maybe you need to come to terms with the fact that he has retired. A good start would be to update your avatar to include the number 19, which is hanging from the rafters right by those other ones you have there. I'll even supply you with the image.

Looks like Dave Lewis behind them

I really don't think that Holland has the final say in this one, as stated by my esteemed colleague, KrazyGangsta from Montreal. This is going to be a coach's decision. I think Babs likes Downey enough to bring him aboard. I don't think that much will change it. Unfortunately for my esteemed colleague from Montreal, I do not believe that trading Sammy is in the works, nor do I believe that there is even a chance of it happening. You don't trade a 20+ goal guy away for someone on a tryout, or even 2 people on tryouts. I like Downey because I want Jordin Tootoo to get his ass kicked. I like Downey because he works hard when he is on the ice. Maybe I can get a new sig sometime with something like "Downey Freshness" on it. btw I have just copyrighted "Downey Freshness."

Considering that there wasn't much in the way of digital video until the late 90's, and even that was pretty sparse, I think the video was pretty darn good. Have you ever gone back and watched a video tape that you recorded in the 90's? It looks awful, if it even plays. If you think you can do better, Youtube allows uploads from everyone.

They only got used for half a season when he was with the Sens, so they're barely even broken in.

I look forward to seeing Kindl on October 20th at the Griffs home opener. Can't have him screwing it up by having a camp that is too good