And The Cup Is Back Home Once Again
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Last nite the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 with another scary 30 second finish to win the Stanley Cup. The last minute was stressful, the puck was down in Wings territory and Osgood had to do his best to keep the puck out of the net. With seconds left Osgood goes down and is swiping the puck away and one last shot goes off behind him. It didn't go in but I swear time stopped, or that was my heart because it was almost a repeat of Monday nite. On the replay you actually got to see what really happened, the clock was at zero and although the shot was behind Osgood, it never went across the line and just out the other side. If there had been a couple seconds left on the clock and a Pittsburgh player on the right of Osgood, we might not be celebrating.
The parade will be in downtown Detroit tomorrow morning but I doubt I will go. I was downtown for the parade in '98 and I think I'm content with that experience.
Way to go Wings, great season and thanks for bringing some good news to Detroit for a change
Posted by mardenhill 6/05/2008 08:43:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Red Wings
Game 5 Tonight
Monday, June 02, 2008
The Wings are up 3-1 in the Stanley Cup Finals and tonight could be the last came of the season. If so it would mark 4 cups in 11 years. Besides that the Wings have been in the playoffs for 17 years straight.
This is a different team than the last few cups, no more Federov, Yzerman, Shanahan, Russian 5 and Bowman. On the other hand, the quiet players who stayed Lidstrom, Draper, Maltby, McCarty (just back this year), Osgood (gone for a few years but back as well), Chelios and Holmstrom have kept the team alive and the new blood gives longevity to the team. It should be a good nite and who knows maybe all of us will be celebrating tonight/tomorrow morning.
Update: Yeah I spoke too soon, the Wings lost in a Triple OT game. The Penguins scored with 35 seconds left in the 3rd and after that it was downhill. I can't say for sure since I went to bed after the 1st OT but I didn't expect a celebration.
Posted by mardenhill 6/02/2008 06:18:00 PM 2 comments
Labels: Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings Jersey
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Since the 90s when the Wings won the Stanley Cup in '97 and '98 the city of Detroit has used the Spirit Of Detroit as the model for team jerseys. Over the years the Spirit has hosted the Pistons, Shock and Tigers, sorry no Lions as of yet. Anyways the Spirit statue is undergoing some renovations so the jersey was moved to the large Tiger statue outside of Comerica Park. After work I headed down Woodward to the stadium and snapped a few photos of the jersey for my livingroom wall. I am torn as to what statue I like better, the Spirit was the original choice but this one is pretty cool. If you get a chance head downtown to grab some photos, who knows how long it will be up.........
Posted by mardenhill 5/28/2008 08:43:00 AM 0 comments
Detroit Advances
Friday, May 02, 2008
Both the Pistons and Wings have advanced to the next round of playoffs in their respective sports. The Wings swept the Colorado Avalanche while on the road with an amazing 8-2 win led by Johan Franzen who had a hat trick last nite and leads the team with goals scored in the playoffs at 11. I have to admit I didn't watch either game last nite but just reading the highlights I can tell that both would have been fun to see. In Colorado's defense, a good chunk of their team have been on the disabled list and Forsberg had just a few shifts in game 3 before going out again. Either way, the Wings dominated a team that in the past have been very difficult to take on. Moving onto the Pistons, they finished up the series with a 100-77 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. This Saturday the Pistons start round 2 against the Orlando Magic.
Not to be outdone, the Tigers swept the New York Yankees in a 3 game series while on the road. Now that Granderson is back in the lineup, the Tigers are ready to go and have done a great job climbing out of the funk they started the year off in.
Posted by mardenhill 5/02/2008 08:17:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Detroit, Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers
Red Wings Game 1
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Red Wings won last nite 3-1 to take the lead in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don't want to write too much about the Wings since I am scared to death that the elusive President's trophy win this year will sink the team like it has done in the past. On the other hand, the Tigers are limping thru the start of the season and maybe this will be the ying to their yang and balance out the wins. Now I will give the Tigers credit, they won the other nite but then lost last nite 12-6. April is always a great month for sports in Detroit. You have the Tigers starting and the Wings and Pistons are always in the playoffs.
Posted by mardenhill 4/11/2008 01:33:00 PM 0 comments
Playoff Blues
Sunday, June 03, 2007
First it was the Red Wings now the Pistons. Both teams made it to the 3rd round of their respective playoffs and lost. Both teams beat by ones viewed as inferior. Now its time to look back at our own players, which ones should stay and which should go. Both the Wings and Pistons had some great wins but collapsed the same way leaving the city bruised and broken. For the Wings it was the first time without the old guard and the Pistons were intact except for one.
I would like to thank both teams for a great playoff season and all the exciting games over the last two months. But the ride has come to an end and its time to switch gears and cheer our beloved Tigers on to another World Series appearance. BTW, the Tigers did beat the Cleveland Indians yesterday to give some credibility back to our city.
Posted by mardenhill 6/03/2007 01:48:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Detroit, Pistons, Red Wings
Wings Advance
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Wings and Ducks split four games during the regular season, each winning twice at home. I didn't stay up to watch the game but to my defense the channel on Wow cable broadcasting wouldn't come in. Neither FSN or ESPN had the game on so it was on OLN. Unfortunately its another west coast team the Wings will be playing so more late nite games. I will admit, I wasn't sure if the Wings were going to pull off their series, San Jose always scored 1st and it looked like we were playing catch up til the end of the game. 2 rounds down, 2 more to go. In other Detroit news, the Pistons won last nite and lead the series against Chicago 2-0. Just imagine if the Wings and the Pistons both made it to the playoffs, would they have to alternate the jersey on the Spirit of Detroit or would they do a split jersey. I can't be the only one contemplating this puzzle. UPDATE: Well it looks like I have a JACKASS at my office who likes to leave anonymous attacks (could it be NASIR, Mr. I love Kenny G, he's so dreamy). I wrote the post before I had some coffee and the statement should have been "Just imagine if the Wings and the Pistons both made it to the finals".... Hey Nasir you can't hide from Sitemeter..... UPDATE 2: It wasn't Nasir but he is usually the culprit. This time it came from someone who uses IE 7 and has a screen resolution of 1440x900 and that would be none other than Joe. But Joe needed a bit of help since he couldn't even name a Red Wing player and that came from Jim......
The Wings advance to face the Anaheim Ducks for the conference championship. The first game of the series is at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Joe Louis Arena. Game 2 is Sunday at JLA, also at 7:30 p.m., before the series shifts to Anaheim.
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Posted by mardenhill 5/08/2007 07:42:00 AM 3 comments
Labels: Red Wings
Red Wings Advance
Monday, April 23, 2007
It took 2 OTs but the Wings beat the Flames last nite 2-1 to advance out of the 1st round of playoffs. This series was a brutal one, you had cheap shots galore including a backup goalie's suspension and fine. Game 5 had the backup coming in and within a minute tomahawk chopped a Red Wing and was ejected. I didn't stay up for the game last nite, I went to bed just hoping for the best since I spent the weekend digging up the yard for the new patio and was dead tired.
In other Detroit sports news, the Tigers won game 3 against the Chicago White Sox but lost the first 2. The Pistons won their 1st playoff game.
Posted by mardenhill 4/23/2007 10:42:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Detroit, Red Wings, Sports
New Stadium?
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The rumors have been around for a while so the notion of a new Detroit Red Wings stadium is not new. The location isn't new either but the lastest move by the Ilitch family leads many to believe its a done deal. According to the Free Press, Olympia Development received a grant to demolish a vacant building behind the Fox Theatre. For those of you not familiar with the area, the proposed site is a couple blocks behind the Fox Theatre off of Woodward. Comerica Park and Ford Field would be within walking distance since they are directly across the street from the Fox. That would put all 3 stadiums on the east side of I75 and all in a row. Right now its only open parking lots and if the stadium went up, multiple structures would need to be built.
Don't forget the new casios, MGM is building a new hotel/casino and Motorcity is adding a hotel tower. These should be completed either late this year or next. Lots of things going on in Detroit, lets hope they keep it up.....
Posted by mardenhill 4/05/2007 10:23:00 AM 0 comments
Yzerman's Number Retired
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Shot From The Game Tonight
Tonight Steve Yzerman's number 19 was retired at Joe Louis Arena and a banner was raised to commemorate our hometown hero. Yzerman joined the Detroit Red Wings in 1983 and by '86 was the youngest franchise captain. 20 years later, Steve retired as a player and served as the longest running captain in NHL history. Within those 23 years (22 if you count the lockout), Steve lead the Wings to 3 Stanley Cup championships in 1997, 1998 and once again in 2002. He also did something else unheard of these days, started and finished his career with just one team. Steve is now working the front offices and will remain with the team in whatever fashion for as long as he desires.I would like to thank my friend Jen who is at the game tonight for emailing me the picture of the number being raised. You gotta love technology, within minutes I had shots of the action from someone in attendence.
Posted by mardenhill 1/02/2007 08:17:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Red Wings
Red Wings
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Last nite we went to the Detroit Red Wings game where they played San Jose Sharks and won 2-1. Hasek was in goal and over all it was a good game. San Jose took the lead early but the Wings picked it up late in the game. It was wierd to see Lidstrom with the "C" on the jersey but Yzerman has retired and its time to move on. Draper has an "A" which I was suprised to see. I have a Draper jersey from back in the day, it was one of those buys that worked out since my other jersey is Shanahan is gone this year. Now onto tonight, lets hope we don't get another rain delay and that the Tigers even the series......
Posted by mardenhill 10/26/2006 07:14:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Red Wings
Third Times A Charm
Monday, September 11, 2006
Hasek, 41, signed a 1-year contract with a base salary of $500,000 and loaded with incentives. Hasek missed the second half of last season and the playoffs while with the Ottawa Senators because of a groin injury. Hasek said he is injury free now. "I don't feel any problems on or off the ice," Hasek said. "I hope it's going to stay like that the whole year." ...................................................... We just let Shanahan and Yzerman go, I thought we were going to start again with younger players, but I guess not. So its Hasek back AGAIN, for the 3rd time. Lets hope he doesn't go out on injury the first week of the season. What is going on with the Wings, are they addicted to geezers who just want to retire under one of the original six?
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060911/UPDATE/609110398
Posted by mardenhill 9/11/2006 03:15:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Red Wings
2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Here we go again, Hasak is back for a 3rd time, lets hope he can actually play and not sit out the whole season. What is going on, there were rumors on Cujo 41 years old and now Hasak who is also 41. Are we building a team to compete in the senior olympics here? I thought we got it out of our system when we passed on Cujo and that we would be rebuilding the team with players who are a wee bit younger. Bowman is gone, the 90s are gone and so should the "retire with the wings mentality". We have been the catch-all for any player ready to cash out but wanting to play 1 more year in an original 6 jersey. This has got to stop. Hasak retired after giving us our last cup which was his choice. He got in some trouble back home and fled to the wings to avoid the law. We took him back then he sat out most of the season. I don't see this playing out too well and Detroit getting burned once again.......At least we have the Tigers now.
Posted by mardenhill 8/01/2006 08:43:00 AM 1 comments
Labels: Red Wings
First Yzerman, Then Ben Wallace, Now Shanahan
Monday, July 10, 2006
Brandan Shanahan has left Detroit and is heading to the New York Rangers. He spent the last decade here and helped win 3 Stanley Cups, he will be missed. Detroit fans need to let go of the past and move on with a younger team who can rebuild and bring the cup back home. As much as we like our veteran players, we need to let them go. Yzerman marked an end of an era for the team and now its time to start a new one. Below are some quotes from the Free Press article.
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"It was just a growing instinct," he said via phone from his summer home in Massachusetts. "As great as the future is in Detroit, I think I belonged a little more to its great past."
"I guess I felt my group was leaving, our era is kind of over," he said. "I think it's better to walk out the door than to have it opened for you and, you know" -- he chuckled -- "they grab you by the scruff of the neck and throw you out."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006607100370
Posted by mardenhill 7/10/2006 05:22:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Red Wings
News Flash: Yzerman To Retire Today At 1PM?
Monday, July 03, 2006
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060703/NEWS99/60703001
Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman most likely will announce his retirement this afternoon at 1 p.m. during a news conference at Joe Louis Arena. Team owner Mike Ilitch will attend, a strong indication that Yzerman's decision is to hang up his skates rather than to return for a 23rd NHL season.
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This will be a sad day if Steve does indeed retire but he has served our city well. He gave us 3 Stanley Cups and some of the best hockey ever played. Steve would be a loss to the team and a hard person to replace. He is our local hero, bigger than Eminem and Kid Rock in some circles. But the time has come, He is 41 and has a list of nagging injuries. As much as Detroit fans want their players to stay forever, we cannot have a team of 40 year olds and expect to win the cup. We need to move on and bring in younger talent. Thanks Steve for all your hard work, we would have never turned the Dead Wings into the Red Wings without you. Screw the "Great One", you deserve that title more than him.
Posted by mardenhill 7/03/2006 10:54:00 AM 2 comments
Labels: Red Wings
