Blackhawks playing Wings for banner raising game

[HockeyTownHouligan 57]

Don't you guys think its a little biased to put the wings against the hawks on the hawks banner raising game. You know what they'll be chanting when that thing goes up into the rafters. I just hope the wings feed off of that and beat the living s*** out of those little brats. GOOOOO WINGS!!!

[Carman 387]

Well, on the bright side, if that doesn't add enough fuel to the fire for the Wings to win I don't know what will.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Yes, I have no doubt in my mind the Leauge's motive for this was not to underline a historic and at times great rivalry between two of its most followed and historied franchies, but rather as a shameless way to insult us.

Seriously, it was probablly planned, but do you honestly think that was the main intention ?

Edited June 22, 2010 by EZBAKETHAGANGSTA

[HockeyTownHouligan 57]

Yes, I have no doubt in my mind the Leauge's motive for this was not to underline a historic and at times great rivalry between two of its most followed and historied franchies, but rather as a shameless way to insult us.

Seriously, it was probablly planned, but do you honestly think that was the motive?

Yea i hope im not sounding all conspiracy theory on everyone but its just a little suspicious. Thats why i just said if the wings can get anything from this hawks love fest is to get motivation to beat the living piss out of em and spoil the party.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

Yea i hope im not sounding all conspiracy theory on everyone but its just a little suspicious. Thats why i just said if the wings can get anything from this hawks love fest is to get motivation to beat the living piss out of em and spoil the party.

Oh, I have no doubt that we were chosen deliberatly, but honestly I think the Leauge's focus was on making the game something outside fans could have interest in. People love grudge matches,the NHL knows this. I wouldn't take it personally if I was a Wing at all.

One thing I can agree on is the energy level, however. We better win that game.

[Marty Barry 230]

Let them have their moment. He who laugh's last...

[Hiei 192]

Wings win 14-3.

Howard has a hat trick and stuart scores an own goal.

[hooon 1,089]

If the Wings are in town, I'll be at the game. Hmm, maybe I'll show up late for this one.

As much as I HATE the Hawks... I do love a good rivalry. The Wings-Aves rivalry a yore produced some of the best games of my life. I don't mind a little extra fuel on the fire, all part of the process of a great rivalry.

[GMRwings1983 8,793]

We need to goon it up for that game.

Just like that final game in Slapshot, when the Syracuse team loaded their roster full of goons to prepare for the Chiefs.

Send those ******* a message for the rest of the season.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Don't you guys think its a little biased to put the wings against the hawks on the hawks banner raising game. You know what they'll be chanting when that thing goes up into the rafters. I just hope the wings feed off of that and beat the living s*** out of those little brats. GOOOOO WINGS!!!

No. You're reading way too much into things.

[Original-Six 254]

Yes, I have no doubt in my mind the Leauge's motive for this was not to underline a historic and at times great rivalry between two One of its most followed and historied franchies, but rather as a shameless way to insult us.

[Mors 201]

This just means we get one more chance to ruin it for them. How great would it be for the Wings to shame them 8-0?

[Z and D for the C 712]

Yes, because only the Red Wings are mad that the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup instead of them. All other 28 teams, including the four they played in the playoffs (read: not us), wanted the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup.

[LeftWinger 4,934]

Ya ya, we'll hear the chant, let em chant. Too bad half of their Cup winning players will be playing elsewhere that night! Hell, there might even be one on the opposing team that night!

Wonder why, since they blew their cap load, people aren't saying that the Hawks "BOUGHT" the Cup? In a Cap world that has to be the closest thing to BUYING the Cup than anything, right?

[Happy Pancake 6]

Defending Cup champs knocked off by archrival Detroit to chants of 'Detroit sucks' sounds like a good, albeit rambling, headline for the next morning.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Who wants to bet "Detroit Sucks" is chanted during the rising of the banner? ******* awesome fans in Chicago, awesome. Cheer for your goddamn team and get over the obsession with Detroit.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

They didn't beat us in the playoffs so it really doesn't chap my ass any more to have them raise it against us. If we had to watch Pittsburgh raise theirs last year I would've been pissed. (maybe we did and I just blocked it out of my mind)

[softshoes 83]

Yea i hope im not sounding all conspiracy theory on everyone but its just a little suspicious. Thats why i just said if the wings can get anything from this hawks love fest is to get motivation to beat the living piss out of em and spoil the party.

I doubt a conspiracy theory. A conspiracy theory implies some deceit or clandestine operation, the grassy knoll for instance.

I'm assuming the league said here are 2 original 6 members that don't like each other. This game is a no brainer, the league should think like this. Like you said a good motivational tool for the Wings.

Look at the bright side, more than a few members of the winning team won't be in the building that night due to the cap.

They may even lay off slobbing Cindy's knob that night, or Ovie's for that matter.

[xtrememachine1 795]

Meh, who really cares? While they're admiring their banner from last year, we'll beating their ass on the ice and taking over first place in the division this year.

[Lamothe 5]

Wings win 14-3.

Howard has a hat trick and stuart scores an own goal.

This. LOL.

[SUPERSTUD 0]

If they did plan it, then it's in Detroit's interest to do so, for them to re-remember what it felt like when our's was last hoisted.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

I knew this would be the case from the moment Chicago won it all.

Hopefully Versus will show all of 32 seconds of the actual ceremony like they did with the Red Wings in 2008. I probably just won't turn it on until puck drop.

[Electrophile 3,554]

They didn't beat us to get there. It's just another game as far as the Red Wings are concerned. Our job is to win, and hopefully we will. Let them raise their banner -- they earned it. If we win it this upcoming season, return the favor and have the Hawks come to town for that.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Hawks didn't even play the Wings this playoffs, so how is this rubbing it in our face?

Playing Philly for the banner raising game would be rubbing it in a team's face.

[MidMichSteve 1,115]

I'm looking forward to it. Remember what happened the last time we played them in a game that mattered to them?

nhl.com

Red Wings ends Blackhawks in season finale

CHICAGO -- Count the Blackhawks among those who think they will ultimately have to conquer their arch rival to bring the Stanley Cup back to Chicago.

It's no guarantee the Hawks and Detroit Red Wings will even meet in the Western Conference playoffs, but Sunday's regular-season finale between the two at the United Center did nothing to make the possibility seem any less probable.

Detroit ended Chicago's bid to be the conference's No. 1 seed with a 3-2 overtime victory that sent most of the 22,428 fans home grumpy and cost the Hawks the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart took a well-placed pass by Dan Cleary and beat Antti Niemi 3:11 into overtime to win a tightly-contested game between two of the League's oldest, most bitter rivals.

"It was a little bit like a playoff atmosphere, but overall it was just a good win to end the season," said Stuart, who scored his fourth goal of the season. "I saw three Chicago players (go after) Cleary and he just made a great pass. I was left open. Once I got it, I kept thinking, ‘Just don't miss.'"

Niemi stopped 18 of 21 shots, while Detroit rookie Jimmy Howard stopped 27 of 29 on his way to winning first-star honors. He helped stave off a late power play with the game tied 2-2 in the third and made several stops from point-blank range against some of Chicago's top goal-scorers.

The No. 5 seeded Wings will now face No. 4 Phoenix in the first round, while No.2 Chicago – which finished with a team record 112 points -- will play Nashville. If the Hawks had won, they would have tied San Jose at 113 points and gotten the No. 1 spot on a tie-breaker. A bigger topic of debate, though, was a potential rematch between the Wings and Hawks in the later rounds.

Detroit ended Chicago's season in the conference finals a year ago, and many think it will come down to those two yet again.

"I'm sure it will happen," said Chicago forward Patrick Kane, who assisted on the Hawks' first goal by Dave Bolland. "That's the way you want it. You want to beat the best to be the best. They're a great team and they've got everyone healthy (now). They're definitely a force to be reckoned with until somebody beats 'em."

Doing that is proving to be something easier said than done since the Olympics. Detroit finished the season 16-3-2 in March and April combined, and is steamrolling into the playoffs. The star players who were hurt are back from their various injuries and Howard continues to impress in the net.

Howard couldn't do much about the Hawks' second goal, though. It bounced in off the skate of Hawks fourth-line center Colin Fraser to tie the game 2-2 with 9:16 left in the third. The goal was allowed after a review and brought the home fans back to life.

Hawks fans had gone quiet just a few minutes earlier after Tomas Holmstrom deflected a shot by Brian Rafalski past Niemi for a brief 2-1 Detroit lead. Fraser's goal was his fifth in the last four games and set up a dramatic end to regulation that saw the Wings kill off a late Chicago power play to force OT.

In the first period, Bolland got the scoring started 11 seconds into a late power play by jabbing at a loose puck in the crease. Detroit then tied it 1-1 just 5:01 into the second on a goal by Patrick Eaves, who flicked in his 12th goal of the season off a rebound of Cleary's shot from the right side.

Technically, there might have been more on the line for the Hawks in this game, but the Wings also played like it meant a lot to them.

"Once you get out there, you don't want to lose," Howard said. "We wanted this game. We wanted to go into the playoffs on a good note."

They also sent a message to the Hawks and other Western Conference teams who wish to be king. Detroit might've been down this season, but the Wings are not exactly road kill on the path to the Stanley Cup just yet.

"We can learn a lot from those guys," Fraser said of the Wings. "They have a lot of vets over there and they know what it takes to win."

Yes, I'm aware of how the playoffs turned out. Congrats to Chicago. (again) I can hardly wait for next season to start.

Edited June 22, 2010 by MidMichSteve