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“That Is One Crazy Motherf…”
by IwoCPO on 12/08/07 at 08:55 AM ET
Comments (8)
Updated 1051 EST: Just for fun, read through the list of comments at Russo’s Rant’s blog from last night. Amazing how the tone changed over the course of three hours. Includes a good comment from Matt Saler from OtW.
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I put that in quotes because I guarantee those were the exact words shouted, whispered in awe or uttered from father to son accompanied by a hearty back slap last night at 2153 EST.
And it’s true. With a shutout just moments away and the memory of watching Chris Osgood start seven consecutive games still very fresh in his cluttered mind, our Czech Miracle of Insanity returned to his sociopathic self and gave us a wakeup call. I’m almost shocked he didn’t point at the cameras after his takedown of Gaborik and say…
..."I’m your starter bitches.” Yeah Dom, you are. And I’ve been proven wrong. Again.
Yeah, I know it was recorded in somebody’s living room. I kinda like the novelty of it. And I loved that play. Loved it. Tripping? Whatever.
MLive/AP (I guess Khan(!) had the night off)
Hasek asked referee Don Koharski why there was a penalty on the play.
“His explanation was, ‘It’s 5-0, Dom, so don’t worry about it,’ “ Hasek said. “I looked at him (and said), ‘OK, (but) I don’t want to break my shutout.’ “
“If it was a 1-1 game, I would have probably thought a lot about it,” Babcock said. “I don’t know if that’s a penalty. I don’t know what the rule is. You’re there first and…the guy trips over you, I don’t know if that’s a penalty. But it was tonight and they’re always right.”
Naturally, Gaborik and Jacque Lemaire agree.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
“He does that, but I could have ended up on my head. It’s 5-nothing.”
Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said he thought Hasek would get more than a tripping minor; the league reviews all hits and will add further penalties if deemed appropriate. Executive vice president for hockey operations Colin Campbell said late Friday he won’t comment on supplemental discipline.
“It’s a dangerous play,” Lemaire said.
I think it’s a dangerous play to skate with your head down. So there.
Here’s what’s even crazier. How about the penalty kill? Two of the best shorthanded players in the league, perhaps in league history, have been out for a week and what do the Wings do in response? Go four straight games without letting in a power play goal. WTF is that all about?
Freep/Sipple
“When you lose key guys like (Kris) Draper and (Kirk) Maltby on the (penalty kill), everybody else wants to step up to the challenge and play good,” Zetterberg said.
That specialty team stat Scotty used to reference so often? Combine the PK and PP rankings and come up with less than ten or punish everyone within three miles of the Joe? The Wings can now claim a solid 9. Third in PP and sixth in PK. During this five game streak Detroit has outscored their opponents 21-10. Before the Phoenix game I said Pavel Datsyuk was becoming as or more dangerous than Zetterberg. Since then Hank’s scored five times in three games (7 points altogether).
The Wings are now 14-1 against the treacherous Pacific and Northwest divisions, the cream of the hockey crop, the elitist divisions that can always point to our weak Central sisters as the the true reason for Detroit success.
Osgood, Hasek...doesn’t matter. Draper out? Maltby out? Doesn’t matter. Dallas Drake’s played in excess of 12 minutes in four straight games--to coincide with the loss of our two top defensive forwards. Oh, and in those four games he’s collected all of two penalty minutes. Gramps was right. The half-shield is making a difference.
And the Wings have their best team since 2002. It’s been five years since they won twenty games this quickly and, umm, this team might be better. You have to analyze that statement. “This team might be better.” Every facet is clicking. Look deeper than the PK and the PP and the GAA. Look at the style of hockey they play: the absolute hustle from every line, every shift. The seamless transition from one goalie to another, the speed on the blue line that wasn’t there in ‘02. And the grit factor. But here’s something else: in ‘02, you knew if that team didn’t win it, the chances were slim that Larionov, Hull, Yzerman, Shanahan, Fedorov and Robitaille would all stick around for another kick at it. This team? Who can say that three years down the line it will be dramatically different, or any less lethal?
We’ll see. It’s two incredibly hot streaks bookending a seven game stretch that sucked. That’s essentially what this season has been so far. Two stretches of brilliance against the teams we were supposed to be concerned with and 9 games of mediocrity against the Central. Those nine games kind of stick out, kind of stress us out. But, here’s another silver lining for you.
Dominik Hasek, disinterested...probably a little injured...lost five of those games. Now? A little more interested and a lot more healthy. Mentally healthy? Absolutely not.
As crazy as ever. And we dig that.
Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink
Tags: Babcock, Datsyuk, Drake, Fellow+Bloggers, Hasek, Lidstrom, Osgood, Robitaille, Shanahan, Yzerman, Zetterberg,
Comments
Yes, it could have resulted in a serious injury, as is a possibility with any hit, but it didn’t and I give the credit to Gaborik’s reflexes.
As soon as he went airborne he tucked his head so he somersaulted, landing on his shoulders instead of his head. If he hadn’t fallen properly he could have broken his neck. Somewhere along the line someone taught him how to protect himself in a fall, and if he remembers who it was he should call him up and say thanks.
I wonder if hockey players are taught how to protect themselves in a fall when they start skating? It’s one of the first things taught in gymnastics and martial arts, I know that much.
I don’t blame Gaborik for skating with his head down any more than I do any player on a breakaway. After all, how many goalies are going to fly out and face them like maniacs? It was a crazy play with no one to “blame” for it. Geez.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/08/07 at 12:16 PM ET
I’ve watched that play about seventy times between last night and this morning… f’ing hilarious!
Since Gaborik did a complete flip, missed landing on/breaking his neck, and seemed otherwise to be fine afterwards, it goes on to become one of my favorite Hasek moments of all time.
...And to think, I was going to switch channels after the Wings were up 5-0 with ten minutes left to go in the third…
Posted by Ryan from Syracuse, NY on 12/08/07 at 12:19 PM ET
Ya gotta love Gaborik and Lamiere whining about the play. “Oh, gee, I could have been hurt.” Well, jackass, if you’d kept your head up instead of playing “speed skater extraordinaire”, that wouldn’t have happened.
After Happy got leveled the other night because he had his head down, there wasn’t any whining. The little tyke got up, brushed himself off and came out and scored a goal.
But, hey, I guess you have to expect some crying from a “guy” named Marion.
And Marion should have expected no less than what he got from a guy known as the Czech Miracle of Insanity.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 12/08/07 at 01:42 PM ET
I was getting a widdle sweepy late in the game, and came really close to shutting it down with 6 minutes left.....after the SMACKDOWN, I hung around to watch the postgame!
After that hit,I’m thinking my favorite nutjob goalie should change the pronunciation to
“Ha-SACK”, ‘cuz buddy, it took one to pull off a stunt like that.
Posted by dougie on 12/08/07 at 01:54 PM ET
I wonder if Babcock actually saw that live, or did he close his eyes and shake his head as soon as he saw the Dom moving past the faceoff circle.
Gaborik is fast, but did you notice everytime he tried to beat Rafalski with his speed, he could not handle the speed and wound up swimming towards the corner. Every time I went ‘oh no, Raffy is going to get a penalty on Gabby’s dive’. But he never did...credit to the officials.
And IWO, here is why you are the best:
“Yeah Dom, you are. And I’ve been proven wrong. Again.”
Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 12/08/07 at 02:17 PM ET
I read as many comments as I could stomach over at Russo’s Rants. WOW there are a lot of stupid Minnesota fans over there.
Posted by Justin on 12/08/07 at 03:56 PM ET
I wasted way too much time reading the same comments.
I did notice some very intelligent comments from fans that knew their Hockey.
Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 12/08/07 at 04:32 PM ET
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Wow extremely biased newspaper. Shoulder first?!?!?! What replay were they watching? They also say he missed the puck. But the puck goes in the other direction after the hit. Hasek did what he wanted to do, which was not make a fool of a star player,that was just a bonus.
Posted by Josh from Michigan on 12/08/07 at 11:27 AM ET