Here comes the bluster..

[bringback91 2]

I'd hate to break it to Billy, but the Sharks gotta play some D also in this series. With the way Bert, Cleary, Flip, and Huds have stepped up, along with Dats smacking haters in the face and Z picking it up just in time (I'm predicting MVP style play from him this series) it's not going to be this cake walk for the sharks that some on here fear. Besides, with the way Lilja for example has stepped up, kinda makes their game tape and knowledge of him kinda useless, no?

[TheLegend19 1]

M-Live

Yeah you keep telling yourself that, Billy..

Okay so they may not be LITERALLY coming out and dissing the Wings but Guerin and Ron Wilson's cocky attitude are definitely there.

Isn't it funny how the Wings NEVER say anything but good things about all the teams they face? Why can't they get the same respect in return?

The Sharks are taking them lightly..they don't have to come out and say it because it's quite obvious.

I'm still apprehensive. I guess I'm appalled that we made it past the first round.

[BlakChamber 8]

Why the hatred for Billy?

There isn't exactly a lack of overconfidence on he boards here.

[Samadelphia 0]

There's a reason nearly all the experts are picking the Sharks. They AVERAGE 6'2 215 across the front line. They are fast, physical and completely manhandled the Wings during the regular season.

Bertuzzi was a nice addition, but that's not gonna help the Wings any more than picking up Forsberg helped the Preds. The Wings are still too soft. It's not about the size and toughness of your forwards, it's about the size and toughness of your Dmen.

When guys like Thornton, Michalek, Cheechoo, Guerin, Marleau, Grier, Clowe, Bernier Brown and Goc get down low with the puck, the Wings have proven themselves incapable of competing physically. This leads to goals or penalties. And the penalties lead to goals

There seem to be a misconception about the Sharks D. They allowed the 3rd fewest goals. And with the addition of Rivet, the Sharks have a fantastic mix of experience (Rivet, MacLaren, Hannan) and youth/skill (Vlasic, Ehrhoff, Carle)

I think the goaltending is about equal. Hasek is good but this is not 2001. Nabokov has finally fully recovered from his injury last year and is playing like his old self.

Sharks in 5....

[Covenant 0]

The Wings are still too soft.

Clearly you didn't take in any games in our first series? This is as ignorant as it comes.

[Samadelphia 0]

Clearly you didn't take in any games in our first series? This is as ignorant as it comes.

I watched 3 games from the Flames/Wings series. You were facing a Flames team with a complete lack of direction and who is MUCH smaller than the Sharks, and you still struggled to match them physically. If you think that was a physical series, then you haven't seen anything yet.

Comparing the Sharks to the Flames is the true ignorance....

[bringback91 2]

There's a reason nearly all the experts are picking the Sharks. They AVERAGE 6'2 215 across the front line. They are fast, physical and completely manhandled the Wings during the regular season.

Bertuzzi was a nice addition, but that's not gonna help the Wings any more than picking up Forsberg helped the Preds. The Wings are still too soft. It's not about the size and toughness of your forwards, it's about the size and toughness of your Dmen.

When guys like Thornton, Michalek, Cheechoo, Guerin, Marleau, Grier, Clowe, Bernier Brown and Goc get down low with the puck, the Wings have proven themselves incapable of competing physically. This leads to goals or penalties. And the penalties lead to goals

There seem to be a misconception about the Sharks D. They allowed the 3rd fewest goals. And with the addition of Rivet, the Sharks have a fantastic mix of experience (Rivet, MacLaren, Hannan) and youth/skill (Vlasic, Ehrhoff, Carle)

I think the goaltending is about equal. Hasek is good but this is not 2001. Nabokov has finally fully recovered from his injury last year and is playing like his old self.

Sharks in 5....

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

You were facing a Flames team with a complete lack of direction and who is MUCH smaller than the Sharks,

How much smaller?

and you still struggled to match them physically

That's just flat out false. Wings and Flames split in games out-hitting one another, but most were close (Wings out-hit Flames by 10 in Game 5, though). The point was, the ramped up physical play meant nothing. The Wings responded to the challenge and the Flames game plan was shot because of it.

Comparing the Sharks to the Flames is the true ignorance....

Nowhere did Covenant make that comparison.

[sean 19]

They play the same way they always have.

Inaccurate. If this were true, we'd have gotten bounced again.

They only have a few players left from the Cup team (in 2002, and the total is seven of the top 20), but their core is still pretty much there,

Maybe on defense. Our forward core isn't really even remotely similar.

"Take Mathieu Schneider or Chris Chelios or Nicklas Lidstrom," Wilson said. "Billy knows what makes those guys tick, what they like to do and don't like to do. He can tell one of the young guys, 'What don't they want to do in a certain situation.'

I don't understand this. Everyone knows how Lidstrom plays. Still, nobody beats him. It's not that easy, Billy.

I hope Billy isn't trying to imply that his game is 'highly enigmatic', its not.

[OsGOD 3]

All they really need to say is they have a bigger wallet to open up to the Refs... thats what will be their best aid in beating us.

We don't get beat by the actual teams, moreso the refs in general that the teams paid off before hand.

[Samadelphia 0]

How much smaller?

Try about 1.5 inches and 20 pounds across the board.

That's just flat out false. Wings and Flames split in games out-hitting one another, but most were close (Wings out-hit Flames by 10 in Game 5, though). The point was, the ramped up physical play meant nothing. The Wings responded to the challenge and the Flames game plan was shot because of it.

Using # of hits to show physicality shows true ignorance. The Sharks completely owned the Preds physically, but the 'hits' were fairly even. You simply don't seem to comprehend what it mean to have the other team deep in your zone and be physically unable to stop them from imposing their will on you. But you will understand soon enough.

Nowhere did Covenant make that comparison. Of course he did, he used the Flames as an example of how they would handle the Sharks. Stop wasting my time...

[puckloo39 5,686]

I was thoroughly un-impressed with Bill Guerin when he was with the Dallas Stars and remain in that camp. I was so happy to see him leave.

Guerin thinks he knows more than he does, so if the Sharks listen to him, that's good. Guerin is apparently San Jose's "veteran" presence on the bench. IMHO, the likes of Lidstrom, Chelios, Draper, Dom and a few others who've been to the dance a few times trump that hand in the playoffs.

As for intelligence about players and teams, Detroit's also got Scotty Bowman and Steve Yzerman to whisper sweetly into our players' ears about how to beat the Sharks. Perhaps San Jose (or maybe just the author of this article) believes the Wings are ignorant of all things Shark-like?

Let them talk, that's all it is.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Please, use the quote function, like so:

[quote]blah blah blah[/quote]

Try about 1.5 inches and 20 pounds across the board.

Just curious. Did you calculate this yourself?

Using # of hits to show physicality shows true ignorance. The Sharks completely owned the Preds physically, but the 'hits' were fairly even. You simply don't seem to comprehend what it mean to have the other team deep in your zone and be physically unable to stop them from imposing their will on you. But you will understand soon enough.

Eat s***, troll. You want stats, you got them. You want the opinion of the people who watched the games, you've got that, too. Let me reiterate for the dimwitted amongst us: "The point was, the ramped up physical play meant nothing. The Wings responded to the challenge and the Flames game plan was shot because of it."

Of course he did, he used the Flames as an example of how they would handle the Sharks. Stop wasting my time...

Wrong, dips***. You claimed the Wings were soft. Covenant claimed this was false because the Wings handled the Flames physical game. NOWHERE were the Sharks mentioned or implied in his response.

Please, quit while you're ahead. You do your fellow fans a great disservice with this nonsense.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Guerins an Idiot , I hate him

[superstarsingh 23]

This sort of ignorance will lead to their destruction. Who comes out and says stuff like that? There is a reason that we won the conference.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Hanty youl baby! *obviously I can't spell it correctly but you know what I mean*

Nice one.

It's "Hanta Yo".

See my avatar and signature.

"In Detroit, every day is a good day to win"

[Samadelphia 0]

There is a reason that we won the conference.

yeah, the reason would be playing in the weakest division in the conference. Funny how that fact seems to slip by you guys. You had trouble handling the 8th best team in the conference (in points). The Sharks completely demolished the 3rd best team (in points).

Get ready for an ass-whoopin. Sharks in 5...

Edited April 25, 2007 by Samadelphia

[Guest Tunbo Batman]

Yeah, the entire NHL really has Lidstrom all figured out, and knows exactly how to beat him. That's why he's a career +350, +40 just this year, and that's why a natural 100-point scorer averages 1 shot per game when facing him. Because they figured him out.

Oh, and we're old. And slow. And soft.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

To me this is great. IMO, even if you feel your team can beat your opponent in the playoffs, I would never voice it. All Guerin and Wilson are doing is adding fuel to the Wings fire.

To me, it shows very little class, and if the Wings are fortunate enough to move on, it'll sting even worse.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

yeah, the reason would be playing in the weakest division in the conference. Funny how that fact seems to slip by you guys. You had trouble handling the 8th best team in the conference (in points). The Sharks completely demolished the 3rd best team (in points).

Get ready for an ass-whoopin. Sharks in 5...

And LA and Phoenix are just so dominating ?

St Louis was just as tough as dallas once murray took over.

And Nashville>Aniheim.

Dont give me that division s*** , we own your team. Were gonna out hit you , out play you , out shoot you , and out score you.

Thorntons gonna pull a disapprearing act , Cheechoo's damaged goods , and Michalek isnt as good as people make him out to be.

Nabokov sucks compared to Hasek. Kipper stood on his head as best he could. Nabokov is no KIPPERUSOFT

[Samadelphia 0]

Please, use the quote function, like so:

[quote]blah blah blah[/quote]

No

Just curious. Did you calculate this yourself? Yes. It's called doing your homework.

Eat s***, troll. You want stats, you got them. You want the opinion of the people who watched the games, you've got that, too. Let me reiterate for the dimwitted amongst us: "The point was, the ramped up physical play meant nothing. The Wings responded to the challenge and the Flames game plan was shot because of it." Ahh, I see when the argument starts to go against you, you pulled out the foul language and personal attacks. Sounds about right. Ok, then, let's use your stats. The hits in the Flames series were pretty even, so I guess they must have played you tough. And the Sharks are a much better team than the Flames...

Wrong, dips***. You claimed the Wings were soft. Covenant claimed this was false because the Wings handled the Flames physical game. NOWHERE were the Sharks mentioned or implied in his response. <sigh> And the reason he was using the Flames is back up his claim that the Wings are not too soft to play against the Sharks. Everyone in here saw that, your response is a non-sequiter.

Please, quit while you're ahead. You do your fellow fans a great disservice with this nonsense.

[Guest Tunbo Batman]

hey, here we go with the weak division "argument" again. never mind the fact that we have a winning record againt 24 of the 29 other teams, or the fact that your division has two s***ty teams, even more so than the central? Detroit has 8 more regulation time/OT (not SO) points than any other team in the NHL. Jjust because you won 3-1 during the season doesn't mean you are vastly superior. The Wings greatly out-experience and out-playoff-success the Sharks. And stop it with the condescendence already, didnt you read the rules? We are here to discuss team's merits, not treat others like idiots.

Edited April 25, 2007 by Tunbo Batman

[Samadelphia 0]

And LA and Phoenix are just so dominating ?

St Louis was just as tough as dallas once murray took over.

And Nashville>Aniheim.

Dont give me that division s*** , we own your team. Were gonna out hit you , out play you , out shoot you , and out score you.

Thorntons gonna pull a disapprearing act , Cheechoo's damaged goods , and Michalek isnt as good as people make him out to be.

Nabokov sucks compared to Hasek. Kipper stood on his head as best he could. Nabokov is no KIPPERUSOFT

I love posts like this. So a team that finished with less points and didn't make it out of the first rd is a better team than Anaheim?

Your division was pathetic. The Sharks played 16 games against the Ducks and Stars.

You own our team? Like you owned us by losing 9-4? Like you owned us losing the season series 3-1? Like you owned us in '94?

Hasek is a shadow of his former self. 8 goals against in one game was a record. Nabokov will outplay him easily...

Edited April 25, 2007 by Samadelphia

[edicius 3,269]

Well, I'm counting on utter confusion in the Sharks' ranks because of this snippet from the AP:

The two flat-screen televisions in the Sharks' locker room were tuned to only one program Tuesday: An endless video loop of San Jose's success against the Detroit Red Wings this season.

Good job, Sharks! You were watching what is ultimately a completely different team than has been seen in the postseason!

Shouldn't they, I don't know, be watching videos from our first round series? Oh well. Their loss. Let them revel in wins against MacDonald, Ozzie and a regular-season aberration against Hasek.

[Zion 93]

The Sharks think they are hot stuff because they beat us 9-4 in the regular season. Well... this is playoff hockey... Right now with the Wings finally past the cursed first round and having the Wings play really good at home that this will be a Wings win in 5 games. San Jose can't beat us, we are too good right now, and they aren't that good... sure they beat Nashville, but finishing them in 5 doesn't mean s*** when you play the best team in the West.BTW, if we beat Calgary at home, we can easily beat SJ at home.

Time to ready those harpoons, its shark hunting time.

This is so untrue, it's not even funny. Similar to the Rangers talking about taking the Sabres down. The only difference is, San Jose can beat us.

5-on-5 play is going to be the key. The Wings owned Calgary, but San Jose is MUCH more offensive than Calgary. While Nabby isn't as good as Kipper, the Wings HAVE to bury their chances, because the Sharks WILL be a much greater offensive threat.