WINGS WIN!! WINGS WIN!!

BEST HOCKEY TEAM EVER!!!!!!

now that is an awesome shot. love it.

more amazing pictures...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

I really enjoyed these finals. I think the Pens really brought it, and they hit a higher level than they ever did during the season. Their D was supposed to be their weakness, but they were damn impressive, top to bottom. No shame in the way they performed. My only regret is that they couldn't quite get it to game 7, even though they came unbelievably close in the closing seconds.

The Pens played a very young/inexperienced game in the best sense: what carried them was their spastic energy. If they can keep the core of this group together, they're going to be contenders for a long time to come.

But Detroit was unstoppable. They have been since the start of the season -- other than a remarkably bad February, they were playing at this level all year long. Even if you're a Pens fan, you have to appreciate the way they played.

No love lost here for the Pens or Sydney (dirty sanchez) Crosby. But the Penguins played competitive hockey with a lot of heart.

Hats off.

The weird thing, is that my impression of certain detroit players definitely took a step back. rafalski? jesus. he was atrocious in the finals. I wouldn't say that Lidstrom was horrible, but he definitely wasn't any bobby orr. hall of fame? maybe but he's not even as good as ray bourque.

no one mentions detroit's other defensemen, who I think are a huge reason for their winning the cup. I have always thought you win the cup with your 3-6 defensemen, 7-12 forwards and your goalie. If they play well, you have a good shot. If they disappear, then your superstars are exposed and have no support.


osgood should have won the smythe. zetterberg wasn't even detroit's best forward:datsyuk.

regardless, both of those players are complete players. how many times did I see them dish out a punishing hit, make a great defensive play, win a 50-50 puck, create an offensive opportunity, etc. I can only think of one thing to criticize and that is for all their chances to score, they don't seem to do it enough. One thing detroit needs is a better finisher like they had with hull. They could even split these two up, (since they are puck handler/passer types) put holmstrom on one line, franzen on the other and put a sniper on both lines and holy crap...

This post season, seemed like an aberration. it was a physical playoffs, but nothing like years past, when it really is a war of attrition. you began to see it a bit in the conference finals, but all four teams seemed relatively healthy.

many thought the best team didn't even make it out of the first round: anaheim. the ducks never got their season going and when the playoffs came, they weren't ready. I wouldn't be surprised if anaheim makes a bigger play next year.

despite detroit's age, they are positioned to win a few more cups. I thought osgood was good, lucky, and got the support of his defensemen. seems like all a goalie needs to do in the playoffs, is not let in any soft goals and occasionally steal one. consistency is key.

I don't think fleury was anything amazing, but he wasn't bad either. it is rare when a finals goalie isn't even in the consideration for the smythe. shit, osgood was barely a mention. that right there is another clue about the weirdness of this post season.

madlee wrote:rafalski? jesus. he was atrocious in the finals.

This just doesn't compute.

He scored 2 goals in the last two games, the first of which would've been the game winner had it stood 35 more seconds. 2 Assists ain't too bad, and -1 is hardly "atrocious." That he managed about 25 TOI a game should suggest that he's quite reliable. You suggest as much later in your post when you credit Osgood's success to his defensemen. Also, do remember that before that 3OT game, the Pens had hardly shown up in the series.

While he wasn't as good as he was in the first three series, he wasn't atrocious. He was a reliable defenseman, especially for such a little dude against a big team.

I dunno. These playoffs, especially the finals left me a little dry. Somewhere on these boards--this thread probably--I admitted to shedding a tear when seeing the Cup get skated around, even if it's a team I wanted to see fail, e.g., Anaheim, Carolina, Tampa, or Dallas. I didn't this year. Maybe it was because NBC cut away too soon and their presentation just lacked that of the old ESPN ones of the 90s and when I was a tyke, or maybe it's like you said Madlee, there just wasn't the attrition.

Meh. I'm growing colder on the NHL as we see the league change the game into the NBA on ice with rules that are overly stilted toward offense (how could Rafalski not be +/-1 against a team like Pittsburgh when there's no whistle for a two line pass, goalies can't play the puck, and what used to pass for backchecking is now obstruction?). The league overexpanded and thought it could deliver like the NFL, NBA, or MLB. But hockey is a niche thing for esoterics, not passing fans. Add to that that players switch teams more and more--Paul Kariya, 4 teams in 5 years; Pronger 3 in 4; and guys you once associated so much with one franchise playing in absurd places like Foote in Columbus and Forsberg in Nashville, and I'm even less interested. Before this new salary cap, it was great I thought. You had the Wings, Avs, Stars, NJ and a few other teams like St. Louis seemingly always in the mix. That's fine with me. Even though I came out pulling for the Avs and Devils because of the insufferability of macho, redneck Stars fans, and clinical coldness of Scotty Bowman's Wings, and the futility of my native Rangers, I came to respect and admire the others because of their ability to always remain competitive. I fully expect Atlanta or perhaps Laredo to be in contention for the President's Trophy next year.

Props to Ken Holland for managing to keep a franchise more or less dynastic throughout this ridiculous realignment.

madlee wrote:The weird thing, is that my impression of certain detroit players definitely took a step back. rafalski? jesus. he was atrocious in the finals. I wouldn't say that Lidstrom was horrible, but he definitely wasn't any bobby orr. hall of fame? maybe but he's not even as good as ray bourque.

no one mentions detroit's other defensemen, who I think are a huge reason for their winning the cup. I have always thought you win the cup with your 3-6 defensemen, 7-12 forwards and your goalie. If they play well, you have a good shot. If they disappear, then your superstars are exposed and have no support.


osgood should have won the smythe. zetterberg wasn't even detroit's best forward:datsyuk.

regardless, both of those players are complete players. how many times did I see them dish out a punishing hit, make a great defensive play, win a 50-50 puck, create an offensive opportunity, etc. I can only think of one thing to criticize and that is for all their chances to score, they don't seem to do it enough. One thing detroit needs is a better finisher like they had with hull. They could even split these two up, (since they are puck handler/passer types) put holmstrom on one line, franzen on the other and put a sniper on both lines and holy crap...

This post season, seemed like an aberration. it was a physical playoffs, but nothing like years past, when it really is a war of attrition. you began to see it a bit in the conference finals, but all four teams seemed relatively healthy.

many thought the best team didn't even make it out of the first round: anaheim. the ducks never got their season going and when the playoffs came, they weren't ready. I wouldn't be surprised if anaheim makes a bigger play next year.

despite detroit's age, they are positioned to win a few more cups. I thought osgood was good, lucky, and got the support of his defensemen. seems like all a goalie needs to do in the playoffs, is not let in any soft goals and occasionally steal one. consistency is key.

I don't think fleury was anything amazing, but he wasn't bad either. it is rare when a finals goalie isn't even in the consideration for the smythe. shit, osgood was barely a mention. that right there is another clue about the weirdness of this post season.

I gotta disagree on the Lidstrom and Zetterberg points. Lidstrom has consistently been the best player on some very good Red Wings teams for over 10 years now. Maybe this finals was not his finest moment but he is absolutely hall of fame material, and someone I would take over Ray Bourque in a heartbeat. As for Zetterberg, I think he earned that trophy with the way he played defense. This was the Wing's go to matchup against Crosby the whole series and he did a fantastic job. Those shifts on the 5 on 3 penalty kills alone made him a contender for the trophy.

Dominik Hasek (lower right in the goalie pads) flipping the English bird. Of course that could mean the number two, for his second Cup. At age 43, it is probably his last. Dallas Drake wins his first at 39.

A case could be made for this Wings team being one of the best ever. And they look poised to dominate for at least a few more years. The rest of the Central Division can only hope for second place for a while.

The Penguins have a challenge in keeping the team together, with quite a few free agents this year and Malkin and Staal facing free agency in a year.

The Penguins fans in the Igloo graciously and politely stayed to watch the Wings skate around with the cup. In Philly they probably would have been throwing batteries.

Maybe I'm wrong about the bourque v. lidstrom thing, but lidstrom really looked like he was struggling in his own zone, esp. against malone and even crosby.

I guess there is a reason why they stick zetterberg out there for 5 on 3. They did a great job.

I remember one of rafalski's goals being deflected off of a penguin shin pad. I guess for the 20 odd shots that are thrown on net from the point, you get lucky sometimes. If there is a garbage goal in hockey, it's an unintentional deflection. stinks like crap.

I think the officiating really fucked up the playoffs. too many calls, too many power plays determining the result of the game. For some reason it was like a stealth version of the shoot-out making its way into regulation time. NHL, stop it! of course, with the increased tv market, they will pat themselves on the back and think they did something right.

personally, I thought the tv sucked. how many times, did nbc cut into a zoomed in shot of the play, and miss some part of the action? they also always cut away when "something" happened away from the play and they never showed you replays of questionable calls. Fuck this george bush administration style of hockey. the officials were having their own little gitmo out there on the ice and tv media went along with it. There were a couple times, when I heard the announcers question a call early in the playoffs, go to a commercial during which they obviously get reprimanded by someone in charge and after the commercial do the apologist bullshit. "oh, we got to see a different angle, but we're not going to show it to you."


anyone think the stanley cup hand off sequence was odd? shit, I think it went through about 10 players before it got to holmstrom, datsyuk, osgood, franzen, and perhaps zetterberg.

truth is, if any one of those players were not on this team, they wouldn't have won. I can't say that for anybody else on the team. cleary? maltby? draper? rafalski? lidstrom?

all those guys were average. it was the "supporting" cast that played well. guys like lilja, kronwell, stuart, lebda, hudler, samuelsson, filppula and helm.


re: pittsburgh, despite all the thoughts about hossa going, sounds like pittsburgh is trying to keep him. They shouldn't worry about letting malone go, but keeping orpik should be a priorty too. I think I'd take orpik over hossa.