Miss Wing Queen

I called Centre Ice today because I wondered if it was possible to have three big posters for fans to write their condolences on at training camp for the families of Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei, and Stephan Liv.  I was going to make them with a nice message and pictures of all three men.  I then thought somehow that the team could pass them on to the families.  It was just an idea, and I wasn't sure how to implement it completely.  However, the man I spoke to didn't feel it was feasible between having them out for people to sign and finding a way to deliver them to the families.  One thing he implied, which upset me, was that if my idea could happen, we wouldn't need to do posters for Ruslan and Stephan because "they were no longer with the organization" and that Brad was a special case.  It goes without saying, but once you've been a Wing, you always have some ties still to the Red Wings family.  The team lost all three of these men, and they are no less deserving of being remembered.

Ah, well.  At least I tried.  I will be bringing a card for sure.

My heart is just breaking today.  I heard at lunch from my work Wings buddy, who asked if I'd heard about the crash, then said that Brad and Ruslan were on the plane, and that there were only two survivors.  My screensaver at work is pictures from training camp and Toast of Hockeytown, and it was a very somber moment when my picture with Ruslan Salei came up.

I just can't imagine what their families are going through, especially Bethann Salei with her six month baby.  I cried even more when I read the story on the Red Wing's site and saw their daughter's full name is Ava Ruslanova Salei.  I think it hits me even more because of the sad parallels to the children of 9/11 who lost their parent(s) as infants.  God grant them the strength to get through this devastating time as well as for the rest of the Wings, having lost former teammates and friends.

To finish up Round 1 before Round 2, here are pics after

Game 3:


& Game 4:


Love seeing all that red!  Keep it going, boys, against the Sharks!

The game was so great today.  I've been to a few playoff games before, but I have never heard the crowd (myself included   ) so into it.  I got such a big kick out of the "Todd Ber-Tuz-Zi" chants and loved that Franzen got his share of chants, especially after he returned to the ice.

Today was just a weird game, though.  I was surprised how passive everything seemed, especially at the start of the 1st period, almost like it was a regular season game.  After all the talk, I expected Phoenix to come out with a bang, and instead, they looked like they were skating through mud or more so, like it was the last minute of a game and they were down by 10 and were giving up.  Unfortunately, with no noticeable resistance, Detroit pared back their energy too somewhat.  They really could have laid into Phoenix even more than they did if they had played with a little more energy and hustle themselves.  They did a really good job for most of the game, but when Phoenix started scoring on the PPs and starting getting some life back into them, Detroit was kind of caught off guard.  Thankfully, Phoenix was still not really bringing it, otherwise, the game could have gone to OT.

As far as the penalties go, I say it was a mix of some good calls, some blatantly bad miscalls (Franzen), and the refs just interfering too much (as Mickey would say, just let them play).  I'm beginning to believe that just as refs think Holmstrom=goalie interference/goals waived off, the same is true of the refs thinking DRW=call anything and everything even if it's not there.  We've become the Tomas Holmstrom of the NHL.  They see the winged wheel, and the whistle blows before it barely touches the refs' lips, especially in the playoffs.

Three pluses to the game:  (1) Got to meet Kirk Maltby after the game as he was coming out of the press box and got his signature (thank God I put that sharpie in my purse before the game), (2) got to meet and chat with T. Campbell (the DJ at the Joe) who gave me a CD of the music he plays and told me the name of a song that was driving me crazy, and (3) rode back to Hockeytown cafe on a shuttle bus that turned into a party bus as all of us fans (some pretty well wasted) chanted (to the delight of fans we passed who were walking by), booed and bitched out Doan, and heckled Phoenix fans out the window.

A great time overall!  Keep it going, Wings!  On to Phoenix to keep the momentum going!

I'm heading down to the game now.  Go Wings!! Here's to a great game and a spectacular Jimmy performance!

That's because Chicago played a clean game.

WTF!?! As clean as the blood that was trickling down Franzen's face.

Girls, stop!  You're going to make me faint from **having** to look at all these gorgeous men!     

Sabrina, Kristi, and Loo, I'm so glad you all had such a good time and got to see a great game.  

All the boys looked so good.  Darren is really looking fine with the facial hair.  And Sabrina, I envy your spot in that one picture next to #55.  

Toast of Hockeytown is great for meeting the guys and seeing them all fancied up.  Those that can make it this coming year should get together and have a winefest while oodling our boys.  Patty cracked me up this year by strategically placing himself by the shrimp!  Here's a taste for you girls (just don't mind me in the picture)!

I'm fine with most of how the rule is written, except the part about not being able to review the play.  I think that is the biggest mistake about this rule because many times, the refs can't see exactly what goes on, as Ken said, because the pace is so fast.  And when refs obviously can't see a player cross-checking/punching another player three times in the back of the head when he's standing right next to where this is happening but can see that somehow a player made infinitesimal contact with a goalie when he's clear on the other side of the rink it becomes blatantly apparent that something needs to be tweaked to make the play fair for all teams across the board.

Perhaps we can tell Lils to take the flight home to Detroit in Rusty's place?

No worries on Jackman, Vladifan. He and Alex Steen out 4-6 weeks as of a few days ago.

St. Louis is down some serious firepower.. we should be able to handle this too.

So were the Oilers.  They should be able to handle this as long as they don't wait to handle it in the last 4 minutes of the game and into OT.  Go Wings!

Who's taking bets now on if this win gives the Wings just enough confidence to not show up on time for tomorrow's game?

I'm sorry, but I'm not really impressed with this win.  Glad to get the two points, but they played the same game with the same problems that they've played for the last three months.  Until I see a team actually playing cohesively out there with a showing of considerable effort at resolving their MAJOR issues, I'm not buying it.

No one here can honestly say that they feel comfortable with this version of the Red Wings in ANY game.

There.  Fixed that for you.

i wonder what excuses babcock and the players will come up with for this one

Number 47 out of his little blue book, "101 Bulls*** Excuses to Feed to the Media."

90% of the game im wondering why there is no one in thef****** slot or in a shoot position
******* put some lines together and keep them. these lines have no chemistry

I'm all for trying different lines to see if something gets going, but for pete's sake, the team has been jumbled up for half the season because of injuries.  Babs, maybe if you played with the same lines longer than 2 games, they'd actually develop some chemistry and generate some offense.  You had a great line with Hudler-Datsyuk-Cleary, why did you split them?

I didn't think that was that bad of a game really. I think some of you just watch the scoreboard more than the game itself. "Oh we lost? we played terrible! helm scored? everyone but helm sucked tonight!" Helm did nothing more than anyone else aside from his weak goal that was more of a bad goal let in by quick than a good goal scored by helm.

I did watch the game.  And I did see the part where Helm was our main asset on each of the Kings' power plays, eating up seconds with his puck possession, and when he seemed to be the only one fighting for the puck along the boards, and how he seemed to be the only player on the team that knew and display the meaning of "hustle" and "urgency."  Sorry, but I didn't get all that off a score sheet.

someone can easily come up with thought bubbles for each wing here. i have a few i might do later.

http://cdn.nhl.com/i...02917_slide.jpg

Here's a stab at it:

I wonder how many power plays and or 5 on 3's the Sharks will have in the first period?

It depends on how often they go diving.