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Last nights game was almost an exact replica of game 4 between the Wings/Hawks

one of the things that finished the NBA for me was the Jordan rules. Maybe I was too young to realize that Bird and Johnson were playing with a different set of rules, but it was obvious with Jordan and it really bothered me. I realize that Jordan wasnt the only one, but his teams were winning championships. I really dont understand why a league would leave themselves open to questions of integrity by not having its best players play on an equal playing field/ice. Jordan was a great player, to me the special treatment did more to take away from his greatness than add to it. I think the NHL's favoritism to Crosby will have a negative effect in the long run. It already has on his image. He is a great player that most fans would truly respect, if he played on the same ice as everyone else.

couple of things on this topic from my point of view If Hawks would have beaten Wings in WCF I would probably be cheering for the Hawks for the same reasons Cyno is cheering for the Wings. I do think Crosby is one of the best forwards in the league at a young age and will probably become the best in a couple of years. He will probably also be an all-time great. Which makes the bending of the rules a little less palatable to me. Diving is a huge problem in the NHL...it would best be cleaned up by fans calling out players from their favorite team for doing it. Also when the leagues biggest star is doing it on a regular basis without accountability, it makes the whole leagues integrity look bad The 6 minute Crosby celebration for scoring his first goal of the series would not have been that bad if Crosby didnt complain about the amount of time it took to clean all the hats off the ice when an opposing player got a hat trick. Worse of all it was Malkin who made the play on that goal, I am sure there is not a player in professional hockey who would not have finished there The All-Star game favoritism that was shown Crosby, while Lidstrom and Datsyuk were suspended a game, was a huge farce.

As a Red Wing fan I am not sure I endorse Cyno with a Red Wing logo on his page. I dont mind that he is cheering for us against Pitt, but the logo may be too much.

Kronwall would get a 31 game suspension if he Kronwalled Crysby..Also for Hawks fans who complain about Wings diving, you should have seen Crosby play out his dive all the way to limping back to the bench. anyway, 0-4 on the PP while giving up a shorty...think that is the game right there. Again overall except for a few minutes in the 2nd the Wings were better.

no official word, but all rumors are pointing to Datsyuk being in tonight.

I don't see any of thse things as surprises. 1. Bradley. We knew he would only play around 300 games a year. He's an aging member of the walking wounded and this was bound to effect performance. Is it any coincidence that he hit just fine last year as a *DH*, and isn't hitting this year while playing the field? 2. Lee. His numbers have been declining for quite some time. This is not a surprise. 3. Soto. Had a great rookie year. He's been the biggest bust so far, offensively and defensively. 4. Soriano. Streaky, low OBP lead off man. That's what he does. He can carry a team when he is on, but expect substandard performance when he is not. 5. Ramirez. Bummer. Injuries happen ,and $140 millon payrolls allow you the flexibility to overcome them. This GM isn't smart enough to do that. 6. The bullpen. Created completely by design,and a complete failure. When I look at the two biggest failures of this offseason, I see horrific choices made concerning the bullpen and the absolutely laughable signing of Milton Bradley for $10 million over Adam Dunn, who is a proven imapct player in the NL and who also signed for $10 mill per. With a bat like Dunn at #3 or #4, the loss of Ramirez isn't as significant. I think Soto being this bad has been a surprise. To say he may come down some was probably not a surprise, but I dont think anyone expected him to be this bad. Anyway I understand that all 6 of those things you listed were possibly true and at least 5 not a big surprise. But it also wouldnt have been a shock if they all went the other way. What I said was that they all have gone bad, and could you have really expected that before the season. If 3 of those things listed are just playing up to career norms, the Cubs would probably be in first place. Which leads to this. You would have to expect that several players will at least start to come back to career norms at some point(actually some are moving in that direction currently). All this being said, the best you could possibly say about Hendry's offseason is BAD

I think we have to consider that besides Fukudome, this has been the ultimate Murphy's Law year. If something could go wrong it has. This is not an attempt to clear management of some blunders, but I think you would have to be hard pressed to think that all of the problems they have had would arise.

I will take this effort from the Wings the next 2 games and win in 5...except for 5 minutes at the beginning of the 3rd this was a very one-sided game I heard there was some guy named Crosby playing in this series.

:o

that was the most dominate period of the series so far and the Wings came up empty.

so when your team is tripped, it's because the other team is dierty, but when the other team is tripped, it's diving/flopping. Just making sure I'm clear on this..... its cyno rules!!

I think I mentioned somewhere after both games that the Wings have been fortunate to win. I dont think they have been outplayed, but they havent outplayed Pittsburgh either. They have gotten the more of the lucky bounces. Maybe I am just a homer, but I surely have picked up on an Detroit gets away with stuff theme that NBC(Enzo) and ESPN have picked up. I generally dont complain that much about officiating and announcing, but I would hope when Enzo's 2 favorite teams(pen/hawks) make/win the cup the announcers point out the merit of the victory, not the bending of the rules. If Detroit was getting away with stuff that no one else was doing, then fine. The "subtle" interference is common practice in the NHL, so it is very unprofessional of Enzo to make a Detroit issue about it late in the playoffs I think the thing that bothers me the most is that I have defended Olcyzck before to Wings fans for being a pretty even headed announcer...He is really disappointing me in this finals though I wonder if it's more an outgrowth of people growing tried of the same team winning most of the time? I don't know for certain but, it's probably not a reach that people felt the same way about the Habs in the 60's and 70's. I'd sure like to hear/see the Black Hawks with such a "problem" in a few years and someday maybe our Cubbies - different context but, the same problem media, etc. tried of their success, looking for reasons beyond the rule book why they're so good, etc. I think your right..Yankees are a team that comes to mind also. Back in the late 90s they got "every" call. Michigan/Ohio St in Big Ten football also deal with this mindset quite often. I just think it is real unprofessional when the announcers start taking part in it. Fans have biases opinions which most often are wrong. National announcers are supposed to be above that stuff.

I think I mentioned somewhere after both games that the Wings have been fortunate to win. I dont think they have been outplayed, but they havent outplayed Pittsburgh either. They have gotten the more of the lucky bounces. Maybe I am just a homer, but I surely have picked up on an Detroit gets away with stuff theme that NBC(Enzo) and ESPN have picked up. I generally dont complain that much about officiating and announcing, but I would hope when Enzo's 2 favorite teams(pen/hawks) make/win the cup the announcers point out the merit of the victory, not the bending of the rules. If Detroit was getting away with stuff that no one else was doing, then fine. The "subtle" interference is common practice in the NHL, so it is very unprofessional of Enzo to make a Detroit issue about it late in the playoffs I think the thing that bothers me the most is that I have defended Olcyzck before to Wings fans for being a pretty even headed announcer...He is really disappointing me in this finals though

I am glad Rich had a good start...I really do hope he can rebound to his 2007 form. 3 walks in 7 innings is still a concern.

ESPN has picked up where NBC left off...look at all this cheating the Wings are doing to win. Malkin tried to get the puck along the boards and misses, Samuelson poke checks in also...Look at that interference!!! Goal for Wings because they cheat Hossa and Pen dman are making a play for puck, Pens dman stick breaks and they think that is slashing...Goal for Wings because they cheat No questioning of how Pittsburgh got on the PP to score their goal though...HHMMMM When pitt does questionable things its hard work/good play. Wings are interferring and slashing

I think I mentioned this during the game 1 chat, diving is a problem in the NHL. I try not to excuse any Wings player for doing it either. I am starting to have an issue that somehow it is only Wings players who get accused of it. Crosby may be the most blatant player in the league at doing it. I admired Getzlaf in the 2nd round for calling out Red Wings players for doing it, but if you really want to have an impact why dont you call out the players on your own team who do(Anaheim had several). Also, yes Osgood dove but Talbot would not have gotten called for an obvious penalty if he didnt. Way to often the NHL refs are calling penalties based on the damage done and not the actual penalty, which is encouraging diving. If refs would just call ruled penalties(including diving) I think diving would go away pretty quick. Here is a good article written by a non hockey writer about the Malkin non-suspension. Again I am not calling for Malkin to be suspended, but it is a great article about how the NHL has become way to subjective in their enforcement of rules. Similar to penalties on the ice, just follow the rule book and many of your image problems would probably go away. Also, if the NHL didnt consistently overturn this rule, I am sure the Malkin/Zetterberg incident wouldnt have happened last night. So there would be no "controversy" to have to deal with http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AiY4Lg0cduQFvOHcQhM.Rtt7vLYF?slug=jp-malkin053109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

There is no question about this rule...the question is this, being that the puck was on Osgoods back, was it in the crease? Does the crease extend off the ice surface? If so would it be a penalty shot if a player was shooting an EN and a dman was playing goalie and the dman caught the puck and laid it down and played it. If there was any chance of Malkin getting suspended, the refs would never have given him the misconduct. So the rule is really moot. Its just a rule so the league has grounds to suspend a player who is intentionally gooning it up. For all the things that have not received suspensions this playoff season, it would be absurd to suspend Malkin for that.

I dont think its going to happen, but the way I understand the rule Malkin should get an automatic suspension next game. Less than 5 minutes left in a game. He got an instigator and Misconduct..I think that is an automatic suspension next game. Like I said, not going to happen though.

Hard to get your gloves off when you are jumped. He was able to throw punches though? He wasnt going to fight though...Malkin forced the issue. Probably lucky for Malkin he didnt get his gloves off. Still think Linesman should get a serious butt chewing for breaking up a fight by himself. I agree. It's pretty tough to stop 4 arms from flying when you've only got 2. Also, you are going to help one pugilist over the other to break it up.

Its a rule for the players own safety. Should be called. I think I did see it called a couple of times the first year after the rule change, but I havent seen it called in years. Again this is just how inconsistent the NHL officiating is. Just call the rules.

Hard to get your gloves off when you are jumped. He was able to throw punches though? He wasnt going to fight though...Malkin forced the issue. Probably lucky for Malkin he didnt get his gloves off. Still think Linesman should get a serious butt chewing for breaking up a fight by himself.

your right...I actually think its a game misconduct Malkin got a misconduct... Zetterberg only got 5 for fighting. Should have been 10 for each. I have never actually seen anyone get the misconduct for the jersey not being tied down. Fight ties not tied down is automatically a GAME MISCONDUCT... I think its a new rule in the last couple years. It is...been a rule for about 10 years. I am just saying that I have never actually seen anyone called for it. It happens quite often.

Hard to get your gloves off when you are jumped.

your right...I actually think its a game misconduct Malkin got a misconduct... Zetterberg only got 5 for fighting. Should have been 10 for each. I have never actually seen anyone get the misconduct for the jersey not being tied down.