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Wednesday Seems Like a Good Day To…
by IwoCPO on 04/04/07 at 09:05 AM ET
Comments (17)
...rub a little salt. Now, as you know, I’m not one to take enjoyment from another fan base’s pain. It doesn’t excite me to consider the fourteen remaining hockey fans in Denver who are trying to temper hope with reality. Five points back with 3 games remaining against Bubba, AlanaH’s Nucks and Calgary. And if they squeek in? A matchup with certain despair. And Bubba? Oh dear.
How awful it must be to look at that crown jewel of a division title all year, only to see it snatched from you in the final month by a team you hate almost as much as the cousin who married your sister. And our friends in Columbus? Our little brothers and future-current-past rivals? Buckeye nation is reeling from their latest defeat at the hands of Florida so the pain from yesterday is obviously dimmed.
So back to my premise. Do I enjoy the pain of our rivals? Most certainly I do not. I empathize with them, and I think you know that. All I can do is read and react. Read and react. Which is what we’ll do this morning as we tour the opposition DD’s.
First, to Columbus...a town in conflict as they ponder the thought of losing Greg Oden, the only freshman athlete in school history who actually appears intelligent enough to succeed at OSU, yet who is bound to leap to the prison waiting room known as the NBA. A hot topic in Columbus, naturally. But not one on the mind of a certain imbalanced Euro-goalie.
Let’s go back to Sunday when Hasek, with a decidedly Nashvillian topic on his mind, brushed aside the BJ’s before heading to Wrestlemania. The Wings hurried out of Columbus to ensure Dom had his front-row seats at Ford Field, but not until our crazy Czech threw this jab at the little BJ’s.
1 April, Columbus Post Dispatch
“Well, let’s put it this way—it wasn’t like two days ago, when we were playing the Stars,” Hasek said. “It was what it was. They (the Jackets) are one of the worst teams in the conference.”
Why Dom, why? Oh, but he wasn’t finished. After last night? More of the same.
“We have to play hard for the whole 60 minutes. Maybe against a team like Columbus, it’s good enough, but against the better teams it won’t be enough.”
Hasek’s a funny guy. Maybe his grasp of English subtleties just isn’t there after twenty years amongst us. Or maybe he just enjoys jabbing Columbus. If it’s the latter, we appreciate it. It’s not like he’s going to be around in ten years when they’re good enough to make us pay the piper for his comments.
And, heck, it’s not like he just decided over the weekend to slam the BJ’s. He’s made a year of it. I take you back to December, immediately following a 5-0 decimation of our friends from Ohio. You’ll recall this was the tail end of a home-and-home, after the Wings let one slip away the night before.
20 December, NHL.com
“We know we’re a better team,” he said. “And if you want to be a contender, a top team in the NHL, you can’t lose two games in a row to a team like Columbus.”
Why, Dom, why? Because it’s easy and it’s fun. I apologize on his behalf.
Speaking of fun. Oh they’re having plenty of it in Nashville today. Because the playoffs are around the corner and the state is in a hockey fervor? No. Basketball again. UT won their 28th straight women’s title last night, so Bubba took a back seat, the way back in fact. Did they play? Does it matter? Yes they did and no it doesn’t.
The Predators have lost three in a row — all at home — but they still have a chance at the Central Division title.
With a point in the overtime loss, Nashville has 106 points. Western Division-leading Detroit has 110 points, courtesy of a 3-0 win over Columbus on Tuesday.
If the Predators won their final two regular-season games and the Red Wings lost both of theirs in regulation, Nashville would take the title by virtue of the first tie-breaker, which is most regular-season victories. Each has 49 wins now.
“We have got to do a gut check and get our heads in it for the last two games,” said Predators goalie Chris Mason, who is 4-2 in shootouts this season. “That’s all we can do right now.”
Yep. Better get hot on those gut checks Chris. Oh, and are you starting when the playoffs start? Do you know? Does anyone in Nashville know who their starting goalie is? Is that important?
Speaking of women’s basketball...I see the Duke coach skipped town, headed to Texas. I heard on the radio this morning the Blue Devils are looking at a Dukie, a player from a few years ago. Kinda reminds me of Bo in ‘89. I’m sure Duke’s looking for a “Duke man” to lead that team.
Tasteless? Of course.
Back to hockey and the VW van full of fans left in Denver. Ahhh...the best for last. A victory over Calgary last night. Hope springs eternal in the land of banners.
A win in Calgary and Adrian Dater was in rare form.
Avs coach Joel Quenneville used another pop culture reference to describe his team’s resiliency:
“The Bee Gees - ‘Stayin’ Alive,”’ Quenneville said. “We’re on a good roll. It might be too late, but we’ll try to keep it going.”
A Dive coach quoting Barry Gibb. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Thankfully, after Dater’s soulful duet with Coach “Q”, he found some reality.
Through all the jubilation of how well the Avs are playing right now - and that is very well - the situation is tempered by this knowledge:
“We still need some help,” Sakic said. “It would be great to play (Calgary) in the last game of the year and have it mean something. It would be an amazing building. But all we can do is keep looking at the next game only, and we have to win all of ours still.”
I can think of very few things that would make me happier than Dive fans having a chance to get in on the last day...only to see it slip away with a loss. That, my friends, would be fun for the whole frigging family.
Ok..enough. Enough of the easy prey. On to some tougher topics. Those Flames who lost to the Dique last evening? Still don’t want ‘em. Don’t want anything to do with that province right now, thank you. Who do I want?
I want the State of Hockey. First, they have to be disposed of quickly because if the Wild hang around too long that State of Hockey thing is going to wipe the novelty of Hockeytown right off the map. I love that..."The STATE of Hockey.” Dammit. So we need to get rid of it quickly. Nothing underscores a cool PR slogan like a long playoff run.
Also, we’re 3-0-1 against the SOH. It’s a team we match up well with and a team I could foresee a fairly quick dispatch of. Naturally, I seem to vaguely recall referring to Dwayne and his pals in the same fashion about this time last year.
If the playoffs started today....
...it would be Calgary, of course. But, Minnesota sits only only four points ahead with a Flame game in hand. Do-able. Another reason to pull for Calgary on Sunday, other than the pain a Flame win vs the Dive would cause some Nugget fans.
Once again, my sincere apologies to the fans of Columbus, Denver and Bubba. Read and react. That’s all I do. Take what the diggers give me.
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Comments
Hippo, picking on the Dive brings me down to a level I don’t enjoy. It’s a smirch on my character and one I’ve tried to correct. I’ve failed. I have no other choice than to revel in it now.
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 04/04/07 at 08:28 AM ET
I don’t know if its the fact that I’ve watched the Wings get handled quite easily in the playoffs the last three years (swept by Anaheim in round 1, swept by Calgary in round 2, and beaten by Edmonton in 6 in round 1), but I really don’t fancy the Wings’ chances against any of the other current playoff bound Western Conference teams except Dallas and maybe, maybe Minnesota.
Dallas because the Wings typically play well against Dallas and Turco still hasn’t proven he can play in the post-season.
Minnesota because I am just not convinced, despite the fact they are on one hell of a roll right now.
The other five: Nashville, Anaheim, Vancouver, San Jose, and Calgary terrify me. I really don’t think the Wings would have much of a chance against Anaheim, Vancouver, or San Jose.
If Colorado were to sneak in, I would feel pretty good going into a series against them.
If the Wings are to be successful in the playoffs the following things must happen:
Zetterberg needs to be healthy.
Bertuzzi needs to be able to regain some of his past form.
Datsyuk needs to perform in the playoffs.
Hasek needs to steal a few games.
I do like this team going into the playoffs much better than the team last year.
Posted by Ajax19 on 04/04/07 at 08:45 AM ET
I am not comfortable with Calgary in the first round. It is not a good matchup for the Wings. I think the Wings could beat Vancouver, Anaheim and the SOH. Dallas, no problem. But Calgary...shudder. Still holding out for the Diques to make it so that I can see some playoff hockey live and cheer on the Winged Wheelers in person. Sigh.
Posted by hockeychic on 04/04/07 at 10:07 AM ET
I’d like to thank the Red Wings for not-so-subtly exposing the Blue Jackets the last two games.
Everyone in Columbus was ready to annoint the team after their recent 4-game winning streak. Even though it included a shootout win against the Wings, it also included three victories over Chicago and St. Louis (x2). Not exactly world-class competition.
While the CBJ may have had moments and even periods of relative success against Detroit the last few days (by that, I mean not giving up a goal in a period… what an accomplishment), it becomes apparent by the end of sixty minutes that these teams are years apart.
I long for the days when we can at least compete on a regular basis. But until then… *sigh*. What a crappy team.
Good luck in the playoffs.
Posted by Drew from Columbus, OH on 04/04/07 at 10:13 AM ET
Drew, you know there’s always room for you up north...
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 04/04/07 at 10:19 AM ET
Say what you will about Avalanche fans, and you certainly do, but we well out our fans have never been accused of losing our focus because of the local baseball team.
Posted by Colin from San Jose, CA on 04/04/07 at 10:27 AM ET
hmm should proofread my posts a littl better before hitting post. That’s supposed to read…
but our fans have never...
Posted by Colin from San Jose, CA on 04/04/07 at 10:28 AM ET
You’re a Detroit fan, you should never feel good in any 1st round series.
Posted by Steve from New Jersey on 04/04/07 at 10:37 AM ET
I stand by the concept that “you have to beat the best to be the best.”
With that said, the Wings will ultimately win/lose regardless of who they play and when they play them. There is no doubt that some matchups are more favorable than others, but you ultimately need to be able to beat anyone if you want to be the best team in hockey.
Every team has a big weakness/unknown this year.
Detroit - Has to prove they can play against so-called “inferior” opposition in the playoffs; they forgot how to grind it out and beat the gritty teams like they did in 97-98-02
Anaheim - Are painfully shallow at forward, especially with Marchant likely done
Vancouver - Like the Ducks, they don’t have much depth up front when compared to San Jose, Detroit, and Nashville (and Luongo is oustanding, but has no playoff experience—that’s an unknown for them)
Nashville - Another team with major health issues, that, like the Wings, have to grind it out and learn to win in the playoffs
San Jose - Joe Thornton will have to be able to put this team on his back at times, something he’s never done in the playoffs
Dallas - Duh, Turco
Minnesota - Fernandez’s health is a question, and Backstrom has no experience
Calgary - Just plain can’t win on the road the way a playoff team should be able to
Posted by Nathan on 04/04/07 at 10:50 AM ET
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Hoping for any team that makes us “comfortable” is the worst thing we can wish for right now. Some of you are scared of Calgary? Good. I’m hoping for a Wings/Flames matchup. The Wings need to stop taking post-season teams for granted. They need some a good dose of fear, especially after 10 days off.
Besides, if they’re comfortable, they’re going to continue this crap of figure skating for two periods before deciding they might like to play some hockey.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 04/04/07 at 12:22 PM ET
The Wings played last night?
Oh, it was just Columbus.
Never mind…
As for the Old Dive and the New Dives, well, yeah, there’s them. Heh. Good. Personally, though, I’ve found greater pleasure in what has transpired with the team in Raleigh, what with it now being downgraded to a tropical depression and all.
Heh, depression…a rather fitting description considering the mood of, um, “Caniac Nation today.
Posted by O-Joe on 04/04/07 at 01:47 PM ET
I dont think Calgary has a chance against the Wings in the first round, people should remember it was 2, not 1, but 2 years ago when the Flames were in the Stanley Cup final, and this year they still havent secured a playoff spot with only 5 days left in the regular season.
All this and all year long Tanguay and Friesen have been added, as well as Stuart recently.
Kipprusoff is still a good goalie, but Hasek will match his big saves during the series, if they meet.
Minnesota and San Jose worry me, the Wild have such good goaltending as does the Sharks, but the Sharks have a lot of firepower in Thornton, Cheechoo, Michalek, Clowe, etc etc… Minny has Gaborik, Demitra, Bouchard, Kouvi (sp?).... I would love to see a Canucks-Wings final in the WC and a Devils-Senators final in the EC.
Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 04/04/07 at 02:01 PM ET
It’s a smirch on my character and one I’ve tried to correct.
How can you besmirch that which does not exist?
Posted by The Acid Queen from Raleigh, NC on 04/04/07 at 02:10 PM ET
Dammit Queenie. And I’ve been so kind in taking a gloves-off approach to your Nation. I’m hurt.
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 04/04/07 at 02:14 PM ET
Aww c’mon Chief, you know I can’t let a beautiful setup like that go.
Havin’ fun up thar in DC?
Posted by The Acid Queen from Raleigh, NC on 04/04/07 at 02:21 PM ET
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I’m with you about Minnesota. Guess I’m also on board with gloating a bit over Nashville. Colorado? Well, we had our down time a few years back I guess it is their turn.
Posted by Grouchy Hippo on 04/04/07 at 08:26 AM ET