Indy's hockey oasis

Well yesterday I wrote I was going to listen to the game. I didn't. But I did something better. I watched the game. In Indiana!

Last night was a big sports night for me with the World Series, the Colts and the Red Wings game. I had originally planned to visit my favorite local pub to catch the first few innings and couple of quarters. Then head home to listen to the game online.
Instead of taking a taxi home. I headed to Hard Rock. ChaCha told me Hard Rock had Center Ice. It doesn't. So still hoping I could watch, I headed to Jillians.
"Can I help you?" the hostess asked.
"Depends, do you guys have Center Ice?"
Get the usual "what's that?" I explain it to her, and she said she'd check with a manager.
"What game you want to see?" he asked. I'm surprised he couldn't tell, as I was wearing a Red Wings jacket and cap.
"Red Wing - Kings."
"Oh yeah, I think we got that."
Wow, just wow. I was dumbfounded.
He put the game on for me, and I was in paradise.

So that's how I was able to see the game in Indy. Amazing.
Ironically enough the Kings pre-game show featured Jack Johnson. Sadly, since the Colts were playing, I couldn't hear it.
I bet I was the only person there who knew Johnson was born in Indianapolis.

Grind Line coverage

Well there wasn't much coverage of the Grind Line's reunion last night. Not nearly as much as I expected.
The Detroit News and mlive.com featured stories about the line's return. They didn't play much, Darren McCarty didn't hit the seven minute mark, so that might be part of it.
A reader at sportsline.com said Detroit will need the Grind Line more against the Ducks. That's probably true. The Ducks have been one of the most penalized teams the last few years, and I'm willing to bet there might be some fisticuffs.
So maybe we'll so more coverage after tomorrow night's game.

Grind Line to be reunited

Just read on mlive.com the Grind Line - Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty - will be reunited during the Red Wings - Kings game tonight.

Johan Franzen's knee injury has led to the reunion of The Grind Line, as coach Mike Babcock plans to use Kris Draper with Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty, a unit that was first formed during the 1996-97 season and last played together for one shift on March 28 vs. St. Louis, when the trio started the game.
"Grinding. I expect them to be good,'' Babcock said. "We need four lines competing and working hard and being energized and making a contribution. The way you play and the minutes and the wear and tear on the opposition is important.''

Woo Hoo!
I'll be listening tonight for sure, and I expect more coverage of this tomorrow.

Kevin Smith loves hockey

OK, so Kevin Smith hasn't befriended me on NHL Connect yet. Still I'm a fan of his movies, and he loves hockey. Usually in his movies there's some hockey references too. So that's cool. I can even respect him for liking the Devils. Since I'm a Red Wings fan, maybe that's why he's not my friend there. Oh well.
Anyway Greg Wyshynski aka Puck Daddy talked hockey with Smith recently and posted the interview Thursday.
Below are my favorite quotes from it.

I remember reading a review with a critic who said, "This filmmaker doesn't put comics and hockey in a movie to express something; they put it in there because they like comics and hockey." And that was exactly why I did it.
I liked hockey, and I still like hockey. If these dudes are going to try and break away from work to do anything, it ain't gonna be to play some [expletive] ball. They're going to play some stick.

If you were in charge of the NHL's marketing for one day, what exactly would you change?
My commercial would just be, "Hockey: It Will Get You Laid."

Anyway maybe he'll come back to NHL Connect and blog some more and accept me a friend. In the meantime I'll be on the lookout for his new movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Winter Classic II jerseys

Well the Chicago Blackhawks are taking it to the Detroit Red Wings right now. Hawks up, 4-2 going into the third.
At the first intermission the NHL released the Winter Classic II jerseys. They look pretty sharp in my opinion, especially Detroit's though I am partial. Anyway, I've always liked that D, which I've always thought was a Gothic D, not an Old English D as the NHL claims.



Not a big fan of the lace-up, new jerseys, but that's a minor complaint. The lace-up feature seems superfluous on the new jerseys.
Anyway they look real good to me. I can't wait until January 1, 2009. Should be a fun day.
Oh and it's also pretty cool all 30 teams are playing today.

More Lindsay love

USAToday writer Kevin Allen added his two cents about Ted Lindsay, who Allen calls a great storyteller, today.

On hockey sticks:
“The Toronto Maple Leafs had a rule that you couldn’t bring a stick into the room unless it weighed 26 or more ounces. Sticks were all wood then, and the reason for that they were buying all of that equipment and sticks and (teams) didn’t want sticks breaking too easily. They wanted you to be able to lay it on a guy 10 times, not just once.”

On Hall of Fame defenseman Doug Harvey:
“They always talk about Bobby Orr as being the greatest defensemen who ever played, and I wouldn’t take anything away from him. He changed hockey. He became the mobile defenseman, tremendous player. But Harvey was still a better hockey player. When you look at Harvey, he had (Jean Beliveau), (Rocket) Richard, (Henri) Richard, Bert Olmstead, Boom Boom Geoffrion and yet when (Montreal) got on the power play he was the maestro. He controlled every one of those guys."

On his favorite hockey memory:
“People say, ‘What was your greatest goal?’ My greatest goal was the next one, because the one you just had is gone. That’s history. And you just always hoped that next one didn’t take too long to get there.

That last one could apply to this year's Red Wings team in trying to win the Stanley Cup again. Last year's championship is history, what matters most is the next one.

Crushing on Lindsay

Growing up, as a hockey fan and particularly a Red Wings fan, I've read a lot about Ted Lindsay. Well with the Wings organization unveiling a statue dedicated to Terrible Ted, it's fair to say I have a renewed appreciation for him after reading so many articles about him. It's true, I now have a man-crush on Ted Lindsay. Below is a video of the statue unveiling Saturday.



In the blog entry below, the New York Daily News' Michael Obernauer also notes Lindsay's first and lets him tell us in his own words.

In 1950, Lindsay was the first to skate around the rink with the Stanley Cup after winning it, which is a rite of victory today. Here's what he had to say about that:

"I was very conscious of who paid my salary. It wasn't the National Hockey League, it wasn't Mr. Norris (the owner), it wasn't Mr. Adams (the general manager), it was the people who were sitting in the stands. At that time, they only had chicken wire, and that was at the end of the rink. On the side of the rink, from where the dots are in the circles, there was nothing on the boards, all the way to the other end. The fans used to sit with their elbows on the boards, and when the play would come by, they'd move back, and when the play would come by, they'd move back, and when the play went into the corner they'd put their elbows back and put their head out to see what was going on in the corner.

"I recognized, I saw that Cup standing there - we didn't have parades and all that in those days - and I saw the Cup, I saw these fans standing just inside the boards, I just said, I'll pick the Cup up, take it over, just so they could see it, get a close look at it. Probably Adams thought, 'What's that idiot Lindsay, is he going to throw it on the ice or something?' But I wanted to show appreciation for the people who paid our salary - never realizing I was starting a tradition. I'm happy it's turned out that way, because it's the greatest Cup in the world, and the greatest game in the world."

Wow! That is so cool, and I can't believe I'd forgotten that. What an awesome gesture. What a start to a great tradition, and he did it for the fans! Also how cool would it be to not only not have to sit behind safety netting, but also not have to sit behind glass? I'd love it.
By the way, kudos to mlive.com's George James Malick who referenced Obernauer's blog so I could find it.

Malick, who does a fantastic job in gathering Red Wings information, noted other Lindsay kudos in a blog entry titled Tips and jabs pepper Lindsay's take on life in bronze. Definitely worth reading in my opinion.

Oh and one more thing. Awhile back one of my Michigan friends, who now lives in Colorado - don't ask - met Lindsay recently. I was jealous of her before, now I'm even more jealous.


The Ted Lindsay statue at The Joe Louis Arena.

ESPN still hates NHL

Check out this. ESPN posted no NHL photos from Saturday's games.



There were 13 games Saturday, yet ESPN didn't post even one photo from any of the 13. Not one!
This is more proof the four-letter hates the League. More proof the NHL shouldn't go back to the Mickey Mouse networks.

Babcock nailed it

If the Detroit Red Wings are to repeat as Stanley Cup champions they will to have earn it. Coach Mike Babcock after last night's game was talking about winning the game the last night, and probably the whole season.
From the AP article Saturday.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock called a timeout after Voros' second goal.
"I just asked them who this team was. Where was the team that was playing the whole game until that last little bit?" he said. "People don't understand. We won the Stanley Cup, but this is a new year. You have to earn things. People say we're going to be fine, but the only way we'll be fine is if we earn the right to be fine."

Other teams will be coming hard at the Wings this year because they're the reigning champions. The hype surrounding them will be more intense this season. Also many pundits predicted them to win the Cup again. Don't believe the hype. The Red Wings will have to earn it.

Keeping up

There's a lot of NHL information on the Internet. To manage it all and to keep up with my team, the Red Wings, I use Google products.
I use Google Calendar to receive game notifications that are sent to my e-mail. I use Google Alerts to receive any time "Detroit Red Wings" appears in news articles or blog posts. They are also sent to my Gmail account.



In addition I use Google Reader to receive RSS feeds from the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, MLive, the Detroit Red Wings website and several columnists including Wes Goldstein, Michael Farber, Jame Mirtle and others.



Also I have updates from The Hockey News and TSN.ca sent to me daily to my e-mail.

Hockey Thoughts Friday, Oct. 17, 2008

Chris Chelios on Joe Elliot of Def Leppard
Chelios thinks Def Leppard's Joe Elliot purposely put the Cup upside down. To me it seems reasonable he knew what he was doing.

I agree an American or Canadian band should've been invited. Who knows maybe the League tried, but couldn't get anybody else.
Anyway if Elliott did it on purpose, he's an ass. If not, who cares. I mean he didn't shit in the Cup like Draper's kid did. Oh and he didn't drop it like Chelios did.


A case for #91 in the rafters?, Ted Lindsay
Some Red Wings fans still think Sergei Fedorov's 91 should be retired. Then somebody posted some Wings players didn't want him back. While not players, this example I provided was close enough in my opinion. The writer mentioned brain trust. To me a team's captain or its alternates could be considered that.

Toward the bottom of the page.
http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/03/blame_bebcock_for_nixing_fedor.html
Again, it's a safe assumption to suggest that, had Babcock been the only one to object to the trade, he would have been asked to reconsider. There was apparently some sort of consensus in the room that several people had major concerns about bringing Fedorov back to Detroit, and in all likelihood, the concerns were related to both Fedorov's on-ice performance and the substantial off-ice distractions that Fedorov faced during his later years as a Wing.
Fedorov's 91 shouldn't be raised to the rafters.


3rd Jersey?, Thoughts on a 3rd for the Wings
Some Red Wings fans want the organization do have a third jersey. Some even say adding black would be good.

The Wings don't need a third jersey. Maybe when attendance really fails or if the team goes into a funk again. That's when it should be done.
Black jerseys suck balls.
That said. I'd buy this coat set-up, but there's too much black. I won't buy it.

Fuck, we're not the Devils nor the Hurricanes!


Wings arena
A poster was asking for a panoramic view of The Joe Louis Arena, and wanted to know when it opened.

There was one on NHL.com last night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis_Arena
Try this link.
http://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/console.jsp?id=2008020070


NHL back on ESPN?
According to a linked Q & A on sportsnet.ca a poster infers that the NHL could be back on ESPN again.

ESPN's past record speaks for itself. The four-letter treated the League like shit. Yes, the League needs more exposure, but it won't get it from the Mickey Mouse networks. The players, fans, and others who do think a renewed ESPN - NHL relationship would be a good thing are wrong.
Bars, hotels, cable companies, etc. that don't have Versus are in the dark ages. The pressure needs to be put on them to get Versus.
A personal example: I stayed at a hotel recently, and it didn't have Versus nor Fox Sports. I told hotel management they need to get it. It'll affect my future decisions in staying with that chain.

Still looking northward

About a month ago a Motown journalist said Detroit wasn't a Red Wings town, which national sportswriter Rick Reilly proclaimed. The Detroiter was of the opinion it was more of a Lions and Tigers town.

This is football town, first and foremost. There is not another city in the world that can put almost 200,000 people in football stadiums on Saturday and another 65,000 on Sunday.
...
When the Tigers are terrible, fans are apathetic. Same for the Pistons. Same for the Red Wings. But when the Lions are terrible, people go nuts. Part of that is the fact that the NFL is king. But most of it is because this is a football town.

He's right.
In the regular season there's only 16 games, and only eight a season ticket holder has to attend. It's easier to be an American football fan. So as badly as the Lions play, that's why they might so popular.
Baseball is a little trickier to explain. The easy answer is that major league baseball has been around since the 1800s. So it's a little more ingrained into the national culture.
The Red Wings have won the most championships for the Motor City. Yet that doesn't seem to matter.
Every time I visit, the sports talk stations are buzzing with American football chatter. If not that, then baseball or basketball. If this happens inHockeytown, U.S.A., then it happens in every other U.S. city. It literally depresses me at times.
On a Red Wings message boards, Wings fans have said that Detroit is an American football town. It's not just me and Jamie Samuelsen.
Even Red Wing Darren McCarty pretty much said the same thing.

As much as Detroit is a hockey town, if the Lions ever do anything -- if they ever do anything -- you'll see exactly how sick this place can be.

Last week while I was in Detroit, the Red Wings flagship station WXYT held a live pre-game broadcast outside The Joe Louis Arena. While the broadcasters and callers chatted about the opening-night game from time to time, most of the talk was about American football. Tonight, trying to listen online, was more of the same. I click onWXYT radio on iTunes and am rudely treated to Lions coverage instead of a live broadcast of the Wings game. I go to NHL.com then, but am eventually frustrated with the site. At the top of the hour, around 8 p.m., figuring things changed, I go back toiTunes radio and thankfully, finally the game is on. This from the Red Wings flagship radio station! Disgraceful!

Last season a magazine stated Detroit wasn't Hockeytown and said other cities were. The bad news - there is no Hockeytown in the U.S.A.
There's no way the Penguins outshine the Steelers. No way the Avs receive more attention the Broncos. I haven't been to Boston during hockey season, but I bet the Bruins are a very distant fourth to the RedSox, Cetlics, and Patriots. In Buffalo it's the same story. Nary a peep about the Sabres; it was all about the Bills.
Two seasons ago I visited Chicago to see a Blackhawks - Red Wings game. The story was the same there. The talking heads there talked more about The Big 10 men's basketball championship, which Chicago would be hosting in a few days, and the Bulls. For all the Blackhawk renaissance since Bill Wirtz died, I bet it's the same.
So in my mind it's down to one metropolitan area. Maybe in the Twin Cities it's different, maybe. I have serious doubts.
I want to move to Canada.

Rivals and Proximity

Maybe one reason why the opening night game broke a Versus rating record was because it was between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, two rivals from the Original 6 days. I understand the rivalry between the two teams. Many Wings fans say their most intense rival is the Leafs, even more so than the Colorado Avalanche.
It's too bad the Wings and Leafs are in different conferences and don't play more often. I get that too. I'd like to see them play each other more often.
What I don't get is complaining about it like Bill McGraw from the Detroit Free Press did.

For much of the 20th Century, the Wings and the Leafs, their hometowns separated by only four hours on Highway 401, enjoyed a fine rivalry. But nowadays, thanks to the NHL schedule and division lineup, the Leafs rarely come to town and we have to watch Nashville and Columbus every other week.

Maybe he didn't get the news the NHL is now back to its pre-lockout schedule. They play at least once a season. Is it as good as two or more? Nope, but it's better than once every three years like the past three seasons. Things change. Maybe they'll change again to include more Wings and Leafs games. Things change. There's 30 teams now not six. It's time to be realistic regarding schedules, and at least the NHL made a step back in the right direction this season.

According to Google Maps Detroit to ...
Toronto = 246 mi – about 4 hours 6 mins
Columbus = 201 mi – about 3 hours 42 mins
Chicago = 282 mi – about 4 hours 31 mins
Nashville = 534 mi – about 8 hours 22 mins
St. Louis = 550 mi – about 8 hours 36 mins

In any case proximity helps in what team will be a rival, but it's not the only factor.

NHL opener scores record Versus ratings

Two sources posted the NHL opening night game between the Detroit Red Wing and Toronto Maple Leafs was the most watched regular season game for the network. This is great news in my opinion.

From John Consoli Mediaweek:
The Detroit Red Wings vs. Toronto Maple Leafs season opening National Hockey League game on Versus network on Oct. 9 was the most-watched regular season game ever on the network, drawing 572,897 viewers.
The game was part of a doubleheader telecast that night. The other game, the Boston Bruins vs. the Colorado Avalanche, which drew more than 300,000 viewers. The combined games averaged 413,892 viewers, a 33 percent increase over the opening night doubleheader on Versus last season.
The two games cumulatively showed big gains in male audience, with men 18-34 up 82 percent, men 18-49 up 57 percent, and men 25-54 up 45 percent.

And from Kevin Allen at USAToday:
Thursday's telecast of the Toronto Maple Leafs' 3-2 win vs. the Detroit Red Wings was the most-watched regular-season game on Versus in terms of households (360,944) and total viewers (572,897).
Versus also had its best-ever opening-night ratings, with its Detroit Red Wings-Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins-Colorado Avalanche doubleheader. The combined average viewership of the two games was up 17% (353,269 to 413,892) from last year.

Banner raised

Well the Red Wings raised their 11th Stanley Cup championship banner Thursday.
Then they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2.
Pretty decent shot from the last row of The Joe Louis Arena.



Anyway I still had a good time. Would've been better had the Wings won.

Some notes from the game ...
There was a goodly amount of boisterous Leafs fans.
The last time the Wings raised a Cup banner, they lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2.
Karen Newman did a great job with both anthems. I really enjoy going to a game where I can hear both.
It was cool seeing an Original 6 match-up, especially between the two rivals. It might be my first time seeing an Original 6 game at The Joe.
I remain convinced that JLA is the best arena in League to see a game. I was in the last row, and yet my view was still amazing.

Hockeytown Cafe was rockin before the game.

Game On!

In Detroit heading to Hockeytown Cafe, and then onto the game.
Should be great fun seeing the banner raised.
Looking forward to hopefully another Stanley Cup run for the Detroit Red Wings.
The scene at Hockeytown Authentics today.

NHL Fan Connect updates

While for the most part I'm digging the updates the the NHL.com website, I have no love for the updates at NHL Fan Connect, http://fans.nhl.com/

Anybody else a member there? If so what are your thoughts about the updates?
Here's a list of some of my problems there.

When logging into Fan Connect using Safari I tried tabbing over to the Password box. I couldn't. I had to use my mouse. Typically "tab" will work; it does using Firefox.

My username shows up in many places as all caps. It's meant to be all lowercase. Please stop screaming at me.

My blog titles are also all caps. I don't want to be screaming at other people. On some occasion I might use all caps to emphasize a word in a title. With NHL defaulting my titles to all caps, I can't.

The page on which one posts a new blog entry is far too cumbersome. The box is way, way too small to be effective. Sometimes html coding works correctly, sometimes it doesn't. It seems haphazard.

In the old style of NHL Connect I could access everything - photos, friends, blog - from almost any page. With the re-design I can't. I'm forced to always go back to my profile first, then to friends, messages, blog, etc. In a word, cumbersome.

NHL.com updates its website

The NHL unleashed a new re-designed website.
Wow, a lot of black, too much in my opinion.



It's a cleaner, more streamlined look, and certainly easier to navigate.
Other than that, it's a major improvement over the old one.



Oh and I also received an NHL.com message the other day that people can now leave story comments - much like Sporting News, CBS, and ESPN already do.

Johnson losing best 09 RFA poll

Hoosier native Jack Johnson is losing the "Best of next summer's potential restricted free agent" poll on espn.com/nhl.


Map doesn't accurately reflect latest numbers.

With more than 5,100 votes cast Johnson, defenceman for the Los Angeles Kings, only has about six percent of the vote.
Leading the five-man pack is Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins, followed by Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche, Anze Kopitar also of the Kings, Johnson and bringing up the rear is Atlanta Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen.
I read an article recently as to why the Red Wings have been so dominant, and it was attributed to the Wings defense.
So my vote went to Johnson because he's the only d-man on the list, and he was born in Indiana.
I know, hardly impartial reasons, but that's the way I voted.