Five Hundred...

I took advantage of the student rush ticket deals today and headed down to the Joe to see the Wings take on Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps. It was well worth it. For those who are curious, the lower bowl tickets are $45 each, and are for single seats scattered all over. I ended up in row 9 right behind the Wings’ net. It’s a great deal if you don’t mind being surrounded by strangers. It’s great for me because I have very little interesting chatting during the game anyway. I’m more than happy to just hang out in the concourse during intermission.

I somehow ended up completely surrounded by Caps fans and a variety of people who did not deserve to have seats that good at a Wings game. I still have no idea who the five people in front of me were rooting for. They were dressed all in black or brown and didn’t clap for a single goal, penalty, shot, play, faceoff…anything. I think they may have just been there to eat B-Dubs because that’s all they really did. I don’t understand that. Even when I watch games in which I have no vested interest, I at least display some sort of emotion. What’s the point of even coming? Seriously.

On the other end of the spectrum was the guy sitting behind me. He spent a large portion of the game complaining about the fact that nobody there was verbally abusing or throwing things at him. Apparently, I’m a lousy fan because I don’t feel the need to act like an idiot in public. Sorry for being classy, sunshine.

I also sat next to one of the coolest kids ever. He was a Caps fan, but that’s forgivable because he appeared to have every single one of their stats from last season memorized (or at least he appeared to. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt because for all I know he could’ve been making all of them up).

One of my favorite moments came when one of the Caps fans sitting by me realized that Mike Green was, in fact, a defenseman. I’m pretty sure everyone was just as shocked as he was the first time they figured that out. I informed him that Green had been nominated for the Norris last season. He didn’t know what that was. Probably because Nick Lidstrom has been hogging it for all of these years.

Anyway, this was by far the best game the Wings have played so far. They controlled the play and actually looked like they intended to play defense. At one point, their penalty killing unit set up a cycle in the offensive zone and looked like they were the ones on the powerplay. That was probably my favorite part of the game (other than when they scored, obviously). In that moment, they looked like the Wings I know and love. Not the ones that had me spouting ulcers yesterday night.

Brian Rafalski in particular had a great game even though he wasn’t recognized with one of the offical stars. He broke up several good scoring opportunities in the third period alone, and he really stood out to me. I was glad to see Datsyuk have a good game as well. I was semi-expecting him to score tonight because it seemed like everywhere I went earlier in the day, I was surrounded by the number 13. He only ended up with an assist, but trying to defend him has to give opposing D-men nightmares.

I was also pretty excited to see the reunion of the Flying Circus line. It’d been a while since I got to see them in action in person. Obviously Zetterberg and Datsyuk both great players individually, but when they’re on the ice together, it just seems like they make each other ten times better. That kind of chemistry is hard to come by, and I’ve always had mixed feelings about Uncle Mike’s decision to split them up last season. Babcock was shuffling wingers on the top line all night long, and I got the feeling he was experimenting to see how things fit together with Franzen out of the lineup. I’ll be interested to see how the lines shake out on Tuesday, especially with Darren Helm expected to return.

Other random notes:

• The crowd was pathetic tonight. I don’t know if it was because I had an unusually good seat (I’m usually stuck up in the rafters) down with all the high-rollers (ie. the people sitting in front of me who could not have cared less about the game) or if it was that lame all over. Seriously. Show some spirit when you’re at the Joe.
• You know who else made some solid defensive plays? Todd Bertuzzi. I know. Believe me, I don’t know what to make of it either. Unfortunately, he continues to be useless offensively.
• It was a little strange to see Brad May skate out wearing #24 in the warm-ups.
• Ovechkin had a quiet night by his standards. Even still, he seemed like a scoring threat every second he was on the ice. That’s pure star quality. Crazy antics and all, I would have to say he’s my favorite non-Wing in the NHL.
• Until today, I had never been incredibly bothered by the nets over the glass on the ends of the rinks. From my usual nose bleed seats, they’re a little annoying, but not a huge deal. In row nine, however, the bottom part of the net is directly in your line of sight for most of the ice. It drove me crazy all night.
• I was a little surprised to see a larger gathering around the Capitals’ bench as people were waiting for the warm-ups to start. Was it the mystique of Alex Ovechkin, or were people just confused?
  

I took some short videos from behind the net during warm-ups (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). They’re not great, and my camera doesn’t record sound, but watching from that vantage point exponentially increased my appreciation for what goalies do on a nightly basis.

I also put up a whole album of pictures from the warm-ups and during the game. Some of my favorites:

• I really like this picture despite the fact that the flash did all kinds of weird things with the glass.
• I almost ran into Larry Murphy on the concourse during the second intermission. Literally.
• This guy was at least 6'7" and 300 lbs. The women on the far left of the picture were probably in the 5’4”-5’5” range for some perspective. I hope I'm not the only one who sees the irony in his choice of jersey. I just followed along behind him and it was like the crowd was parting in front of me.
  

Like a Bad Blind Date...

I've never in my life watched the NHL Award show. People who know me find this strange because I spend almost every waking moment pouring over any NHL-related news that I can get my hands on. So you would think that I would love to see the players in a different setting and completely out of their element. Mostly though, it just comes across as awkward. Kind of like when Luc Robitaille had a cameo on Bones this year. I couldn't bring myself to look away and all I could do was sit there with a horrified grimace on my face.

So I prefer to stick with my annual Unofficial Awards, which this year managed to land me on both A2Y and Puck Daddy. I'm not ashamed to admit that this was the highlight of my day yesterday. Mostly I'm just amazed that anyone is reading my ranting and raving. So thanks, I guess.

As everyone not living under a rock knows by now, Dangle Dangle took home the Lady Byng and the Selke. I only watched the video of his awards and Vladdie's entrance, so I can't say for sure that his acceptance speeches were the best ones of the night, but I'm willing to bet they were. Why? Just because.

There weren't any real shockers on the night. The awards fell pretty much as I thought they would. I was disappointed that Lidstrom didn't win the Norris, but I wasn't remotely surprised. I had figured that one would be a toss up between Chara and Green, and I'm kind of glad that it fell to Chara. At least he appears to be a defenseman. Maybe next year Green will challenge Datsyuk for the Selke. I'm pretty sure Dangle Dangle would still win, though.

The highlight of the night was Vladdie's appearance. That and the Winter Classic are possibly the only two things the NHL did right this year. I still remember sitting in front of the TV watching the coverage of the limo accident with tears in my eyes. He's one of those guys who everybody except apparently Penguins fans can rally around. It makes me proud to say that he was/is a Red Wing.

Hockey Assassins and the Greatest Night of My Life...

Dear Mikael Samuelsson,
I'm sorry for all of the times I've yelled at you on TV. I'm sorry for all of the times I complained about you playing point on the power play. I'm sorry for all of the times I made fun of your shooting abilities. All is forgiven tonight.
PS. I really hate apologizing, so consider yourself twice blessed on this particular evening.

Tonight I fulfilled my lifelong dream and FINALLY attended a playoff game. It was, of course, everything I'd ever dreamed of, and then some. Even though the boys nearly gave me a heart attack by going to OT, things worked out in the end, and I went home happy.

It was a fairly typical game in the sense that the Wings, for the 95th straight time, didn't bother to show up for the beginning of the game. I seriously think that somebody should secretly tell them that the game starts half and hour earlier than it really does so that they'll be ready to go at gametime. For a bunch of such seasoned veterans, they sure have a lot of trouble getting their heads into the game early on. On the other hand, this should frighten opposing fans. I would imagine that if I were a Chicago or Hurricanes/Pens fan, I would have nightmares that involved the Wings actually bringing their A-game for a change. It would be a massacre. Puck Daddy called them "unflappable hockey assassins" today. I like that a lot.

I almost cried when the Hawks scored first. I had horrible visions of my childhood dream turning into an epic failure and never being able to attend a playoff game again for fear of jinxing the boys. At the same time, I knew the Wings weren't out of the game yet. A one-goal lead against any team in the NHL doesn't mean much, but against the Wings, it's equivalent to the random syllables that come out of PYG's mouth when he tries to form sentences--that is to say, completely devoid of meaning.

Danny Cleary once again came through with a big goal. I think playing against the team that drafted him has somehow stirred a memory of when he was a hot whiz-kid prospect in juniors and how much fun it was to score boatloads of goals. Or maybe one of the Hawks went to Newfoundland and spit on it. Either way, it's really fun to watch.

Nick Lidstrom was, as always, incredible. I really feel bad about how rarely I give him credit. Especially since I have his empty beer bottle on a shelf in my room, making us practically BFFs. Overlooking Nick seems to be pretty common. All you need to do is look at how long it took him to win his first Norris. It's hard to believe that Mike Green, he of the epic playoff under-performance, is most likely going to steal his trophy this year. At one point during the game, Patrick Kane broke into the Wings zone pretty much one-on-one with Lidstrom. My brother, who attended the game with me, said, "Look out, he's really good!" Then Lidstrom coolly and efficiently stripped him of the puck and cleared the zone. I leaned over and said, "Yeah, but Lidstrom's better." The man has somehow managed to turn defensive positioning into an artform. And that says a lot because I always hated playing defense when I used to play soccer and mini-sticks.

Jonathan Ericsson stood out like a rookie again this game. He made a couple more shaky plays, and, in general, I was extremely uncomfortable when he and Lebda were out on the ice. I like Ericsson with Lidstrom a lot better because Captain Nick can make up for some of the mistakes Big E might make. That being said, Ericsson wasn't nearly as bad as Chicago's D-men who made turnovers that lead to not one, but two Wings goals, including Sammy's in OT.

Datsyuk still hasn't scored. I'd be more panicked if everyone else wasn't picking up the slack. Boy oh boy was he evert on fire defensively, though. Even without points, he's worth keeping around just to see him ninja the puck away from unsuspecting Hawks. I would not want to run into this man in a dark alley. He'd swipe my phone, my keys, my wallet, my chapstick, and probably my pocket lint before I even knew what happened.

Even though he wasn't named one of the players of the game at the Joe, Ozzie played incredibly tonight. What I said in an earlier post still stands: anyone who I was forced to defend Ozzie to over the course of the season should line up now for a ceremonial slap. That man can bring it when he's called upon. I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure this was the first time during the playoffs that the Wings were out-shot. Ozzie made some stellar saves at key moments. Anyone who argues that this man isn't Hall of Fame-worthy can join the aforementioned lineup. I experienced one of the greatest moments of my life when my brother and I started an "Ozzie, Ozzie!" chant at the start of OT.

Speaking of chants, I was sitting in 225B, and I have to say that section 226 was the loudest group of fans that I have ever seen at a sporting event. I loved it. They were starting cheers all night long. Kudos to anyone in that area. Notice how it's always the cheap seats who have the most team spirit.

I was also struck by how few Chicago fans there were at the Joe. Since Chicago's so close, I figured there would have been more of an enemy presence in the stands. Looking around after Chicago's goals, there were only a few scattered here and there. Way to go Wings fans. The Joe is our building!

I'm not ready to talk about OT yet. I'm still recovering from it. Right at the start, I had a moment when I thought that I'd be more comfortable curled up in a fetal position on my couch at home, but I wouldn't have traded being at the Joe for anything. I'll never forget everybody rising to their feet as the Wings broke into the zone and then jumping up and down for what seemed like five minutes after Sammy scored. I even hugged my brother. That's how excited I was. Long story short: I will never forget this game. Ever. Even though it was far from the best the boys have played and they tried to kill me with OT.