Looking at a Central division prediction
Adam Proteau of The Hockey News recently made his Central Division predictions and the Wings, unsurprisingly, are on top of the division. Check out what I had to say at Winging it in Motown.
Tigers lose the series to Cleveland
The Tigers are now 2 1/2 games behind Cleveland with their loss today in the 10th inning. They lost last night, 11-8.
I had the opportunity to attend last night’s game (Game #2 of the three game series versus the Cleveland Indians) and sat fifth row behind the Indians’ dugout so they were fantastic seats! The photos in this post are all from my seats with my cheap digital camera.
Magglio Ordonez scored another home run last night and the photo above is him finally reaching home plate after jogging around the bases.
A view of Pudge at bat. If you look at the screen where they usually show the Tigers roster shot and number, you’ll see they added funny hair and what not. It was 80s night so they did this to each player in the lineup. My favorite was Brandon Inge:
This guy a few rows back kept heckling Hafner (an Indians player and the one walking to home plate in the above photo). He even yelled, “Hafner- Why don’t you do something useful and help us start the wave!? 1…2…3…” It was pretty entertaining and only got worse as the night went on and he had more to drink.
More at Winging it in Motown
Be sure to check out some of my Wings related posts at Winging it in Motown (my new Wings blog at SB Nation):
- Wings invite Jarram to camp
- Farber names his dream teams
- Kronwall to see a lot more playing time
Jury finds Blackshear guilty
A Wayne County jury found Justin Blackshear guilty today and he will be sentenced on September 7th. Blackshear was accused of killing a cook and manager at Cheli’s Chilli (Detroit location). They died after being stabbed to death by 17-year-old Blackshear.
[Blackshear’s] attorney, Earl Washington, said he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.
Blackshear’s grandfather, Greg Hayes, said he was sorry for what happened.
“Justice needs to be served. My grandson needs help more than anything,” Hayes said.
The family of the two victims declined to comment. Instead, they issued a statement thanking police and prosecutors for their work in the case.
What were they thinking?
A friend of mine sent me a link to this item found on the NHL.com shop for female Red Wings fans:
Seriously. Could they stereotype female hockey fans anymore? I don’t want a pink jersey and I definitely don’t want a red t-shirt with pink hearts and my Wings logo. I have nothing wrong with the NHL creating clothing with a women’s cut, but why is it always pink?
Free Press readers prefer Wings jerseys
According to an informal poll held on every page of the Detroit Free Press sports section, the Wings jersey have been the favorite of the four Detroit teams with 44.5% of the 1199 votes. The Tigers jersey is currently in second with 33.5% of the votes. Can’t say I’m surprised that the English “D” and the Winged Wheel are the two more popular logos/jerseys.
Free Press interviews Mike Babcock
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press interviewed Wings head coach Mike Babcock about lines for the next season as well as new players defenseman Brian Rafalski and forward Dallas Drake.
An entire line (Kyle Calder, Robert Lang, Todd Bertuzzi) is gone. If the roster stands as it is, does this increase the likelihood you’ll split up Zetterberg and Datsyuk? “The way I see it now, I see Datsyuk and (Tomas Holmstrom) and a left wing, and Z and (Mikael Samuelsson) and a left wing. I have (Dan) Cleary with Filppula and Draper. I see Kopecky between (Kirk) Maltby and Drake. For the left wings, I have (Johan) Franzen and Hudler there — but who is playing where, I don’t know. And Grigorenko — I don’t have him in there, because I don’t know him. But I hear he is a huge talent.”
A comment left by a Free Press reader said: “I almost spit out my coffee when I read the question about the loss of Calder, Lang, and Bertuzzi. The only effect that this will have is to give me one less opportunity to fall asleep or throw something at the TV.”
Would I have liked to have kept Bertuzzi? Yes, for the right price. Am I glad that GM Ken Holland didn’t spend $4 million/year on Bertuzzi like Anaheim did? Heck yes. I am totally fine with Calder and Lang leaving. Hopefully, there should be less times where I yell at the TV in frustration over a knuckle headed play by Lang.
Personally, I believe Grigorenko will earn a roster spot with the Wings otherwise he’ll be heading back to Russia. I’m excited to see what he can do and I just hate that it took this long to get him over hear due in part to his awful car accident and consequential injuries.
What are your impressions of Rafalski? “Rafalski has been a match-up guy, a 55-point guy, a guy who gets the puck going, great skater. That was an important signing. Plus, the guy is from Detroit and wanted to play there. We really, really like Rafalski.”
While I probably would’ve picked Mathieu Schneider over Rafalski in terms of a one or two year contract, I like the signing of the younger Brian Rafalski. His offensive touch should pick up even more when he starts playing here in Detroit (like it did for Schneider), but he’s a solid player who will partner with Nicklas Lidstrom according to Babcock.
How about Drake? “I love him because he plays with unbelievable grit and passion. He’s a fierce forechecker. He’s not going to be happy on the fourth line; he is going to want someone’s job — I love that. He’s a great penalty killer, blocks shots, runs over defensemen. I believe, in life in general, people are put out to pasture too early — the Detroit Red Wings don’t believe in that. Dallas has a lot of hockey left in him. When you talk to him, you get excited because he’s that passionate. He’s going to be great.”
For the price we got Drake at ($500,000), it should be a great deal. We get an experienced veteran who likes to play a gritty game without breaking the bank. I think the line he said about the Wings not believing in putting players out to pasture too early is incredibly true. We tend to have one of the oldest average of age on an NHL roster. Some of our best bargains have come in the older players like Chris Chelios, Mathieu Schneider, and Dominik Hasek.
TC prepares for Wings training camp
With training camp starting in less than a month, Traverse City (Hockeytown North) is preparing for fans and players alike to descend on the beautiful northern Michigan city.
[via Kukla’s Korner]
“Last year we had people travel here from 38 states and Canada, and we always end up selling out for all the events,” says organizer Pete Correia, who persuaded the Red Wings to bring their fall camp to Traverse City in 1997. “Back when they held it at Joe Louis in Detroit, only a handful of people would show up.”
The camp’s popularity may have something to do with the scenic beauty and casual “Up North” atmosphere of the Traverse City area. But it’s also at least partly due to the relaxed and friendly nature of the events themselves. Fans who travel to Hockeytown North can easily find themselves staying in the same hotel or sharing a table at a local nightspot with members of a visiting team; it’s easy to strike up a conversation, and even easier to get an autograph.
As usual, Red Wings Central will be your best bet for training camp coverage. There will be an eight team prospect tournament going on in TC as well. RWC already has the Columbus and Dallas prospect rosters up. At least three members of the 2007 OHL Championship Plymouth Whalers team will play in the prospect tournament (Tom Sestito and Jared Boll with Columbus and James Neal with Dallas).
BTJ will hopefully have its own correspondent at training camp. Ryan, the winner of the Detroit Free Press book “The Captain”, has been kind enouh to extend the offer to take photos and notes while he’s up in Traverse City for training camp.
A look at the Wings’ TV schedules
Over at Winging it in Motown, I took a look at the TV schedules of CBC, TSN, Versus, and NBC when it comes to broadcasting Detroit Red Wings games.
Wings have 2 more years to make decision
Detroit’s law department has declared that the Detroit Red Wings have until June 2009 to make a final decision on the fate of Joe Louis Arena. It was originally thought that the decision had to be made this week.
The city law department delved into the issue last month at the request of the auditor general, said city spokesman James Canning. Earlier this year, the City Council’s fiscal analyst said the lease expired in 2008, and Olympia had to tell Detroit this summer what it planned to do.
The law department, after reviewing the lease and its sub-agreements which total more than 100 pages, decided the agreement runs through June 30, 2010, and Olympia has until June 30, 2009, to decide whether it will continue operating and using the venues.
I’m slightly torn at what they should do. On one side, the JLA is a piece of crap and the fans deserve an upgrade when it comes to hockey arenas. Don’t get me wrong, the Joe has plenty of character, but it’s just not at the same quality as so many other arenas (hockey or not). However, the Detroit and Michigan economy just suck and I don’t see people being willing to help pay for the new arena when they’re struggling to pay for their house or car. Mike Ilitch has a lot of money, but I just don’t see him willing to pay for a decent portion of the arena costs.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…