Posts Tagged Red Wings
VS. Loves Stanley
The AP reports that the Monday game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final brought in the highest NHL ratings on VS. ever, and only Lance Armstrong’s ‘05 Tour De France final brought in more viewers.
This popularity is no surprise considering the epic match up between the Wings and the Penguins. The NHL couldn’t have paid for a better match up if they had wanted to. It’s the league’s bandwagon team pitted against their poster child (emphasis on child) and his gang.
In fact, Adrian Dater writes on his blog All Things Avs that the NHL in general is doing better than ever hitting a record revenue of $2.56 billion. This is good news for hockey fans.
Who knows, maybe we will even be lucky enough to reconcile with ESPN and get some real coverage of the sport. As great as vs. has been this year covering the NHL (OK so perhaps ‘great’ doesn’t really describe it) it would be nice to have hockey games on a channel that people actually get on their TVs.
It would be even better if the Penguins could pull out of their funk and make this series interesting — for Hockey’s sake.
Add comment May 28, 2008
The Cup Changes Everything — The Final Round
Is anyone really surprised to see the Wings and the Penguins in the finals?
The Story in Pittsburgh: With the help of Marc-Andre Fleury the young Penguins were able to overcome the Flyers for the first time in the teams’ past four post-season meetings. Center Max Talbot said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “I think it’s about time the Penguins won a series against the Flyers. It’s been a long time.”
The Story in Detroit: Dallas proved to be a pesky foe in the last games of the Western Conference final coming back to win two games, but Detroit was finally able to put them away 4-1 in game six. According to Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Osgood were key in the victory as were the the third-line and fourth-line guys. So, an overall team effort from the Wings.
It looks like the teams are evenly matched and both are hungry for the cup, so it should be a great competition! Game one starts on Saturday at 8:00 in Detroit.
1 comment May 21, 2008
The Cup Changes Everything – Round Two
The Avalanche, Rangers and Sharks all find themselves down two games and battling to hang onto their playoff hopes tonight. Before the games start I will share a few quick thoughts:
On the Red Wings vs. Avalanche series: If the Avs have any hope of advancing (which they pretty much don’t) They need Forsberg to play (I don’t care if he is on his death bed!) and Theodore to stop goals. It seems so simple, yet, so impossible. The Wings are looking hot, scoring goals, drawing penalties, scoring short handed, playing defense–basically they are playing hockey. Something the woebegone Avalanche could aim for. Sadly, apart from Cody McCormick’s scrap with McCarty, neither team is doing much to rekindle the rivalry.
On the Rangers vs. Penguins Series: Both teams fought hard on Sunday afternoon but the Ranger’s simply couldn’t get the puck in the net (before the whistle that is). Expect more physical play, and energy from the young Penguin’s team. Lundqvist was good on Sunday, but his team needs to help him out. As for Fleury, I’m still not convinced that he is a Cup caliber goalie, but he has proven himself so far.
On the Sharks vs. Stars Series: I expect the Sharks will come back now that they have had a chance to feel out the Stars. I’ll be honest though, I have been so busy following the other games I haven’t watched any of this series.
Add comment April 29, 2008
The “Blood Feud” Continues
My first live NHL game was an Avalanche Red Wings tilt at the Pepsi Center in Denver. I was a gangly fourteen-year-old with braces and high waters. My family could only afford individual tickets in the nose bleeds. My Dad helped me find my section before leaving for his seat. I had seen tons of hockey, but never like this.
I was sitting between some drunk college guys and two women brave enough to don Wings Jerseys. The Guys kept shouting things like, “Go back to Russia you Commies!” Some other drunk fans poured beer on the Red Wing’s fans when the Wing’s took the lead. I loved the intensity. In the third period I remember the electric atmosphere when Patrick Roy skated to center ice to fight Dominik Hasek. It was history.
The rivalry between the Avalanche and the Red Wings is epic—no doubt about it. Round two is going to Rock! Adrian Dater, an Avalanche beat writer with the Denver Post since the beginning of the franchise, describes the anticipated round two as, “a renewal of one of the league’s most notorious playoff rivalries — or rivalries, period — in the past 20 years.” Dater is also the author of the book, Blood Fued. If you love hockey you must read this chronicle of the Wings Avs bitter rivalry. I couldn’t put it down, and I have to confess that I was a little misty eyed by the end of the book–just the thought of the rivalry being over. The good news is that the old rivalry is about to be defibrillated to life with this Western Conference semi final.
The rivalry that started when Avalanche Claude Limieux re-arranged the face of Red Wing Kris Draper will be re-kindled because:
- The Avalanche still has Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, and Adam Foote.
- The Wings still have Daren McCarty, Kris Draper, and Niklas Lidstrom.
- Last time these teams met in the regular season Ian Laperriere contributed to a hit that had Wings’ Captain Nicklas Lidstrom out for several games with a sprained knee. The Wings want revenge.
- The Avs want revenge for their embarrassing 7-0 loss to the Wings in their last post-season match up.
- The Denver media and the Detroit media have a history of hating each other in this series. (Note the Detroit Free Press’s reaction to a Rocky Mountain News opinion piece from 4.23.08 )
One thing is for certain: I will be cutting out of my Rhetoric class early on Thursday night to catch the game on TV!
2 comments April 24, 2008
