11/12/09 Canucks at Red Wings

So the plan was to have a blog on NHL.com so I could rant or rave about the Red Wings and other teams I love, point out players who did great things and kvetch about those who go out of their way to try and hurt other players but alas! Every single meaningful blog post I tried to publish was lost. Maybe I took too much time to write it. Maybe I wrote too much. Maybe there's a flaw in the sites programming. Who knows? What I do know is that the posts were, out of necessity, rendered in short, terse bursts of me complaining that my posts were irretrievably lost while all my insights were wasted. Frustrating. So then I figured I could come to Blogger.com and make the posts there to re post here. I don't want to do it this way as my Blogger account is more about politics and private frustrations (you can check it out if you like: ) and I want to keep my love of hockey separated from my angst riddled tomes but what can a guy do? Until NHL.com fixes its broken system I'm stuck doing this for now. I started writing this at 9 AM yesterday and it's still here. But this is about hockey, not my bad luck. How about Pat Quinn's Edmonton Oilers, eh? He has transformed the team into legitimate playoff contenders and while there are a lot of games left, I say expect Edmonton to place 7th in the West. Another team that seems to have pulled it together is the Ottawa Senators, which I'm pleased to see after their last 2 miserable seasons. Do they make the playoffs? Too early to tell with all the great teams in the East but I predict they'll make quite an effort to get there where they could prove dangerous. Detroit continues to be an enigma. They looked like they had everything working well until their Toronto visit where their only highlight was Dan Cleary scoring his 100th goal as a Red Wing. Hooray! Dan Cleary is without question my favorite Wing. He earned his spot on the team and works hard all the time to justify that spot. Then they go to Columbus and look like supermen. Now they are slugging it out with an injury depleted Vancouver team; just like they are. Hooray Mason Raymond! You're on my fantasy teams. Let's go Red Wings! Ouch! 5-1 Philadelphia! I still stick by my prediction about Ottawa. Maybe because I lived in Ottawa county here in Michigan? Maybe because I learned to love Hockey while in Canada and have a Canadian team bias?? Ah well. Just you guys wait. The Maple Leafs are slowly starting to pull it together. Hehe, give me some time and I'll have them making the playoffs too! The Devil's on the road are unstoppable! Ah! This NHL Centre Ice package kicks ass! 4-3 Thrashers over Rangers. Are you kidding me?? When did Atlanta become a threat?? Awesome. The Thrashers needed a good season. Playoff bound? Nah! But what do I know? The Thrashers in the playoffs would be awesome but highly questionable. Can the Thrashers hold their lead?? We'll know in 4 odd minutes. Back to Detroit. 1-1 in t6he 3rd. Jimmie Howard continues to impress. The next Terry Sawchuck? Are you joking?? Yeah, but a damn good second to Osgood. Hoooray! Another successful Detroit PK. Now what fellas? Can you make this a win before OT?? We'll see. The Devils are spanking the Penguins. Ach! The arch-nemesis. Do we dare pray for Detroit-Pittsburgh round 3??? Let's go Red Wings!! I know Bertuzzi will always be remembered for The Hit but wouldn't it be wonderful if Bertuzzi becomes remembered for The Goal?? ACK! The Thrashers are coming to town! Can we win it? You bet! Will we? That remains to be seen. Hooray Zetterberg! Are you kidding me?? Ack! Great job Hank! 2-1 Detroit with 11 and a half to go. Can we beat Vancouver again?? We'll see! Let's go Red Wings! Wings win! Wings win!! Watch out NHL, we're back for the attack! Okay the 3 stars of the game: 1) Jimmie Howard for outstanding goal tending 2) Mason Raymond for the only Vancouver goal and 3) Hank "why aren't you Ryan Getzlaf?" Zetterberg for scoring the game winner. Before I jet I have to wonder what is happening with the St. Louis Blues. They should be rocking the West with their strong, physical game play but instead they are slumping badly. Sure, it's early in the season and there's plenty of time to correct this but it seems as though the team as a whole just isn't giving their best effort. I get that it's hard to be up for every regular season game but the Blues are going to have to find some way to bring consistent intensity to each game before they find themselves in the same situation Nashville (another underachieving team) was in last year: 9th in the West. D'oh! Time for St. Louis to pull it together is NOW.