Your thought from Game 1?

[Yemack 1]

You know I was reading 'Ducks not enough passion' thread and it occurred to me that we aren't that different from Ducks in a sense that we didn't show enough passion or intensity beginning of the game. (hello aren't you maybe TOO relaxed?) I was pleasantly surprised some of the players like Z showed up with a lot of Heart and carried the team literally. However it really reinforced my concern that Wings just don't have enough heart and motives to win it this year maybe.

In 1997, I knew we were going to win that year before the season even begun. I don't know how but I just knew we were going to win it because Wings were so hungry after being so close for so many years and the reason to pay back to Avs. I also had a strong feeling that we were going to win in 1998 due to Vladdie and in 2002 when I heard Dom and Hull were signed and coming to Detroit.

This year, not really. There really aren't many motives for Wings to win it. I thought we had a strong chance to win after we started this season with such great determinations... now that feeling is mostly gone after watching our lackluster heart at the end of the season. If we had an absolutely impenetrable goalie .. maybe but I think Dom is too old to carry our unmotivated team to Stanley Cup.

IMO you can talk about how much you want to win for million times but no matter how hard you try, you can't fake yourself. I just don't think that Wings are hungry enough to win it all this year. I think they gotta find any reason to motivate themselves. I dunno.. maybe they want to prove they are not soft euros or a team only good for regular season. Maybe things will pickup as we go deeper in playoff, I don't know. I seriously hope I'm wrong.

I know Wings won last night and with score of 3-1. I'm not expecting Wings to win 10-0 or 5-0.. not even 1-0. All I want is Wings to show some Heart and worker like attitude they showed in the beginning of the season. Because everyone in the world already knows Wings are smart and skilled, if they have heart to go along with it and outwork other team, Wings will be unstoppable again.

You can call me pessimist or whatever you want but last time I checked pessimists were right since 2002.

Now that I have managed to insult 80% of the board and don my firesuit, I await oncoming flames.

[OsGOD 3]

My main concern after game 1 is that we need more cowbells... not enough cowbells dammit!

[puckbags 863]

This year, not really. There really aren't many motives for Wings to win it.

That big shiny mug is enough motivation to win I would suggest!! I've seen some pretty crazy stuff said on this site but suggesting we don't have the motivation to win after we win our first game of the playoffs in what most would say could have been a 6-1 game easily is the funniest talk i've ever heard on here.

[Yemack 1]

That big shiny mug is enough motivation to win I would suggest!! I've seen some pretty crazy stuff said on this site but suggesting we don't have the motivation to win after we win our first game of the playoffs in what most would say could have been a 6-1 game easily is the funniest talk i've ever heard on here.

What I'm saying is, there are different levels of 'wanting it'.

[Death2duder 0]

I see your point but I'm going to have to disagree. There are many guys on the team that have tasted the sweetness of regular season success mixed with the bitterness of playoff disappointment over the past few seasons (Zetterburg, Kronwall, Hudler, Filpula etc...). I think they will be the "motor" that Draper, Malts and McCarty were in 97-98.

The biggest motivation of all comes from the coach, Babcock. He has been to the promised land but was not able to taste the honey. I think the drive from him alone will inspire this team.

Either way, Go wings!!!!

[Hank 0]

Yemack, good post. I agree with everything you've said.

In fact, I wrote an article this morning about this exact same thing.

Basically, I felt the wings played with far more physical grit and emotion in game 1 against the Flames last spring.

I also believe the Wings, too often, play up to their opponents standard or emotion.

The Preds were happy letting this sleeping dog lie and they almost got a win out of it. The same way the Sharks, LA, Ducks, Flames and Oilers did in years past.

The Wings need to crank it up full notch and blow these sucka's away. If we had played the Flames, Ducks, Stars or Sharks last night we would have been blown off the ice.

We need to be more physical and play with an edge of meanness like we did last year.

EDIT: Sorry, just wanted to address this quote:

I see your point but I'm going to have to disagree. There are many guys on the team that have tasted the sweetness of regular season success mixed with the bitterness of playoff disappointment over the past few seasons (Zetterburg, Kronwall, Hudler, Filpula etc...). I think they will be the "motor" that Draper, Malts and McCarty were in 97-98.

The issue is that while Zetts and Dats and the rest know how bitter playoff losses can be, it's not in their nature to rev up for the playoffs. Malbty, Draper and McCarty all love to smash and bang. That's how they're hotwired. It's the same reason why there isn't a coach in the world that needs to remind Calgary that they have to hit. Almost every player on that roster relishes the thought of putting someone through the boards.

But like it or not, a lot of our top players don't initiate contact and they need to be reminded between every game, every intermission and possibly every shift that they need to play with a physical edge.

Zetts and Dats are not panzies. They go into high traffic areas. But their dimeaner is wired so that if another team doesn't initiate contact on them, they won't go out of their way. And most of the team is like that. It's why Nashville won't try very hard to wake this team up. They'd rather hold, hold, hold and then get a good bounce and steal a victory. It's like a boxer that allows the champ to simply circle and flick jabs. If he's not being hit, he won't hit you. But suddenly, in the 12th round, the challenger starts pounding on the champ and before he knows it, it's too late to do anything about it - hence so many 3rd period Wings collapses where they don't appear to have any desperation. Babcock spoke about this before last nights game and he said his biggest job is to instill that desperation on this team. For a great majority last night, we didn't see much of it.

Edited April 11, 2008 by Hank