Wings vs. Blackhawks
So I went to the Wings game last night with a bunch of family. My mom bought tickets for herself, my aunt, uncle, cousins, plus my husband and me. We had a really good time. We were split in allegiances. Four Wings fans, three Hawks fans, and one independent (well, my cousin L's husband is really a Boston fan but was neutral last night). My uncle rented a twelve passenger van so we could all ride down to the Joe together. It was a lot of fun.
Great game to watch. Joey MacDonald was incredible. Holy cow. I felt bad for him that he wasn't on the winning end of that overtime situation but I knew when they called Hank for the penalty at the end of regulation that it was pretty much the game. 4 on 3's are so hard to kill with all that open ice. But he made over 40 saves to keep the Wings in that. Highly entertaining to watch but for fuck's sake, D! Get it together - it's almost April!!! Yeesh. And Hudler made a number of bad passes in the offensive zone to give the puck away. Was not happy watching that. But Hank's finally got his game back. I don't know what his deal was there for awhile but whatever it was he's appears to have snapped out of it. Guess cutting his hair worked. ;) I had to watch the replay of the Bertuzzi hit on the DVR when I got home. It happened in the corner we were sitting above but I didn't see it as my eyes were following the puck. He did get the elbow up but I don't think it would have been a game misconduct prior to the latest crackdown on headshots. And I'm all for getting the headshots out of the game/punishing them severely when they happen. But I don't think it's suspension worthy. We'll see what happens. And Johnson? Tighten that chin strap. Helmets don't do you a lot of good if they go flying off like that. What if that elbow had knocked you out and you hit your unprotected head on the ice as you fell? Hate that shit.
Back to MacDonald... I still don't think he's probably ever going to be NHL starting goalie material, but he's definitely been a late bloomer (as some goalie's just are). He made me feel a lot better last night about having him back-up Howard for the playoffs. Because I think, unfortunately, that Ozzie's done for good. Joey didn't make me feel any better about Howie starting in the playoffs but that was going to happen no matter what and he's the Wings' guy for the foreseeable future so I'm just going to have to get used to it. :/
So we had three happy Hawks fans in our van on the ride home. My cousin K's been a Hawks fan for many years, ever since Belfour tended goal for them and was K's favorite goalie growing up (... yeah, IDK either. He's related to me so it's a given that he's kinda strange... he's also a former goalie himself so, yeah, weird). And I think my uncle and aunt adopted the Hawks through him. K's also good friends with Brian Campbell so that was an added perk for him to see his buddy play last night.
And finally... Wings fans at the Joe? Please shut the fuck up and quit booing Hossa. I mean, seriously? The guy signed a one year free agent contract and then moved on. He didn't do anything to you! I understood the booing of Fedorov for a couple of years there because I really felt he did pretty much flip off the Wings' franchise on the way out of town, but even that has gotten old and I'm sure Feds is glad he almost never comes to the Joe since he's in the East now. Because it was getting ridiculous. But booing Hossa has been ridiculous from the start. Cut it out.
Great game to watch. Joey MacDonald was incredible. Holy cow. I felt bad for him that he wasn't on the winning end of that overtime situation but I knew when they called Hank for the penalty at the end of regulation that it was pretty much the game. 4 on 3's are so hard to kill with all that open ice. But he made over 40 saves to keep the Wings in that. Highly entertaining to watch but for fuck's sake, D! Get it together - it's almost April!!! Yeesh. And Hudler made a number of bad passes in the offensive zone to give the puck away. Was not happy watching that. But Hank's finally got his game back. I don't know what his deal was there for awhile but whatever it was he's appears to have snapped out of it. Guess cutting his hair worked. ;) I had to watch the replay of the Bertuzzi hit on the DVR when I got home. It happened in the corner we were sitting above but I didn't see it as my eyes were following the puck. He did get the elbow up but I don't think it would have been a game misconduct prior to the latest crackdown on headshots. And I'm all for getting the headshots out of the game/punishing them severely when they happen. But I don't think it's suspension worthy. We'll see what happens. And Johnson? Tighten that chin strap. Helmets don't do you a lot of good if they go flying off like that. What if that elbow had knocked you out and you hit your unprotected head on the ice as you fell? Hate that shit.
Back to MacDonald... I still don't think he's probably ever going to be NHL starting goalie material, but he's definitely been a late bloomer (as some goalie's just are). He made me feel a lot better last night about having him back-up Howard for the playoffs. Because I think, unfortunately, that Ozzie's done for good. Joey didn't make me feel any better about Howie starting in the playoffs but that was going to happen no matter what and he's the Wings' guy for the foreseeable future so I'm just going to have to get used to it. :/
So we had three happy Hawks fans in our van on the ride home. My cousin K's been a Hawks fan for many years, ever since Belfour tended goal for them and was K's favorite goalie growing up (... yeah, IDK either. He's related to me so it's a given that he's kinda strange... he's also a former goalie himself so, yeah, weird). And I think my uncle and aunt adopted the Hawks through him. K's also good friends with Brian Campbell so that was an added perk for him to see his buddy play last night.
And finally... Wings fans at the Joe? Please shut the fuck up and quit booing Hossa. I mean, seriously? The guy signed a one year free agent contract and then moved on. He didn't do anything to you! I understood the booing of Fedorov for a couple of years there because I really felt he did pretty much flip off the Wings' franchise on the way out of town, but even that has gotten old and I'm sure Feds is glad he almost never comes to the Joe since he's in the East now. Because it was getting ridiculous. But booing Hossa has been ridiculous from the start. Cut it out.