Gameday Wings

Can I tell you something? I hate the Red Wings. Have for a long, long time. I would lug my Dreamcast up to my buddy Rob's place, and we'd drink Strongbow and have it out until the wee hours. I was the Rangers (whom, ironically, I also now despise), and Rob was the Wings. Nothing would piss me off more than to see Stephane Quintal botch the reception of an Adam Graves pass, and next thing I know, there goes Federov trucking it down the ice... ah... jeeze.. LKASJFKASHFUIWANC!!!1! aaaaand he flips it right past Richter. Garbage. This sucks, I'm going home. Huh? We have HOW many bottles of Strongbow left? Crap. Fine, one more game. Then I'd make Rob pay with a steady string of Nedved - Fleury one timers. Eat THAT, Osbad... Yeah, we had the two-line pass & offsides off... didn't everybody?

Trip down memory lane notwithstanding, I really dislike Red Wing fans. The minute you mention that you're a hockey fan, out comes this stream of babble that inevitably includes "11 Cups, baby!"; "Scotty Bowman"; "11 Cups!"; "Dynasty"; "Stevie Y"; "Who else has 11 Cups? Yea, the Habs don't count..."; "The Joe" and/or "Hockeytown"; and the not-so-subtle insinuation that fans of sunbelt teams aren't really fans of hockey. Classy.

Anyway, Kovy sounds pumped. Me too.

AO can be a classless punk. But we knew that.

Elliotte Friedman of the CBC talks about Crosby's groin punching and general clownery. He says it's an improvement. Like Jarome Iginla. Mm-hm. Cause I love it when Jarome violates the third-man-in rule, uses another man's crotchial area as a speed bag, and then proceeds to cry because another guy looked at him funny.

Go Thrashers.

Wings suck.

Miscellany

Sureality In amongst the gmail this morning, I found something just a little surreal:

If Brian Burke has taught us anything, it's that REAL NHL HCs/GMs don't post on Twitter. But for just a split second, my pre-coffee brain went "Tortawhaaa?"

Personal Milestone Watch I believe this is post #98 for the ol Outsider. Upon post number 100, expect a heartwarming ceremony where I cut the cords off of the computer, and skate around the ice with it raised high above my head. Or, where one of my co-workers looks at me and goes "Um, are we to expect any work from you today?" And then coffee.

They're Back Bogo, Ron & Kovy were all on the ice in Duluth this morning - leading me to believe all three will go tomorrow against the Wings.

From The "Let's Get A Better Start" Dept Sucks that we can't just toss the whole first half of this season; we'd have a playoff spot.

NHL Records: Second-Half of Season (Through March 18)
TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS %
New Jersey Devils	29	22	7	0	44	.759
Detroit Red Wings	30	18	8	4	40	.667
St. Louis Blues	29	16	7	6	38	.655
Pittsburgh Penguins	31	18	9	4	40	.645
Vancouver Canucks	28	16	8	4	36	.643
Columbus Blue Jackets	30	18	10	2	38	.633
Ottawa Senators	28	15	9	4	34	.607
Washington Capitals	31	17	11	3	37	.597
San Jose Sharks	28	14	9	5	33	.589
Calgary Flames	29	16	11	2	34	.586
Florida Panthers	29	15	10	4	34	.586
Nashville Predators	30	16	11	3	35	.583
Boston Bruins	30	15	10	5	35	.583
Edmonton Oilers	28	13	9	6	32	.571
Philadelphia Flyers	28	15	12	1	31	.554
Atlanta Thrashers	30	16	13	1	33	.550
Toronto Maple Leafs	30	13	10	7	33	.550
Carolina Hurricanes	31	16	13	2	34	.548
Minnesota Wild	29	13	11	5	31	.534
Dallas Stars	30	15	13	2	32	.533
Chicago Blackhawks	28	13	12	3	29	.518
New York Rangers	30	13	12	5	31	.517
Buffalo Sabres	29	13	13	3	29	.500
Los Angeles Kings	28	12	12	4	28	.500
New York Islanders	29	12	13	4	28	.483
Tampa Bay Lightning	29	11	13	5	27	.466
Montreal Canadiens	29	11	15	3	25	.431
Anaheim Ducks	29	12	16	1	25	.431
Phoenix Coyotes	29	10	18	1	21	.362
Colorado Avalanche	30	10	19	1	21	.350

From Pierre LeBrun, over at the WWL.

O Kiptin, My Kiptin Do yourself a favor and check out the interview with Ilya. (Via the Chronicle, via Mirtle, via Japer's Rink/Tuvan Hillbilly, from Sport Express) Some favorite quotes:

"Crosby is Crosby and Kovalchuk is Kovalchuk. He got penalized, I made a goal and I was showing him 'Look, I made a goal'. That was all."

"You can't be an amoeba when you play hockey -- you have to be an emotional player."

"Krikunov says a lot of things. In Quebec he said that the Canadian National Team was guzzling through the entire championship. People talk about those things they are most familiar with."

That is why I'll take Kovy over Sid (or anyone else) any day of the week.

I mean, honestly. Who throws a shoe?

So, last night, as I was falling asleep, I was forming in my head the post I was going to do this morning about how the Pens (and other teams) get away with so much crap against the Thrashers. It was going to be epic, guys... srsly... from Ruutu to Vetch to Cooke. But Rawhide Bill beat me to it.

On second thought, it is my blog.... so let's just add a little to Mr. Bill's thoughts.

Take a look at this little ditty from the Caps game on Monday (lower left, first two seconds):



Whadddaya know... Ovechkin. Leaving his feet. Hmm. Oh yea, and the Thrash/Pens game, 11.20.08. I seem to remember Kris Letang boarding Todd White, causing the Todd to head to the locker room for a considerable amount of time.



Speaking of video, check out the video at the Puck Daddy post about last night's Bogo hit.



Lots of Pens fans are calling this a clean hit. Lets take a look at another extremely hard, but clean, hit on a Thrasher.



Awww, look at Boris spreading a little Christmas cheer. I think he may be getting Chris Neil some kind of funk record or something, right? Lots. Of funk. Do you see the difference? Neil led with his shoulder, Cooke led with his knee. Even from the FSN/Pitt angle, this inarguable. Cooke knows better than that. At least, you'd think a 10 year NHL vet would know better than that.
Oh yea, just for Rawhide, video of last year's Ruutu hit:




Good lord, I need a mood booster. LoL time!