The start of Hockey is Saturday. This item is for the discussion of
the Red Wings, and thier chances of winning it all for a thrid year in a
row.
     I for one, think that the Wings have an excellent chance of 
winning again, since basically nothing has changed. I assume that Scotty
will be healthy enough to return.

  I remind and caution everyone that no heresy will be tolerated. I, being
the One True Fairwitness, will deal very harshly with heretics, as I have
with the ones with the names on the .login screen. I might one day, if I am
feeling charitable remove those names and restore thier honor. ;)

  So let us go forth, and cheer our team to victory. Let us rejoice at
the good times and comfort them in the bad, but never let us forget that
as Red Wings fans, we back THE best team that ever played the game.

14 responses total.

Hey, One True Fairwitness, when are you going to grant the 1997-98 
Stanley Cup champs the ultimate honor in hockey, a congratulatory line 
in Your conference?

Signed,

The Philistine

(who still thinks of hockey as a lesser sport, like golf, badminton, 
basketball, and all other sports except baseball)

The Wings certainly have as good a chance as any.  We'll see if Dallas with
the addition of Brett Hull can finally come through or not.

   I have wiped the slate clean for the time being, for I am a kind and 
charitable fairwitness. But I still will not tolerate heresy.

I think that Dallas has as good of a chance this year as they did last.  I
really don't think that the addition of Brett Hull will add too much.  Hull
has had a history of not getting along with the other kids in the locker room
as well as his coaches.  Dallas was a good team before Hull ( not better than
Detroit ) and a slightly deeper team with Hull.

Detroit should for all intense purposes make it to the finals again.  I will
say this much.  The Stanley Cup winner will come from the team that emerges
from the West.  Either Detroit or Dallas.  Philly has, I think the best chance
to make to the finals from the east this year.  The simple addition of the
Beezer in the net has greatly improved their team.

But......When all is said and done......I suspect we will see Gary Bettman
handing the hallowed cup to Stevie Y. next year.

Anyone have any comments on the new officiating system (2 refs, 2 
linesmen)?  Where did all the new refs come from?

Did I really see Don Koharski and Bill McCreary on the ice at once the 
other night?  Who was calling all the other games?

The idea is that the 2nd refs will be all the old fogeys that have a hard time
keeping up in games they'd have to ref by themselves.

I think that the 2 ref system will work.  I thought the game with Koharski
and McCreary working went well.  

Two reffs? Hmmm. I think I liked it better the other way. Why, some might ask?
Simply because in games like this afternoon, for example, both reffs were
waiting for the other one to call the play dead after Cujo clearly had the
puck covered. That little incident cost Toronto a goal.

Why two refs?  Because that way, at least one ref will always be "on top of
the play", close to one of the goals.  Another reason is the ref that trails
the play can call penalties on all the shenanigans (not Brendan Shanahan! :-)
that occur when, with only one ref, he's skating furiously up the ice (i.e.
payback whacks etc.).

The Wings are on a four game win streak.  It seems Scotty has once again 
begun extracting the utmost in performance from his team.  Federov and 
Shanahan are both scoring goals again.  It's a good sign after a month 
or two of ugly slumping.  It will take a lot to beat the Avs and the 
Stars this year.

This happens every year, of course.  The Wings will probably quiet down 
again, tricking all the analysts into picking the Stars like usual.  
Then they'll explode in the second or third round of the playoffs.  It 
inevitably happens that way.  If we manage to get Krupp back, it will be 
a big boost.

(Now it's 5 games)

Last night I picked up an old Sports Illustrated with Mario Lemieux on 
the cover.  Inside were articles about how Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer 
were the two top picks in the upcoming NFL draft, how Minnesota hated 
the owner of the North Stars who was moving the team shortly, and a nice 
piece about the Penguins' record 17 game winning streak.  It discussed 
how dominant they had been all season, and how Mario Lemieux had 
rebounded from chemotherapy to treat Hodgkins disease to win the scoring 
title with over 150 points (still one of the most amazing personal 
performances in the history of sports) and was being recognized as the 
world's dominant pro athlete.  It occured at the end of the season.  The 
Penguin were favored (expected, anticipated, assured) for their third 
straight Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens won it all that year.  

Quite a monumental day for the Red Wings today.  Following it as it 
happened, I watched as we acquired longtime rival Wendel Clark from the 
sad-sacked Lighting, Ulf Samuellson from the Rangers, and hated 
defensement Chris Chelios from the Blackhawks.  We also got Bill Ranford 
from the Lighting, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend.  I guess 
they want insurance if Ozzie goes down.  The price for all of this?  
Nothing big, just the future of the franchise.  Half a dozen draft picks 
and two hot prospects were parlayed for what amounts to a three month 
run at the Cup.  Is it really worth all this?

As an amusing sidenote, a friend of mine who is a 
life-and-death-and-pain-and-religious-suffering Wings fan informed me 
that she would rather kill Chelios than see him in a Detroit uniform.  
Loyalties die hard.

I'm for anything to shake up the lethargic Wings.  There's no way they would
have competed for the cup with the team that "showed up" for the regular
season.  These additions will make them tougher, and should make a difference
when McCarty and Kocur return.

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