Welcome back to Town Lord Stanley!

Wow, what a rollercoaster of a series. I was out of town and had to make sure and be in hotel rooms before games 4 and 5. Luckily I succeeded and was very happy to finally be home and watching them win it all. But I have issues.

Let’s start out with my wacky rants. Whiners. I hate whiners, which maybe I will end up being here but that is not my intention. I have never seen a team whine as much as the Penguins. If I had to choose another team to compare them too it would be the Pistons who are the whiners of the NBA. I don’t like teams that consistently whine on and off the playing surface and the Pens and Pistons do it well. Crosby needs to find a home and move out of Super Mario’s house because I think Mario’s whining prowess is rubing off. That kid nothing but whine all series long about anything and everything. Offside calls, penalties, face-offs, etc. It makes you look petty and stupid. Just like your coach who whined all the way up to the podium last night. Is it the refs fault that Malkin is soft and didn’t show up? Is it the refs fault that Fluery let in many soft goals? Is it the refs fault that 7 35+ yr old Wings players are in better physical condition than all your 20 yr olds? No. The reffing was horrid for both sides? Those two goalie interference calls in OT of game 5 were ridiculous. The 4 minute double minor to Hudler was valid. Did we whine about it? No. Did we even whine when Lidstrom had his face broken opne by a high stick? Nope. Should we whine that the 2nd goal scored on us last night was because of a weak ticky tack call at the end of the game and then the resulting power play had a Pen players slash Lilja’s stick high in the air and down the ice and that contributed to their goal? Or how about Datsyuk taking the puck out of the zone with 30 seconds left last night and being blatantly tripped and no call was made and they almost tied it up to force OT? Both teams have reason to whine, no doubt about it, but whining teams learn how to put that crap behind them and play the game, something the Pens coach and players have not learned how to do. Maybe if Crosby spent less time whining into linesman and refs ears all game long he would have enough energy to carry his tired team to a Cup win. Maybe he should also grow up and get on the podium after a loss, by refusing to go to the podium he makes himself look petty and immature. You’re the superstar Syd, you are the face of the NHL, man up and act like it.

The Wings continue to surprise me. I did not have them winning the cup this year and I didn’t have them getting out of the 2nd round weeks before the playoffs even started. They proved me wrong and I LOOOOOOVE being wrong on this. This team turned it up to a whole other level this post season. And this could be the same team on the ice next year with a few new pieces. Hopefully Stuart comes back. He ended up being the best acquisition at the trade deadline and he likes it here and plays well with Kronwall so there is a good chance.

Datsyuk deserves some massive props. He turned into a whole new player this post season. This regular season Pavel had 40 hits. This post season he finished with 56 hits. He was a monster on the defensive side of the game as well as a key in the offense. Why he is so underrated and never mentioned is beyond me but I think he is arguably one of the top 3 players in the league.

In relation to that we can now look at the huge matchup of Pavs/Hank vs. Syd/Malkin. I think the clear winner here is Pavs/Hank. Why? Simple. Pavs and Hank played great two way games all post season. Hank did a great job against Crosby all series long, and Malkin was non-existent. I personally feel that there is no argument here, Hank and Pavs were heads and shoulders above Crosby and Malkin. That doesn’t mean that this is the way it will be forever, but right now, not even close.

Osgood. Wow. A backup who gets brought in to the game in the middle of game 3 of the 1st round and never looked back. I have always been a huge Osgood fan and I am very happy that he got this chance to prove his worth. People still say that he is nothing special because he has such a great defense in front of him but I think Osgood was a huge part of this past series. Some of those games we could have easily been down by 3-4 goals but he made timely saves. I think he deserves the start next year and I think it is time to cut ties with Hasek and get Howard up to split time.

Way to go Wings. Looking forward to next year!

Stanley Cup Finals

Well this has been fun. Or has it? The Red Wings have clearly dominated this series in the first two games in Detroit and look to continue their dominance at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh tonight. I have some issues that I would like to address on many fronts before game 3 so read them and if you have any thoughts or varying opinions, please post them up.

The Pens are clearly outmatched in this series. I thought they would put forth a much better effort than they have so far. I post frequently on a site filled with Pens fans who attempted to put me in my place when I stated that the Pens have not faced a defense like Detroit’s. I stated that Ozzie is just as good if not better than Fluery mainly due to experience. I stated that we can roll 4 lines. The arguments back were that the Rangers and Flyers had great defenses and they dominated them. I am sorry but saying that NY and more importantly, the Flyers, have an equal or better defense than the Wings is just laughable. The Pens can counter or defense with 4 lines that are fast and explosive unlike the Wings who only rely on Zetterberg and Datsyuk. Every other line can’t score.Malkin and Crosby are the better duo. Fluery is a god and has faced more offense than Ozzie and Ozzie will show his true colors since the Pens will be peppering him with 35+ shots a night.

So let’s go through all of that real quick. The Pens have shown nothing even close to an explosive offense that can dominate our D and pepper Ozzie with 35+ shots a game. For a minute there in game one it might have been possible thanks to 4 consecutive power plays where they ended the period with 12 shots. Sadly they stopped playing after that and only got 7 more shots on Ozzie that night and scored a total of zero goals. Malkin dogged it all night long and Crosby looked mediocre and scared. Fluery gave up a couple of soft goals and their D was on their heels all night long. Game 2 was even worse. Malking continued to be a dog, Crosby again was nowhere other than in a ref or linesman’s ear whining about something or other and Fluery was giving up goals while Ozzie continued to show his dominance and stop all 22 shots for his second straight shut out. So the Pens fans have been proved wrong on all fronts…so far.

I don’t think this series is over. I don’t think this is an automatic sweep as some people are saying. I hope and expect that at some point in the next two games the Pens will finally realize that this is the Finals and play some good hockey that we all know they have the ability to play. The biggest issue I have has to do with the coach for a couple of reasons. I don’t like the overreaction to the game 1 loss with a complete revamping of all 4 lines. Why? You have dominated through the first 3 series and now you lose 1 game after a long layoff and you freak out and change everything. And again, game 2 you lose and now you bring in Sydor, who has not seen the ice at all this post season, to replace Letang. I think they are fishing and not addressing the real issues and that is a lack of depseration and urgency. Add on the fact that Malkin is complaining about being tired and has asked to be limited in his team roll. That to me is an issue as a fan I would not tolerate. He is 21 yrs old and complained last year about being tired at the end of the season. Why has his conditioning not been addressed. Why is this baby whining about being tired during the Stanley Cup Finals. There are 100’s of NHL players who have not been in this spot who I believe would be more than happy to man up and play their hardest. Him, he just whines. They all seem to whine. Crosby is the leader of the whiners. Shame that the best players always end up being some of the biggest whiners. I guess he just hangs around with Super Mario too much and the whining rubbed off.

The Wings need to stay focused. Tonight will be interesting because of the Pens ability to create their line matchups. Will it be enough to change the momentum. I don’t know. I hope this series at least gets a little competitive. It’s so far as a Red Wings fan great, but as a hockey fan looking at allegedly one of the best matchups in the Finals in the last 25 years, it has been crap.

Lastly, this is in regards to Wings fans calling into radio stations the last two days whining about the alleged dirty play on Roberts and others who were going after Franzen. Shut up. It’s hockey. You don’t think that Franzen or his doctors didn’t know that people would be gunning for him? You don’t think Franzen doesn’t provoke this? Hell he admitted yesterday that he was provoking them. Some people act as if they never watched a hockey game and that goes for Wings and Pens fans. Pens fans have been whining about Ozzie falling down and Malone getting an interference call. It doesn’t matter if he flopped or not, the rule is that you are not to make contact on a goalie in the crease and Malone clearly made contact, that’s that, everything else is moot. The refs have clearly decided that they will be calling any contact so deal with it.

Go Wings!

Just a quick hit on some subjects…

Red Wings

Well here we are, back in the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s pretty exciting. Should have been there last year but this will do. This series is looking to be quite the matchup. You have arguably the two best tandems in the game today; Malkin and Crosby vs. Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Personally, I would give the nod to Pavs and Z simply for the fact that they are not only offensive powerhouses, they are also extremely responsible defensively. There is a reason they are both Selke finalists and Crosby and Malkin are not. That doesn’t mean that I think Croz and Malkin are not great, because they sure are, but Pavs and Z are the two best two way players in the league and I would prefer that over two players who just score. This is setting up to be the best storyline of this series.

Reading responses and such around the net the general gist I get is that Pen fans think that they have the offensive depth to run over the Wings and that while Osgood has the experience, Fluery is a far better goalie this post season. Well here is my response to such statements.

1. Maybe the Pens do have more depth offensively. Well I don’t think depth means as much when you are playing against a team that is defensively responsible no matter what line is on the ice. The Pens have not faced a defense that can compare to the Wings defense this post season. To be honest, the Pens have not faced anyone that great. Neither have we but I still would say Nashville and Dallas gave us more than Ottawa or Philly gave Pittsburgh. The Flyers, if they were in the West, would never have made the playoffs.

2. I am getting tired of every series, well, minus the Nashville series, hearing about how great or hot or super-duper the opposing goalie is. Theodore was to be the second coming, yet we knocked him out of every game. Turco was coming in hot and unbeatable yet he looked like crap except for game 5. Fluery has not looked unbeatable to me at all. Has he been good, obviously, but hot? Eh. I don’t see it. Though any goalie can get hot, Osgood included. And that brings me to my main beef, what is the deal with the lack of respect Osgood gets? The guy has come in and taken complete control of these playoffs. People claim he is a non-issue because he only sees an average of 22 shots a game. So, the alleged future hall-of-famer Dominic Hasek seems to have an issue seeing 18 shots a game. The goalies job is to stop all shots or stop enough to win the game. Osgood has done that really well regardless of 18 shots or 35 shots. He deserves respect and at this point the Conn Smythe is his or Franzens if he returns and continues to play well.

Tigers

Wow. Things sure hit the fan yesterday. In USA Today there was a interesting article about how disfunctional this team seems to be. Reports about players sleeping or reading or playing cards instead of watching video of the player they were about to face only to go out and lose. You have Grilli saying there are cliques and such and how Sean Casey leaving the team is a reason for this horrible product being put on the diamond. Giullen, Sheffield, and Inge making comments about the team and that seemed to the last straw for manager Jim Leyland.

Please take 5 minutes and listen to this. ( You can find in their podcasts if it is not on the front page.

There is not much to say other than, awesome.

They went out after that and won 12-8. As I said the last time he blew up, I won’t make much of it until I see them consistently start playing good baseball, and not against the second worst team in the league.

Caller of the Day

Hopefully I will try and do this every weekday since the best part of the sports scene in Detroit is the people who call into the sports talk shows on the radio. There are two, 1130AM and 97.1FM/1270AM. I am partial to the latter but sometimes check out 1130AM when they are on commercial. I will try and post about an outlandish call I heard and either leave it in all it’s glory or maybe make comments if needed.

Today I was listening to the Valenti and Foster show on 97.1 during my drive to get lunch. Usually they just have an open call line. They bring up some hot topics and then you can call and talk about them or even add your own. Today one of the hot topics was a secret closed door meeting between Dave Dombrowski, GM of the Tigers, and Manager Jim Leyland. What could they be discussing, is anyone going to get fired, etc? So Betty calls. Betty’s call goes something like this;

Betty: Dave Dombrowski is the reason this team is failing and he needs to be fired.

V&F:…

Betty: He has ruined this teams morale by bringing in all these new players and giving them all this money.

V&F:…

Betty: He benched Inge, one of our best players, and he has been mean to Jones. I love Jonesy, he is my man, and Dombrowski is treating him poorly.

Foster: Treated him bad? He pays his paycheck…

Valenti: Yeah, he pays him money each week…

Betty: But he only lets him pitch one inning…*

* just so we are on the same page. Todd Jones is our closer. Plus Dombrowski paid him millions for another year even though he is old and clearly washed up and gave up on players like Francisco Cordero

I Guess I Was Wrong…again

So here we are on  Monday afternoon waiting for game 6 to start in the Western Conference Finals. The series where I thought we would wrap it up in 4 maybe 5, but Dallas has found new life and are making this an interesting series. There really is nothing wrong with that as it was getting pretty stale with the previous series against the Avs and then the first 3 games of this series that were dominated by Detroit.

I am not terribly worried though. I still think when push comes to shove there is little chance that the Dallas Stars are going to be the third team in history to come back from a 3-0 deficit. Will there be a game 7? Maybe, it would not be a huge surprise to me but even then I still feel that Detroit will win as they are the better team in this series. I won’t sit here and give no credit to Dallas or Turco for that matter but to say the Wings have given the same amount of effort in games 4 and 5 as they did in the first 3 games would be a lie. They have come out flat in both games and did not put in complete 60 minute games. It is rare to see Detroit give up odd man rushes but they gave up 2 too many in game 5. That is not due in part to Dallas being an amazingly superior team, that is a Wings team that is sitting back and not giving it their all or something. Turco though deserves credit for putting together 2 back to back solid games against a team he has a poor history against. They are the main reason they are still alive and if he remains hot and we remain flat then history could be made. But I doubt it.

I have pretty much set myself up haven’t I?