Motor City Sports Blog » Stanley Cup Finals

It’s all over … Penguins take the Cup on our ice

admin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:29:14 +0000

It’s been a long season and yet if we could have had another 10 minutes or so … maybe it would have been different.

The Red Wings were stoned by Marc Andre Fleury and the crossbar, and they came up short against the wunderkind of the NHL, Sidney Crosby and his Russian buddy-in-uncalled-penalties Evgeni Malkin.

Yes, Malkin’s first goal should have been whistled down for icing. But it was clear at some point in the second period in Game 6 that the Wings were simply out of gas.

Call it fatigue, call it injuries, call it fatigue and injuries, the fact is that it takes 16 wins to take the Stanley Cup home to Sweden for the Summer. The Wings could only manage 15 wins this playoff season.

No Joe Vision? Can we blame that on Bettman too?

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:56:18 +0000

We’ve got another casualty in 2009’s War on Everything Detroit, and this time it has nothing to do with the auto industry.

For the first time in more than 15 seasons, fans of the Red Wings will not be able to watch a Red Wings playoff game at Joe Louis Arena, a tradition that’s been named “Joe Vision.”

It’s all because the Red Wings couldn’t obtain rights to broadcast the game.

The Detroit Free Press reports a rumor that the NHL’s request to NBC (Nothin’ But Crosby) and CBC was the reason the Wings couldn’t obtain the rights.

Sad, sad news indeed.

Yahoo! Sports comments on the joke that has become the NHL rules committee

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:37:13 +0000

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports makes some good points about how the NHL’s decision to give a pass to last-minute-instigator Evgeni Malkin makes a joke of the league’s rules and undermines the credibility of the rule makers.

NHL uses only rules that are convenient – NHL – Yahoo! Sports

Two down, two to go. Wings need one more win to put the penguins on the brink.

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:47:29 +0000

I think it’s notable that the NBC and NHL Network suits find it necessary to continually pump up the value of Sidney Crosby and last-minute-puncher Evgeni Malkin. Their memes (bouncy boards, lucky rookies) suggests that the Wings are nothing more than an underclass team who’s getting lucky against the best two hockey players in history. What they ignore is that the Wings have a plan that works and they’ve drafted (and occasionally signed) talented players who will fit into our system. IMHO, the real meme of the first two games of this series should be a discussion of how this kind of system builds team well-suited for playoff success.

OK, that’s enough ranting from me. Justin Abdelkader continues to stand out as the surprise story of this year’s playoffs and Goalie Chris Osgood has got to be a Conn Smythe candidate at this point.

Anyway, here’s a link to Mitch Albom’s column covering Sunday night’s Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals.
With a pair of 3-1 thrillers, Wings halfway to 12th Cup | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Wings get the win in game one, everyone talks about the Joe’s boards

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:55:20 +0000

I’ll update more during tonight’s game, but the one thing that’s been driving me crazy about the coverage from last night’s game is the obsession that the sportswriters have had with the boards at the Joe.

Boards frustrate Pens as pucks bounce Wings’ way – NHL – Yahoo! Sports