Well, my plane leaves in just a few short hours.  This will be my very first Christmas out of the state of Michigan as I'm flying out to sunny Arizona to be with the girlfriend's family.

And thus, I won't be able to post much before the game tonight...even more disappointing is the fact that I won't be able to watch it.  But alas, my Red Wings tour will already hit an all-time record for different venues for seeing the team play in...three.  On January 2nd, Jessie from Bingo Bango, Sullyosis of A2Y's 19, and myself will all be in attendance as the Wings take on the 'Yotes in the desert.

If there are any other Wings fans out there in the desert who are going to make it to the game, shoot me an e-mail ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) and maybe I'll give you the details of where Sully, Jess, and I will be meeting up before the game.

Hopefully, Chris will be able to contribute a little more than he has recently, and I should still be able to post while down in the desert.  But, if for some unforeseen circumstance, I don't get a chance to say this over my vacation (returning to MI on 1/4), I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday season.  Thanks for everything in 2009.

Well, I'm trying to get a feel for what you people do and do not respond to.  It's been pretty hit or miss thus far...

Vote for who wins the CHI/SJ game last night...0 comments

Ask if we should boo Hossa or not... 11 comments

And yesterday, in my boredom, I decided to try and play around with some crude Paint features and put the face from the NOHS banner onto The Namesake's face in some actual photos.  Then I asked if anyone else could do better and if so, to send them to me.  Well as of today, I've only received one single response.  I don't know how much of Clint's work day yesterday was dedicated to answering my call, but the results are pretty fantastic...

Subtle...but sweet.

So I'd like to take this time to thank Clint publicly for taking time out of this day to make this lowly, un-credentialed, no-access blogger happy.  If I can get a few more out of you people, maybe I'll start using reader submitted gems like this on a rotation for the main banner.

Well I asked and many of you responded.  Should we boo Hossa tonight when he makes his return to the Joe wearing the jersey of our most hated enemy?  Most say 'No'.  Well, according to Khan(!), the Red Wings agree with you:

“I hope he gets cheered.  Hossa was a big part of our team. He played hard, he was well-respected by the guys in the room and by the coaching staff and by our fans.”--Mike Babcock

“Hoss came in and gave it his all last year, he played well for us.  There’s no hard feelings and I don’t think the fans should have any. He’s still one of our good friends in here.”--Brett Lebda

“Hoss was a great teammate and a great guy. He walked away from a lot of money and some long-term deals to come here and win the Stanley Cup, and unfortunately we came up one game short.”--Kris Draper

Cheers might be pushing it, Mike...especially considering his lack of scoring in all but three games during the play-offs and NONE in the seven game finale.  Brett should be worried about whether or not he is getting booed the way he's been playing and Drapes did his usually diplomat PC jargin (just don't forget to shake his hand).

Now I'm all for feeling superior to Chicago and Pittsburgh fans...but I'm not so sure I couldn't bring myself to let the man know what I feel about him if I was going to be in attendance tonight.  Like I said in one of the original NOHS posts that he could have went almost anywhere else and I wouldn't hate him. 

There's still a lot of heart surrounding the Detroit Red Wings.  Despite a disappointing start to the season and an economy that's as bad as it's ever been...the Detroit Red Wings continue to be Detroit's beacon of hope.  Here's a great story from the Free Press that I think was worth noting...

Members of a recreational hockey team in Taylor helped create a special day for children and spouses of military personnel killed in active duty, with help from the Detroit Red Wings.  The children and their families watched the Wings practice at Joe Louis Arena, then toured the team’s locker room. Wings forward Justin Abdelkader stopped to take a photo with the children after practice.

Here's what Babcock had to say about the experience...

“It’s great to have them down.  The sacrifice that so many Americans do for all the world so we can be in a free, democratic society is absolutely fantastic. And everything I have in my life and my family is because of those things. A little thing like this is nothing but a way to say thanks and put some smiles on those kids' faces.“

What a guy.  And what a great thing to do for some families who have befallen tragedy.  You read stories like this, and about how we're trying to bring Herm to Hockeytown, and it just simply amazes me what good can come about in such times.

Detroit rocks.  Enough said.

Anyone who hasn't heard of The Obstructed View, you need to click that link and check it out.  This week, with the Chief from A2Y, Malik from Snapshots, and Jessie from Bingo Bango (links are in the Wings Blogroll) join Chris from Motown Wings.  They discuss things from goaltending, to the Herm to Hockeytown movement, and just before the hour mark of the broadcast, the Chief makes a strong suggestion: Don't.Boo.Hossa.

"We have an oppurtunity to really separate ourselves from the d***head Penguins fan and not boo him with every touch of the puck"

Boo the Blackhawks?  Yes.  Boo Marian Hossa?  Chief says 'No'.  We all pretty much knew it was going to be Franzen or Hossa, and Ken Holland made that choice.

So do we treat Hossa as ingraciously as we have Sergei Federov over the years?

Here's another "Who would you rather see win this game?"...

A.  San Jose -keep those bandwagon bums in check

B.  Chicago - no one better vote for this or you better have a sound reason for doing so

C. Who cares?  As long as it doesn't go into overtime

D.  I'm only concerned about Detroit making the play-offs right now

Khan(!) provides us with what should be the lines for tomorrow's game at the Joe.  Sadly, I will in all liklihood, miss the entire game while flying down to Phoenix... 

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Leino-Abdelkader-Miller
Draper-Helm-Eaves

Ritola-Filppula*** (Maltby and May working in)

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Lebda-Stuart
Meech-Janik

Howard (starting)
Osgood

***Hold your horses, ladies.  Wally won't be playing tomorrow, but here's your silver lining:

Filppula practiced hard, competed in all the drills and said he feels good. But he's not playing Wednesday, for sure. So Draper probably will move to center. Perhaps Ritola will play with Helm and Eaves, Draper with Maltby and May.

Ritola, Helm, and Eaves on line three and a new Grind Line for the fourth line?  I kind of like the idea...though breaking up the "Little Red Corvette" line has me feeling a little uneasy.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Here are a few statistical tidbits provided by Detroit News...

One = Shorthanded goals allowed by the Red Wings.  They lead all NHL teams in this department.

Philadelphia is worst in the NHL with 6 SHA.  Now, I’m guessing many of you thought that our number would be worse than this at the start of the season with Jason Williams manning the blue line on the second power-play unit.  Well even though he’s been injured with a broken leg, the time that J-Willz did spend on the PP was much improved from his first stint.  It will be nice to have him and the others back out there as strong second option to the Flying Circus.

25:01= how much the time The Perfect Human spends on the ice (average) each game. King Lidas is eighth in the NHL.

His on-ice numbers were down when the number of healthy core defensemen was up.  Now with the loss of Kronwall and Ericsson, it’s no surprise that the aging superstar is seeing an increase in minutes.  Hopefully, #55 and #52 will return and let St. Nick get some rest.  We don’t want him worn out come play-off time should he choose to participate in Vancouver for Team Sweden.

231 = The number of games won by Detroit with Mike Babcock behind the bench as coach.

This ranks him fifth on Detroit’s all-time list.  A few fans were ready to jump down his throat during the start of this regular season when the team struggled.  Now, they seem to be backing off, if only because the injuries provide a sufficient excuse for cutting him some slack.  He was smart not to spur the horse too hard last season when they hit their slump, can he motivate the team through the hardships and keep Detroit’s play-off appearance streak alive?

33.333% = Percent that Joe Louis Arena makes up of NHL venues without corporate names.

Only the two New York arenas, Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum have remained along with Joe Louis Arena.  As discussed several weeks ago, people are open to the idea of a new rink, though it may be at least five years away.

Like my sis always claims when drawing her stick people, "I'm no artist".  Nor do I have photoshop capabilities while at work.  But in an ever-present struggle to be doing something during such a dead week at work, I thought it would be fun to play around with some pics of The Namesake and quotes from Freddy Krueger.  Here's what I came up with...

"I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy."

"Might be your dream, but it's my RULES!"

"You wanna know the secret of pain? If you just stop feeling it, you can start using it."

"What's with kids today, huh? No respect. "

If anyone can do better, go ahead and shoot us an e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ...I know there's photoshop buffs out there.  I'd love to see what you guys can do over the holidays.

Thanks to our Seafood friends from San Jose beating Dallas 4-2 last night, Detroit is still currently occupying a play-off spot...

The Red Wings have 4 games at or near home before embarking on another grinding West Coast trip.  Tomorrow we play bandwagon favorite Chicago, and then a home and home against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets before facing the Avalanche at home. 

Hopefully, by the time the team heads to Phoenix on the second day of 2010, we'll have Filppula, Zetterberg, Cleary, and maybe even Williams back in the lineup.  Until then, it's point-preservation mode.  Anything we get with the lineup we're icing is a bonus.

How sweet would it taste to steal one from the "high and mighty" Blackhawks tomorrow?  That would shut up all the bandwagon buffoons and send them back scurrying under the fridge.