Regarding the Jersey retiring debate...

written by Twig, March 17, 2010

Awesome...

(Replace goalie with bathroom.)

No, the title wasn't referring to Lil' Gary Bettman's favorite team, with his golden boy, Cindy Crysob (or Rosby, since he doesn't deserve his "C"), the Pittsburgh Penguins, who face Detroit next Monday.

The title was referring to the team that Gary owns, the Phoenix Coyotes.  After the Sushi put up a stinker in Dallas last night, the 'Yotes are liking their chances of actually catching the Sharks and Hawks down the stretch and securing the #1 seed in the West.  But such a hypothetical epic run would not be without its consequences, according to the "Commissioner" of Bleacher Report...

The only concern I have with the Coyotes is if they get the number one seed, they may have to face the Detroit Red Wings, one of the last teams they may wanna face. Although, with Henrik Zetterberg looking a little shaky since they Olympics and the Red Wings coming into the playoffs with a rookie goaltender, I like the Coyotes chances of making some noise in the playoffs.

Zetterberg looking a little shaky since the Olympics, eh?  Whatever you say pal.  You're a little late to the dance and the tune about Zetterberg's play changed a long time ago, but thanks for playing.

I suppose that even if Zetterberg has a little shaky play, they wouldn't have to worry about guys like Datsyuk and Franzen....because ya know, Zetterberg a little shaky = Detroit sucks.

Wait, why are we even talking about this? (Beat ya to it, Garth)  No way Phoenix gets the top spot in the West.  Not.Gonna.Happen.

And if they did, that play-off party would be shorter than San Jose's President's Trophy Extravaganza from last season.

Via castanet.net...

The Wings will practice Wednesday and Thursday at Prospera Place beginning at 11 a.m.  The public is welcome to attend both practices. Doors open at 10 a.m. both days.  Admission is a donation to the Kelowna Community Food Bank.

Well...that tells us that we're about three hours away from hearing anything from our beat writers.  Still, it's nice of the Wings to open the doors for the people of Kelowna.  They've been dying to see some world-class hockey in the area.

It's also good to know that they'll be on the ice the next two days in an effort to fight against "cooling off" on the heels of their big win on Monday...thank you very much, NHL schedule-maker.  Seriously, how much sense does it make to have three days in between games, and then play three games in four days?

Who's running this place anyway?  Oh....right.

...and it wasn't pretty for Detroit score-watchers.

Score watching sucks.

Phoenix is still doing astoundingly well.  They're pretty much un-catchable for the the Wings, but they don't have a prayer of getting higher than a 4th seed.

St. Louis has dropped two in a row and though they are looking like less of a threat, Colorado is going to be harder to catch because of this.

We covered the Nashville/Philly game earlier...thank you, Leastern Conference.

Edmonton is no threat so we would like them to win every game in which they aren't playing Detroit.

Dallas has taken themselves pretty well out of the game, and it's always nice to see San Jose fall apart...even before the play-offs.

Tavares goes off on Vancouver for 5 frickin' points.  Nice job, kid.

The luck of the Irish certainly wasn't with us yesterday in terms of finding some help in catching the Nashville Predators.

Philadelphia's back-up turned starter, Michael Leighton suffered a high ankle sprain, which lead to 3rd string Brian Boucher getting in between the pipes for the Flyers.  I have to feel a small kinship towards to Flyers through our common enemy, the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Even though they have Pronger on their team, you can bet your bottom dollar that every man, woman, and child that loves the Flyers will be cheering for Detroit on Monday just as they have the past two Stanley Cup Finals.

Nashville has lost only one game since we defeated them back on March 5th.  They just keep winning and thus, we have to keep winning as well.  Bottom line.

Anyway, Red Wings game tonight means all of you can feel free to celebrate today as you see fit.  The streets of many major US cities will be filled with green-colored vomit by early tomorrow morning.  Me?  I'll stick with Guinness, but that's all I usually ever drink anyway.

***moved to the top as discussions continue***

Chris brought up the possibility of Holmstrom's #96 hanging from the rafters one day.  You guys started a pretty good discussion and threw out a few more potential candidates.  I'd like to keep the discussion going.  Here's a visual aid that I threw together...

Crude as usual, I know.  But how does seeing these in particular make you feel?  Who would you pick to go up instead at this point?  We already know Lidas is going skyward, so don't bother pointing that out...

Normally, this is where I would do a "Kick 'Em When They're Down" segment in which I would find comments left behind on Calgary blogs.  But since this isn't normal times, I figured we'd go and see what Bubba fans had to say about Detroit closing in on them.  These comments provided to us by On the Forecheck...

Hate both teams, but have to go for Calgary here. Oh the hilarity if we make it in and DET doesn’t!!

by Chris Burton on Mar 15, 2010 7:02 PM EDT

Ha.

Wow I never would have imagined that a Red Wings goal could make me jump up and celebrate… that was way too close to a three-pointer.

by PredHead on Mar 16, 2010 12:02 AM EDT

Hey buddy, don't you think you're putting a little too much emphasis on the three point game?  I simply can't imagine ever cheering for a team that has historically owned my team, just because it didn't go into OT.  A little confidence issue?  I think so.

Well the wrong team scored at the end... but at least it ended in regulation

by Michaeltastic on Mar 16, 2010 12:10 AM EDT

This guy at least recognizes that the more dangerous team pulled it off.

With that Wings win we now have an 85% chance of making the playoffs. That’s pretty awesome.

by Aditya T (smashville) on Mar 16, 2010 12:25 AM EDT

I'd like to see the math work done to come to that conclusion.

Hey gang,

Sorry I'm late to the party today.  I went and skated at Joe Louis this morning for the first time in weeks and then I had a conference call as soon as I got to the office.  It's been a busy past 12 hours for me, with a men's league game at 10 PM last night, coming straight home to catch the third period and our glorious victory, only to wake up about 5 hours later to drive downtown, play hockey, shower and drive all the way back to work just in time to catch my meeting.

But what a glorious victory we had last night.  There isn't one other player in the world that can do what Tomas Holmstrom does.  He learned a lot from Dino, but in generations to come, #96 will always be regarded as the best there is, the best there was, and probably the best there ever will be.

That's not what I'd normally call a beautiful thing, but damn it feels good to have some breathing room.  The Wings don't play again until Friday, and I'd be shocked if Osgood doesn't get the start against the lowly Edmonton Oilers considering the back-to-back games this weekend.  Start Ozzie on Friday, play Jimmy on Saturday to get him ready for the Penguins on Monday.

Let's keep this train rolling.

Most people would probably say right now it is this guy...

(Sick Uni's)

And those people wouldn't be wrong.

But you gotta wonder where the Wings would be without this fellow right now.

(Best picture ever)

The answer is probably not in playoffs.

Great game, all around.

Go Wings!

(On another note...does the Chipmunk get his number retired in Detroit when his body finally implodes in front of the net?  I have never thought of it before, but he's been something special for the Wings, and has a skill that noone in the history of the league has been better at, including #22.  Just saying.)

The Calgary Herald says that Zetterberg is struggling with inconsistency.  Well with this installment of the pre-game movie poster, here's what I have to say...

March 15th: Detroit Red Wings @ Calgary Flames

Don't believe me?  Just check out his stats over the past 5 games...

Nevermind the static between the Chicago and Minnesota game...nothing must have happened in there.  There's nothing wrong with computer monitor, do not attempt to adjust the picture.

Just like Denzel on Marc Anthony...tonight is payback time.