MulesWillFly93

Because they are the bestf****** team in hockey

Exactly.  I mean, I'm not Canadian, but I was born and raised in California, and so were my parents, so if you want to talk about out-of-market fans, I'm about as out-of-market as they come.  My city (San Diego) doesn't have a hockey team, so I got to pick whatever team I wanted when I started watching hockey.  I could've picked the Ducks, which are the closest team to me, but do they have the history, tradition, class, and passion of the people involved with the Wings organization?  I don't think so.

On one hand, I appreciate the league expansion because it means I can go see an NHL game without having to drive 1,000 miles to the north or 2,000 mi to the east.  On the other, I think the NHL undervalues its roots and the rich history that come with Original 6 teams like the Wings.  This might just be me, but in a city where not a whole lot of things are more than 50 years old, I really like being able to be part of something that stretches back almost to the beginning of the last century for a change, instead of cheering for a team that started when I was 8.

If anybody shows up with one of those at a hockey game, they deserve to have it broken in two over their head.  Hopefully everybody will have forgotten about all this nonsense by October.

Ducks fans are pretty annoying...nothing too ridiculous, though.  Just some guy next to me with a voice like a foghorn yelling, "HEY HOWARD, YOOOOOOU SUCK!" right into my ear.  Insult Howard all you want - I mean, I don't like it, but it is a Ducks game, but Jesus, I think Howard could've heard you if he was down the road at Angel Stadium.

Ain't buying it unless Sid's face is attached to his glove.

After Stevie Y leaving the organization, if Lidstrom retires, this will be a crappy few weeks...

Understatement of the year... Can I be put on suicide watch if Lidstrom doesn't re-sign? I can't take all of this at once: a Hawks-Flyers final, Yzerman goes to the Lightning, and (God forbid) Lidstrom retires. :head explodes at the thought:

You know what, I'm tired of hearing about how so and so's fan base are all a bunch of bandwagoners. Yeah, you're right, they are. It happens. It happens in every darn town with a sports team across America at some point. Whenever a team gets it together and starts doing a lot better than they had before, what do you expect? Of course people are going to get a lot more interested! Not everyone's a die-hard fan, and you know what, I think that's okay. Living and dying by a sports team is not for everyone. And if you just want to go and enjoy a game every now and then, then you have a right to do it.

I mean, I understand if you're a Wings fan in Chicago and are arse-tired of hearing the taunting - I'm a Wings fan in Ducks Land, so trust me, I know. I just don't think it's fair to blame it on bandwagoners...anyone can be an a-hole. And does anybody think Detroit shouldn't have won the Cup in, say, '98 because there were too many bandwagoners at that point, and therefore the team didn't deserve it? I wouldn't want anybody to say that, that's for sure, and I don't think it's fair to insult true Hawks fans who aren't jerks and love hockey (however many or few of them there might be) and deny them a chance at seeing their team win a Cup.

I also don't think it's fair to the players, who have worked hard all year (except when we beat them, hehe), even if I personally can't stand some of them. I may not like them, but I can't say they're crappy players. Call me a traitor - I don't really care, but I just can't have overly sour grapes toward a team who has proved they deserve to be in the Finals. I mean, I have somewhat sour grapes because we're out and they're still in, and usually I'm as big a Hawks-minus-Toews hater as anybody else, but I cannot say they don't deserve to be where they are, so my sour grapes are only at a medium level.

You're so right!  It seems like I'm always on Bertuzzi's butt about something, but in the end, he really ended up fitting in and helping out in all the ways you just said.  He's not perfect, but he definitely exceeded my expectations.

Well, this season certainly has had enough drama!  Despite it not being the best year ever, I still had a great effing time watching what, in my opinion, will always be the best hockey team in the league.  Also, it's been great talking to the best fans in the league, too!

Congrats to our newest player and Calder nominee, Mr. Jimmy Howard, for what was overall a pretty great year.  Obviously there were a few bumps in the road, but I thought he worked out well in the end, and I look forward to seeing what he does next season.

Congrats to one of our senior players, Nicklas Lidstrom, for 18 (it's 18, right?) seasons of awesome hockey.  You ARE defensive hockey, and you've been a great inspiration to your teammates, not to mention us fans, as a captain.  It can't have been easy to follow The Captain, but if anyone carries on Yzerman's legacy of class and teamwork, it's you.  I just better see you again in fall, dammit, because this is NOT a good-bye note.  I'll be thanking you for your 19th season (if I've got the math right) next year, so be there.

Glorious.  I love that ass (and that's a compliment).

You can't get on Howard for the OT goal. It's a s***show when they get a break like that. Maybe you get lucky, maybe you don't.

However, that soft goal at the end of the 1st and the soft goal in the 3rd are unacceptable. I feel infinitely more justified in suggesting that Babcock screwed up with the goaltending. It's just stupid to put so much on a rookie when you've got a guy like Osgood there. He never was given a fair shot, and that's a shame.

As I've said since November, it's stupid to put so much on Howard. It's not fair to him. He was set up to fail or be Patrick Roy, and the latter was unlikely to happen.

He hasn't been good enough in the playoffs and he lost this game for us. I don't blame him though. I blame Babcock. He's been making poor coaching decisions since November, and now we're suffering through the result of those poor decisions, and most unfortunately, so is Howard.

I agree - Howard effed up some in the first part, but everybody effed up in OT. I liked that they played Howard a lot during the regular season and let him get a lot of experience, but I'm not sure it was the right call to only let Ozzie play that one game against the Flyers in 2010 (wait, that was it, right?). I do like how they've stuck with Howard through thick and thin and have been really supportive of him, but it would've been nice to have Ozzie in shape, if for no other reason than to bring peace of mind to Howard and the guys by letting them know that at least they HAVE a back-up goalie.

Well, on the bright side, the 1996-97 team had a pretty horrible stat facing them: the Wings hadn't won a Stanley Cup since 1955. Didn't exactly stop them from doing it anyway, though.

This thread is missing some "raging" qualities...

RAWR WIN!!!!!!


How's that?

If you only follow one person, you GOTTA follow Shanny! Classic hockey stories, random stuff about Toronto's subway, pictures of him with a Mickey Mouse hat on from Disney World...it's all there, hehe. Here ya go:

http://twitter.com/NHLShanny

I wondered if that was coordinated!

I was at the game tonight and my ears are still ringing. Was the crowd as loud on TV as they seemed in person? I've never been to a game with such a riled up bunch. It was an awesome experience! Also, that first goal REALLY looked like it was in from my point of view (section 219). What about on TV?

Oh yeah, it was LOUD!! You guys did a good job! As for the goal...I really don't know. I don't know if I'm just retarded or what, but after watching it a million times from a million different angles, well, I'll just leave that one to the refs for once because it seemed RIGHT on the edge to me.

While I'm here, I'd just like to dedicate this win (as if I had anything to do with it) to my high school speech teacher, who passed away this morning. He was from Detroit and Proud of It, and even though I never knew if he was a hockey fan or not, I figure it is Hockeytown, after all, so this one's for you, Dr. Sheehan. Good guy...I was probably his worst student ever, and he probably hated my guts, but he was still funny as heck, and I enjoyed his class when I didn't have to give a speech.