Abel to Yzerman
Halfway There; Start Preparing For Poultry
by IwoCPO on 01/03/08 at 09:29 AM ET
Comments (0)
Man, the Dallas writers sure took this one hard. Check this out:
That was the worst loss of the season tonight, and there could be some hell to pay.
Oh. Woops. That wasn’t a Stars beat writer, it was actually Adrian Dater talking about Denver’s 5-2 loss to Phoenix last night. Sorry about. Sometimes when I laugh hysterically, I get all fuzzy.
The Dallas writers? Well, you’ve seen this before.
Mike Heika
“The one thing that comes back to you is their best players are their best players every night,” Tippett said.
How did Tippett feel about the Stars’ best players?
“I didn’t see many of them out there tonight,” he said.
I’m sure the fact that I chose that quote, along with Adrian’s sobbing rant, makes me smug and arrogant—and maybe a little dismissive. I apologize for that. It’s just that, with 30 wins on January 3rd, it’s hard to stifle myself. Because the Diggers tell me history was made last night.
The Wings won 30 games for the first time in half a season (30-9-3) and have more points (63) at this juncture than any other Wings team.
They helped the Red Wings reach the halfway point of the season with 30 victories, one more than any team in NHL history at this stage.
The feat set an NHL record for an 82 game schedule, and surpassed the club record of 29 wins after 41 games in 1995-96 and in the lockout-shortened season of 1995.
I bring you those three nearly identical statements because, once again, Bruce MacLeod has proven himself as the anti-digger. 30 wins at this stage? Impressive. Record-setting and historic? Technically…but not really.
This is probably the most dominant regular-season Red Wings team since the 1995-96 season. The stat that the team is throwing out there that this year’s team has 30 wins through 41 games and the 95-96 team had just 29 (on its way to a league-record 62) is bogus though. Four shootout wins so far this season means that by 95-96 rules, the Red Wings have 26 wins this season. That puts these Wings behind the 1995 team through 41 games as well. Still, a monumentally great season thus far.
Like that line: “The stat that the team is throwing out there is bogus.” Can you imagine Kulfan, Sipple, St. James or, especially, Khan(!) taking issue with a Hahn-fed fact? Of course not. I’m looking forward to seeing what MacLeod comes up with after Saturday’s game in Dallas.
Oh…nevermind. The Macomb Daily Tribune doesn’t let him travel with the team anymore. Budget concerns I guess. Hey, here’s a question. Why aren’t the Wings offering seats to the Diggers on Red Wing One? How many blog entries do we have to read from Khan(!) whining about airport delays (because none of us have to deal with those)? If it’s a seating issue, why don’t the Wings offer up two seats each road trip and let the Diggers rotate through them? George? Any insight on that?
Chris Osgood leads the league in GAA (1.71) and Save Percentage (.931) and he’s 5th in wins despite starting seventeen fewer games than Nabokov, the leader in that category. Naturally, he won’t be going to Atlanta with Uncle Mike, Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk. He’d have to go as a backup, selected by the league and we all know that’s not going to happen. No chance in hell Little Gary will allow a fifth Wing if it means every team in the West won’t be represented.
Wonder what would happen, though, if Nick Lidstrom stated publicly he’d be willing to give up his spot if it meant Osgood got the selection he deserved? Probably wouldn’t affect much, but it would be nice to watch LG sweat that one out.
You’re still fetal about the lack of “secondary scoring” aren’t you? You’re still stressing despite goals from Cleary, Franzen, Drake. Deep down inside you’re harboring thoughts you won’t post on MySpace about a need for that second-line miracle worker.
You must endeavor to let those thoughts go because Ken Holland will not bring in another forward. It’s not going to happen and it shouldn’t. Unless we see a season-ending injury, no forward will be added to this roster. A defenseman? I’m not ruling it out. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if absolutely nothing happened at the deadline.
Prepare yourselves for this: the MSM is going to start making predictions soon. Take some deep breaths because the daring, risky moves to make will be to predict a first-round loss for the Wings. They’ll cite a “lack of adversity,” forgetting that the adversity came last year in the Western Conference Finals and this entire regular season is one big preamble to a rematch with the Poultry, in whatever round that may occur.
Everything from this point forward leads to that series.
Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink
Comments
Be the first to comment.
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Daring Digger: St. James First To Mention Franzen Trade Possibility
When You Lose Like We Lost? This Happens
Tick Tock’s All Redolent Today
12 Hours Out Of Mackinaw City The Gales of November Came Slashin
Autumn’s Closing In…And The Ship Must Be Cleansed
GDT - WC Quarterfinals, Game 4: Red Wings (1-2) host Predators (2-1) (7:30)
About Abel to Yzerman
Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Get the top online sports betting bonuses available to sports betters!
