Breathe Red Wing fans, Breathe. And smile. Most importantly, remember this:
By and large your Detroit Red Wings have been flawless in the playoffs.
So far.
The Red Machine truly has been nearly flawlessly rolling through some great and some overrated teams, always finding ways to beat the hot goalies, adjust when losing 4-5 key players, adjust to another team's brutal, crushing game. Guys like Ozzie, Helm, Cleary and Hossa stepping up time and time again when needed the most. There are no single superstars on this Red Wing team, I can say something absolutely fantastic about each and every Red Wing who has played in these 2009 playoffs.
Wings have overcome every obstacle in the road- injuries, sickness, hot goalies, young whippersnappers, thugs. Every player switching roles, adjusting their game, playing nearly every position.
As I sat own to write, a myriad of topics ran through my head. Here are the things that struck me in this Game 5 win.
Game 5 “Curse”- crushed
“Game 5 Curse.” Dear Detractors: Suck it ESPN and Mr. LeBrun, and while you’re at it, touch the Prince of Wales Cup too and ask Pierre McGuire to show you the Money. Respectfully yours, Juice in LA.
Seriously, is that the best you could do to generate controversy? Maybe it was an unspoken given in the professional community that the Wings would win this series, and the guy was trying to generate controversy. And while any good Wings fan knows you never take anything for granted. NOT even when your AHL team beats your confy final opponent 6-1 on a Sunday Afternoon, I can't help but feel either nobody had anything insightful or relevant to say, or ESPN has a moron for an editor who said "hey, let's make a big deal of the only flaw we can find."
I actually kind of like that: The idea that the only flaw anyone can find in these Red Wings is that they have occassionally dropped a Game 5.
Appendicitis, LBI and Dehydration, oh my!
What is more amazing than winning a trip to the Stanley Cup finals two years running? How about doing it without your three best players, or without your 4 best players? Wings won this
Not even appendicitis can stop the Winged Wheel Rolling.
Grand Rapid Griffins Beat
Road to Second Straight
Our Winged future played magnificently this week. Called up from
Jonathan Ericsson and Darren Helm have been important not only to this confy finals series, but have also been solid contributors throughout the playoffs. I am thrilled and amazed. I continually find myself looking toward next fall –beyond stoked to see these kids make their NHL “opening day debuts” in the regular season. Wow. The talent coming up through the Detroit system is as exciting as any line we have on ice.
No Star Shines Brighter than Another on this Impossibly Talented Team
What is actually amazing me this playoff season is that there isn’t a single Wing that isn’t working hard and smart and giving it their all, leaving it all out on the ice every damn game. I honestly cannot say a bad thing about a single Wing. In fact, if I praised everyone, I’d be saying the same damn things over and over. I can’t pick a single player who deserves more praise than anyone else. That said, there are a couple supernovas who deserve some extra attention:
Helm Yes!
Oh Darren, it was during last year’s playoffs that the Hudded Helm line first caught my eye, your chemistry with Huds is phenomenal and I found myself making “mini-me eurotwin” comparisions. I was crushed when we held you back in GR for the regular season- I am DYING to see you and No. 26 on a line together for 80 games. But Wow what a playoff season you are having. Nobody played like Helmer tonight. He was as fast as Drapes, puck handled like Pasha and scored like the Mule….Darren was everywhere, making plays happen, working harder than anyone, and getting some sweet, sweet goals. Speaking of which…
I can see Cleary now, the ice chips are gone.
Danny. Sham-Wow! Earlier this year when you stepped up for Homer while he was injured and seamlessly morphed your game into my favorite “Homer’s Butt Was Not in the Crease” stylee, I was completely impressed. And the clutch plays and goals in the WC and other key games???? Well they don’t go unnoticed either. But here you are a year after your first Cup back in the thick of the playoffs being asked to do it all, and you are delivering the goods. Your game has come so far, your play has evolved so that you are an incredibly complete player. You do it all, I have been saying this all season, “The hardest working man in Ice-Biz”.
Who can make a sunrise? Force a quick turnover?The Candyman can.
Earlier in the Year I wrote a blog about Z’s contract and what it meant for the Wings Salary Cap and re-signing Hossa. I received some praise for that blog, and someone in Red told me my analysis was dead on accurate. They also asked me what I’d do about Sammy, Mikael Samuelsson. I panicked upon seeing the question. I simply said “For as many fits as he gives me, he produces in the clutch.”
Sammy is always producing clutch goals and game winners, making very (very) important plays at key moments. He also turns the damn puck over and sends a pass across Ozzie’s crease when opposition players swarm. In short, Sammie gives me fits and makes me love him madly. Or he did before these finals.
Now I see a player that has matured incredibly, and whose unusual style of play has settled so that the mistakes are almost non-existent, but the passing and quirky style of shot and play is becoming flawless and turns opposing teams on their heads.
In Short, Sammy I love you, love your game, I want you on this team after July 1, you are incredible and I adore you. You are nailing it for us, and it has not gone unnoticed.
Eurotwins- Making the Plays that Make the Plays better.
Aw Z, you are everywhere on the ice, working and leading and setting the bar. Finding ways to get around smothering defense and if you aren’t putting it on net, your drawing all the defenders so someone else can.
And Pasha, you haven’t been on the ice in a week, but trust me, we all know you are out there too like BASF: making the plays that make the plays better. Pasha, your play has not gone unnoticed, especially against the Ducks- We know you are in there sacrificing your own stats and goal scoring opportunities for the good of the team. Your puck handling and the little things you do with the stick are mind boggling, and just when I sit mesmerized by how you keep the puck away from everyone, you finish and forecheck and knock a getzlaf or a nash off their feet.
Babs has- by and large- kept Z and D on separate lines this Playoff season, and its working. But still, there is nothing like seeing the two of you fly down the ice in tandem…Long live the Eurotwins!
Stuie and Kronner- We call it a triple threat in Hockeywood
Stuie, a little over a year ago you came in like gangbusters and made everyone in
And while I am feeling the "D", how sweet would a Cheliosian game winner have been last night? Oh I was all over that shixxa as Cheli bore down on Cristo.
Huds- How could you think I’d forget you?
If there is any player I wanted (besides Sammy) to have an amazing playoff, it was you, and Damn Jiri, even after a critical and brutal Ducks series, there you are out there in it to win it. Your fear is non-existent, your work ethic unchallenged, your clutch plays and goal scoring are on fire- In short, you are having not just an amazing playoff run, but doing it on a team where every single player is contributing in ways I never imagined. You are a superstar and we are damn lucky to have you.
Nobody Beats the Wiz.
Oh Ozzie. You are a legend. You have been amazing, you have saved so many games. You are the reason we beat a thucks team when other brilliant talented teams could not. You have lead this team, focused this team, and been an amazing example. And you have done it with grace, class, strength and sofa king many amazing catlike saves. Screw anyone who ever doubts you, and remember this the next time
Nobody. Chris Osgood is one of the best goalies this League has ever seen, without argument. Go ahead, I dare you to challenge me on this. You won't win.
The Road to
Breath Red Wing fans Breathe. And smile. Most importantly, remember this:
By and large your Detroit Red Wings have been flawless in the playoffs.
A playoffs in which, so far fans and detractors wondered horrible and impossible things and even the strongest believers, the most faithful, choked back tears and doubt through 7 games.
I know many of you have voiced your fears throughout these playoffs, and there have been occasions when I have had to remind some that “These are your
And even when I said it to myself, there were times when I wondered if even that was enough.
Damn Dirty Ducks
But The Wings made it back. And are 4 wins away from defending their title and once more winning the Greatest Prize in all of sports. The very thing this team has had their eyes, hearts and souls focused on since October 9.
These next 4 wins won’t be easy. We are hurt, but we are more deep than injured. Mentally stronger than physically vulnerable. So all you Red Wings fans who openly or secretly worry or doubt this team or its players, its time to reach deep inside yourself and rely on your faith.
It makes me think of one of my favorite poems, The Road to
The Road to Stanley.
When you set on your journey to the Finals
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Blue Jackets and the Hawks,
the angry Thucks-- do not fear them:
You will never fall to these on your path,
if your legs remain fast, if a fine
slapshot hits the net and you keep your stick to the ice.
To the Blue Jackets and the Hawks,
the fierce Thucks you will never succumb,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your defense does not turnover before your goalie.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not fear the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many games;
and to find your self playing in June
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that the Cup will offer you riches.
Your team and fans have given you the beautiful voyage.
Without them you would have never set out on the road.
They have nothing more to give you.
And if you find this journey poor, these playoffs have not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what it all means.
3 comments:
I LOVED THIS!! Great Overview of the WINGS playoff run so far. LOL And honestly I totally agree with "HELM YES!". It just makes me so comfortable with the Red Wings and their future with such a great young team. And I swear that stupid Game 5 Curse is exactly that cursed. Until yesterday :). WOOHOO!! I cannot waittt for the Finals to start. GREAT GREAT Blog Juice. As usual.
Thanks Miriam!!!! I am just so darn excited for Saturday...and missing the D and all you hometown fans. Boy it would be amazing to be in Detroit with you all, even just to sit on a bench at the Old Sheleileigh and watch with a hundred of my new best friends.
Challenge accepted. Osgood is not one of the best goalies this League has ever seen.
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