Detroit and Anaheim game is pretty close to starting. Anaheim leads the series 3-2.
Whatever the outcome, I'd like to thank the Wings team for the way they've played the game this shortened season. All I can ask is to see the energy I've seen at times in this series for one more (two and more would be better of course) game.
According to player interviews, Anaheim will be focussing on the forecheck this game, though I'm sure that tidbit is not so unusual a bit of information as to be useful.
If this should be the end of the season, please do not feel too bad Wings. For being composed largely of youthful players still gaining experience, the team's performance has been mostly excellent as of late. This gives me great hope for a Stanley cup within the next five or ten years. I say this because I've seen players such as Jonathan Ericsson, who was once a youthful player in his first year of playoffs, and just look at how well he has turned out.
EDIT: Game 7! Wings won 4-3 well deservedly in Overtime! The crowd at the Joe at points reached decibal levels numerically slightly below that of a jet airliner's takeof according to the broadcast crew's own youthful talent, which like the team itself, complements the slightly more aged or experienced talent appreciatively.
Bertuzzi had a very solid game. Big, smart, and talented Bertuzzi is extremely useful against the overall physically larger Ducks team.
Smith had a bad bounce that was not his fault as well as a very extended shift. In my humble opinion he needs to keep an eye on the open man a bit more as there was at least one frightening time when a Duck was wide open on the open net side of Jimmy Howard with Smith only slightly out of position (which is enough) watching the puck instead of adjusting to the now blatently open Duck's movement. Other than that I can tell he is playing hard and simply showing some of the troubles that experience will help iron out. I'd advise him to play hockey somewhere after this season is over in the NHL offseason and experiment with both his defensive (I'd say his 360 vision work and then readjusting his positioning to switch to covering the open man could use a bit of work for a big payoff as it's the only glaring thing I've noticed) and offensive game (maybe train his legs to see if he has the ability to be a Paul Coffee'ish as far as having the speediness to create opportunities for himself like Helm the forward can do), and hopefully come back to Detroit next year an even better player for it. I don't mean to constructively criticize him overmuch, as I've seen him working hard and with skill, getting the job at hand done for the vast majority of the time, and I'd hope he knows people watching see the good in him as well as the stumbles that learning entails and simply wish him the best by giving advice that may sound rougher than it could be.
Kyle Quencey has been solid all series from what I've seen. His skill at getting the puck out of the Wing's D zone is very noticeable. The Ducks aren't keeping an overly open an eye on him either in the offensive zone, so he might be able to get in front if the Ducks are drawn too deep in their own zone to set up a 2 on 1 the other way if a D man moves up.
Kindl reminds me a bit of a young Niklas Kronwall, before the latter earned the right to have his name become a verb. That is to say, an extremely solid defenseman on his way to becoming a cornerstone of the team's defense and setup.
Kronwall shows why he is on the team every game. I don't think I need to say more than that, other than if Kronwall can sneak in while the other team is deep enough that the team thinks you can avoid a 2 on 1 that they might not be keeping an eye on Kronwall just as they often don't during checks.
Jordan Tootoo is still on the Roster, and I'm unsure if he'll return for the playoffs. I'm not quite sure what happened to him, possibly an injury before the playoffs, but it was disappointing to see him not playing as he was playing extremely well before the playoffs. This Ducks team though is partially built around special teams though so perhaps this series would not be the one to have Tootoo's style of play on display, effective though it may be against other teams with perhaps a bit more finesse to be disrupted.
Andersson I've been seeing working hard when he's on the ice, and I can't really say anything bad about him if I wanted to try. He is another one I haven't really kept the microscope on but I don't recall anything negative either.
Lashoff is one of those guys clearing the zone and doing other simple yet enormously effective work, and deserves a lot of credit. I see him working hard and appreciate it. He keeps his eyes open and can notice when it's time to read the play and when it's time to move a majority of the time. He jumps on the puck timely on most occasions due to good positioning and along with the other youth on the Wings gives me a lot of hope for an improved from an already good team in the future.
Henrik Zetterberg did the Captain's C great credit today. I'm very impressed with his performance tonight and in the run to reach the playoffs, both as the Captain and his performance in his role in the team's play.
Jimmy Howard was absolutely amazing tonight, with perhaps the best save I've seen in <insert long period of time> at one point, and that's saying something as he has been the foundation of this team and has put on display some amazing goal tending skills this year.
Nyquist has been having a very good series. His line has been very important and has been creating all kinds of opportunities against their matchup, and oftentimes it's Nyquist that's playing an integral role in that.
Carlo Colaiacovo played very well in his return. I saw him doing the right things along the boards, and if I remember correctly he had an excellent blocked shot early in the game where I initially mistook him for Ericsson due to unfortunate (due to injury) unfamiliarity with him this season.
Valtteri Filppula, in an oddity, had a terrible giveaway this game. He is an excellent stickhandler and a smart playcaller so it was most certainly a strange fluke. Every year he comes back better and better despite having been skillful even in his first season with the Wings. I anticipate the nice plays in either zone his stickhandling skills will enable in the future, and I'm sure he'll just keep getting better with practice. Just don't forget to practice your shooting accuracy as well. Sidney Crosby is in everyone's head for that reason, I'd suggest trying shooting practice like Crosby did in his youth in some spare time with friends or what he does currently if it's a better setup to practice accuracy and combined with your handling that practice will make you even more of an exceptional hockey player. I know Filppula shows excellent work ethic by playing offseason hockey so it would possibly be very hard to squeeze in unless it was sanctioned by the team, but it may be something to think about for mutual benefit.
Damien Brunner had another good game. He took a very hard hit to the boards at one point, and then found his way to a good position in front of the net. That's smart play right there, and I'm glad to see it. I see flickers of greatness in this one and I think other people in Michigan see it as well. If he works hard and isn't grievously injured, he could be a hero of Hockeytown for a long period of time to come. His positioning instincts seem to be very good for such a young man, so I'd recommend he practice with Filpula on shooting and practice with Datsyuk on takeaway sense, with stickhandling practice with both and take the opportunity to take ideas from some of the best in the game in stickhandling through both defending against and getting past them from the blue line as well as moving it from a pushing match on the boards. If Brunner can add Zetterberg to the group he can help practice how to use the other arm to defend the puck on a carry in as well as giving Brunner a chance to practice against one of the best with that particular technique.
Cory Emmerton has been performing well from what I can tell, though I haven't put him under the comparitive microscope so to speak. Nothing spectacular as far as statistics go I think, but from my experience in team video games different from Hockey though it may be, statistics often don't tell a fair story regarding someone's part on a team and instead can often be misleading, and I wonder if the Wings themselves agree. I would like to see a bit of scoring and a better plus minus from him though, of course, and that might take some extra play set-up training as well as setup receiving training.
The team calls Johan Franzen 'The Mule' for a reason. It's because he is a big, powerful man who helps pull the team out of whatever they may be stuck in at any given time. In addition, unknown to me before a quick internet search on mules, among draft animals a mule is among the most intelligent, which does some quiet justice to his intelligence in how he utilizes his shooting and skating ability.
Justin Abdelkader of Michigan State University, born in the State of Michigan and a fan favorite, made his return after a two game suspension for an admitably questionable hit, though perhaps not so much so as to be eligible for the suspension. However I was quite willing to respect the decision reached by Mr. Shanahan, who was once photographed taking a slapshot at some point during a Stanley Cup year, which resulted in a small wall mounted memento that I obtained near certain hollidays through a school gift swap and placed on the wall of my youthly abode.
Abdelkader has shown a ton of energy in these playoffs. He's been all over the place where he needs to be after the puck. The lack of his prescence surely had an effect on the result of the most recent Wings loss. He scored a very nice goal today on an excellent shot that bounced off the post, hit the Goalie Hiller in the back, and rebounded into the net, if I remember correctly from memory. I'd like to say it would be nice to see him on the team for a long time in the future because he is a Michigander; and I'm glad to say he's playing the game of hockey like he deserves to be there on the Red Wings.
In addition, I must note that in these forum posts at least those players with names difficult for me to spell from memory have a slight advantage in that I wikipedia them to find the spelling, and inadvertantly find out interesting facts about their respectable familial backgrounds or in some instances their own acts of kindness outside of their professional careers.
Justin Abdelkader is the son of Joseph and Sheryl Abdelkader. The surname Abdelkader is Arabic. His paternal grandfather, Yusuf Abdul Qadir (Anglicised Joseph Abdelkader), emigrated from Jordan at the age of 19 to Muskegon, where he later met a Polish girl named Susie.[8][9][10]
Abdelkader was born and raised in Norton Shores and graduated from Mona Shores High School in 2005. He was named to the all-state hockey team and awarded the Mr. Hockey award, given to the top high school ice hockey player in Michigan. During his senior year, he played for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL, and helped the team win the 2004-05 Clark Cup Championship.
Unfortunately while I know there is the possibility I've not mentioned a member of the team that is well deserving, I must confess that this post is obtaining a measurement beyond what could be considered intended. However I will simply handwave this away in dismissal by saying the Red Wings played, with perhaps the last 5 minutes of the third period, a noteworthy hockey game. I'll finish by saying if I haven't said your name, rest assured that while I've seen your good plays, the noticeable effort and energy and even the forgivable mistakes along the way I also haven't seen anything powerfully negative requiring in my opinion specific attention from this particular random from the internet.
If you are a hockey fan, or even if you are not, I recommend this coming game 7 as your (possibly late) night's entertainment upon that date. It should be a quality game, and though I can't guarentee one team or the other won't run away with it at some point, the way the two teams have been playing I think it will be another close one with both teams putting on a show to watch. My hope is for the Wings to win, but I leave it to you to choose for yourself which team to believe in.
EDIT?: Oh yeah, I forgot one very special player.
Pavel Datsyuk the best player in the NHL.
EDIT?2: I might as well finish the roster off (I think) and will mention the only two injured Red Wings. Detroit welcomes this change from the constant stream of unfortunate injuries the past few years. Perhaps having a shortened season was the reason, and perhaps this should be taken into thought by the NHL powers that be.
Danny DeKeyser, defensemen, born in Detroit, is out and just had successful surgery on his hand after playing magnificiently as a home town hero during his regretably limited amount of playoff time so far.
Darren Helm, another young player who's greatest asset is possibly his great speed, has been out most of the season. He is very fast, and once he has had a few years of shooting and maneuvours practice against goalies while moving at that speed he will probably score often.
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