Then again, Patrick Roy’s used to talking to goal posts, so maybe we should have seen this coming.
Your regular public service reminder that Patrick Roy and the Colorado Avalanche are the worst came in the first game of the season
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Tag Archives: nhl
How did the Detroit Red Wings manage to take a 3-1 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks?
I’m not exactly sure, but it sure has been a fun series to watch so far. My main concern is not that the Blackhawks may get a game back when the series returns to Chicago Saturday night, but that one of their players will do something to injure one of the Detroit players. This undoubtedly is one of the NHL’s oldest rivalries, stoked in recent years by the matching successes of both squads, but as last night’s game demonstrated, one team’s handling most of the extracurricular physical activity, and one team’s handling most of the goal scoring.
NHL playoffs start tonight, and the Red Wings’ streak is alive
With a shutout win over the Dallas Stars in the final game of the regular season Saturday night, the Detroit Red Wings extended their playoff streak to twenty-two years, continuing the longest active postseason streak in all of professional sports. Their immediate reward? A seven seed, and a matchup against the high-flying Anaheim Ducks, beginning late tonight in Southern California.
Before the puck drops this evening, check out what Grantland has identified as the top five moments of the past twenty-one years of Red Wings playoff appearances.
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Big changes afoot in Hockeytown?
Big changes afoot in Hockeytown?
The Detroit Red Wings have the longest active playoff-appearance streak– twenty-one years– in all of professional sports. With two games to go in the regular season, they barely are hanging on to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The way this season has gone, failing to make the playoffs couldn’t be called a surprise, but the end of their postseason streak would be monumental for a historically great franchise.
As big as that seems, even bigger changes may be on the horizon for Detroit. Buried at the bottom of the ESPN.com story on last night’s win over the Los Angeles Kings was this note:
Chris Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, which owns the Red Wings, said progress is being made on a new arena for the team.
(By way of background, Chris Ilitch is the son of Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers and the Little Caesar’s Pizza empire.)
I have been fortunate enough to see the Red Wings play in person three times– at Colorado, at Nashville, and at Chicago, plus the Red & White game in Grand Rapids— but never in the epicenter of Hockeytown: the legendary Joe Louis Arena.
I can’t imagine most fans will be happy to hear this news. For me, knowing that little is likely to stand in the way of the winged wheel of Progress, all I can do is redouble my efforts to make it to the Joe before time runs out.
[Cross-posted at Winging It In Motown. -Ed.]
The Detroit Red Wings’ season in one play
Things aren’t quite what they used to be around Hockeytown this year, and with realignment looming, it isn’t even clear that the Red Wings will get to seek needed playoff revenge against the Predators this year, much less turn the tide against the Blackhawks. Right now, the Wings season in one play looks something like this:
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NHL realignment: Take two
This might be the new NHL division map. No one seems to know for sure, and the internet is full of conflicting maps. This one appears to have come from Canada, though, so that seems legit.
We covered the initial saga of the latest episode of this story back in December 2011. What foundered then now is coming to be realized, at least in the short term: the NHL is rearranging itself into two conferences, each with two divisions. You can read about the details, consequences, and history of the negotiations over this issue in this article.
The NHL’s problems don’t have much to do with realignment issues, so I feel free to evaluate this proposal purely as a myopic fan of my team, the Detroit Red Wings. The linked article tells me that, from that vantage point, I’m supposed to be happy about all this:
[T]he Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets love the plan, because they were Eastern time zone cities playing in the Western Conference. Detroit owner Mike Ilitch had been lobbying commissioner Gary Bettman for 15 years, so his team could have better travel and his fans could have better TV start times, and he felt he was owed the move to the East. The Wings are an Original Six team that sucked it up and played at a disadvantage for a long time.
I don’t like it, though, even if that means I’m out of step with Mr. I. Here’s why: Continue reading
ALDLAND Podcast
After taking a couple weeks off for various reasons (mostly because of a lack of interesting stories), ALDLAND is back with a brand new podcast. The B1G title race is featured, along with discussion of the Blackhawks record point streak and our first ever story about the MLS. Click play and get some culture!
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Download the ALDLAND podcast at our Podcasts Page or stream it right here:
ALDLAND Podcast
ALDLAND is disappointed that we couldn’t bring in our promised special guest for a podcast this week, but rest assured he or she will be on soon for all sorts of fun discussion. What we do have for our loyal listener(s) is discussion of last week’s Super Bowl, as well as some choice stories from around the sports world. There’s even some soccer thrown in, for our listeners across the pond. So just listen already. And tell your friends. If you aren’t telling your friends then you are failing in your social obligations.
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Download the ALDLAND podcast at our Podcasts Page or stream it right here:
O, hockey’s back
The NHL is back. Here’s the best thing you can read about it.
The NHL freezeout finally thawed a few days ago, and like the slow, first drips of a spring melt, hockey writers’ earnest material is starting to trickle out. Breakdowns of the new CBA. Recommendations for how the league can bring back the fans. Wonderings about whether the league is better off as a lesser sports entity. Psychoanalyses of players who might not want to come back to the NHL. Discoveries of a beauty pageant winner’s role in the 2011 Vancouver hockey riots. Something about junior hockey championships. Remembrances of the Great One. I’ve read it all.
I’ve read it all, and it’s all fine, but none of it really satisfies. Just textual workouts over the same old themes. Nothing revelatory or even thought-provoking. None of it, at least, until the last hockey article I read, which might be the last stretch of hockey writing I read until I can get my hands on a commemorative magazine retrospective of my team’s Stanley Cup-winning run.
I don’t care if you call me biased. (Our phone lines are down anyway.) But if you dismiss this piece because I’ve declared my position on the author’s merits and you assume I prejudged the article and was going to like it and highlight it regardless, you’ll miss out on the best bit of post-most-recent-lockout hockey writing and the best swatch of sports writing in recent memory.
Norm Macdonald’s latest article is a short story in two parts– two short stories, really– with some light humor, of course, but more compellingly, real, emotional, suspenseful, rising action conveyed in absolutely compelling fashion with two lovely turns of phrase, one for each part.
I hope I haven’t over-hyped it for you the way that one girl over-hyped Shanghai Knights back in high school. Bring your expectations back to norm(al) levels and click here.
ALDLAND 