You've Got Mail, San Jose

I missed about 38 minutes of the game yesterday, as I was about 10 minutes away from the Hockeytown Cafe at the Hard Rock Cafe, watching my friends' band win a spot in the national finals for a spot in the Hard Rock Calling festival and to play with Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul McCartney. The rest of the confirmed line up is on that link.


What I did manage to see was somewhat impressive if you look at the big picture. The Wings were looking good in the third period, looking like they DIDN'T just finish a hard hitting, hard fought 7 game series on Tuesday. Many of the other bloggers have mentioned it, but I feel the same way, so I'll say it again.
If I'm the Sharks, that scares me.

If they can only win by ONE goal (scored on a bullshit 5-on-3), having been able to rest since April 24, they should be scared.
If the Red Wings stay close in this game WITHOUT a goal from Datsyuk or Zetterberg, they should be scared.
If the Red Wings stay close in this game WITHOUT a goal on the power play, they should be scared.
If the Red Wings... you know what? Fuck it.

We've seen how this team can bounce back from deflating losses, like the loss in game 6 and the way they played in game 7.

We knew that this series wasn't exactly going to be a cakewalk. We had hoped to maybe sneak in under the radar and steal game one from the Sharks, and we almost did. But the message was sent, and I'm pretty sure the Sharks got it. I think it went something like this:

"To the fine coaching staff and athletes of the San Jose Sharks organ-i-zation,

We would like to respectfully decline your offer to showcase your God-given talent and NHL-given advantage over us. We would also like to propose a counter offer to scrap a very respectable loss together out of a situation what would make other teams collapse faster than Brett Lebda at an open bar. Furthermore, we would like to issue the following warning:

Just you fuckers wait until Sunday.

Bitches.

Sincerely, the Detroit Red Wings organ-i-zation"

Keep your chins up, Red Wings Nation.

Revisiting the Sharks

This is an old post from my first blog. Let's take some time out and enjoy the success we've had against San Jose this year.

Dismantling the Sharks.
24 days and 11 games after putting a hurting on the Sharks in their own arena, the Wings returned. And apparently the blood was still in the water. After giving up 2 goals within the first 10 minutes of the game, which I’ll just chalk up to jetlag, the Wings woke up and made the Sharks look more like the Guppies.

Consider this: 9 SOG for the Sharks in the first 9:45 of the 16-shot 1st by the Sharks. 8 SOG in the entire 2nd period, and 10 over the course of the whole 3rd period. Take out those 9 shots that occurred before the Wings collectively decided to get their shit in order, and you’re left with 25 shots on Yimmy Howard. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Comfortably familiar. Like the Red Wings of yesteryear.

For about 39 seconds in the first period, on a penalty kill no less, Kronwall was stuck out on the ice with what amounted to one operational skate. The blade on his right skate -for some reason- came off while he was applying pressure on Ryane Clowe.

I don’t think that he really got enough credit for this last night (as all of Hockeytown was freaking out about him being possibly injured again), but I checked out the video from that again and one thing jumped out at me. From his knees, and then on one skate, he kept playing. He got in passing and shooting lanes, and doing it pretty well, I might add. Definitely an underrated moment in the game last night.

I’ve been saying it, you’ve been saying it… Yimmy needs to work on his rebound control. It’s been getting better, I guess, but both San Jose goals were directly related to his inability to control the rebounds.

Kronwall tweaked his ankle in a behind-the-play little piece of interference by Ortmeyer during Cleary’s goal. I’m positive of this. Yes, he went over and did his congratulations and all that, but he bent in a way I’d feel bad doing to Gumby. He also took a while to get off the ice. I’m not certain on his ice time after that, but I’d bet all the money in my left pocket that THAT was when it happened.

Meech’s goal was that really ugly kind of pretty. It was a nice Tic-Tac-Toe-TOE goal. Williams faked the shot, dropped it to Filppula, who then draws the defense towards the middle of the ice before passing down to Bertuzzi near the goal line. Bertuzzi made the smart play and tried to get it to (my boy) Cleary. Luckily, for all of us, and especially Bert, Meech was wandering around along the side boards aimlessly and stumbled across the puck. He decided he liked the puck, and he was gonna put it in the net so he’d know where to find it later. Despite Nabokov’s best efforts at breakdancing, it went in, and we actually had a lead. Exactly 15 people felt comfortable with that lead.

How Eaves hasn’t been offered a contract extension at this point is beyond me. He’s one of our best PKers, and he’s got a knack for getting the big, timely goal. He was at it again last night, perhaps with a bit of luck and stupidity from the Sharks. I can’t find a good replay online right now, but Joe Pavelski falls down, taking Eaves down with him as Eaves tries to skate around. Eaves slid farther than Pavelski did, creating the space that led to Eaves’ wide open goal.
I’d also like to add that Rafalski’s pass on that goal was harder than Brad May’s best slapshot.
And last, Helm went for a leisurely stroll with about 15 seconds left in the game and just happened to beat every Sharks player on the ice to negate an icing with 9 seconds left. Not that an icing there would have changed the outcome of the game. Even if San Jose scored on the subsequent offensive zone faceoff, they would have needed to score another goal in what would have probably been 5 seconds against relatively rested Wings. But it was still that grit and determination that we’ve all become so enamored with from him.

Tonight is a game against Anaheim, newly equipped with Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake from the weekend’s trade with Toronto. Another late start, so if you’re not like me and actually have somewhere to go or something to do tomorrow morning, I’d recommend taking a nap now. Well, maybe take it after you finish reading this.

The questions, of course, are going to be the same they usually are: Do the Wings have enough in the tank after the game last night in the Tank? Can Yimmy control rebounds enough tonight to steal a game, or are we going to have a team playing with him tonight? Can the Wings’ defensemen score a goal from above the faceoff circles? And the last question is can you stay up and watch the whole thing?

That was from February 3rd. It also came with this lovely little photoshop I did:

'TuzzDay

I might be the minority, but I think I was one of few people who weren't nervous or scared about the game last night. I chalk that up to my military training eliminating fear from my mental processes. But I also chalk it up to faith and logic.

The Detroit Red Wings are a far superior team than the Phoenix Coyotes. And Mike Babcock is a better coach than Dave Tippet. In a game like that, I'll take the Red Wings 100% of the time. They're just too good, too experienced, and too damn good looking with those beards to shave them.

Something odd happened at the Commune. About midway through the 3rd period, we all thought there was a penalty going to be called on the Coyotes. It ended up being against the Red Wings. Someone mentioned that it was weird to be so far ahead that we didn't have to pay 100% attention to what was going on. And it felt damn good.

I asked who was going to step up in the game. I made my case for Bertuzzi. I think all Red Wings fans know he scored 2 goals, getting ripped off on one for the ever-popular intent-to-blow rule. The referee who was closest to the play had a direct line of sight to the puck lying loose to Bryzgandalf's left, and Bert swooped in a buried it. And then the referee was waving it off. For whatever reason.

But going back to my question, who'd come up big? How's this for an answer: EVERYONE. I could easily go down the roster and name one moment in the game where they put it all out there on the ice. I think we could have put Ledba out there and HE would have had a big game.

However, I believe the turning point was late in the second, when the Red Wings were having a Commune of their own in the penalty box. Miller, Helm and Stuart were penaltized (Helm's being a bullshit interference/diving call) which meant 3 of our best PKers were sitting this one out. I don't remember the whole 3 man unit out there, because it looked like we only needed one guy out there. Kronwall.

I know Kronner's been getting shit this series for not playing to his caliber, to almost playing bad. But during that 5-on-3, he blocked at least 3 shots, and was just an overall presence. At that time, the score was 3-1. If Phoenix scores there, it's 3-2 with another penalty yet to kill. Even if we kill that second penalty off, momentum is shifted to Phoenix going into the intermission, and the third becomes an entirely different beast. Instead, we kill off both penalties, keep the 3-1 lead, and then speedster scoring threat Brad Stuart comes down on a breakaway and makes it 4-1 with 5 seconds left. Dagger. To the heart of the Coyote.

Who else stepped up? Our power play units. Not only did the Wings go 3/6 with the man advantage, it was almost always 2 minutes of straight pressure in the offensive zone if we didn't score. I saw the Wings switch from the 1st PP line to the 2nd PP line in the middle of a power play, without losing control of the puck. The Coyotes looked so out matched out there, I was a little embarrassed for them. They had no right to share that ice with the Wings out there last night.

And a side note from that, I'm glad we scored twice with Aucoin in the box. I've lost track of how many times he's gotten away with shit throughout the series, but it was good to finally see them burn because of him.

There's only one concern I have about this game. One last complaint. The Wings shot 50 pucks at Bryzgandalf, which is fine. But they gave up a quiet 33 shots on goal, too. Yimmy came up big. Some of those 33 shots were good, quality shots, matched by good, quality saves by Yimmy. Will yielding 33 shots to San Jose, Chicago or Vancouver do? As much as I have faith in this team and in our young goaltender, I don't think performances like that will continue to cut it.

But for now, let's enjoy the win.

Game Seven

Game Seven. So important that it doesn't get a number. It's all words. Spelled out, capitalized words.

Game Sevens are never fun. We don't have the luxury of losing on a flukey goal or a terrible ref's call and thinking, "Okay, we'll bounce back and show 'em next time." There won't be a next time. We lose, and everyone starts asking questions and pointing fingers. We lose, and everyone becomes a GM and a coach. We lose, and we start blaming ourselves for the superstition we left out or the ritual we forgot.

We lose this time and we bust out the electric razors and the guitar string nooses.

The song "Nothing Gets Crossed Out" by Bright Eyes jumped into my head directly after leaving the Joe on Sunday, just for the first few lines.

"Well, the future's got me worrying such awful thoughts, my head's a carousel of pictures, the spinning never stops. I just want someone to walk in front and I'll follow the leader..."

That's got to be going through the Red Wings' heads right about now, because that's what it looked like in that 6th game. No one wanted to jump out and be the hero, the leader. Our superstars were absent. Our role players were invisible. Our goalie was sleepwalking.
Abdelkader came forth towards the end of the game, and he deserves all the credit in the world for that. He looked like the only player on that ice that was pissed off about the outcome of that game.

So who's going to come out on Tuesday, if anyone? A drunken thought came to me a few hours after the Sunday debacle.

I want Bertuzzi to come out huge. I want him to score, hit, and spin-o-rama his way to a win. I want him to silence all the critics for a while.

And if that happens, we'll immortalize the day as 'Tuzzday.

All (sort of) joking aside, I still haven't completely given up hope. The way the Wings played after that first period on Sunday, I was close. I think seeing that sort of effort in person sapped the spirit out of me more than it would have on television. Seeing open nets not get pucks buried in them (Lilja), golden opportunities fucked away (Draper), weak goals let in (Howard)... it really makes you question how and why you seemed to show up with more heart and effort than the Wings seemed to.

That having been said, I read something over at The Triple Deke that bears repeating. Because I can't say it any better myself.

If you truly think that this team doesn't give a shit, that they pick and choose which games to play hard and which ones to coast, or that you want it 50 times more than they do -- then you are a fucking lunatic. Tell that to Nik Kronwall or Andreas Lilja or Johan Franzen or anyone else who has busted their ass to recover from injuries to get back on that ice. Tell that to any of the guys that watched Crosby skate the Cup on their ice last year and had their souls crushed. I'm sure you're right; they just sleep in, dick around for a few hours and ho-hum their way through these afternoon games because they'd rather count their money. I hate to break it to you but this isn't a team full of Rasheed Wallaces. Go back and read some interviews or watch some video on some of these guys' reactions to getting knocked out of the playoffs and tell me it was because of "heart." Did Stuart fuck away a turnover because he doesn't care, or because of bad decision making? I think I'll take the latter.

I'm reading too many people who seem way too entitled as fans. The Coyotes aren't a bad team as much as you want them to be. Their coach is good. Their goalie isn't some bitch bag Russian hack because he let in one or two softies earlier this series. Give them some credit. All too often I'm seeing trash comments that those same people dog on other team's bandwagon fans for, and it's embarrassing. I can be as pessimistic as the next guy, but dammit I don't act like I'm better than the fucking team. (Except Brett Lebda.)

It's true, we've been jaded. We're too used to seeing comfortable leads and Central Division titles as Valentines Day gifts that I think we don't really realize how hard championships are to win. It's a brutal game they play, and sometimes there are going to be bumps in the road. Sometimes, the other team goes back after a loss, changes and works on strategy and comes back looking good. Just because we walk all over a team for 2 games, doesn't mean the third game is a guaranteed win. A lot of times, it's easy to --in the heat of the moment, after a game when the emotions are still running high-- to criticize the team and accuse them of not showing up. I'm guilty, you're guilty, everyone's guilty.


However...

In person, there were 2 players that seemed to stand out for good reasons: Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader.
It seemed that all the times I noticed a good play, it was made by Miller. I remember him standing out on a power play (one of the few we killed) and getting good pressure in the offensive zone.
Abdelkader... well, we all saw him lay the clean hit on Stempniak and then stick up for himself against Shane Doan's heir to the douche bag throne Derek Morris. Then, 7 minutes later, he comes back and makes Keith Yandle his bitch, sending a message to the Coyotes.

Will the message translate into tomorrow night's game? Will 'Tuzzday actually happen? Will one of our superstars step up and be the hero, or will a role player have his big game (i.e. Helm's Kill last year)? Will Yimmy steal a game, or will the defense be stifling?

Or will we be knee deep in booze and beer bottles come Wednesday morning?

If There Were No Conferences

I've mentioned quite a few times that I don't think that winning your conference should lock you into a top 3 seed. Case and point, the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have one more point, in the 4 spot, than the 3 spot Buffalo Sabres. But that's not really what this post is about. This is a breakdown of the LEastern conference's inferiority to the West.

I took all the playoff teams, complete with record and points, and stacked them all up 1-16. Using only points to organize them, this is what a 16 team bracket would look like (Note- East is Red, and West is Blue, like the All Star game) :

1 (1E) Capitals 54-15-13 = 121
16 (8E) Canadians 39-33-10 = 88

2 (1W) Sharks 51-20-11 = 113
15 (7E) Flyers 41-35-6 = 88

3 (2W) Blackhawks 52-22-8 = 112
14 (6E) Bruins 39-30-13 = 91

4 (4W) Coyotes 50-25-7 = 107
13 (5E) Senators 44-32-6 = 94

5 (3W) Canucks 49-28-5 = 103
12 (8W) Avalanche 43-30-9 = 95

6 (2E) Devils 48-27-7 = 103
11 (3E) Sabres 45-27-10 = 100

7 (5W) Red Wings 44-24-14 = 102
10 (7W) Predators 47-29-6 = 100

8 (4E) Penguins 47-28-7 = 101
9 (6W) Kings 46-27-9 = 101


Key points to think about:

• Only one matchup would remain the same. Washington would get Montreal one way or the other.
• Of the 8 top seeds, only 3 would be LEastern conference teams.
• 5 of the 6 bottom seeds are LEastern.
• The West's worst team (Colorado) gets the 12 seed.
• The 6th best team in the league (New Jersey) is your second best team in the LEastern conference.
• 3 of the 4 inter-conference match ups have a Western conference as the top seed.
• In the case of Los Angeles and Pittsburgh (the only inter-conference match up with the LEast on top) they have the same amount of points, but Pittsburgh has 1 (ONE) more win.
• The 3 seed in the LEast (Buffalo) wouldn't even have home ice advantage.

• The average point total for a Western conference playoff team is 104.125.
• The average point total for a LEastern conference playoff team is 98.25.
• Take Washington's 121 points out of the mix, and the remaining 7 teams in the LEast average 95.
• The West averages 102.86 points without their top team.(Well, it's actually 102.85714285714285714285714285714)
• 7 of 8 Western teams have 100+ points.
• 4 of 8 LEastern teams have 100+ points.

Quick Notes on the Calder Race

Does Yimmy Howard deserve the Calder despite having waited in the Wings' wings with a few impromptu appearances in the past few years? Does his age really make that much of a difference? Does playing for the Wings make him a long shot to win [the Calder, or Vezina, or Hart] this year? Just how good are the other front runners for the Calder?

I'm sure you've all kept an ear to the ground and have heard the mumblings about why Tyler Myers, John Tavares, or Matt Duchene deserve the award more than our beloved Yimmy. I don't need to re-hash it all for you. Here's all I'm going to bring to the table:

John Tavares: 1st overall pick (2009)
Matt Duchene: 3rd overall pick (2009)
Tyler Myers: 12th overall pick (2008)
Yimmy Howard: 64th overall pick (2003)

If you're going to disqualify MY guy for belonging to a team that didn't need him right away, who had the time afforded to him to refine his skills and wait until he was ready, then I'll disqualify all of your guys for being picked in the first half of the first round. Those guys are supposed to be good. That's why they get picked that high. Yimmy barely made it out of the second round of the draft. He was always a hit or miss kind of player. He was never expected to be the savior from day one. Instead, he ended up becoming one of the best goaltenders in the league, all the while doing it under conditions that still define him as a rookie.


To be eligible for the award, 

• a player cannot have played more than 25 games in any single preceding season (4 in 05-06,4 in 07-08,1 in 08-09.)
• nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons in any major professional league. (Only 5 total.)
• The player must not be older than 26 years before September 15 of the season in which he is eligible.  (25 years, 173 days)

Is he eligible? Yes.
Is he worthy? Yes.
Is he going to win?

I'll still be shocked if he does.

First Round Options

Now that the Red Wings are, without a doubt, IN the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, now comes the debate on who we should want to face and who we don't want to face.

• Chicago: So the Wings can't do any better than 5th place, because of tiebreakers with Phoenix and all that happy jazz. They're a lower seed. No home ice advantage. With that in mind, I personally kind of want to see little brother Chicago in the first round. If you can't win home ice, make it. I have no doubt that a game in Chicago will have more than enough Red Wings fans in the crowd to make some noise. Also, the Wings would probably want to come out and say, "Yeah, you won the conference, but we're still the team to beat 'round these parts." This year's Wings club went 2-2-1 with one game to be played against Chicago. Those 2 losses being shut outs back when the Griffins were playing in the NHL and the Wings were in the press boxes with suits on.

• San Jose: The Sharks' playoff inabilities are well known. Does that make them a pushover team? Not at all. The team is still scary in a 7 game series. Any team with noted Wings-killer Joe Thornton is not a good sight to see across the ice in a playoff game. The Sharks have been consistently good for the regular season, setting up base camp at the top of the conference year after year. However, this year the Red Wings went 3-0-1 against them, making them a pretty good match up for the first round.

• Phoenix: The Hamilton Coyotes are surprising everyone this year, not letting the 17,034 off-ice issues the past few years hamper them. Sitting pretty in a top-seed playoff position, they're one of the less favorable pairings possible for the Red Wings. A lot of people are calling them one of the scariest looking teams right now. They've got goaltending. They've got goal scorers getting hot. They've figured out what to do on the ice a lot more than they've figure it out off the ice. This year, the Wings went 2-0-2, which isn't bad, but let's not forget the debacle in late January where the Wings gave up a 2 goal lead with 1:30 left in the game to lose in OT.

•  Vancouver: I don't know what it is, but Vancouver always scares me. But then I remember THIS and everything's okay again. Luongo's not the goalie he was in Florida anymore, when the Wings would waltz in like they owned the place and get their asses handed to them on 40 different platters, one for every riconculous save he'd come up with. The Sedins are still there, as well as goal scorer extraordinaire Mikael Samuelsson. They have talent, but they just don't seem to come with it all the time. The Wings went 3-1-0 this year, with that one loss being the 6-3 loss right after the Olympic break.

No matter who the Wings end up seeing in the first round, Detroit's going to have to come out with a fire that hasn't been there in ages. When was the last time that they started the playoffs outside of JLA? They also need to make a statement early, letting the people who wrote them off earlier in the season know just how wrong they were and maybe they should stick to a sport like billiards, because they clearly don't know shit about hockey. And they need to outlast those bitches in black in white from the LEastern Conference, the Penguins.

This has been, and will continue to be a season to tell the grandkids about for the Red Wings Nation. The injuries, the inability to score goals, let alone win games mid-season, the post-Olympic March to Playoffs, and, of course, H2H.

Let's just hope it lasts until June again.

If you're interested in what the 2nd round 

pairings could look like, the Wings 

fared like this against the other 

teams looking at playoff spots:

NSH- 4-1-1
LA- 2-2-0
COL- 2-1-1
CAL- 2-2-0

Today is Easter.

Today, being Easter, is a time to reflect back to a man who died and what his death has given to all of us.

Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl died in 1990. That also happens to be the last time the Red Wings missed the playoffs. Is the spirit of Roald Dahl watching over the Red Wings, and aiding their way into the playoffs year after year? Did Roald Dahl even like hockey?
I don't know, but it sure as hell seems convincing to me.

Some other interesting factoids I've come up with

• Ever since Law and Order has been on the air, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.
• Ever since The Silence of the Lambs was released in theaters, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.
• Ever since Comedy Central's been in it's current format, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.
• Ever since Jamie Lynn Spears was born, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.
• Ever since Final Fantasy has been published and released for American consoles, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.
• Ever since Pee-wee's Playhouse has been OFF the air, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.

and perhaps my personal favorite...

• Ever since Stefanía Fernández was born, the Wings haven't missed the playoffs.

Who's that? Your reigning Miss Universe.
Also, since the Wings lost today, don't we get hot latinas anyways? Enjoy...

HAPPY EAVESTER

Happy Eavester, everyone!

Didn't We Do This LAST Week?!

So, it's been a week since I've followed any Red Wing game at all. It's been a crazy week, with things here in New River slowly crawling to a close. Soon, I'll be on a plane (or maybe just a bus) back up to Detroit for a month, where the shenanigans will come to a head.

Last week, the H2Hangover was nursed back to health(?) with the second game in as many nights against, well, the same team we're facing tonight.

Personally, I don't expect the same utterly boring/completely exciting game that we witnessed last week. Why? Some key differences I can think of this time around:

• REST -The Wings were playing the second half of back to back games when these to clubs went to the 11 round shoot out shut out win for the Wings. This go around, the Wings have had a day to rest their legs and I'm guessing Yimmy didn't have a birthday yesterday, either.
• ICE -That last game was in the Gaylord Center, where the ice was just about perfect if you're into pond hockey and shit like that. This game will be played in the good ol' JLA, where the ice is just about as good as you can get in the NHL.
• NO SLOTHS -I will be busy again tonight, trying to make up for last night, doing questionable things in questionable places with questionable people. Seriously, though, I'll be having another class function (just another excuse to drink) and unable to follow the game. Which means I can't lurk over at the WIM game thread and post pictures of sloths that may or may not have contributed to the lackluster opening 65 minutes of the game in Nashville.

Other than that, just refer to my last pregame post and change all the difference in your head. For instance, that "4 game win streak" is now "7 game win streak". And feel free to change all mentions of H2H and their hangovers to my class, after the epic night of drinking and hooliganism we had last night.

Detroit Anteaters Shut Out the Nashville Peckers

The first three periods went something like this:

The ice was bad, and I have to believe that the conditions altered the Wings' game plan. It was often described as a chess match, a waiting game, and it made for a very boring game. There were portions of the game over in the game thread on WIM that were just silent, There wasn't a whole lot to talk about. The goalies made amazing saves when they had to, but that kind of goes without saying, considering it was a 1-0 shoot out win. Obviously, if a game ends like that, the goalies were coming up big when they had to.

The shootout was insane. I didn't really have faith, considering our previous outings in the shoot out, AND the fact that we played last night. I thought the team didn't really stand a chance. When Bertuzzi scored, I hoped with everything I had that that would be the game winner. When Sullivan scored, I lost all hope. Momentum shifted, and I didn't think a tired Wings squad had what it took to come back.

Sometimes, I don't mind being wrong.

The shootout went for about 5 more months, and Babcock was running out of forwards to put out. Either that, or he knew that Kronner's been staying after practices and working on his shootout moves. I don't care which one it was, because he scored on his one and only career shootout attempt. And Yimmy came up with the stop he should have made about 435 shooters before and won the game.

So, in the past week, the Wings beat the Penguins, complete with Yimmy owning Rosby after he went after Zetterberg in the waning moments of the game. They beat their old goalie who had shut them out the last time they played each other. They had a scorgy against Minnesota with some very special audience members in attendance. Then they shut out a team above them in the standings in sub-par ice conditions on a huge game from Yimmy and improbable goals in the shootout.

If I'm any team in the top 8 in the conference, I'm not happy with what I'm seeing coming at me in red and white.

Update: Phoenix took care of Colorado so we at least have 7th place locked up. Dallas is beating LA 4-1 in the third, so it looks like 6th place might be safe, too.

Making Amends

Detroit Hangovers Vs. Nashville Bananas

 Refer to this picture.

Our beloved Wings are playing another game tonight after that amazing game they put together for the Herm to Hockeytown gang and Herm himself.

Let's hope they came out of last night feeling better than the crew from last night did.

The Wings have been having strong games against the Nanners this year, the last coming on March 5th when my very own Helm-based performance pledge accounted for 2 goals from him en route to the Wings' 3rd straight win against the Plantains this year.

Just in case the Wings need a little help getting up for this game, like the entire H2H crew this morning, here are a few things they can swish around their mouths... I'm sure it'll leave a bitter taste

• The Puddings are sitting just 2 points ahead of the Wings as of right... now. How much is a regulation win worth? 2 points. Oh, that makes things interesting.
• It's been mentioned that certain member of the Breads believes that certain members of our team doesn't deserve his full paycheck.
• Also, before that March 5th game, Dan Ellis said some things about Detroit as a city. I've been to Nashville, Dan. It's not all roses there, either. And you used to play in the GAYLORD Center.
• And my friend Jess lives in Trashville (How do YOU like it, Dan?), so my very own personal bragging rights are on the line tonight.

 The Wings are currently riding a season best and current league best 4 game win streak. They've been hot since the Olympic break, with Franzen, Filppula, and... and... Dammit! I love alliteration, but we don't have any other F players on our team. Anyways, Franzen, Filppula, and a FEW other players (Ah-HA!) have come back from that break with a whole new passion for the game. Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Datysuk and Holmstrom have been benefiting from being paired with them, because they probably wouldn't be as good without them, right?

Press box regular Jonathan Ericsson is riding a scoring streak of sorts, going one game with at least a goal and an assist. Can he keep up his sordid pace tonight? But seriously, the kid was a +4 last night and had a goal and an assist. That has to be good for the ego, a little bit.
Yimmy's playing again tonight. He better have celebrated his birthday the way most 26 year olds do on their birthdays, and by that I mean going to sleep directly after coming home from work to get ready for the day ahead.

Bertuzzi's been hot and cold lately, sometimes on the same damn shift. He's clearly benefiting from playing with Z and V, but he's clearly Bertuzzi, too. So there's not really much more we can expect from him.

The puck drops in a little under 2 hours. Hopefully the H2H crew will wake up by then. Sources claim there's a get together happening at somewhere, so I'll be expecting more pictures.

Go Wings.

For the Bloggers

This post is going to be all over the place. I don't have a real point or a direction I want to take it beyond the overall theme of what I want to say. But we'll get there.
I first started my personal Twitter page on April 27th of last year. I chose the user name EtchedInCold because it was something I've been using for years now on Facebook and MySpace, and other social networking sites. Those words, etched in cold, come from the lyrics of my favorite song, 198d by At the Drive-In. The chorus goes: "Walk away, born in hearts, etched in cold." That was it. My favorite song, from a somewhat obscure band, and nothing terribly cliche. So I latched on to it and made it synonymous with me. But it would lead to more than that, but that comes later in the story.
Anyways, back to Twitter. I tweeted occasionally throughout the playoffs, but mostly put my thoughts and rants onto Facebook. When the playoffs ended, it laid dormant for about 5 months because I had no one to really talk to, and therefore no reason to be on it.
But what happens in October? The new season started. And I was looking for people I could actually discuss hockey with besides the people that I was stationed with in Beaufort whose hockey expertice extended as far as their hometown loyalties allowed. I knew someone from Tampa saying that the Lightning were going to win the Cup this year. There were people from New York saying it was the Sabre's turn this year (a little more realistic, but clearly biased).
There were only 2 people I knew that not only liked, but followed the Wings. Mind you, they did not follow nearly as religiously as I did, they watched the games on NBC and Versus when they were showing a Red Wings game, but that was it. I was the only person watching every game online and following ESPN to see what the 'experts' were saying.
But as long as I've been reading the game recaps and the analysis of the team on ESPN, I've always felt it was lacking a certain something. Something I could relate to, something I could buy in to.
Passion.
It always seemed that the writers on ESPN, while no doubt knowledgable, were just too bland and too politically correct. They never said anything about "bullshit calls" or openly criticized the refs, coaches or players. They never struck me as real fans. Just people who got paid to write about the game without offending any one side, any demographic.
So I started looking into a more unmonitored conduit to get my news, analysis, and recaps from. The first site I stumbled upon was Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle. I loved the structured aspect to the site with the cookies and cupcakes and golden facepalm sections, along with the humor and personality that came through in the writing. It was definitely what I had been looking for, and pretty much needing. So after I read through a post on there, I looked at the other blogs listed on the page. I still have them all bookmarked in my favorites folder for Red Wings. I went from SS,DD to Babcock's Death Stare to Fight Night at the Joe to Hockeytown Static to Motown Wings to Nightmare on Helm Street to On The Wings to The Production Line to The Scrappy Octopus to The Triple Deke. In that order. And each one had it's own distinct voice and personality.
I had died and gone to a Red Wings blog heaven.
Eventually, I stopped bookmarking them because I realized that they all linked to each other, so I really only needed one to find my way to the others. But a lot of them also had links to their Twitter accounts. So there I was, thinking "Oh, hey, I have one of those Twitter things. Why not follow them?"
So I added. And I read. And I laughed. And I waited. I was admittedly afraid to jump into the conversations I saw happening on Twitter, because you all were just so good, so funny, and so close-knit that I thought I never stood a chance, that I'd never be taken seriously. (Little did I know at the time that nearly nothing is serious among you guys...)
I forget the circumstances behind it, but one day, I decided to say something, half expecting a "Yeah, okay, but who the fuck are you" type response. But it never came. I was immediately given a warm welcome into the little online community that was cropping up on Twitter. I was elated. I finally had people who shared my sense of humor, my taste in writing, and my love for the Red Wings. All in one place.
I used to have to deal with those cookie cutter game recaps they'd offer up on ESPN... Now, I've got jailsexing and movie posters and limericks and photoblogs and ladders to titties and beer and golden facepalms and (now) me singing Huey Lewis and the News in my bathroom.

I was ecstatic when I actually got credited on someone's blog for 'breaking' a story about someone being scratched from a game. To feel like these elite writers, these people I looked up to as bloggers, listened to me, was something big for me at the time.

Now, a little personal bit about me. I've always liked writing, and I've always been told that people like to read what I wrote.

So one day, I decided to give a little bit of Wings blogging a try. I couldnt think of a smart title that I felt would be both reflective of me as a person, but also my rookie attempt at blogging. But what was that line that I mentioned earlier? Etched in cold? Kind of like... skate blades and ice? Like... hockey? And At the Drive-In? DIBS.
So I had a title. Now all I needed was posts. I still feel that the best piece I've written was the first Wings and Sharks game back on my brutal little Tumblr site. (I should probably transfer those over here...) I don't know how many people actually read it there, or how many people even read what I say here. But for me, it's more of a release from the day I've had working as a Marine, to just emerge myself completely into my love for the Wings. I know my blog right now is a little halfassed and, well, lacking. Did you know that the Wings played the Blues this past week? It's not on my blog...
Things will change. Once I get somewhere that I can get a hardline internet connection to see the games and post my blogs, expect a complete overhaul of my site.

As I've always said, I've never expected to be considered at the same level as all those blogs I first stumbled upon so long ago. And I'll never expect to be mentioned during a Wings game and spur a record breaking scorgy. So I'm honored that you consider me a friend and an equal.

Thank you.

For the Tweeps

Last night was H2H. If you're reading this right now, you know what that means. And if you don't, you're probably reading the wrong blog.
I was reading The Original Rob's post over on TPL, and it got to me. Like, a tearing up in a public place surrounded by people kind of got to me. Let's not even talk about what happened when I read myself mentioned in that post.
As many -if not all- of you know, I am a Marine. If you didn't know THAT, you're still on the wrong blog. There are a few things that I've done that I'm proud of within the past few years. Finishing the Crucible in boot camp and actually spanning that gap from recruit to Marine is one of them.
Ranking above that, yes, above that, is just getting my dirty little fingers into this whole H2H movement. Being a part of it, spreading the word, just doing what I could do in my limited capacity, brings such a sense of purpose to the choices that have brought me here.
I feel like me joining the Marine Corps brought me into this crazy, dysfunctional, off-the-wall, -but so amazingly beautiful- little Red Wings internet community, and that's worth all the literal blood, sweat, and tears I've put into this.
And being in the Corps, I've been through 5 different bases, 5 different groups of people, 5 different jobs. In a little under 2 years. That doesn't leave a lot of room for consistancy. It doesn't leave a lot of room for making friends and lasting relationships.
However, no matter where I go, I have you guys to talk to. Not just about Bertuzzi's latest failed spin-o-rama and Jimmy for President of Space and all that stuff, but I can talk to you guys about things like my pay issues, my Achilles, crab rangoon, Jurassic Park and Marlboro Reds.
And it was instant. I started off just lurking around and reading your blogs and your collective tweets, afraid to speak up because you guys were so good and so close knit, I was in awe of the little community I'd stumbled upon. Eventually, I got the guts to send a tweet to one of you, half expecting some sort of "Oh, yeah, that's great, but who the fuck are you" response. (Now, keep in mind... Marine Corps. This was the equivalent of a Private going up to a Sergeant Major in my eyes.) Instead, it was a warm response. It was an "Oh, I hadn't heard that, thanks for sharing" or a "Yeah, you might be right about that". And I felt accepted. So I kept it up. I met more and more of you. And you all have become the family that I don't have here on the bases I'm stationed on.
There's also the added sense of belonging within the group because a lot of you are just like me, relocated out of Michigan for whatever reason it is, family, job, school, witness protection. But we had that same tie in to each other. As much as I'd really love to that that we all bleed red, it would just be silly, because we all really do bleed red. Damn.
You are all wonderful. Wonderful fans, wonderful minds, and wonderful people. Some of the smartest, wittiest, most clever (I really wish I could say 'cleverest') people I've known. I can be having a shitty day, and without even expecting it, reading one of your blogs or seeing some of your tweets or a couple comments can have me laughing and forgetting why I was in such a bad mood before.
And, of course, there are the games. In my Marine Corps career, I have only met 2 people who even cared about the Wings. One is from Ohio, and grew up BEFORE the Blue Jackets, so his loyalties remain in Red and White. The other is from the hockey mecca of Savannah, Georgia. But his mother was from Michigan, so he was bred into it. But neither of them were as die hard as I was, following every game on the internet like me.
So who was I going to talk to? Not only that, who was I going to talk to that actually knew what they were talking about and would make it fun?
I spent the majority of last season following on ESPN mobile. Every thing there was so bland and so PC that it got boring.
Now, I've got jailsexing and movie posters and limericks and photoblogs and ladders to titties and beer and golden facepalms and me singing Huey Lewis and the News in my bathroom.


This post is probably jumpy as hell. It probably lacks real structure or flow. But I'm just typing what I feel, as I feel it and as I think it. It's crude because it's honest. I could have just sat here and thought out what to say when and where to place it in the context of my other points to make and all that other stuff they taught when I was asleep in AP English. I don't really even have a closing paragraph prepared or anything (that THAT, Mr. Jackson!).

All I really want to say it that I appreciate everything you've done for me, everything that you do for me. Even the little things count. Hopefully next year, there will be another big shindig, and the Sad Face Group can show up and meet you all like so many people did this year.

I'm getting my paperwork ready now.
I have a feeling 2011 is going to be nuts.

The H2H Game

First, I'll address the game. In the first period, the Wild thought they had scored a goal. The puck was on the line for about 3 months until it was swept away. The play went to review, and the first thing I thought of was, "Welcome to Hockeytown, Herm. This is what it's come to these days." Luckily, the refs didn't bend us over the bench boards and have their way with us. The first period ended tied up at nuts.
The second was reminiscent of the Chicago game a while back. 4 goal blow out in the frame, with every kind of goal you can think of being scored. There was Homer's power play goal, there was (apparently) Ericsson's shorthanded goal, and there were even strength tallies. Diverse scoring. This is key, and it's something we expect from our Wings. And it's coming back.
Okay, yes; Frickin' Franzen had 2 goals, Pav scored, and Homer scored, and they're who we expect to score for us. That's not diverse. But like I just said, you can have 3 kinds of goals in this game of hockey. Man up, man down, or even. We got them all. Then we had Miller adding his goal in the 3rd. And shorthanded specialist (seriously, 25% of his goals are with someone in the box) Ericsson scoring. I like seeing this.
To be completely honest, I didn't really pay much attention to most of the 3rd period, I was mostly chatting it up with Sad Face Group Team Leaders and stalking the H2H tweeps online for pics and other things to give me something to pretend I was there.
I guess Yimmy gave up a flukey goal to make it 4-2, and for all of .00003 seconds, I was concerned about the game. If the Hockey Gods cursed us and threw this game to the Wild, I personally would have gone all Kratos on them and destroyed them all. Pandora's Box and all. But I really didn't see that happening. The Wild's first goal was a PP goal. And the second was a strange, improbable goal. There was nothing in the Minnesota game that was more than the Wings had been handling all night.

H2H Bar Tab

Date	Opponent	Result	Goal Money	Goal Differential Money	Grand Total
Mon, Mar 1	@Colorado	W 3-2	G = $6	+1 (+1 = $1)	$7
Wed, Mar 3	Vancouver	L 6-3	G = $6	-3 (-2 = $0)	$12
Fri, Mar 5	Nashville	W 2-5	G = $10	+3 (+1 = $1)	$23*
Sun, Mar 7	@Chicago	W 5-4	G = $10	+1 (+2 = $2)	$34
Tue, Mar 9	Calgary	L 4-2	G = $4	-2 (0 = $0)	$36
Thu, Mar 11	Minnesota	W 1-5	G = $10	+4 (+4 = $4)	$50
Sat, Mar 13	Buffalo	W 2-3	G = $6	+1 (+5 = $5)	$57*
Mon, Mar 15	@Calgary	W 2-1	G = $4	+1 (+6 = $6)	$62
Fri, Mar 19	@Edmonton	L 2-3	G = $4	-1 (+5 = $5)	$65*
Sat, Mar 20	@Vancouver	W 4-3	G = $8	+1 (+6 = $6)	$74
Mon, Mar 22	Pittsburgh	W 1-3	G = $6	+2 (+8=$8)	$82

Show Your Math

Judging from my trusty, dusty H2H Bar Tab post, I have myself slated for $82 in team performance pledges, $19 for Helm goals, and $10 for defenseman goals from below the circles. That comes to $111.

However, certain people who shall go unmentioned have notified me that the total adds up to only $106.

I blame Bertuzzi.


Also, in unrelated related news, as some of you already know, I've come across a little bit of financial hardships, with money not being paid due to paper trail screw ups related to my recent move from MCAS Beaufort to MCAS New River.
But I'm a man of my word, and the money will be donated. It just isn't going into the big mass donation.

Contingency Plan

I can't even begin to explain this right now.

But if things go bad at The Joe tomorrow night, THIS WILL HAPPEN!

You can ask Nick about it.

I Want a New Drug (For the Kiddies)

Never one to back down from a challenge, and always willing to do my part in earning money and pledges for H2H. So when the new challenge came over on Twitter, regarding TPL's Huey Lewis and The News themed post, who was I to say no?



Yeah.
That's me.
In my bathroom.
Singing Huey Lewis and The News.
For the kiddies.