Lucky 13

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Red Wings vs. Predators game at the Joe tonight. Unless I somehow con someone into giving me playoff tickets, it will be my last game this season. Infinitely more heartbreaking is the knowledge that it may have been my last game at JLA; currently we don't know where the Red Wings are playing next year- maybe JLA, maybe the Palace- and even that will be a short-term lease agreement so a new arena can be built. They desperately need this new arena; the Joe is what I like to call ghetto-fabulous and is reaching the point where upkeep costs more than building a new (sponsored) arena. I'm excited to see what Ilitch Holdings and the city of Detroit come up with; I'm sad to see the arena of my childhood go.

I suck at making decisions, so when I was preparing for this game I called my dad and asked him what jersey I should wear. I actually own four: Yzerman, Federov, Filppula, and Datsyuk. We decided that we didn't want to match, which knocked out #19. #91 basically lives in my closet and doesn't make appearances- I'm still not over how he left. #51 would be my first choice except my jersey is HUGE and also has the 2008 SCF patch on it, and I dislike patches. We decided I would wear #13.

Pavel Datsyuk is a clear fan favorite. He led the team in points and +/- the last two years; he wears an A on his jersey; he is a two-time Selke and four-time Lady Byng winner, and a Hart nominee; he gives all that he has to this team and this city.

I love him for all those reasons, but also because he seems to be a genuinely good person. He jokes around with reporters and mentors the young players and very clearly puts his family first.

The Thursday night before the beginning of my spring break, I was basically at the end of my rope. I had spent hours throughout the week editing position papers and preparing for midterms and writing papers and taking midterms and then editing more position papers. Despite all the work I had already done, I wound up having to stay up until 2:00 that night to get the papers done. Of course, the papers that weren't finished were the worst ones, making the experience all the more frustrating. Everyone else I talked to was just as stressed, so tensions were running high. I decided that I needed a break and started poking around on twitter... where I saw this:

NHLShanny- Saw Datsyuk at breakfast. Expected him to be crushed. His little daughter was cuddling & kissing him. His smile was huge. Perspective.

(This was the day after the Canada/Russia blowout)

This might seem silly, but I can't explain how much that lifted my spirits. Knowing that one of my favorite players wasn't going to brood on his disappointing Olympics and was already looking forward made me smile, and it was a lovely reminder that people can persevere and be happy. It was also a reminder that, awful as my week had been, it could have been a lot worse.

Thank you #14 for posting that, and thank you #13 for never failing to make me smile.

Oh, and thanks for scoring this danglelicious (thanks, VS announcers) goal tonight:

Life is weird.

I should be writing my position paper, so of course I'm writing a blog post! Some thoughts:

-I'm still annoyed about the call in the shootout on Saturday. It's okay, Ken Holland is too. Apparently he reamed someone out during the first intermission of the game yesterday. Hopefully it was someone important and not the coffee peon or something.

-This weekend felt like the playoffs. I don't know if the wives are withholding sex or if the players finally figured out that they are OUT OF FUCKING PLAYOFF POSITION but they were actually trying. It was weird.

-The Red Wings suck at shootouts. Apparently Babcock is protesting their existence by not working on them in practice. I appreciate the sentiment, but holy hell we need work (Z, I'm looking at you here).

-Fortunately shootouts don't exist in the playoffs (which we are going to make goddammit). And even more fortunately, this weekend led me to believe that in a playoff situation, Detroit is still competitive with any team in the league. You can't win in the playoffs with a skills competition. You have to outskate and outshoot the other team- and the Red Wings did that in both overtime periods this weekend. They just ended before they could put the puck in.

-I think Osgood might actually start a game this week. It'll be the first time since before Christmas. The mommy in me wants to give Jimmy a break. Maybe Ozzie has stewed enough that he'll actually redeem himself!

-I saw a kid wearing a Kopitar shersey today. I didn't realize there were Kings fans in Michigan. It made me think of Erika.

-Living in my house is hysterical. A couple of minutes ago, this happened:

Scene: I am in my room screwing around on the internet. Danielle is in her room across the hall. Action!

My phone: *ringringring*
Me: Hello?
Mom: Hi honey! How are you?
Danielle: ...hello?
Me: Eh, it's Monday.
Mom: I know that.
Danielle: ...it's Monday? What?
Me: *hysterical laughter*
Mom: What's so funny?
Danielle: WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?
Me: I'm on the phone! *more hysterical laughter*
Mom: Never mind, I'll call you back.
Danielle: ...oh. *joins in the hysterical laughter*

We laughed for a good five minutes AND my mom just texted me instead of keeping me on the phone for half an hour. Win.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Okay, I know that I am still very, VERY upset about this, but I want you all to consider how you would feel if this happened to the Pens, Sens, Hawks, or whoever else you may be cheering for.

The Red Wings/Stars game today went to a shootout. This in itself is frustrating because the game-tying goal was iffy at best, but whatever. The point is that we got to a shootout. The first eight thousand or so shooters for each team missed (it was actually five or six).

Steve Ott skated out to shoot for Dallas. His shot was smothered right around the goal line. The ref on the goal line was not behind the net, but rather off to the side, and skated in so close to see where the puck was that he almost bashed his head on the post. He called a save. The other ref, who was out at center ice, skated in and said it had to go to video review. Understandable, refs are fallible and from the benches it probably looked like it went in.

While we were waiting for Toronto to figure out what to do, FSN showed us a replay of the shot from several angles. Because of the way Jimmy Howard was positioned, you can't actually see the puck from most of the cameras. We thought that was why the call was taking so long. Incidentally, the best camera angle was from the penalty box side, very similar to the line of sight the ref had as he skated to the post.

After the review, the ref skated out to center ice and called the goal good.

None of us knew what was going on until Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond were notified during the postgame show that:

1) the ref at the net called no-goal
2) the film in Toronto was inconclusive
3) the other ref, who was at Center Ice, CALLED THE GOAL GOOD

The on-ice call was overturned, not by conclusive video evidence in Toronto (IE the way the rules say it should be overturned), but by the other ref who was half the rink away and could not have possibly seen where the puck was at the critical moment.

Ken Holland, I expect you to go cut a bitch.

Does anyone still read this?

Clearly I never learned from my many aborted LiveJournal attempts in high school that I suck at keeping a blog, haha.

But I just wanted to tell everyone that Jimmy Howard is a BAMF and Darren Helm can teleport. (Seriously, there is no other explanation for his goal last night... he teleported.)

Also, winners come from Newfoundland!

<3 <3 <3

The Hockey News makes me laugh somtimes

So, The Hockey News just picked Chicago to win the Central Division this year.

Fun fact: Chicago has NEVER won the Central. The last time they won a division title it was still the Norris.

They also picked Chicago to come in second in the Conference... behind San Jose.

Teams that I am picking to finish ahead of Chicago this year (out of the West): Detroit, St. Louis, San Jose, Anaheim (although it kind of kills me to admit that), Calgary and possibly Vancouver.

Don't get me wrong, Chicago is an up-and-coming powerhouse... emphasis on up-and-coming. Apparently THN has already forgotten how the 2009 Western Conference Finals ended. If Chicago has any advantage over Detroit going into this year, it's that most of their team gets the Olympic break off while half of the Red Wings will be representing their countries in Vancouver. And I think that if any team manages to knock Detroit out of the top spot in the Central, it will be St. Louis, not Chicago.

In other news... college football soon! Whoo!

Oh, the Lions...

I am in the process of packing up the rest of my crap (how have I managed to accumulate so much stuff?) to go back to school tonight, but someone emailed me this quote and I wanted to share it with you:

"DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford took his first snap as a pro and perfectly executed a play-action pass. The problem: Keary Colbert dropped the ball. Welcome to the Detroit Lions, kid." (ESPN)

I laughed.

Also, rather than trying to pick out my favorite books to take to school with me, I am taking only books that I own but haven't read. That is more books than I would like to admit.

Is this real life?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but...

Ken Holland, what the hell are you thinking?

We just signed Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

UGH.

I can see the upsides to this. He's a gritty forward that will probably be healthier than Holmstrom and company. It's only for one year, and with the amount of contracts we have ending next year we could replace Bert, Homer, and Maltby with Abdelkader and two big free agents (I'm assuming that Lidstrom will take a Stevie-esque contract that will drop his cap hit considerably). It creates a LOT of competition in training camp- we now have 14 NHL-ready forwards signed, even if it is a foregone conclusion that Abdelkader will be in GR this season.

But seriously... I didn't like him when he played for us before and I don't like it now. There are some players that I never want to see in the Winged Wheel and Bertuzzi is one of them.

I'm hoping the fact that he will have to compete for his roster spot every single night will keep his attitude and tendency to take bad penalties in check.

My latest take on the potential lines:

Cleary-Datsyuk-Zetterberg
Leino-Filppula-Franzen
Williams-Helm-Eaves/Bertuzzi
Holmstrom-Draper-Maltby

With Holmstrom on the top power play unit, and potentially Cleary on the second unit in Leino's place.

I was GOING to do a big post about Abdelkader today and how he is the personification of guys that I love having in Detroit, but now I'm just annoyed. I guess I'll do it tomorrow...

In other news, I was at a Beer League Playoff Game last night (serious business, guys!) which "my team" won 6-3 with my friend Kaleb scoring five goals (and having the first assist on the sixth goal). They were playing a total Goon Squad, and the Goons didn't disappoint- after the final goal there was an awesome cheap shot that led to a fight (with blood!) and THEN led to the cops being called!!! The next game is on Thursday so I'll try to get the scoop on what happened after we left.

Apparently I was very, very ignorant

This past weekend, I went to Toronto with five of the most amazing women I have ever met. It was my first time to TO, and included my first visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I learned a lot of things on this trip. So much, in fact, that I am dedicating a blog post to...

THINGS I LEARNED IN TORONTO

1. Pat Kane was just arrested! -Em (friend from home)
2. It's possible to try to be a puck bunny and fail. -Mer and Kylie
3. If you are a fan of Sidney Crosby, you are from Nova Scotia. -guy on the street.
4. Ali and I shouldn't be friends anymore. -another guy on the street.
5. Wearing an Yzerman jersey gives you more street cred than wearing a Crosby jersey. -random guys at the HHOF
6. If you do a good job in a shinny game against the Rangers, they will take you back to NYC with them. In a helicopter. How BA is that? -Mystery Alaska
7. Wayne Gretzky owns a restaurant! -Ali and Wayne
8. Subway stations can come in the form of phone booths that beam you to wherever you are going. -Ali
9. If one person wearing a Detroit jersey walks to the HHOF with five people wearing Pittsburgh jerseys, people will stare. -random people
10. They will also take pictures. -same random people
11. Mike Green told Kylie to get a mocha. -Mike and Kylie
12. Mike and Kylie's children are going to have fro-hawks (mohawks of curly hair). -Kylie
13. You're not supposed to drink the tempura sauce. -Mer (edited to correct the sauce- for some reason, I thought it was tandoori)
14. Taylor Lautner is from a hockey town, not Hockeytown. Clarity is necessary so Kylie doesn't have a heart attack. -me and Kylie
15. It is, in fact, possible to fit six girls (and all of their shit) into a hotel room meant for four. Without the hotel figuring it out. -us
16. Winners come from Newfoundland. -the Baseball Junior National Champions

If I missed something, feel free to tell me in the comments section and I'll add it to the post. =]

In other awesome news, today is Valtteri Filppula Days! (AKA the NHL regular season starts in 51 days) I am anxiously awaiting the post over at Peachy, even though I have probably already seen all the pictures and videos that will be used. In fact, there is a really good chance that I sent all of them to Kylie last night. Whatever. I'm still pumped that one of my boys is being featured.

Changes

Something that I will always associate with Michigan after I leave is the concept of "up north."

Most families I know either own property in northern Michigan or rent the same cabin or camp site every summer. When I was growing up, we rented the same cabin every year with some family friends, and also stayed at the same marinas in our boat. After my dad married my stepmom, we moved to the category of families with property, as her grandmother owns a cabin that all of the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids use for vacations.

Six years of my young life were spent living with a river (and I mean a River, not a stream or something) going through my backyard (literally). I grew up around boats and have been swimming since before I could walk. Water- real water, not pools- has always been a source of comfort for me. I lost count of the number of times I walked to the river during my freshman year of college.

Last weekend I took my first trip "up north" of the summer. A few storms blew through, and though the temperature was generally comfortable it was too cold for swimming. Being me, I still spent hours sitting on the end of the dock with my feet in the water.

I had brought my books up to the cabin with me, but somehow neither of them seemed appropriate for the bright sun and clear water- The Historian is a fiction thriller about vampires, and King Leopold's Ghost details the all-too-real horrors of the travesties in the Congo. I ended up spending most of the weekend thinking.

The newspaper we had brought from home had an article about possible free agent acquisitions the Red Wings could make to fill our holes at forward. The article got me thinking about the changes the team has gone through over the years.

Konstantinov's accident. Scotty Bowman's retirement. The lock-out and the salary cap. Babcock joining the team. Yzerman's retirement. July 1, 2009.

Yes, next year's team will be considerably different than last year's. That's hockey. That's life.

But the core remains. We have our Captains and our Assistants. We have our owners. We have our coach. We have the greatest General Manager in sports. We have the undying faith and love of the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan pushing this team.

And I have absolutely no doubts that the 2009-2010 Detroit Red Wings will be Stanley Cup contenders once again.

Just kidding...

This will actually be my last post before I leave. =P

I'm going to attempt to keep a blog chronicling my adventures. It's on my other gmail account so it's not linked to this profile, but you should all check it out anyway!

http://www.interninginiganga.blogspot.com/

And you should obviously keep me posted on how the Finals are going.

Much love,

Deets