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Good work by Fil to draw that penalty.  Time to convert!  Let's Go Wings!

Congrats to Danny DeKeyser on his 1st NHL point.

Growing up in Eastern PA, my dad tried to raise me a Philly fan.  It worked for the Phillies and, for my early years, the Flyers.  Don't give a flying **** about basketball, and will only watch football if no hockey is on.  Fast forward to 1983.  We travelled to Farmington Hills to visit family who was living there at the time over the Christmas break.  My 12th birthday was Dec. 20th, and they knew my dad and I loved hockey.  The Wings game on 12/23 was my present.  Due to the less than stellar record of the team back then, we had nice seats.  A rookie named Steve Yzerman scored his first hat trick against the Toronto Make-Beliefs (or Maple Laffs, take your pick).  I thought his name was the coolest sounding, and it started with a Yz, which reminded me of Rush (who I was and still am a huge fan of), and seeing the Wings uniforms live made me realize how awesome they are compared to any other jersey.  I was hooked.  

Dad made lots of "dead things" comments to rib me, and I only got to see games if hey played the Flyers for years.  In college I was also able to get the Pittsburgh feeds when they played the Pens and espn2 had several Wings games.  I was also very active on the Red Wings listserv out of MSU that Dave Vergolini used to run.  When the Blue Band came out for the PSU-UM game quite a few folks on the listserv stopped by the practice field we were using to say hello to the trumpet player in the Yzerman jersey.

When I graduated in 1995 and moved to my current town, I was actually able to pick up the WJR radio feeds depending on the weather.  Once Time Warner cable started carrying Center Ice, I was a happy man.  A big reason why I'm such a diehard fan of the Wings is that, as others have said, the organization, from the top down, has been, since the Ilitch family bought it, has been a class act.  Yzerman and Lidstrom are two of the classiest players and leaders the sport has known, or ever will know.

I've taken more than my share of harassment living in enemy territory over the years, but rock the jerseys proudly.  Games 3 and 4 of the 1998 Cup Finals were the best live games I've seen, and seeing Konstantinov on the ice for that cup was a beautiful moment (and I was glad I wore my Fedorov jersey for game 3 so I had the Konstantinov jersey on for it).  Now that the Pens and Sens AHL teams are on both sides of me within an hour, I wish they'd play the Griffins so I could see our prospects live.

Gotta give Eliott credit for making the saves he had to.

Say what you want, but the Blues have back and forechecking down to a science.

One of, if not the best teams in the league at it.  But then, hasn't that been a hallmark of Hitchcock-coached teams?

The Blues are imho, a better team than 8th place.  If they get in the post season, they can make some noise.  Our offense is too much from the perimeter.

Bring back the one-timer, I've been saying it for a few years now.

Those jerseys are growing on me.  The question now is which player to get?

There is a difference between rough and cheap.  Backes crosses that line too often imho.  There is a difference between hitting hard and hitting to injure.  I love a power forward who hits hard.  One who hits to injure has no place in the game.

 
Fair enough.....
 
Just keep in mind when people bitched about Franzen when he made his famous comment.  People are willing to give Dats a pass for not being enthusiastic because of the record, but thats a bullcrap excuse.

Look at the consistency  of production and effort by Pav compared to Mule.  Pavs has been an on-ice dynamo most of the time, not to mention a human highlight reel.

DeKeyser owning Tarasenko that sequence.

Vladdy16 hits the nail in the head.  Wings fans have been spoiled for decades with Illitch.  Those who were here for the lean years before can fully appreciate it.  Those who've only been fans since the "boom years" can't fully appreciate what we have as Wings fans.  I've said it before about how NO GM in the league is going to give Detroit a break in a deal and be responsible for helping them get back on top.  Decades of low draft picks, high amounts of man games lost to injury, the tragic ends to the careers of Konstantinov and Fischer...  it's truly amazing the Wings have been able to succeed as long as they have.  This is a down year in a big way and they are STILL in contention for a playoff spot.

I'm NOT saying long-time fans are better, but folks need some perspective.  Illitch has been the model owner for an NHL franchise in many ways.

For those bitching about Howie getting hit in the crease, both incidents were caused by our own players.  Can't push a player into our goalie and then want an interference call.

This.  I'll be more than happy to snipe about a bad  or missed call, but we've got to be realistic.   Let's Go Wings!

Terrible D there.  Hanging Gustavsson out to dry there.

Good thing for Howard that average is the JUCK FrkING POTT!

I will say the penalty at the end was weak, but if any team deserves that kind of kick to the yambag in a karmic way, it's Anaheim.

Perry, Getz AND Selanne all ejected.

Lol.  Is that a **** trick for the refs?