T'is The Season

You may or may not be aware that hockey is Canada’s national sport (pretty much... one can’t forget curling, of course. That’s a joke…) So, it should come as no surprise that some of the better coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs is coming from the Canadian press. By “better coverage,” I mean not only the game summaries, but idle speculation, rumors, commentary, and the color pieces. In the realm of color it don’t get much better than this:

It is a time for insanity, but not time yet for the depths to which the madness of superstition can sometimes sink and will very likely sink somewhere, on some team, before the four long rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs are through.

The first time the Senators reached postseason play back in 1997, they threw their faith not in their coaches, not in the crowd, not in their goaltender — but in a tiny wooden Buddha that forward Tom Chorske had picked up in a San Francisco souvenir shot.

"Buddha Power" became the clarion call of those young Senators, the equipment manager charged with making sure Chorske carried the tiny statue around in his shaving kit as the inexperienced team took the Buffalo Sabres to seven games before losing the final match in overtime.

[…]

The coaching staff once tried to bring an end to a regular-season slump by holding a séance in the trainers' room, complete with candles to help them call on the ghosts of One-Eyed Frank McGee, King Clancy, and Fearless Frank Finnigan. It didn't work.

One goaltender — and we shall spare him the humiliation of using his name — refused to change his underwear during one playoff run that, perhaps fortunately, came to a quicker-than-expected end.

And there’s some funny bits about the young’uns trying to grow play-off beards. Speaking of which, one wonders what it’s like to be 18, 19, or 20 years old and playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Not to mention making mega-bucks. Sheesh…if you win the Cup you’re not even old enough to drink champagne out of it…legally. Details, details.

You may be wondering why I didn’t write about the Wings’ domination of Calgary the other night. It was simple oversight and the excitement of having that new toy…which, of course, tends to relegate other things to subordinate positions in my personal hierarchy of Things That Matter. But hockey matters. So much so, in fact, that I’ll delay my (planned, weather permitting) ride tomorrow until after the game, which begins at 1100, my time. But I digress.

The Wings looked great Thursday night, or perhaps their greatness was a function of Calgary’s suckage. And Calgary did suck, mightily.

Given the opportunity to change minds about their underachieving ways in 2006-07, the Flames mailed in yet another road apple in Game One of the series with Detroit. The scoreboard said 4-0 after two, but it could just as easily have been 10-0 if Miikka Kiprusoff hadn't done his best Lance Burton. Can you say no-mentum? Knowing they had to stay out of the penalty box, the Flames took two tacky fouls in the first 6:49. Knowing they had to prevent a quick start from the Wings, they fell behind 2-0 in the first 8:36. Knowing they had to get pucks on Dominik Hasek, they pelted him with just 12 in the first two periods and 46-20 in all. Pretty much the road template all season. Forwards not coming back. Crucial faceoffs lost. Hitting a dirty word.

Or, in the words of the Calgary Sun: “Let's not mince words -- the Flames were humiliated.”

The Flames are supposed to be physical, but the Wings out-hit them, 37-36. You may not think that’s a lot, what with the count being almost dead-even. But for a team with a reputation of…uh…being less than physical (and that’s being kind), the stat is good, no…great…news. And things will only get better for the Wings once Bertuzzi is back in the line-up. Still, and even…

Thursday was Game One of a seven-game series. As Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press sez:

I don’t doubt Game 2 will be a different story. The Flames aren’t as bad as they looked in Game 1, and they’ve got to feel like they let Miikka Kiprusoff down; the guy saw 46 shots – ridiculous for a regulation playoff game. But the Wings established themselves with Game 1 in this series, showing they can beat Kiprusoff and showcasing themselves as the more physical team.

What she said. Some folks are predicting yet another upset and early exit for the Wings. Not me: Wings in six. What would you expect me to say?

Today’s Pic: Keeping with the bike theme, here’s my buddy Lee and one of his three bikes, just before he hit the road on his way back home to the Oregon coast. Lee owns a VMax, a Ducati (model unknown, or at least I forgot which flavor of Duck it is), and the pictured VFR-750 Honda…which is categorized as a sport-tourer. He was certainly loaded up, wasn’t he? But then ya gotta take along some stuff if you’re gonna ride from Oregon to Houston and back…

June, 2006.