Weekly Wrap-Up Volume Eleven...

Caption Mondays: Crater won this week with a caption that literally made me laugh out loud.

"If you pass to Homer in the Neutral zone one more time I'm going to bench you. He CAN'T Stick Handle!"

Trivia Tuesdays: Rob won this time around.

This week's question: Jimmy Howard was named to the NHL's All-Rookie team last season. Henrik Zetterberg had the honor in 2002-2003. Prior to that, what was the last season in which a Wings rookie was named to the team? Who made the cut?

The Answer: Nick Lidstrom and Vladimir Konstantinov both received the honors in the 1991-92 season.

Interview with Andy from Fight Night at the Joe...

The third and final part of Q&A series is with Andy from Fight Night at the Joe (You can also follow him on Twitter @FightNightatJoe.). It's an English-language blog (so there's no excuse for not stopping by) written all the way from Norway. I hope you've enjoyed reading these as much as I have. I'll be back in action Wednesday morning with a GP for the Chicago game if things go according to plan.

How did you first become a fan of the Red Wings? Why did you choose them over other pro teams?

This one has a bit of story behind it. My first favourite hockey club was the Canucks, because when I was four or five (92 or 93) my dad went to Canada and brought home one of those horrible jerseys the Canucks had at the time. It was the white away jersey by the way. When we got a channel that showed NHL in early 95 (they sent some re-airings of games during the day and now and then I was allowed to stay up and watch games live) I realized that except for Bure, the Canucks bored me, while these guys in Red and White had nice jerseys, a good swede, a russian line and Steve Yzerman. So I kinda started rooting for them then. And got to see a couple of pretty disappointing post-seasons, which really actually is something that makes you love a team more. The defining moment came in the summer of 96 though. I was at a hockey camp in Asker (15 minutes outside of Oslo) and we got visited for an afternoon and a morning by Scotty Bowman and Barry Smith (who were both in Europe for some reason). They had an on ice practice with us and coached us in an inter-group game (they coached each team for half the game) and also handed out some Red Wings effects. I still have a sticker saying "Proud to be a Wings fan" and I've been ever since the day I got it.

How large is the community of Wings fans where you live? Are there a lot of other NHL fans?

I've met a few dedicated Wings fans through the years, but none of my friends are Wings fans. Only three of my friends are NHL fans and they support the Avs, Caps and Pens respectively. Actually, most of the people that compliment me on my awesome Gordie Howe hall of fame t-shirt are guys who have been the Wings on the EA Sports NHL games.

The hockey community in Norway is very small, which is weird seeing as we're neighbooring Sweden, Finland and Russia. We've got about 30 indoor hockey rinks and maybe a few more active clubs than that. The economy in Norwegian hockey is pretty bad, and a team actually had to pull out of our Elite League in the second week this year because of bankruptcy. Still hockey is the second most watched live sport in Norway. Sadly, it is not watched much on TV and it doesn't get much attention. So the NHL following here is pretty weak. But hey, we at least made it to the olympics!

What do you do to follow the team? Is it difficult to see games or find news about the Wings or the NHL in general?

To follow the team, I watch every game (and usually OnTheFly) and read Wings blogs. To answer the second question, that is not easy at all. We've got one pay TV channel that sends a few games per week live and then a few more as re-airings in the daytime. So to watch the games you have to shell out for ESPN 360 (which covers most of the regular season games) or resort to methods that I probably shouldn't discuss here. Another problem is that the games start at like 1-2 AM here, so unless it's the playoffs I usually watch re-airings or on demand. The papers write little about NHL. The one that's best on hockey maybe has 2-5 small notices about the NHL per week and a big article every second or third month. And the little they write is usually either about Sid, OV or one of our NHLers (right now that's only Ole-Kristian Tollefsen of the Flyers). So internet is the place for NHL news.

What made you decide to start blogging about the Wings?

My road into blogging started when I began reading the Hockeytown Blog. Their links hooked me on other blogs and I started to read Snipe snipe, Dangle dangle and the Triple Deke regularly. As the weeks went by I started reading more and more blogs and one day I was bored at the university I thought that writing a blog looked kinda fun. So I started writing there and then.

Have you ever had the chance to see them play in person?

Yes, me and a mate (the Avs fan) went to Stockholm and saw the first game against the Blues this October. It was pretty fun, though the fact Blues won was a bummer. But we had 2nd row seats behind the St. Louis goal, and all the goals except Leino's and the first Blues goal was scored right in front of us.
The only other NHL game I've seen live was Sabres beating the Leafs 4-1 at the ACC on New Years day this year (I was in Toronto as parent for my brother's hockey team, who were playing a tournament).

What is your favorite hockey memory?

On the ice: Winning a Norwegian chapionship for under 15s (though that was bittersweet as I got 1 shift in the final game), scoring a hat trick against our rivals once and being a part of beating Farjestad one of the best teams in Sweden over two nights.

As a fan it's pretty hard to choose. Seeing Nick with the cup in 08 at five in the morning, two hours before I was off for a German festival was a highlight. The 7-0 blowout against the Avs in the 02 playoffs another. And I'll never forget when Stevie handed the trophy to Konstantinov in 98.
But I've gotta go with game four in 97. Even though i was just 9 years old and had been a Wings fan for two years, I understood the magnitude of the drought, and seeing them winning was huge. McCarty's goal might be my favourite single hockey moment.

Who is your favorite player on the roster right now? Why?

Tough one. I'd like to answer Ozzie, Nick or Dats. And Helm is becoming a favourite too, but I have to go with Henrik Zetterberg. He is the leader, the star, the guy who neutralizes the opponent's stars, while he creates offense at the same time. And he seems like a nice bloke. Nick might be more perfect, and Datsyuk has more flash, but Z is the heart of the team for me, and I can't really think of a player that I'd pick over him in the whole NHL.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Not really, only that Stevie Y is the man and always will be and that female Norwegian Wings fans should contact me (though I have a feeling that's a non-existant race).

And yeah, thanks for getting a chance to be interviewed here!

Random Things to Brighten Your Day...

Okay sunshines, I’m phoning this one in. I’ve already turned my focus to deciding what to eat for my birthday lunch in Mexicantown tomorrow, but I wanted to post these links. And yes, that decision may very well take me twelve hours. There are too many things that I love to pick just one.

First off, if you read nothing else today, read this post from Snapshots. It may not make you happy, but it’s guaranteed to make you feel better. Plus, the notion of the “all-reject free agent team” made me laugh.

Speaking of things that made me laugh, I recently discovered this gem from When Cameron Was in Egypt’s Land. I’m not sure how I missed it before, but I think I’m a little better for having read it now. I tried to think what my fantasy game would include, and I’m pretty sure it would play out just as Cameron envisioned. Highlights: In the first period,

“Then Roy tries to statue-of-liberty it and Yzerman slaps him as Shanahan pokes it in.”

I think I snickered for five minutes when I read this. There isn’t a person in the world whose life wouldn’t be improved by seeing Steve Yzerman slap Patrick Roy. Not a single one, including Roy himself. In the third period,

“Scott Stevens and Pronger try to cheap shot Yzerman collectively, miss him on the boards, and tear their ACLs.”

No fantasy game could be complete without a reenactment of one of my favorite moments of irony/karma. Finally,

“Zetterberg and Franzen put their beards together like the WonderTwins and form the Beard of Justice. It engulfs Jordin Tootoo and rids him of this world. The crowd goes crazy. Don't Stop Believin' starts playing and the PA cuts the volume for "Born in South Detroit." Game ends. Red Wings win 1919-0. Kenny Holland hands Yzerman the Cup, which has recently been re-engraved to award the Red Wings with every championship back to 1893.”

And afterward,

“I'm picked to go down into the locker room and meet all the players. Yzerman invites me out to dinner. Datsyuk's cell phone rings. Shanahan holds the Cup for me as I drink cold Blue Moon from it. The players say what the hell and have the white-glove guy engrave my name on Lord Stanley too. Right next to Stevie's.”

This kind of brilliance only comes around once in an off-season. So read it and enjoy, because if that fantasy doesn't bring joy to your life, you're probably not a real Wings fan.

Christy Hammond also posted her five reasons for loving hockey over at Winging it in Motown. This will improve your life as well. There isn't a single bad reason to like hockey, and I love that everyone has their own set of aspects of the game that drew them in.

And finally, the next time someone asks you to explain why Wings fans are the best in the world, just show them this video. We are Hockeytown.

Required Viewing for Wings Fans...

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, we’re able to relive Red Wings history 24/7, albeit sometimes in grainy, pixilated fashion. So here I’ve collected the ten YouTube videos that I think every Red Wings fan must see. It’s a cultural literacy thing. (Sorry, grad school has officially gotten to me now.) I don’t believe you can really know who you are unless you know where you came from. I realize that this is a pretty pretentious thing to say on a hockey blog, but I’ve never made any claims of subtlety before. Anyway, after watching this collection of videos, you should be fully briefed on how the Wings came to be where they are today.

These are skewed toward the recent era for two reasons: that’s what I’m most familiar with, and that’s what’s readily available on YouTube. There isn’t a whole lot of video out there from before the ‘90s, and even a lot of the stuff I’ve linked to isn’t of the greatest quality.

10. Steve Yzerman’s Goal in Game 7 OT Against St. Louis in ‘96
This goal is what sent the Wings on to play Colorado in that fateful Western Conference Finals series that launched the epic rivalry. Even without that context, this goal speaks for itself. Scoring on a snipe like that in overtime of Game 7? That’s the stuff legends are born of. Plus, Stevie’s celebration is iconic.
9. The Dangle Dangle Interview
While serving his one game quasi-suspension, Pavel Datsyuk stopped in for an interview with Mickey Redmond. The result was hilarious. Having seen this multiple times, we all knew that Pav was a funny guy but this interview is classic. I don’t even know which part I like best. There’re just so many to choose from. At any rate, I think everyone should know where the Dangle Dangle nickname originated. The parts about having a front row seat with drinks and not minding Brett Hull yelling because he didn’t speak English back then are just icing on the cake. And since it accounts for the other half of my blog’s name, here’s The Zetterberg Song.
8. Brendan Shanahan’s Empty Net Goal to Ice the ’02 Championship
This is quite possibly the most excited I’ve ever been about an empty net goal. In theory, it doesn’t sound very thrilling. “Oh, he scored? But there was no goalie? Isn’t that nice.” But this was the goal that put a seal on the dynasty and ensured that the ’02 team’s destiny was fulfilled. Plus, like in the first video, the post-goal celebration is classic. I really can’t remember what I was doing when this goal was scored, but you can be pretty sure that it involved screaming and jumping. And possibly crying. I’ll never know for sure.
7. Zetterberg’s Epic Penalty Kill
It’s been over a year, and I still sometimes can’t believe that the Penguins didn’t score on this powerplay. It was midway through the third period of Game 4 in ’08. The Wings were leading the game and the series 2-1. When that second penalty was called, I was sure that it meant disaster for my boys. And then amazingly, astonishingly, Henrik Zetterberg singlehandedly killed off the entire 5-on-3. OK, he actually had some help from the other players, but that moment when he tied up Crosby just outside the goal crease was…I don’t even know. I have a still shot of that play that pops up on my screensaver every now and then, and it makes me swoon every time. And if that PK magic isn’t enough for you, then make sure you check out Darren Helm’s ’09 version.
6. Steve Yzerman Tribute
Because he is The Captain. And you should know why. There are a plethora of Yzerman tribute videos out there, and I just happened to choose this one. So sit back and enjoy, because you can never watch too many Steve Yzerman highlights.
5. Legends of Hockey: Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman are the two most important players that this franchise has had. We all know plenty about Stevie Y, but how much do you know about Gordie? Probably not enough, so watch and learn. I also feel that it’s necessary to include this ESPN commercial, as well as Gordie’s theme song. I want to learn to play the guitar just so I can sing this around the campfire. Also for your historical viewing pleasure: Legends of Hockey about Ted Lindsay and Terry Sawchuck, and a tribute to Olympia (It’s best to watch this one on mute). Apparently there isn’t a single YouTube video about Alex Delvecchio or Sid Abel.
4. The Statue of Liberty Goal
This was the goal that launched a thousand punch lines. It was a perfect storm of timeliness, irony, history, and hilarity. In short, it was everything that a goal should be. And the fact that it made Patrick Roy look like a fool made it that much sweeter. The goal did indeed count. Seriously though. Remember that series? The Wings were down 3-2 in the Conference Finals playing on the road in Colorado. The game was scoreless near the end of the first period. Stress levels were at an all-time high. And then, out of nowhere, came this moment of glory. And we all know what transpired after...
3. Darren McCarty’s Cup-Clinching Goal in ‘97
If you were a Red Wings fan in the ‘90s, the highlight reel from this game should probably make you cry. After crushing defeats by New Jersey in ’95 and Colorado in ’96, the Wings finally ended the 42-year Cup drought right here in Hockeytown. And the game-winning goal in that decisive victory? Scored by none other than our favorite grind-liner, Darren McCarty, just a few weeks removed from reducing Claude Lemieux to a bloody, cowering turtle at center ice. Clearly, this was a good year for Mac. Even out of this context, this would probably be the most spectacular goal of his career. He looked like a 50-goal scorer on that rush. I remember my dad saying, “No, that wasn’t McCarty. He’s not that good.” To this day, I believe that the Hockey Gods instilled him with some kind of dangling magic a la “Angels in the Outfield” in that one particular moment.
2. March 26th, 1997
This epic battle defined one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Along with the follow-up in '98, Darren McCarty's revenge for Claude Lemieux's hit on Kris Draper during the previous year's playoffs should be required viewing for every Wings fan. These fights were the complete package: they weren’t staged, they were bookended by great hockey, and they involved goalies. As a hockey fan, you couldn’t ask for anything more. Whenever the Wings played the Avs during the late ‘90s and early ‘00s there was the ever-present possibility that the bad blood would escalate into a full-on brawl. Plus, there are few things more fun in hockey than a good old-fashioned goalie fight. And as a Red Wings fan, you should know why the date 3/26/97 will forever be a part of team lore. For comic relief, I’ve also included Dominik Hasek’s attempt to join the legion of Wings goalies to battle Patrick Roy.
1. The ’98 Cup Celebration
If the shot of Steve Yzerman putting the Stanley Cup in Vladdie’s lap doesn’t make you at least a little bit misty-eyed, then you either have no heart or aren’t a Red Wings fan. This, more than anything defines the team in my mind. After they won in ’97, it was hard to imagine anything sweeter than that triumph. But ’98 had an entirely different feel. It was like a made-for-TV movie, except it was real. That playoff run embodied everything that fans love about sports. And what more could you ask from a hockey team?

OK, I lied. There are actually more than ten videos there. But you get the idea. And since I bookmarked all of these, and I don't intend to let that effort go to waste, here are the runners-up:
The top 10 Wings goals of the Modern Era, Samuel L. Jackson as Cheli's coach, the Winter Classic (Best parts at 1:10 and 4:40), Datsyuk dangling Turco, Franzen taking Kane's mouthguard, MAF falling before '08 Finals, Steve Yzerman fighting (also watch for Bob Probert punching the goalie's mask right off his face at the 1:20 mark), and a version of the '97 fight set to music that came highly recommended by my brother.

These are all amusing and entertaining, but not quite significant enough to make it on the list. I know I've left dozens of other great moments off. The comments section is a great place to post links that you think I need to see. I promise I'll enjoy them as much as you do.

Odds and Ends...

I have a couple of odds and ends that I haven’t had a chance to mention yet, so here they are presented in glorious bullet form:

--The Philadelphia Flyers just gave Chris Pronger a seven-year contract. I literally laughed out loud when I read this news. Especially in light of that whole “35 and up” thing in the CBA. It’s almost depressing to see all of these other teams throwing dollars around foolishly while the always-brilliant Kenny Holland is handcuffed by the salary cap and can’t even make a mediocre deal.
--The Handshake Incident really won’t go away. I have a sneaky suspicion that my grandchildren are going to be hearing about this. First there was an interview with Kris Draper posted on Snapshots that dealt with it, and now it popped up again today over at THN. Seriously. Move on people. There’s plenty of stuff going on in the world of hockey that we don’t need to keep talking about this. And if there isn’t anything the hockey world that can hold your interest, there are plenty of other things going on in the real world that could occupy your time.
--There was a really nice article about Vladdie posted on the Wings website. I had never heard the story of how he defected from Russia before. It blows my mind to think of the risk that he and other Russians (like Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny) took to come here to play. Also, all these years later, it still brings a tear to my eye to see Vladdie. I only really got to see him play for a couple of years, but I still remember sitting on the couch in my family room watching news coverage of the crash as a 10-year-old.
--I stumbled across these icons (or avatars) in an NHL icons community on LiveJournal (don’t judge me). They’re pretty awesome even though only one is really related to the Wings. Please do check out both links, as anyone familiar with the NHL should get a chuckle or two out of them.
--I walked into a hardware store in Ann Arbor the other day, and the owner had hung a copy of the Kronwalled poster behind the counter. It made me smile.
--One of my professors announced that she’s from Pittsburgh and went on to talk about how it’s the City of Champions and the Penguins won. This was just another in a long string of FML moments that I’ve been enduring lately.

Quoteless Joe and The Turtle...

In all the drama surrounding Jiri Hudler yesterday, I didn’t get a chance to mention a couple of noteworthy retirements. Former Wings rivals Joe Sakic and Claude Lemieux both announced that they are calling it quits (Lemieux for the second time). While I realize that it’s long dead, I came of age as a Wings fan during the heat of the rivalry, and there is a part of me that will always hate the Avs. Also, the title I chose for this post sounds vaguely like one of Aesop's Fables...

I can honestly say that the one Avs player who I never quite grew to hate was Joe Sakic. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I wanted him to score against the Wings, but it never seemed to make me as angry as it did when other Avs found the back of the net. In their analyses, a lot of other fans are suggesting that part of the reason we never hated Sakic was because of his similarities to Steve Yzerman (mostly that they were both long-time captains who wore #19), but I never cared about that. I always had a grudging respect for him that prevented me from achieving the level of hatred that I had for the rest of the Avs. There was something about him that always struck me as classy. Even back then when I was a little kid. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t have a few laughs at his expense after the Snowblower Incident last year, but I kind of did feel bad for the guy. I’m not going to write up some big career eulogy comparing his numbers to those of The Captain because, frankly, we all know which player I would choose. Sakic’s a nice guy and all, but I’m a Wings fan, and with that come some insurmountable biases. Namely the belief that Steve Yzerman is as close to a deity as I will ever see don hockey skates. But that being said, for someone like me who spent the better part of my formative years despising the Colorado Avalanche, it says a lot about Sakic that I always respected him and am a little sad to see him hang up the skates for good. And there’s really no higher compliment that I could give him. Except maybe for calling him a near-deity in hockey skates…

On the other side of my hatred scale is the other notable former Av who announced his retirement. Claude Lemieux. It’s been thirteen years since that fateful day when he rearranged Kris Draper’s face with what was one of the nastiest checks I’ve ever seen, but simply hearing his name is still enough to make me groan in disgust. I do have to give him credit for one thing: he taught me how to hate. There was literally no one in the world that I despised as much as Lemieux back in the day. Actually that hasn’t changed at all in the intervening years. He remains the most celebrated cheap-shot artist in recent memory (although to be fair, Chris Pronger’s giving him a run for his money), but even worse, he had this terrible knack for coming up big against the Wings. It was like he would lie low until the Wings came into town and then find a way to elevate his game three notches and drive me absolutely batty. Some might say that this is a compliment to his abilities, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Puck Daddy had a big post celebrating his career today. It was the most distasteful thing I’ve read on a hockey blog this side of that Pens Blog post making fun of Vladdie. That famous picture of Darren McCarty absolutely destroying Lemieux while he huddled into a turtle position is tied for my favorite hockey image of all time. There’s a reason that it’s hanging on my bedroom wall. One of my saddest days was when I lost the Free Press comic that featured Lemieux’s head Photoshopped onto the body of a turtle. It was stuck in my mirror for years before it finally disappeared.

When Claude popped back up in San Jose this year, I was a little upset. At that point, it looked like the Sharks were going to be the biggest obstacle to the Wings repeating as champs. The thought of Lemieux having a hand in that once again was far too distasteful for me to accurately put into words. Oh how silly and naïve those thoughts seem now as I look back in retrospect. There are some guys for whom I would feel bad if their final season ended up with a massive first round upset. Claude Lemieux is so far from making that list that he couldn’t even read it with a telescope.

Now I leave you with this little beauty. Because, really, is there any other way I could end this post?

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.