drumnj

Ok, we gotta have a topic here for the Calder Cup Finals.
 
Grand Rapids Griffins are taking on the Syracuse Crunch, who are the defending champions (Tampa's affiliate was Norfolk last year).  They have only lost 4 total games the past 2 post season, only 1 so far this post season.
 
I know we were kind of worried/looking forward to this, but with the big clubs.  However this should be pretty exciting for Wings fans.
 
Game 1      Sat., June 8       GRIFFINS at Crunch     7 p.m.
Game 2      Sun., June 9      GRIFFINS at Crunch     6 p.m.
Game 3      Wed., June 12   Crunch at GRIFFINS     7 p.m.
Game 4      Fri., June 14      Crunch at GRIFFINS     7 p.m.
*Game 5     Sat., June 15     Crunch at GRIFFINS     7 p.m.
*Game 6     Tue., June 18    GRIFFINS at Crunch     7 p.m.
*Game 7     Thu., June 20    GRIFFINS at Crunch     7 p.m.

Watch for free

http://theahl.com/wa...hl-live-p184148

For those that haven't seen it, this is the Playoff intro video the Griffins had at the beginning of the postseason.

I know this isn't the right section, but no one bothers to look in the Griffins sub-forum.  Hopefully it can stay here for a bit.

Griffins close out the series against the Marlies with a 3 goal come from behind in the 3rd period.  Within 5 minutes Griffins get goals from 3 different players winning the game 4-3.

Tatar notched himself 2 more this game, bringing his playoff total to 8 and 11 points overall in 11 games.

Griffins have been pretty impressive so far these playoffs.  Should be some good experience for those that will be up with the Wings next season.  As we have found young players really grow during playoffs when everything is on the line.

Article I saw posted elsewhere, figured it would be a good discussion here.

http://sports.yahoo....-184636304.html

Asked if he ever hated Babcock, Kindl didn’t hesitate.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’m sure I’m not the only one who hated him. He’s hard. When things don’t go well, he doesn’t like you. He’s telling you, ‘How soft are you?’ Stuff like that. But in the long run, it’s always helped me out. It always kind of give me the motivation to get better and work on stuff.”

Babcock will tell you he gives the veterans their space, and that’s true. He holds fewer meetings with them. Players will tell you that he harder on the veterans, and that’s true, too. He has higher expectations of them because of their experience level.

“There’s definitely a lot of the vets where he’ll still come down on them,” Smith said. “He won’t coddle them or hold their hand.”

Well I think everyone is in agreement that the Wings have exceeded expectations.  They have really played well when it comes to do or die games.

The rookies seem to have really grown in the past few weeks.  Going up against the President's Trophy winners will be a heck of a challenge.

Hard to say the Wings will lose, but I think it'll be another hard fought series.  Wings in 7

Game 1: Wednesday, Red Wings at Blackhawks, 8 p.m. on NBCSN, CBC

Game 2: Saturday, Red Wings at Blackhawks, 1 p.m. on NBC, CBC

Game 3: Monday, Blackhawks at Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN, CBC

Game 4: May 23, Blackhawks at Red Wings, 8 p.m. on NBCSN, CBC

*Game 5: May 25, Red Wings at Blackhawks, TBD on CBC

*Game 6: May 27, Blackhawks at Red Wings, TBD on CBC

*Game 7: May 29, Red Wings at Blackhawks, TBD on CBC

The NHL once again is doing the annual EA Sports NHL game cover vote.   http://covervote.nhl.com

Every team has 2 candidates and only 1 can move on to the next round of voting.

Jimmy Howard or Pavel Datsyuk are the options for the Wings.  Would be nice to see Pavel make it there, he made it fairly far in last years voting.