So, hockey...

[ampdead]

Went a scant 4 pages back in the thread list, and didn't find anything about the upcoming NHL season. If I missed it, apologies.

So, anyway. There's only one sport, one league, and one team I care about. The Detroit Red Wings - the team with, arguably, the best organization in all of sports, the team with fans everywhere as a result of the Michigan Diaspora (as opposed to mere, and only bandwagonism). The NHL team with two of the best two-way players in the league right now, with, arguably, the second best defenseman in league history, a team with it's very own Charlie Bucket (who would rather play than fully heal from his face being broken, no less). And, of course, the team that now employs Todd Stillwoozi and, er, Jason Williams.

No idea what our goaltending will look like this year, though.

[djones520]

We've still got Osgood, and he'll be plenty solid enough to test the grounds with our other new goalies to see how well they do.

I'm optimistic about our chances this year. It'll be amazing to see a third year match up with the Penguins again. :D

[Rockntractor]

Went a scant 4 pages back in the thread list, and didn't find anything about the upcoming NHL season. If I missed it, apologies.

So, anyway. There's only one sport, one league, and one team I care about. The Detroit Red Wings - the team with, arguably, the best organization in all of sports, the team with fans everywhere as a result of the Michigan Diaspora (as opposed to mere, and only bandwagonism). The NHL team with two of the best two-way players in the league right now, with, arguably, the second best defenseman in league history, a team with it's very own Charlie Bucket (who would rather play than fully heal from his face being broken, no less). And, of course, the team that now employs Todd Stillwoozi and, er, Jason Williams.

No idea what our goaltending will look like this year, though.

I haven't followed hockey since I left Minnesota in 1980.

[djones520]

Your loss Rock. Only true sport out there. Not like that football shit. Illegal contact when a guy puts his hands on someone else. WTF is that?

[Rockntractor]

Your loss Rock. Only true sport out there. Not like that football shit. Illegal contact when a guy puts his hands on someone else. WTF is that?

I just looked up the north stars, They are no more there is a different team up there!

[djones520]

I just looked up the north stars, They are no more there is a different team up there!

Yeah... the Wild isn't the best team in the world to root for. :p You can always go for the Wings though. :D

[ampdead]

We've still got Osgood, and he'll be plenty solid enough to test the grounds with our other new goalies to see how well they do.

I'm optimistic about our chances this year. It'll be amazing to see a third year match up with the Penguins again. :D

We do, but, eh, we've still got Ozzie. It cuts both ways with him. Need I remind you of February of the season before last? No, I thought not :(

Plus, he doesn't really have a back-up this year. We don't have Hasek (if you read certain things: Our Miracle of Insanity). We don't have Conklin, either.

I'm more than optimistic about our non-goalie issue, though - even with Stillwoozi and Williams. Our depth is, well, unfathomable - especially when you include the Griffins. I'm eager to see Helm play a full season, for one. Hell, I'm eager to see Abbadabbado as an actual Wing, and he's only a couple of years out of MSU (and won't be an actual Wing for some time if history is any guide, I know). Aside from that, it'll be rather interesting to see what Lids and Kronner can teach Eric Sonoffreighttrain. Perfect positioning and the ability to lay people out? Genius.

But - and there is always a but - I'd really rather not see a Wings/Pens match-up again. I'd actually prefer to see Z & D go up against, say, Ovechkin. I am tired of seeing that whiny priss of a so-called hockey player made Face of the NHL.

[djones520]

Who cares about February? He came back and shut everyone of his critics up. Everyones allowed to have a down period. He's got my full support and I have little doubt that he'll do another great job this year.

Not having Conklin does kinda suck. He was a great back up. But I doubt that we would have picked up a bunch of new guys who couldn't handle a puck.

I didn't mind Crosby to much. Hated Malkin though. He drove me nuts.

[ampdead]

I just looked up the north stars, They are no more there is a different team up there!

No team in Q-bert-ville anymore, either. They moved to the AssCan - deep in the heart of mountain country.

[ampdead]

Who cares about February? He came back and shut everyone of his critics up. Everyones allowed to have a down period. He's got my full support and I have little doubt that he'll do another great job this year.

Not having Conklin does kinda suck. He was a great back up. But I doubt that we would have picked up a bunch of new guys who couldn't handle a puck.

I didn't mind Crosby to much. Hated Malkin though. He drove me nuts.

Actually, Hasek came back - from retirement (twice). Don't misread me, though. I like Ozzie. I admire Ozzie. I'll argue that guy should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame until he's actually put there (or I die - whichever comes first). It isn't not having Conklin that bothers me, though. It's the lack of any back-up who can match (or come close to) Ozzie (at his best) when Ozzie succumbs to one of his overwhelming melancholy moods. Plus, he's, well, aging. He just doesn't have the staying power of, say, a Hasek.

Granted, too, being a goalie for Detroit is not an easy job. You put any goalie in that position, and he'll likely, at some point, turn into mush. Detroit's a puck-handling team par excellence. The goalie is merely a backstop - sorta like the federal government being the ultimate backstop for really bad loans (i.e. doesn't work out so well when the shit actually hits the fan). But enough of politics - since we all know the NHL has nothing to do with poli.....

Ahem.

About Lil G's Baby Boy. Screw that pissant. Personally, I like Malkin - he's a good hockey player. He may annoy me at times - namely, when he's turning My Team into knots - but he is a good player. Baby Boy is just that. 2008, man: The Kill. Z turned Baby Boy into a clown. Perhaps I am taking my fandom a bit too far, but it's the two-way players that get me. Z & D are nothing but that - so was, say, The Captain. Baby Boy is only decent when he's on offense and, especially, when he's on a power play. Z took a Pen's 3-5, and turned it into a scoring chance for the Wings. And Baby Boy sobbed. Because he's a hack. And he damned well knows it, too.

Still. The Kid could be a good player. I grant him that. He's young. He's been turned into The Face of the Brand Spankin' New NHL. No one's got the stomach for that sort of burden - least of all some kid just learning the ropes. Crosby is a Greek Tragedy of the first order.

I still can't stand him, though.