RED WINGS 2008 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS THREAD!

[kylers]

Actually, I think you mean me, when you say Ozzie made a believer. It's not that I didn't believe in Osgood–make that "Osgreat"–I just believed in Hasek, more. Dom collapsed in the Nashville series. Ozzie rose to fame and glory.

Also, Mike is completely off the hook for beer.

I think it is foolish for people to think back-to-back, ever. There is so much that has to go right for a team to win, and so little that needs to go wrong for a team to get bounced early. But, I think the Wings are the odds-on favorite to be the best team in the NHL, next year. As for Pittsburgh, they're going to have some trouble signing many of their parts under the salary cap and, more importantly, the owner's budget. Pittsburgh does not use their whole cap. They'll be back, but not for a few years. I read a story in the Hockey News about it.

The last thing I want to touch on is that of all the spectacular saves, bone-crushing body checks, debilitating dekes, wicked wristers, and severe slappers, the goal that won us the Cup was not a breakaway to juke Fleury out of his jockstrap, not a mind-blowing one-timer, not a spectacular move, like D-Mac made on Garth Snow, in '97, but a trickler what I am coining, "The Butt Goal"! Yes, when everyone thought the puck had been covered up by Marc-André Fleury, he sat down, and slid the puck across the goal line, into the net, for the Cup-winning goal. "The Butt Goal"

Crack open a cold one, and celebrate it, Hockeytown! We are the defending Stanley Cup Champions!

[Deli Hand Grenade]

HOLY you know what guys! Since my new job allows me to watch television while I work ... I got to watch this entire game! I was bummed I couldn't participate in the thread though (no computers or cell phones aloowed) but I knew all of you were just as jacked as I was.

I had to explain to a few of my co-workers (who know and care not about hockey) that they may see a 25-year-old guy cry if the Wings won the cup. Luckilly I kept the tears in until I got home and watched them hand out the hardware. But when the last second ticked away ... I did scream and jump around for about 10 seconds in the news-room.

WHAT AN AMAZING TEAM AND MOMENT!

- Ok ... the Butt goal. LOL Kyle! That's the only way I could describe it. It is probably the flukiest stanley cup winning goal ever. And with as crappy as the Pittsburgh ice was, you had to know it would be desided by a garbage goal.

- Conn Smythe ... #40 Hendrick Zetterberg. I'm SHOCKED it didn't go to Ozzie. It's hard to argue with the numbers Hank put up ... but would they even have won without Ozzie? Me thinks not. Osgood should have won it, but REMEMBER, the NHL picks the MVP. Who's more of a face of the NHL these days ... Hank or Ozzie? The answer is easy.

- Praise ... HANK HAD ONE HELL OF A SEASON AND PLAYOFFs! He is one of the most important reasons why Wings are where they are now. His is a dynamic player, he can make things happen at the same level as Crosby and Ovenchkin, but defend better than either of those two could ever hope to be. My next Wings jersey will feature a #40 on the back.

- Tangent ... I was also SHOCKED in 2002 when Lidstrom won it over Yzerman. All they talked about that year was how amazing Stevie played in the playoffs that year ... and on ONE GOOD LEG! Oh well.

- Speaking of Lidstrom ... This win is going to cement him as one of the 2 or 3 best defensemen of ALL TIME. I mean it's gotta be Orr and then him right? MAYBE flipped? We'll see what happens the rest of his carrer.

- Hall of Fame ... I predict that Osgood will be the Wing's starting goaltender until he retires. If that is the case added to what he's done in his carrer ... SLAM DUNK.

- It was nice to see Drake win the cup ... he came up as a Wing and now gets his first cup as a Wing like 17 years later.

- Rafalski was the missing cog that the Wings needed for this victory. He played his mind out all season and in the playoffs.

- Have I not mentioned Datsyuk yet?!? Oh yeah .. he had an AMAZING playoff as well. His move getting the puck out of the zone with about 25 seconds left will be in my mind as one my favorite Dats moments of all time ... right with all the pretty goals. I predict Selke for him since Hank won the Symthe.

- MULE ... Single handedly took the Avalanche out ... had a butt-load of goals. NOTHING to sneeze at. This kid is gonna be special.

- Kronwall ... His hits have become famous because of these playoffs. Not onl that ... but he ended right up there in assists as well.

The Unsung Heroes ... Filpula, Hudler, Stuart, Maltby, Draper, Lebda ... all totally solid.

- McCarty ... Does anyone know if he played a game in the finals? I'm sure he'll end up with his name on the cup after the petition.

- GOATS ... Speaking of petitions ... can we ask the team if they could leave Hasek and Lilja's names off the cup? It's a CRIME that Hasek is going to have his name on this cup.

- Dap ... The Penguins put up one hell of a fight ... and they will win a Stanley Cup down the road.

Sorry for writing a novel here but I BLEED Red ... and White! THis was an amazing season and I can't wait for our next show where we can reflect on this Stanley Cup compared to the others! Hopefully I can be on it!

LET's GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jonwings]

I had this nice long post all typed out and got some sort of error and I lost it. Probably won't try to write it up again tonight, I will tomorrow.

I think they got it right with Hank over Ozzie and will elaborate further later.

[Deejhanaze]

What a sweet feeling! Seeing those guys in the Wings sweater skating the cup around the ice...thats what hockey is all about. What a great team.

Lets start by giving a lot of credit to the Penguins. I think they were almost a consensus pick amongst our show to win the East and they had a great year. It was kinda nice to see a final in which the other team actually had a shot. They played the Wings as hard as anyone could have played them and they will be back sooner rather then later...hats off to a worthy opponent (finally!)

As for the Wings...I believe a HUGE hell yeah is in order, as well as a totally hetero man hug with all my beer soaked friends after the game. They were the best team all year and went out and finished it off.

Hank for the Conn Smythe was fine by me. I love Ozzie as much as anyone else in the world and I agree he was a HUGE part of them winning but the numbers Hank put up were unreal. As is usually the case, the Wings had a few guys who could realistically win it and only one could. Hank scored huge goals, played a lot of minutes and absolutely shut down 2 of the best players in the world. He won it after defending that 5-3 in game 4 (the announcers dubbed it the Conn Smythe shift) Ozzie would have been a worthy candidate but I think Hank was the MVP for the wings. Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Ted Lindsay, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Federov, none of those guys put up as many points in the playoffs as Hank did this year. When you set a record like that on THIS team ...thats saying a whole lot about his play.
(I know the older guys didn't play as many playoff games a year but it adds to the effect of my point to evoke their gravitas.)

Ozzie for the Hall of Fame...HECK YES! What a vindicating win for him. His entire post game interview was a big FU to everyone who ever doubted him. You can put him down in history as one of the top 10-15 goalies ever! Big DAP for the Ozman!

Niklas Lidstrom...need I say more. The first European to win the Conn Smythe and now the first European ti captain a team to the cup. A clbum-bumic distinction for a clbum-bumic player. It was so sweet to see Stevie raise the cup 3 times (particularly in '97) and as sad as I am to see him gone, the torch has officially been pbum-bumed. As if Niks legacy wasn't already intact, he gets to add another cup. Is there anyone more deserving on the team of the honor of being captain and being the first to hoist the cup? I think not. He is by far the best D-man ever not named Bobby Orr.

Ok, I'm done now...GO WINGS!

[Deejhanaze]

HHAHAHAHAHA...ok this whole automatically replace swears with things like "bum-bum" ruined the last paragraph of what I thought was a very nice tribute to the Wings win by your truly.

[jonwings]

Let's try this again,

I am so glad this team won the cup. Over the last month of the season and even into the playoffs, I was getting sick of hearing all of the hockey experts dismiss this team as soft and can't get it done just because the team is made up primarily of European players. THe Wings lead the NHL from start to finish, had the best defense and was darn close to having the best offense in the NHL and no one except Wings fans gave them a chance to win the Cup. Hopefully this will dispell all of those thoughts and people will start recognizing how great this team really is.

I think they got it right with the Conn Smythe. Hank was the dominate player for the Wings in this playoff. He was tied for the lead in points and goals and even when he was not scoring he was dominant on defense. He really stood out during the last 5 mins of Game 3 at Dallas and during the 5 on 3's in games 5 and 6.

These playoffs were really the coming out party for both Datsyuk and Zetterberg. These guys were two superstars that no one would ever talk about, and when they did they would prefice it by saying how they can't win the big game and there stats are inflated since they play together a lot. THese guys showed in Game 5, when Babs split them up that they are just as dominate playing on different lines. Everyone should know how great these guys are now.

I really like seeing Dallas Drake skate the cup. I was a big fan of his when he first started with the Wings and it was nice to see everything come full circle, since I would imagine he will be retiring soon.

In games 5 and 6, Flip really impressed me. I know he was playing on a bum leg, but he was all over the place. He was probably the next best forward in the finals after Pav and Z. In gneral, the Wings young guns really stepped it up. Knonwall, Flip, Franzen, Hudler, Helm, and Lebda all came up big at different times during the post season. THe future is looking good with these guys and Kopecky coming back next year.

And speaking of Brett Lebda, he grew up about 10 mins from where I live. Here is hoping Brett bring the Cup back to Buffalo Grove, IL and they town does something for him so I can go see the cup in person.

THis post is getting long enough as it, so I'll come back to it later since there is so much more I want to say about this team.

Congrats Wings!!!!!!!

[jonwings]

I meant to post this last night when I found it. It is a cool interview with Ozzie and McCarty.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2aVpwCZ1Ho

[jonwings]

For those of you not in the Detroit area, they showing the parade on ESPNNEWS

[jonwings]

I'm watching the parade and Jiri Hudler is my new favorite player!!! This guy is awesome. I think he might have been half in the bag.

[jonwings]

It lokos like they have video of all the Wings who spoke at the rally at

www.mlive.com/redwings

You have to check out Hudler.

[jonwings]

It looks like the Wings successfully got Meech's name put on the Cup.

blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/09/cheers_for_meech.html