Avs fans over at Mile High Hockey seem to love putting pictures into their comment threads.  So let's hit the lowlights...

And for good measure:

I need more things to chop!

by xskatebakerrx on Mar 1, 2010 8:30 AM EST

Actually, this was actually some decent work with the numbers here.  I'm not snooty enough to snub some decent art work just because it's aimed at my team.  Nice work, loser!

THE BURGUNDY BRIGADE... because we can!!!
"What do the Detroit Red Wings and the Titanic have in common?
They both look good until they hit the ice!"
Visit> http://www.bronxbaseballdaily.com/

by SportsDalaiLama on Mar 1, 2010 9:13 AM EST

Notice how early in the morning these people start talking smack.  And I can't help but feel like they just might be done by high school kids or people with an equivalent education level.

Not interested

Wings win 3-2 (in regulation...yeah, baby, yeah!)

I had to miss a good chunk of the game last night, unfortunately.  I had my own game to play with a 10:00 PM start time, therefore I set my DVR to record the parts that I was going to miss.

Well I did in fact, get to watch most of the third period...unfortunately, it was from the Urgent Care waiting room.  My first shift into last night's game saw a wayward puck from the blue line blast me right in the chin.  It's always a terrible feeling to put your hand to your face only to pull it back and see it dripping with blood.

I skated directly to the bench, grabbed the locker room key, headed off the ice to the dressing room, got changed and drove myself to the ER.  Of course, everyone and their brother was twisting ankles, dropping things on their feet, and falling out of bulldozers, and of course all of these things trump the guy sitting there bleeding from the face.

Well, at least I got to watch the last half of the third period live.  I probably sat in that waiting room for a good hour and a half before they finally called me back.  When I finally got on the doctor's table, it was only about another 30 minutes of waiting (luckily, South Park was on) before the doctor came in fix me up.  I got home around 1:30 AM seven stitches heavier than when I left for my game.

The good news is that Detroit won, they moved up into 8th spot in the Western Conference and the H2H fund grew because of the goals that were scored.  The bad news is that I'm $6 dollars for said charitable contributions, my chin is looking pretty rough, and my fiance is PO'd big time.

Stitches come off in 5 days...then it's time for a whole lot of cocoa butter.  I was going to post a pic of my injury...but I don't really think you guys care to see it.

Babcock woke up, drank some milk with a fist full of tylenol and Khan(!) has decided to join the rest of the world...

Here are your forwards...

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Cleary-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi
Miller-Filppula-Williams
Draper-Helm-Eaves

That is a beautful thing.  Here is what the defense MIGHT look like...

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lilja
Lebda and Meech healthy scratches.

That is also a beautiful thing.  But, there's a chance that Rafalski might get the night off considering the fact that he's played 3 games in the past five days.  Should Raf and Babbles decide to sit the Olympics' best defenseman, the pairings will look like this...

Lidstrom-Kronwall
Ericsson-Stuart
Lebda-Lilja
Rafaslski and Meech scratched.

Jimmy gets the start as expected.  Now that the Olympic debate is a dead issue, we can really start pressing for Jimmah to win him that Calder.  The campaign resumes tonight.

Petrella over at the Production Line threw down the gauntlet with a dramatic post title, A Call to H2H/TPL Action.

Well, I have answered the call.

But here's the background on what's going on...

For every Red Wings goal from now until we get on the plane, Rob and I will donate $2 to the fund. In addition, we'd LOVE to have some of our loyal, awesome, jailsexed readers volunteer to match our donations for each game (or all of them, if you're feeling super generous).

I've decided to match that $2 per goal for every game from tonight until the March 26th meeting.  Before granting us our sainthood, remember that the Wings are only scoring 2.54 goals per game right now. Which means that in the 12 games leading up to the H2H game against Pinky's Wild, I should be out about $60.

Hey, I'm supposed to be saving up for my wedding...so cut me a break.

If anyone else is feeling generous and wants to spice up the next 12 games, click on the TPL link at the top or sidebar and help out.

This morning I said that the month of March is and always will be a frustrating one.  And the breaking news from Detroit's beat writers since that post...

..........................

What the hell?  Zero line up notes for the day up until this point?  You guys do realize that the Wings play tonight right?

Do we rest Rafalski?

Who sits for Lilja?  Lebda?  Meech?

Throw us a fricking bone here.

From the Detroit Free Press...

The Wings should, for the first time since the third game of the season, be entirely healthy, though Dan Cleary left practice early after taking a puck to his right foot. Cleary said he didn't think it was serious. Trainer Piet Van Zant expects Cleary to play tonight. Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk were not at practice because both had been given permission by Holland to meet the team in Denver on Sunday, as were the Olympians still active over the weekend. And tonight marks the return of Andreas Lilja after spending a year recovering from a concussion.

Let me correct the Free Press by saying that Detroit has NEVER been fully healthy this year...not once.  And that doesn't even include the Andreas Lilja saga.  Remember when The Namesake hurt his shoulder in training camp?  Remember that?  He didn't play in Sweden, nor did he play in the home opener against Chicago.  Therefore, before Helm could return, Franzen went down and thus, tonight's game could be won't be the very first time all year that we have a completely healthy roster, because I, like the Free Press, forgot about Kirk Maltby already, poor Kirk.  And it's time to start winning...

"Now everyone looks like they are back healthy.  So now there is not much more speaking to do -- we just have to get out there and get winning."--Nik Kronwall

Amen, brother.

Via Herm's twitter: Wings in March since the lockout: 36-10-9 (73.6% of points). I'll take it.

I don't know if the little Brazillian can back that up, but I trust him.

Philly2Philly - This game was not just a showcase for Canada, but a showcase for the NHL....The Olympics are another great vehicle for the NHL to showcase their product, which has easily surpassed the NBA in quality.  The NBA is close to becoming irrelevant, much like the NHL years ago.

NBC.com - There is no better way to showcase the game's best players, not just internationally, but to domestic audiences. The U.S. team's run to the gold-medal game will boost the sport more than anything the NHL can hope to do.

The argument that shutting down the league for two weeks so players can compete for their countries is bad for business can't still be made. Just ask the American audience that tuned in for this game, and can now name players (and even teams!) they didn't know existed. It sounds insane to suggest that the 46 NHL players on these rosters could have better served the league by playing in a regular season game while college players battled for Olympic gold.

Yahoo Olympics - The game of hockey won.

This was a game for the ages, and so, a great day for our sport. I’ve played in a couple of Stanley Cup championship games in which the crowds were loud, but they take a backseat to the noise level inside Canada Hockey Place on the final day of these Winter Olympics. Even if you’re a casual fan, you no doubt watched every minute of this riveting game.

The Associated Press - These were the best Winter Games ever. Just not in the way most of us expected.

What were the odds that two teams of mercenary, millionaire pros from the U.S. and Canada would breathe new life into those hopelessly romantic words that helped revive the modern Olympics more than a century ago? The ones about how competing honorably was even more important than winning?

But they made it happen.

Albany Times - Canada wasn't the winner, hockey was. I know people who never would watch a hockey game who tuned in, just because it figured to be an event. Canada and the U.S. delivered with a game for the ages.

In the 67 minutes and 40 seconds before Crosby beat Miller for the game winner, the winner was hockey. And if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman doesn’t allow his league’s player to participate in 2014, he should be impeached — or forced to play goalie without equipment.

Alabama Live - The US team may have lost gold, but may have brought hockey back.

When was the last time the most compelling sports event of the day in this country was a hockey game?

The sport seems to have gotten at least one new fan...President Barack Obama reportedly watched the game from the White House, hoping to win a bet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

This decision to continue in the Olympics is too important for all sports fans to let a bumbling idiot like Gary Bettman make it.

While we're waiting for the diggers to wake up from their Olympic slumber, let's see what David from Mile High Hockey had to say about tonight's match-up...

As this marquee match-up is the only game on the NHL slate tonight, the ramifications are rather simple for both clubs. If the Avs get at least a point, they will move ahead of Vancouver to the top of the Northwest Division, jumping from 6th to 3rd in the conference. If Detroit gets a win (a point is not enough), they'll jump from 10th in the West to that all-important 8th position.

Look at those Baby Avs go.  I still can't beleive this team is so far up in the standings.  But, a regulation win for the Wings will indeed put us in back in the top eight, and only 6 points behind this very same Colorado team.

Of course, because of a bunch of suits, DirecTV customers like myself will have to either skip the game or find an illegal stream (I'll be going for the latter, thanks). This is the last regular season game the Avs are slated to play on the NHL's black hole broadcast network. I'm not ready to start thinking about what happens if this petty bullshit isn't resolved by the time the playoffs start...

David is, of course, speaking about the VS network.

March is usually a frustrating month for the die-hard hockey fans.  Despite all of the fierce battles for the play-offs that will be going on pretty much throughout the entire NHL, you will be completely saturated with college basketball throughout the entire month.

ESPN hits the peak of its uselessness in the month of March.  They're so giddy over basketball it sickens me.  Get ready for the redundant lay-up, dunk, three pointer replay sequence...you will be seeing it over and over and over and over and over and over again.

This March is going to be abnormally frustrating for the fans of the Detroit Red Wings, as we will all be clamoring for NHL coverage...and we will always come up still thirsty for more.  Oh VS will try, but how could that possibly be enough?  The answer is simple - it won't be.  ESPN will provide just enough coverage to make you angry and the NHL network just doesn't have enough original programming to do the job.

For the first time in a long time, Detroit starts this March outside of a play-off spot.  This will, one way or another, be one of the most significant "Marches" in recent Red Wings history.

It starts tonight, where what I assume is an emotionally and physically exhausted Brian Rafalski will head into the Pepsi Center where the Wings will take on the Avs.  Don't give me that crap about Paul Stastny being tired too, Colorado.  What did he do for team USA?  But I digress...

Get ready for a disasterous or otherwise glorious month of March, Red Wings fans.  And prepare yourself for frustration. 

"Did you fill out your bracket yet?"

No.

Great game. Congrats to Canada on keeping their sovereignty. A win by USA would make them the offical 51st state.

It's amazing how this tourny has changed my mind on a quite a few players on Team USA.

• Zach Parise - As good as anyone in the NHL.  Period.
  
  
• Ryan Miller - The best tender in the league.  I wish he woulda punched the interviewer in the face after the game. 
  
  
• David Backes - Love him now.  What a nickname.  (This of course is pending the Wings playing against him in the playoffs, am sure I will hate him sometime in the future.)
  
  
• Tim Gleason - Before the tourney, I wouldn't have been able to tell you a single thing about him.  I can tell you that he's a defenseman from Michigan now.  And he's not bad.
  
  
• Jack MF Johnson - Threw a bodycheck at least five seconds after the whistle today.  Awesome.  MF'ing awesome.
  
  
• Dustin Brown - Skates hard as hell towards the net, solid solid player. I'm scared of the Kings, it is offical.
  
  
• Raffy - Dude, awesome Olympics.  Keep doing what you're doing for the Wings now.  Please.
  
  
• Patrick Kane - Still don't like him, at all.  Back to hating him. 
  
  
• Jamie Langenbrunner - Always thought he was a blend in second liner in the show.  Well he might be, but he's an awesome captain.
  
• Bobby Ryan - Finally, a Duck that I won't hate with everything in my soul.

Finally....

• Ryan Kesler - The Livonia native will now always be close to my heart.  He said he hates Canada and plays in Canada.  How awesome is that.

Great tourney - USA has a bright future ahead of it, no question. And a great day for hockey.  I don't know how many status updates I've seen of people who have never watched a hockey game before, but loved the entire game other than the final score.  Take note Gary, you bitch.

Wings vs. Avs tomorrow!