Dear Nicklas Lidström

I am sitting here watching the All Star Game. I might be buzzed or drunk. But I am crying. Tears of joy. I am wearing my Lidström jersey. I am watching you be a plus-5 after two periods of a 7-6 game. I am watching you, thinking about you, remembering all the joy you have given me. You have been a Red Wing since I was a toddler, you were a Red Wing before I became a fan. My entire Red Wings life has been with you in it and strongly based on your amazingness. You are perfect, you are amazing, you are probably the best defenseman the NHL has ever seen. Thank you for that. Thank you for bringing our team all the glory you have brought, thank you for being an amazing ambassador for the Wings and for the sport both on and off the ice. Thank you for existing. I cannot imagine how I will feel the day you retire. It's gonna break my heart. But for now, keep on rocking and thank you for every amazing memory you have brought me over the last 16 years. I am truly thankful for that and thankful for you.

People, let's all stop and take a moment to imagine the last 20 years of Red Wings history without Nick. Try to imagine a life without Nick. Be thankful. We Red Wings fans have been blessed with a lot. Stevie, Stanley Cups etc etc, but being blessed with the opportunity to watch the greatest defenseman of all time, arguably one of the five best players of all time and an all around great human being play for and represent our team every night for 20 years is a hell of a gift. Let us be thankful. Let us appreciate Nick when we still have him. Thank you Nicklas. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are THE MAN.

Andy, Oslo, Norway.

The Ozzman Cometh, the Ozzman saw, the Ozzman got his 400th

1st period
- Altitude feed tonight. I hate that. Not as bad as FS North and they do suck up to the Wings a lot, but they are still dumbasses.
- Early on the Avs took it to the Wings. Outworked them and got chances. Three and a half minutes in Fleischmann (The Flesh Man?) took a shot and neither Kronner nor Eaves could cover Duchene on the rebound and he could score easily.
- Shortly after the Wings got a PP chance and the unthinkable happened. Flip found Hudler with a cross-ice pass. Hudler took one shot, it went off the legs of a player and came back to him and he scored. His second of the year. His second against the Avs and Budaj. What's up with that? He promptly went on to disappear for the rest of the period and had a few PP fuckups.
- The booing of Bertuzzi is relentless. I wish he'd scored a hat trick or won a fight or something in response.
- Less than a minute after the equalizer the Avs scored. I'd like to blame the refs for their non-call on a crosscheck/interference 5 seconds before. Or the coverage for letting Galiardi walk in with the puck, but a weak, short-side shot from the circles NEEDS to be stopped. This one is all on Ozzie.
- Ozzie was good for the rest of the period. Made some strong stops, especially on the PK, but looked kinda shaky doing it.
- The Wings followed the goal against by taking two penalties, but both the 5-on-3 and the following short normal PP went by without the Avs scoring.
- The Wings pushed back and got a PP. It came after 5 fucking crosschecks from Liles to the neck of Homer. Homer was on his knees. The call came on the fifth crosscheck. I know cause I kept looking at the ref.
- On the PP the Wings needed only 7 seconds. Nick found Mule in the circle and he scored on a nice shot. Kudos to Homer for screening Budaj.
- The Avs went back to pressuring, but handed the Wings another PP with 5 minutes left. The PP was a carcrash. Terrible. Biggest chance was to the Avs after a Ber giveaway.
- The Avs took it to the Wings again for the rest of the period. They were speedier and outworked them. Won all the battles. The Wings were lucky that they escaped the period with a tie. 16-9 was the shot total in favour of the Avs.
- Homer took a puck to the face from Budaj late in the period. Hope he is okay. (Came back in the 2nd).

2nd period
- CHRIST MOTHERTRUCKING OSGOOD! That could be my full summary of this period. Okay then, I'll give you more.
- The Avs came out like they ended the 1st. Dominated the Wings, kept them in their defensive zone and brought tons of pucks to the net. The Wings looked flat, but did a good job blocking shots in this period.
- Less than five minutes in Mursak got on the scoresheet of his first NHL game. Sadly it was for taking an unlucky penalty during one of the few and short trips into the Avs zone.
- The PK did good and Ozzie stood tall, then the Avs took a penalty on a dumb interference. The 4-on-4 was an onslaught by the Avs. But then the Wings went on a short PP. First the Avs had to instances of uncalled aggravated assault on Wings players and then the Wings got a few chances. No goals though.
- The Wings followed it up by taking a dumb penalty and even though the Avs didn't get too many shots they still looked dangerous.
- After that PP the Avs took it to the Wings. The Wings got nothing. The Avs kept occupying the Wings zone shooting and passing around the Wings. Luckily the blocking of the D and Chris Osgood stopped all the pucks.
- The Wings looked a tiny bit better towards the end, but only after killing another penalty and a ton of Avs shots. They got badly outplayed this period.
- Shots in the 2nd? 23-9 Avs. YIKES!

3rd period
- The Avs came out hard in the third and got an early PP. It was killed off nicely, but they kept pressing.
- A little into the period the Wings got better. For much of the period they got some chances, but the Avs were still dangerous.
- 13 minutes into the period the Avs took a penalty. The PP took some time, but almost 90 seconds into it Nick got the puck at the point and scored on an awesome wrister.
- The Wings controlled for a little after that, but with 3 minutes left Kronner was dumb and unlucky and the refs were cheap and the Avs got a PP. Of course they scored on it. Duchene got to stand alone on the far side and bat in a rebound.
- Shots in the third was 10-9 Avs.

Overtime
- After a little back and forth the Wings got a PP the ouck ended up at Kronner's stick at the top of the circle and he blasted one home!
- How fitting that Ozzie's 400th happened against the Avs.

Play of the game
Hudler scored. It happens so rarely that I have to make it play of the game.

Player of the game
Ozzie got his 400th and had 46 saves.

It's a Holiday in Cambodi.. uh... St. Paul

1st period
- The Wings went right on the attack and drew a penalty less than 90 seconds into the game. The PP was pretty good and had some great scoring chances, but got no goals.
- Four and a half minutes in the Wings pressure paid off when a shot from Kronner rebounded out to Z who shot it from behind the goal line, into Backström's pants and into the net. The FS North crew whined about how it was luck, but he clearly knew what he was doing.
- Shortly after that Jonathan Ericsson took a dumb interference penalty in front of his own net, but the kill was great. The Wild barely got shots off cause the Wings were in every shooting lane.
- The Wings responded with attacking. And when Flipper found Cleary in the corner he banked one in off Backström from behind the goal line.
- Then both teams got slapped with a penalty each in quick succession. The Wild one was the rare 2 faceoff infractions penalty. The Wings one was Homer getting tripped and pushed into Backström. When are PxP people and refs gonna learn that "In the crease" stopped existing 10 years ago?
- Both teams got a borderline cheap penalty each later in the period. The Wings PP seemed weak while the Wild one was threatening.
- The Wild had some pressure now and then, but Jimmah stood tall and the Wings had the best chances.

FS North
- Many stations suck. You have dumb play by play people, dumb commercials for the home team, dumbing down for the viewers etc. But no station is worse from top to bottom than FS North. They had technical issues all night. They didn't send HD (at least not to GCL and ESPNPlayer.
- The announcers are so fucking annoying, homers to the stupidest degree and they bumble and mess up anything.
- Last time I watched FS North we got one period of discussing Ron Gardenhire's snowmoblie race/Ron Gardenhire getting a blowjob by the announcers. Worst interview ever. Was pleasantly surprised that they didn't do features like that on Span, Favre and whoever else they could get this time.
- Every commercial, everything the announcers talked about between whistles was: Vikings, Vikings news, where to find Vikings news, Favre etc etc. State of Hockey? Really?
- I think the bad quality was due to every HD cam, every technician and every talented reporter being on duty making the 5 hour mini series about how Brett Favre's cock celebrates Christmas.
- Rant over.

2nd period
- The second started with some nice Wings pressure. Not the biggest chances, but they dominated.
- 5:30 into the period Kronner took a great shot from the point. Draper who was out in the circle, stretched past a defenseman and masterfully redirected it in mid-air. It was a thing of beauty. 3-0.
- Shortly after the Wild got a counter attack after some blatant hooking and interference. On that odd-man rush E dumbly tripped Havlat who dived like he was shot. Luckily the ensuing PK was excellent, the Wild never got to a point where they could fire.
- The teams kept battling for a couple of minutes until Kyle Brodziak delivered a MEAN crosscheck in the back of Helm's neck. On the PP Z deked his way into the zone and shot. The rebound ended in the skates of Homer. He was tied up but managed to stretch around himself, score and then fall on his stick and break it.
- For the rest of the period it was pretty even, but the Wild had some nice chances. Maybe they finally decided to try and attack.
- It sounds like the PxP guys get so turned on every time they get to mention Matt Cullen.
- In all fairness to Minnesota, while I despise the Vikings and Twins and dislike the Wild, I have no ill feelings towards the Timberwolves (except the name is kinda dumb). That might be because I don't give a flying fuck about basketball and don't know anything about the Timberwolves except for the fact that they exist, which frankly, in and of itself, is more than I really wanna know.

3rd period
- The third started with a holding call on Bert which was killed off nicely. Except for one gaffe later on the PK did great tonight.
- Then followed a long period of nothing. A few chances here and there for both teams, but nothing much to note except that fact that Cleary got shot in the ankle by Stuart. I thought he broke it for sure, but he went back on the ice and finished the game.
- The Wings had a bad PP right after the midway point of the period and then Draper took a hooking penalty. On the PK 2 guys couldn't stop Havlat from jamming himself through the crease and no one picked up Burns. 4-1 and shutout ruined.
- The Wings got another PP towards the end, but got nothing on it.
- Good, solid game, albeit really boring.
- Hudler was as invisible as ever. He also only played 8 minutes. Least on the team.
- Didn't notice Kindl much which is good.
- I did credit the Wild with some chances here and there, but they didn't get much going. In a game where they had 7 PPs (two of them shortened though) they had a grand total of 17 shots. The Wings had 27.

Play of the game
Draper's amazing tip

Player of the game
Zetterberg had a nice and dominant 2 point night

30 minutes are 30 too few

1st period
- The Wings started terribly. First line let the Blues first line play with them in the zone for a full minute to start the game and though the Wings had a few chances after that they decided to let the Blues keep dominating the game. Yes, Pavel is out, but the difference in talent level between these teams is so big that letting the Blues dominate like that is unforgivable. No focus coming out.
- Then, midway through or so, the Wings took a penalty. It was hard to see if it was right. In the Blues feed it seemed like Abby just lifted the guy's stick and nothing hit him, but I am sure it was right. Terrible PK. Yes, the Blues should have been penalized on a blatant interference, but still, they let the Blues get a way too good shot and Ozzie had no chance.
- Seriously guys, the Doug Janik joke.. funny once.. But sure, a nice way to stay away from blaming the guys really responsible.
- The Wings luckily resonded. A high dump from Z found Franzén who scored on a nice shot. 1-1 just 30 seconds after the first goal.
- But the Wings let them right back. They let them into the zone easily and the Blues had luck. The shot went off Kronner and in. People blamed Ozzie, but even if it was 60 feet out he had no shot. The puck was going glove-side, then it changed direction and went to the other side. No goalie reacts that fast. Sorry. I know it is easy to blame Ozzie when the team plays badly, but this one is too cheap. No one would blame Howard for that, except for the Howard haters and the guys who will blame every goal on the goalie.
- The Wings did nothing to get it back. Instead they took another penalty. On that PK they let the Blues have a way too clear shot and they let a Blues player stand way too alone in front of the net. Still, THAT was not a good goal by Ozzie. But damn, the PK SUCKS these days.
- The Wings ended the first with the first half of a PP and got nothing.
- The Wings seemed dead. They didn't pass well. They didn't skate well. They didn't win a single fucking battle. Weak.
- Blues fans shouted Ozzie's name after the second goal. Louder after the third. I guess after the third it is useless, but understandable, but after the 2nd? After two goals he had no shot at?

2nd period
- The rest of the PP sucked too. Then the Wings got another. They had some good chances towards the end of it, but the biggest chance was a 2-on-1 by the Blues that needed a big Ozzie save. Second time in two PPs that that happened.
- Five minutes in E made a big fuckup in the neutral zone and gave D'Agostini a breakaway. Ozzie overcommitted and let him score way too easy. At this point Oz should have had 2 of 4, but three of those four were situations he never should have been put in.
- In the middle of the period I was about to throw this recap away and write a tirade. Except for a few 4th line shift I hadn't seen a single play where the Wings hustled. They won NO 50-50 battles. I was irate.
- At the midpoint Bertuzzi decided to take responsibility and drove strongly to the net. He drew a penalty and then the Blues took another when a player played with two sticks (weird situation) on that penalty. On the 5-on-3 the Wings made no mistake. Nick scored on a great shot with Halak screened.
- The Wings got close on the rest of that penalty. The Wings got better after that. Especially the bottom two lines did good stuff. Hudler had a great keep-in on the PP and they grinded.
- With three minutes left the hard forecheck lead to the Blues giving the Wings the puck and it eventually ended on the stick of Eaves who scored on another nice shot.
- Shortly after a Blue tried to high stick a Wings player, but the Mule decided to lift his stick to defend himself and got the high sticking penalty.
- The penalty was killed off and Mule got a breakaway coming out of the box. He missed the net. Wings down one goal after two. They sucked for 30 minutes but still had a chance after 40.

3rd period
- Sure, the Blues had a few chances in the third and they hit the post twice on the empty net. Sure they even had a PP after a dumb crosscheck from Kronner, but this period was about the Wings. They shot and shot, attacked and attacked, but Halak was great and nothing went the Wings way. Tough loss.
- The Wings woke up after 30 minutes. That was 30 minutes too late.
- Make sure to vote in the poll in the top right corner.

Play of the game
Nick's PP goal gave the team hope.

Player of the game
Helm had a good game.

When you can't recap - make poetry!

There once was this fella called Edler
He was in way over his head-ler
And when Pasha he came
Really put him to shame
Yeah he thaught him to not be a meddler

And then there's Roberto Luongo
Bad goalie, but played a mean bongo
The puck he couldn't stop
It went in off the hop
Yeah his ass was deported to Congo

Please meet my friend who's named Abby
Plays hockey like if he was crabby
And he hits and he grinds
Smacks some lady behinds
And you won't see him beating a cabbie (hi Patrick!)

Our friend Mike he can really babble
His words they are perfect for scrabble
He stares people to death
Yeah they die like on meth
To the press he can sure rouse a rabble

There once was this fella named Pavel
He was cooler than Czech Vaclav Havel
When he dangles and dekes
Well the D looks like geeks
He composes his plays just like Ravel

Lidström's the one perfect human
He is prettier than Karen Newman
Never makes a mistake
Awesomeness he does make
He is much cooler than Harry Truman

Our goalie is named Jimmy Howard
We all know he isn't a coward
Took Oz's place in the net
And his place it is set
Did you see Ozzie cry when he showered?

And then there's the winger named Danny
And the way he can score is uncanny
Has the grit and the speed
Everything that we need
Now he just needs a mustache like Lanny

Have you seen the young blonde we call Flipper
He's a much better player than Kipper
But he needs to shoot more
If on ice he shall score
But in bars he is sure a good tipper

Have you heard of my friend who's named Tomas?
His vocabulary rivals A. Dumas (yeah, I know French pronounciation, but work with me here!)
He speaks English like few
Better than me and you
Or at least that's his wish for this christmas

Well Hank is the man with the mad skills
His playing it gives us some big thrills
And he scored from the back
off the net - took some sack
To do that and give us some real chills

That Burrows he sure is a dumbass
He whines and he acts like a jackass
Yeah, he goes after Nick
And his play makes me sick
Take a goon like yourself you big bitch ass

But where is the legend Kyle Wellwood?
The way that he played it was real good
But to Russia he went
All his money was spent
And he got a bad craving for fast food

After this one my whole head is spinning
And my face, yes that's right, it is grinning
Cause today what we got
With that Zetterberg shot
God damn it feels good to be winning

Programming notice

- Seeing as people might be busy during the holidays the Q&A will go on hiatus and return in 2011.
- I was gonna recap tonight's game, but an old friend drunk dialed me and I missed the middle of the first period.
- Fight Night will be on and off during the holiday season due to some work and my family's excessive amount of xmas parties and dinners. Will return stronger in the new year.

Merry christmas and a happy new year

Love, Andy

Dallas pregame - Q&A with Ben Ellis (@BigDHockey) from Big D Hockety

Yeah, so that was a shitstorm against the Hawks, huh? I'm too tired to write a long intro for this, but we need to get back on track on winning here. And while Dallas is a team the Wings should beat, they have been really good this year and will be a tough task. Hopefully their tradition of struggling at the Joe can continue tonight. Also, I won't get to recap this one because my two youngest siblings (one of which, baby sis, is a Stars fan) are coming over to watch with me.

Anyway, today I've been lucky enough to get some insightful answers from Ben Ellis of the great Stars blog Big D Hockey. Here are his answers to my Q&A:

1. At the moment of writing this question, the Stars are on top of the Pacific division and they have looked very impressive at times this year. What's behind this sudden improvement compared to the two last seasons?
Ben: I don't know that it's as sudden as it might appear. Last season the Stars had a lot of bad breaks in addition to some tough injuries, inconsistent play in net and weak defense. Even still, they were in the hunt for a playoff spot until the last couple weeks of the season. But, the biggest change between last season and this one is the man in net. The Stars have gotten really strong play from Kari Lehtonen in net. In addition, youngsters James Neal and Jamie Benn are showing that their good play last season wasn't just a fluke.

2. Do you think the Stars will be able to keep up this play for the rest of the season? How far can they go?
Ben: Yes, I think the Stars are showing that they're a team to be taken seriously. The Pacific Division is going to give them a run for their money, though. As of Saturday night, the gap between the first place Stars and the last place Phoenix was four points. That's five teams separated by four points; not a lot of room for mistakes. I'm not sure the Stars have the defense to hang with the big dogs in the West for a deep playoff run, but then again if you get a good locker room together, the unexpected can happen. I do think Dallas will make the playoffs this season and I expect them to make it to the second round, at the very least. But, as a Stars fan, I'm always dreaming of Stanley Cup glory...

3. The end of the Mike Modano in Dallas-saga could obviously have ended in more amicable ways. How do Stars fans feel about the way it all went down?
Ben: Stars fans are pretty split on this subject. The successful start to the season has kept complaints to a minimum. Mo will *always* be a Dallas Star. It doesn't matter what sweater he wore this season, he will never be booed in Dallas. He means so much to the organization and - on a much deeper level - hockey in Texas. For that reason, many Stars fans feel he should have been able to play in Dallas for as long as he wanted and retire on his own terms. It's something management promised him when he signed his last contract. But, with the ways things ended last season and the almost fairy-tale wrap-up his career could have had with the game in Minnesota, lots of folks were hopeful he'd hang up the skates. He obviously felt he had more in the tank, and wanted to play. Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk made the tough call to not offer Mo another contract and let him pursue other options. I think it was the right call to make. If he hadn't done that, Mo would have been taking up a spot that has been used for many of our young guys to develop this season.

4. What do you fear from the Wings in Sunday's game? What will the Stars need to do to win?
Ben:
I fear the same thing I always do when the Stars play the Wings: Detroit's depth. They're an experienced team with a really good bench boss in Mike Babcock. And The Joe is always a tough place for visiting teams to come into. It's that total combination I worry about. The other issue is that Dallas is coming off a game the night before in Columbus, and it's a 4:30PM CST start. If the Stars come out flat and give up a quick goal or two to the Wings, it might be tough for them to rally back later in the game. The Stars need to focus on coming out strong and taking it to Detroit early. In the same way, a quick goal or two *for* the Stars can swing momentum into their corner and give them some confidence heading into the later periods. They need to keep pucks out of their zone and away from the crease, whether Lehtonen is in net (or more likely Andrew Raycroft). Keeping Pavel Datsyuk off the scoreboard would be helpful too! It's going to be a pretty tough game for the Stars and a real test to their stamina.

5. Why should the Wings be worried about the Stars? What part of the Stars' game will they need to shut down?
Ben: The Wings should worry about the Stars ability to hang around. They're one of the best teams in the league in terms of pulling out wins when trailing after two periods. And, they seem to be in most every game they play right down to the final buzzer. It's pretty rare when the Stars are taken to the cleaners in a game, and if the Wings can't do that, the Stars have show the ability to pull out a win, regardless of the circumstances. One of the areas the Wings will be focused on is shutting down Brad Richards, who is in the NHL's top ten in scoring. They'll also want to put a ton of rubber on net; they'll need to keep Dallas netminder (whether it's Lehtonen or Raycroft) very busy all afternoon. That said, though, Dallas is still going to have a pretty tough job ahead of them on Sunday.


Great stuff from Ben. Interesting take on Mo and yeah, if Dallas' top guys perform I could see them do very well this year. Thanks to Ben for doing this!