Let's Watch the Wings and the Sabres!

We have some Old Business to tidy up before they drop the puck here tonight at the Joe Louis Arena where the Detroit Red Wings will try to do something no Red Wings team has ever done before: win 15 straight home games and it concerns the game here Saturday in which the Wings tied (with an asterisk) their team record  for Most Consecutive Wins at Home by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime.  We say "with as asterisk" as had the game been played in 1965, which is when the Wings set the record they tonight seek to break, the game would have ended in a 2-2 tie--no OT, no shootouts in '65, of course--and thus the win streak would have ended.

That was some kind of a game here the afternoon before last. Detroit outshot Chicago 21-4 in the first period and led 2-0.  Then the Blackhawks roared back, outshooting Detroit 16-5 in the third period and getting the game-tying goal in the final minute of regulation.  That was it for their charge however, as the Wings outshot the Blackhawks 9-0 in overtime, eventually getting the game-winner from Todd Bertuzzi a mere 39-seconds before a shootout would have been declared.

Some notes (and this is the Old Business to which we refer) on what is turning out to be quite a season series between these two Orginal Sixers. It marked the second straight time the Wings had beaten Chicago in overtime this season.  And get this: all three Chicago-Detroit games have ended with the final score 3-2.  Detroit is 2-1-0 in the games (4 pts) and Chicago is 1-0-2 (4 pts).  The Wings have outscored  Chicago 8-7 in the season series.

That's about as close as close can be.  Except for this: the standings in the Western Conference right now show the top 8 teams--the teams which would qualify for the playoffs, that is--separated by 9 points.  Detroit, fifth, is only three points out of first, and only six points out of 8th.

So, tonight, here come the Buffalo Sabres, a game under .500 at 19-20-5 and on the outside looking in playoff-wise right now.  Ryan Miller--their astoundingly good young goalie, is back in the lineup tonight after missing his 8th game of the season due to concussion symptoms Saturday night.

7:47 1-0, Detroit as deep in the Buffalo zone Juri Hudler stole it and Henrik Zetterberg buried it.  It was his 9th of the season.  Zetterberg was alone below the hashmarks moving from Miller's left to right and he beat him high on the long side.  The shot may have been re-directed off the stick of a Sabres defenseman, but that was not immediately clear, even on replay.

8:03  Time to Feel Old (Part One): Ryan Miller, Buffalo goalie, and Drew Miller, Red Wings foreward, are brothers.  Their dad is either Kevin, Kelly or Kip Miller.  I'm not sure and it's strangely not important in the instant discussion.  What is important is the fact that each of those older Millers, Kevin, Kelly and Kip, played on a team for which I was the play-by-play broadcaster at one time or another.  So, I am now watching the sons of a player who was already way younger than I when that player and I were members of the same traveling party to some of the finest non-NHL cities all across North America.  And there is this weird curiosity.  I caught a puck at an NHL game about 20 years ago.  The player who shot it into the crowd?  Kip Miller.  Does this mean anything?

8:13  They really ought to do something, anything, about that Pavel Datsyuk.  Like declare him illegal, or something.  He just hit Johan Franzen with a blind, 50-foot backhand pass that sent Franzen in alone from the center ice red line and you know the rest.  It was goal #18 for Franzen and Bertuzzi also got an assist, which sort of ruined the beauty of the play because really it was Datsyuk, and Datsyuk alone who did it at 18:11.  He may be the best all-round player I have ever seen in person and I'll tell you what, I've seen some pretty good players with my own eyes: Howe, Orr, Beliveau, Gretzky, etc...

8:15  At 19:43, Nicklas Lidstrom makes it 3-0, Detroit; charging the net and banging a rebound past the helpless Miller who now skates off, disconsolate.  Franzen and Bertuzzi had the assists on Lidstrom's 9th.  Shots on goal are even at 11, but that is the only thing about this game which is even right now.  AFTER ONE: DETROIT 3, BUFFALO 0.


8:29 Time to Feel Old (Part Two):  So, I've been playing hockey for almost two years now with an torn left postibular (sic) tendon and I am not going to lie to you, it has not been easy.  What ever it is that that tendon is supposed to do, it can't do because it is no longer there and because it is no longer there I cannot keep my left skate blade in proper attitude (perpendicular) relative to the ice surface.  I can barely stand.  I cannot execute a slide step.  I can hardly go side-to-side at all.  It used to be that I could move two meters from a standing stop to a spot I'd picked out on the ice in the time it takes to say, "move two meters."  Now, I just sort of standing there longingly, remembering the good old days when  my bodies wish was my command, essentially.  I was fitted for a brace a week ago which I was told would, if not completely correct, would at least enable me to regain a good deal of mobility out there and, as you can imagine, I was pretty excited about it.  I went it to try it on today, ready to go for tomorrow's skate, and they couldn't get the thing inside my skate.  The demo I tried on last week fit just fine, but the model they made for me from a case of my lower leg and foot did not.  So, I am back at square one, and that is a square I don't not want to be, in.  Or something.   Tomorrow we'll tape it up again and later we'll try something else.  Oh, and it's 4-0, Detroit.  Bertuzzi with a beauty spin-o-rama backhand early in the second.  And, oh, it's 5-0, Detroit.  Darren Helm is in alone to score on a feed from the Miller brother who plays for Detroit and it is that goal which drives the Miller brother who plays for the Sabres from the game after facing all of 13 shots, only two in the second period.  The two Detroit goals come 13 seconds apart, at 4:19 and 4:32 and on the first, Datsyuk's assist gives him 700 career points.  It has been quite a night and we've only played 25 minutes of a 60-minute game...

8:46 Did I mention I'm picking the 3 Stars of tonight's hockey game?  I'm thinking of filling in 3 names right now (Datsyuk and Bertuzzi seem safe enough choices) and calling it a night.  This is one of those games where the Wings are just sick.

8:57 Time to Feel Old (Part 3):  I was looking at the Sabres bench and standing there behind it is a familiar face but I can't quite place it.  I looked at the Game Notes to see who the Buffalo assistants are, and there is the name Kevyn Adams and, yes, I remember him and not just because of the odd way his parents spelled his first name.  I had Kevyn on my team in Grand Rapids back in 1996-97 when he was a baby-faced 22-year-old kid out Miami of Ohio. He played ten years or so in the NHL and his back in the NHL this year as an assistant to Lindy Ruff, the guy who has been coach of the Sabres since 1997, which makes him the longest-tenured coach in the NHL and the third-longest tenured of any coach in any major professional sport, so there.  Ruff must feel like he's coached the Sabres 14 years this night alone, as Detroit continues to lead 5-0 with just over 3 mins left in the second.

9:07  The second period is over, and I really don't know what to say.  The Wings have been overwhelming in this game.  Twenty minutes to go before they set the new team record for home wins in a row.  Incredibly, shots are 19 Detroit, 18 Buffalo.  Incredibly....AFTER TWO: DETROIT 5, BUFFALO 0.


9:46 They are going to be coming for the 3 Stars any minute now, so here you go--you get to know before anybody else.  #3 Jimmy Howard (this will be a good pick if he gets the shutout, an ok pick if he doesn't).  #2 Todd Bertuzzi: A highlight reel goal and a couple of assists.  #1 Pavel Datsyuk: Hits the 700-point mark with a couple of the prettiest helpers you will ever see.  And, with that it is off to The Room for post-game fun and commentary.  Until next time, North America...

Let's Watch the Red Wings and the Blackhawks!

It's a quarter after 12 and it feels funny to be up here in the Joe Louis Arena pressbox at this time of day but the schedule is what the schedule is and we've got the Blackhawks in here this afternoon with a chance to see history, sort of.

The Wings today look for their 14th consecutive win at home, which, if they can do it, would tie the franchise record.  But it would, in my view, have to come with an asterisk.  The record Detroit is trying to equal this afternoon was set in 1965, when the Wings won every game they played at Olympia Stadium from January 21 through March 25.  Here, the night before last, Detroit beat Phoenix 3-2 in a shootout to extend their home win streak to 13.  The thing is, had that game been played in 1965, it would have ended in a 2-2 tie as there was no overtime, no shootout back in those days.  In other words, if the rules were the same today as they were four decades ago, Detroit would no longer be working an active win streak today, they would be taking a 13-game unbeaten streak into the contest.  A slight difference to be sure, but still a difference worth noting.

Can you explain this to me?  How can the Wings--or any team for that matter--be, as Detroit is right now, 16-2-1 (.868) at home and at the same time be 11-13-0 (.458) on the road?  That's the record for Detroit though as we move to within a few minutes of faceoff.

We are just barely into the second half of the season (today's is game 44 of 82 for Detroit).  We are then, in other words, getting deep into the season.  Which makes this highly unusual: Detroit is only 4 points out of first place while at the same time they are only 5 points out of 8th.  9 points are all that separate the top 8 in the West. That's remarkable.  And it means that no team, not Detroit, not anybody, can afford even a little slump over the course of the final 3 months.  You could do something like lose 3 or 4 in a row and find that it winds up costing you a playoff spot.

The teams are hitting the ice.  We'll have the National Anthem and then the puck will drop.  We'll be here to keep you updated...

12:47  We've played almost 6 mins and nothing noteworthy has happened yet.  This is the 3rd of 6 regular season meetings between these teams, the first here in Detroit.  The Wings are 1-1-0 against Chicago, the Blackhawks are 1-0-1 against Detroit.  Detroit lost 3-2 the night before New Years Eve in Chicago and beat the Blackhawks there a week ago tomorrow 3-2, coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the first five minutes of the game to win in overtime 3-2.  Chicago leads the Central division with 57 points, Detroit is third with 55.  As we said earlier, the race this year looks like it will be close all the way.  With that in mind, we note that Chicago will be here in Detroit for the last game of the season onn April 7.

12:52  Chicago goalie Corey Crawford just stopped Tomas Hollmstrom on a breakaway and then got lucky when the rebound hopped over the stick of Detroit's Cory Emmerton with the open net yawning.  Detroit has outshot Chicago 13-1 here mid-way through the first.

1:02 The Wings are on the board on Tomas Holmstrom's power-play redirect of an Ian White shot at 12:26. Pavel Datsyuk also got an assist on the goal, which came on Detroit's 17th shot on goal today.  Chicago has been held to two shots on goal, so far.  Detroit is 19-7-1 (.722) when scoring first this season.

1:07 2-0, Detroit on a breakaway finish by Todd Bertuzzi (7).  Bertuzzi hopped off the Detroit bench, changing on the fly and Datsyuk, inside the Detroit line, hit him in stride with a 40-foot pass and Bertuzzi had a couple of steps on the all-of-a-sudden caught Blackhawks defense.  He went in and beat Crawford with a backhand high.  Datsyuk's assist was the only helper handed out on the goal.

1:14  It's hard to imagine that Detroit, or for that matter any team, could play a better period of hockey than the Wings just did in the first here.  They oushot Chicago 21-4 (I think the Blackhawks had only 2 legitimate scoring chances) and they lead 2-0.  AFTER ONE: DETROIT 2, CHICAGO 0.


1:26 Some housekeeping as we move into the second period.  An assist has been added to White on the Bertuzzi goal.  So, now White and Datsyuk each have a pair of assists this afternoon.  Should the Wings go on to win today, they and Chicago will each have 57 points, but Detroit would be ahead of the Blackhawks in the standings because it would have taken them fewer games to arrive at that point total than it had Chicago. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves...

1:30  This is the first game this season that it's really felt like a hockey game.  We have been blessed, BLESSED, I TELL YOU, by an abject lack of snow this winter.  That has changed these past couple of overnights and we woke up this morning to find flurries flying and an inch or so on the ground.  It was enough to make it look like winter and to make it drive like winter so we sort of inched our way downtown to the rink, slipping and sliding a little bit for the first time this season.  Which is okay, this is, after all, the winter game.  The second period has just begun...

1:42  Detroit leads the NHL with only 34 goals allowed at home this season (19 games).  The Wings have held their opponent to two goals or less in 15 of their 19 home games and are undefeated (14-0-1, .967) in those games.  We're almost 8 minutes into the second period this afternoon and it is still 2-0, Detroit.

1:55 Nicklas Lidstrom just made a mistake which happens so infrequently that it is post-worthy when it does.  He made a bad decision not to pinch, then went for the puck at center ice, got beat, and Chicago had an odd-man.  But, Jimmy Howard looked like the All-Star goalie he is, made two or three really big stops, and that was the end of it.  Moments later though, Howard misplayed a shoot-in trying to stop the puck behind his goal.  He deflected it right out in front, and since he was behind the goal there was nobody in front of the entwined enclosure to defend it against Chicago's Andrew Shaw who tucked it into the great big wide-open to make this a 2-1 hockey game, Detroit.

2:05 The second period is over and, except for that giveaway hiccup by Howard at 14:54, it was another good one for the Red Wings.  Unlike the first period though, they did not score and shots  (8-7, Detroit) were much more even in the middle 20 than they were in the first when it was 21-4 Detroit, in Shots on Goal.  The Game Notes tell us that the Wings are 18-1-1 (.925) when leading after two and that Chicago is 4-13-1 (.250) when trailing after two.  AFTER TWO: DETROIT 2, CHICAGO 1.


2:22  The third period begins.  Say, did you know there is football today?  How about that.  With any luck (and by luck I mean without any Auto Show traffic) I'll be home in time for the Saints-49ers game at 4:30.  I'll take New Orleans by about thirty as I saw what the Saints did to the Lions a week ago tonight and because I still can't see that San Francisco ballclub.  I didn't believe in them when the season began, I didn't believe in them when they beat Detroit, I didn't believe in them when they got the first-round bye, and I don't believe in them now.  I am, if nothing else, consistent.

2:26 Just over three into the third and Jimmy Howard is looking in the net behind him for the puck, but it is not there as he as made some sort of miracle save which was so good even he didn't know he had pulled it off.  The Blackhawks are storming the net here, getting a push just like you knew they would.  They've outshot the Wings 7-0 in the period and Detroit is hanging on.  You had to figure the Wings would have to withstand in this period.  Chicago is a good club, you know.  They won the Cup only the year before last and they don't just hand you the damn thing.  Shots are now 9-0, Chicago in the period, which is 5 minutes old.

2:40  This third period has really been moving along.  7:05 left and still 2-1, Detroit.  Chicago was really taking it to Detroit when Drew Miller got a double minor.  For whatever reason, going on the power play seemed to take Chicago off their game.  They had been doing better at even strength than they did a man to the good, although they did hit a goalpost during the power play.  Shots in the period: 15-2, Chicago.  It's looking like a nail-biter down the stretch and you know how this goes, I have to get downstairs to get post game interviews.  I will update this blog later.  Thanks for hanging out with us today!

Thanks! (And Let's Watch the Red Wings and the Coyotes)

First off (and off topic) thanks to everyone for their kind words and congratulations regarding my daughter and her academic scholarship.  A full ride at a 4-year university with a Division I basketball program for academics?  Way to go, kiddo.  Way to go.  And again, thanks to everyone for their kind words.

The Red Wings, seeking their 13th straight win at home, are flat-out kicking the snot out of tonight's opponent, the woeful Phoenix Coyotes.  Which would mean more than it does if the Wings weren't actually losing the game.  Which they are, 1-0 as a moment ago Radim Vrbata rifled a wrister over the right (stick) shoulder of newly-minted Detroit All-Star goalie Jimmy Howard.  Other than that, the Wings have been all over 'em.

8pm:  For the record, as Detroit looks to extend the old home ice win streak tonight, we note that the Wings team record for Most Consecutive Home Wins is 14.  They accomplished this feat 46 years ago between January 21 and March 25, 1965.  The streak ended when Toronto beat the Wings at Olympia 4-0 in the regular season finale.  In a cruel irony, the Wings that season, after winning regular season championship, lost to Chicago in the first round of the playoffs (there were only two rounds in the playoffs back in those Original Six days, as you know) when the Blackhawks defeated them in game 7--in Detroit.  It was the only home-ice loss for the Wings in the 1965 Stanley Cup playoffs and it was one too many.

Trivia: Who was the Wings leading scorer in that 1964-65 season?  (The answer later if I remember to post it...)

The period is over and I pissed off a couple of Coyotes.  I was a little mad at myself for getting caught in the mens room trying to beat the intermission run on the bathroom when the Wings tied the score 19:09--Valtteri Filppula, unassisted--and when I stepped out of the bathroom they were showing the replay and I blurted out (which is something, blurting, that I usually don't do) "Who the hell is #53?"  He was the Phoenix D-man who was standing there reaching halfheartedly (or half-some other body part) with his stick as Filppula fired.  I forgot that visiting players not dressed for the game sit in the section of the pressbox where I spoke up and one of them asked me, "Why, what do you think he did?"  I said, "I think he didn't block the shot."  Which he didn't.  He just stood there, looking terrible.  The player nodded at me but I think a couple of those guys were annoyed with me.  Add this to the fact that chances are good they were in foul humor to begin with what with the being healthy scratches and all, and now they are mad at me and thus I cannot, not matter how dire matters may be or may become, go back to the bathroom again until the game is over and they have left.  I'm going to cut back on the Diet Cokes (they don't work, anyway) and hope for a well-played, uh, efficient hockey game.  After One: Detroit 1, Phoenix 1.


I'm writing hurt tonight, I'll have you know.  All to keep you up to date with the latest info from here at the Joe Louis Sports Arena.  I decided that calling a high school game last night (Rochester United 3, Farmington Hills 2 for those of you who track these things), wasn't enough in the way of preparation for watching an actual NHL game, so I went out this afternoon and played some hockey myself.   It surprises some people that I still do that, but I do.  In fact, a while back somebody asked me if I was a retired person and I laughed and thought to myself, come on out to the Oak Park Ice Arena some Tuesday or Thursday and I'll show you how retired I am..."  Anyway, today, in addition to the usual office workers, policemen and firefighters with whom I play, some ringer who I was later told played pro in the NY Rangers system either in the American or East Coast Leagues, who knows, ripped a shot right from inside the rim of the circle to my left, right off my funny bone.  I mean, it was a blast.  I mentioned the guy played pro, didn't I?  Those guys can really bring it.  And he did.  I was pleased to have made the save (I forgot to mention that I'm a goalie, didn't I?) for about a nano-second before the pain came and I spent the rest of the game just trying to hold onto my goalie stick without much of any feeling at all in my hand since my entire arm went numb.  Right now, my elbow looks like a plum has been surgically implanted just under the skin.   It wasn't a league game or something; just a little drop-in. Why didn't I just let it go in?  Those words, "Why didn't you just let it go in?" are the best hockey advice I ever got.  I was showing the Red Wings trainer a bruise I gotten from some other slapshot in some other time and he was so impressed he called on some of the Wings themselves to join me in the Medical Room to inspect the damage.  It was nasty. I'd gone into the butterfly position (down on the ice, pads spread as wide as you can) and the shot hit me on the inside of my thigh and the resulting contusion had to be a foot and a half in diameter.  Mike Vernon, the Wings goalie at the time, looked at it, then he looked at me and said oh-so-matter-of-factly, "Why didn't you just let it go in?"

As I reminisce, the second period has concluded.  There was no scoring, although Cory Emmerton hit the post which flat on the ice which I am sure will be a highlight as it was The Best Play I've Seen Not Resulting in a Goal in weeks, and so it is still tied here after 40.  After Two: Detroit 1, Phoenix 1.


An hour after it was scored, they have added an assist on the Detroit goal by Filppula.  They gave it to Ian White.  I said, "May I have an assist, too?  It would be my first NHL point."  Hey, you at least have to ask!

9:25: I'd better give you the answer to Tonight's Trivia Challenge (who led the Wings in scoring the year they set a team record which still stands with 14 straight wins at home) pretty quick since it now appears that the Wings are going to screw this thing up, lose and see their 12-game home win streak end as Taylor Pyatt has just scored to give Phoenix a 2-1 lead at 3:02 of this here third period.  So, here you go:  Norm Ullman with 83 points.  Bonus points if you know that his 42 goals led that NHL in '64-'65.  More than Bobby Hull or Jean Beliveau or Gordie Howe or any of them.

9:36 Johan Franzen, in the greatest moment in hockey since Henderson scored to beat the Soviets in '72, has just scored to tie the game 2-2 at 10:03.  Goose bumps are everywhere as we move into the last half of the last period of the epic battle which rages on the pure white ice below.  Hey, I'm just trying to capture the flavor of the thing.

9:45 Well, you know how this goes.  I have to shut this thing down now and get to the room for post game comments, such that they are or may be.  Thanks for reading!

Let's Watch the Lions and the Saints!

For all of you karma fans out there, the last time the Lions won a road playoff game was December 22, 1957--a 34-27 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Kezar Stadium. Detroit trailed 27-7 in the 3rd and their 20-point comeback was the biggest in NFL playoff history at the time. The Lions won the NFL Championship game a week later. This has been the year of the comeback for the Lions, has it not? Get ready for kick in New Orleans tonight with a look at this Lions Classic! 
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-top-ten/09000d5d810a994f/Top-Ten-Comebacks-1957-NFL-playoff

This has to be the greatest QB matchup in playoff history, doesn't it?  Any other one in which the QB's combined to throw for 10,514 yards and 87 TDs in the regular season?  Don't think so...


Remember last Sunday how everybody said they wouldn't be able to throw the ball at Green Bay because of the high winds and all we would up with was the HIGHEST PASSING YARDAGE game in NFL HISTORY? That's what I think of predictions...


8:20 Lions go 80 in 8 to lead 7-0, 4:02 in.  TD is 10y Matthew Stafford pass to Will Heller as Stafford is 5/6 for 70y on drive.  Big plays were 22y pass to Calvin Johnson on second play of game and 15y pass to Titus Young on 3rd and 7 after Lions got one of those dumb Too Many Men in the Huddle penalties.  Oddity: Lions leading rusher right now is Young (8y


Saints were cruising right down the field, but they fumbled inside the Detroit 20 and the Lions get it back and that is exactly how you pull off an upset.  New Orleans had driven from own 19 to Det 18 in only 5 plays when Marques Colston fumbled and Detroit's Justin Durant recovered.  7-0, Det midway through the first.  It would be huge if the Lions could get points off the TO and put the Saints in a hole early.  A bigger hole, that is.


OT,  but as I watch the Wings out of the corner of my eye, does anyone have a reason for them being 15-2-1 (.861) at home and 10-11-0 (.477) on the road?  Neither do I.  Wings down 3-2 in Toronto late second, but were down 0-3 when period began.  Lions drive to midfield, punt.  Still up 7-0 in New Orleans...


8:45 QTR ends as Saints drive from their own 11 to the Det 11 in 8 plays.  The biggest play was an 11y Pierre Thomas screen pass that was good for 11 and and first.  He totally juked Lions CB Eric Wright.  S Louis Delmas was the fakeout victim on a 31y Thomas run moments later.  7-0 Det, going second.


8:50 Tie game.  Saints go 89 in 11 (surprisingly enough, 56 of the 89 yards on the drive came on the ground) and tie Lions 7-7 just :59 into second quarter.


9:00 The drive is 87 in 9 and the Lions lead again on 13y Stafford to Johnson TD toss.  Up and down the field they go with 9:11 left in the half!  Det 14, NO 7.  Seven of the nine plays in the drive were passes with Stafford 6/7 for 73 yards.


OT (again) The Wings have just come back from 0-3 down to tie Leafs 3-3 in Toronto in 3rd with 15:30 left in reg.


9:10 Anybody else wondering why they blew the play dead on that Brees fumble?  Because it looked to me like the Lions might have scored on the play, for crying out loud.


An official, thinking the play was an incomplete pass instead of a fumble, blew his whistle and ended the play in which Brees fumbled.  That makes this the second week in a row in which incompetent officialing (not a word, btw but I've decided to write the story the way they call the game) has cost Detroit aTD.


9:29 That was no catch, right? Didn't the ball juggle around a bit when he hit. Isn't that "Process of the Catch" stuff?.


9:36 Good first half.  Real good.  Better than I expected to be honest with you as I thought if GB's second stringer could light up the Lions Brees just might be able to do the same.  But, Stafford (180) has more pass y in half than Brees (174).  Det 14, NO 10 at the half.  Time to break for all-important halftime snackage.  Wish I was at Ford Field since they always have something nice for us at halftime but then again, I would be able to be in a t-shirt like I am now.  Red Wings lose 4-3 in Tor, fall to 10-12 on the road.


9:52 Brees finally hits a big one, a 41y TD pass as Saints go 78 in 4 to take 17-14 lead 1:51 into 3rd.  Can Stafford answer?


10:02 Uh, not a first down there on that third and long from the NO 7....  Refs get the Lions again.


10:08 Anybody remember the Lions opener at GB about 15 years ago when Scott Mitchell lept and thrust the football forward to get a first down on Dets first possession of the season and had the ball swatted out of his hands and returned for a Packer TD?  Could have happened to Brees right there, but it's a NO first down instead.


10:10 Saints TD drive is 92 in 13 with the bad spot on the 3rd and 7 from the 7 and the Brees 4th-and-inches reach-across the big plays and now the Lions, trailing 24-14 with 4:03 left in 3rd, have to respond.


10:25 For those of you scoring at home, that is first rush TD by Stafford this season.  Det TD drive is 80 in 8.  Stafford 4/6 for 79 on the drive.  Det back in game, down 24-21 with 0:26 left in third.


NO is 7-10 on 3rd down but that's misleading because on two of the misses they came back to convert on 4th down (2-2 on 4th down converts) and on the other they kicked that field goal on last play of first half.


10:43  If you can't get 'em off the field, eventually--by definition--they score.  Darren Sproles runs it in from 17 to complete a 14 play, 80y Saints drive.  Now it's 31-21, NO and now there's 9:53, that's all, left.


10:48 A pick.  Damn.  A pick.  Stafford, having a typically great night until this very moment, puts it up for grabs and it's intercepted and it's the first TO by DET tonight and it's a killer.  Unless the defense can get 'em off the field and off the field in a hurry.  Under nine to play.


10:52 Good night, everybody.  Brees ends it with a 56y pass to Robert Meachum and it's 38-21 ballgame with 7:29 left and I don't think the Lions can make the deficit up in that amount of time.  Brees has thrown for 425 tonight and 3 TDs..


10:29  Is anybody else streaming this game?  Who is that singing that annoying "I want to be a billionaire song" and can you make her stop?


10:59 Way to not give up.  Stafford now at 367 pass y and 3 TD as he hits Johnson in the end zone to make it 38-28, Saints with 4:40 left.  Kick or on-side kick?


11:08  616 yards of offense for NO is a new NFL postseason record and they didn't have to punt once.  Not once.  That's the story, isn't it?  4 plays is all it takes them to put it in the end zone again after the failed on-sides kick.  45-28 with 3:13 to play.


11:11 Correction: NFL website says NO had 618y of offense after that last TD, not the 616 I said.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have cause.  A desperate Stafford is picked again and the Death Watch is underway.


11:20 I am not, by rule (No Cheering in the Press Box), allowed to root for the Lions, but I feel badly for the guys and for the members of the staff who helped me so much in covering them this year.  I remember being on the sidelines at RFK the night they got blown out in the '92 NFC title game and a remember being sad for the players then, too. I hope they will quickly realize that they had one hell of a fine year.  And wait until you get a load of that LeShoure kid out of Illinois next season.  Detroit's leading rusher had 28 yards tonight.  That won't happen with him in the lineup. Final: New Orleans 45, Detroit 28.  Thanks for reading! 

I'm Still the Smart One, Right?

So, I'm out on the ice with the boys Thursday tending the 6x4 and we are all of us every one giving it our all out there and when the game is over, I can't get the tape on my ankle and my ankle brace undone and I don't have knife to cut it off which means I can't get my hockey underwear off (think either long johns or lightweight sweat pants) which means I have to put my jeans on over them and they are soaking wet as I have, as mentioned, just finished giving my all out there and sweat and lots of it is the byproduct.  Because they are wet, they are cold and they are nasty, too.  I'm thinking I'm going to get some sort of rash before I can finish the drive home.  Or catch my death en route, one or the other.  When I do get home, my poor daughter has to cut the tape off so I can hit the shower which, although she said nothing (such a sweet child) has to gross her out to the maximum.  I mention all of this to Jeannie yesterday and she asks why I didn't ask somebody in another locker room if they had a knife and I tell her I didn't think of it and she asks me why I didn't go to the office to see if they had some scissors and I tell her I didn't think of that, either and I say, "So what you are saying is that anytime a little problem like this crops up (and they have, you know.  We're eighteen years into our marriage, after all.) I can just call you and you will give me all sorts of potential solutions?" And she says, "Of course," and I say, "Okay, but I still get to be the smart one, right?"

You gotta work to make your marriage work, boys.  Keep it in mind!

We are at the Joe Louis here tonight for the Wings and the Kings and it is not going well at all for one of the teams whose name ends in "ings" and I can tell you for sure that it is not the local hockeyists as they led 2-0 at the 2-minute mark and 3-0 eight-and-a-half in.  And that is where we are now.  I was planning a quick getaway tonight but as soon as I got here they asked if I could pick tonight's Three Stars of the Game which means A). I have to pay attention and, B). I cannot leave early as it is difficult to pay attention to something one is not actually at, you know?  But, what the hey.  The crowd is having a good time and the we can spread out in the pressbox as it is not crowded, so let's enjoy...  3:02 left, 1st Period: Detroit 3, LA 0.


One is done and the Wings dominate with a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.  8 (8!) different Wings record at least one point in the period.  Incredibly, LA outshoots Detroit 10-9 in the period, proving once and for all, we suspect, that "Shots on Goal" is the weakest stat in the history of athletic competition.  1st Intermission: Det 4, LA 1.


Okay, two periods complete here and it is still Detroit by four, 6-2. 12 different Wings have recorded a point here, which is remarkable.  As is the fact that the LA club leads in shots 19-16.  I didn't check in with you because not a lot was going on here.  Detroit appeared to get a little bored midway through the period, analogous to a cat tiring of playing the with mouse he's caught, I thought, and the Kings made 'em pay and the game was 4-2.  Then it got a little chippy and there was some shoving and cruel taunts and hurt feelings.  The Wings got two goals late: Henrik Zetterberg roofing a backhand under the bar although there clearly was no open spot for him to hit and Pavel Datsyuk was in alone in the last minute and he did what he does when he is in alone, netting his 10th of the year.   Detroit is 12-2-1 (.833) at home this year.  In another half an hour or so, they will be 13-2-1 (.843) and you can book that.  2nd Intermission: Detroit 6, LA 2.  


I am going to shut this thing down now as I will have to hustle in the 3rd to get away once the 3 Stars are turned in to Budd Lynch--the legendary PA announcer here.

It turns out Dec. 15 was the 32nd anniversary of the last game ever played at Olympia Stadium.  I was there.  Detroit fell behind 4-0, but came back to tie Quebec 4-4.  A few nights later, they played the first game in this building, and I was here for that one, too.  I cannot believe I have been coming to games in this place for 32 years....

Let's Watch the Lions and the Vikings!

Good afternoon from Ford Field.  This is the first time I've seen a football field since last Saturday night when I was leaving Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis about an hour and a half after poor Isiah Lewis was flagged for running into the kicker in that heart-breaker of a Big Ten Title game which the Spartans lost to Wisconsion 42-39.

This is the first time I've seen this field since Thanksgiving Day when I thought at the half that the Lions were going to upset the Packers since Detroit had out gained Green Bay 202-86 in the first half and were only down 7-0.  But, the Packers drove the length on the first possession of the second half, the drive culminating in that Ndamukong Suh stomp/Personal Foul which enabled Green Bay to continue their drive and score a TD when they'd been stopped on 3rd and a goal and were certainly going to bring their field goal unit onto the field.  Things went downhill from there in what wound up a 27-15 Packers win.

Ten wins almost always get you into the playoffs.  To get to 10, Detroit must win three of their last four.  And even then they could get edged out.  Heading into today's game, the Lions are the #7 seed in a race in which only the top 6 make it.  At 7-5, Detroit has the same record as the Bears and the Falcons.  But Chicago is the #5 seed and the Falcons are # 6.  Here's why:
*Chicago finishes ahead of Detroit based on conference record (6-3 to the Lions' 5-5).

*Chicago is the No. 5 seed ahead of Atlanta based on head to head (1-0).
*Atlanta is the No. 6 seed ahead of Detroit based on head to head (1-0).

I think it's going to come down to Detroit and Chicago and both teams still have to play at 12-0 Green Bay.  The combined record of the remaining opponents for the Lions and the Bears is identical: 26-22.  Atlanta has the easiest remaining schedule with their opponents a combined 20-28.  However, Atlanta has to play at New Orleans so who's to say they won't lose that one meaning the best they could do is finish 10-6, too. But that's the problem.  Even if the Lions finish 10-6, they will still miss out if both the Bears and Falcons do too.  So, you Lions fans, it's not enough just to root for the Lions, you must also root against the Bears and the Falcons.  The Bears are at 7-5 Denver today, the Falcons are at 4-8 Carolina.  

Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson will not play today.  And even at this late moment, under 20 minutes to kick, we do not know if Vikings QB Christian Ponder (crossword clue: Jesus Contemplater?) will be able to start due to injury.  We will, of course, keep all y'all updated...

We've had some computer problems but it looks like we are back now...at least for now.  Let's bring you up to speed.  In less than ten minutes (9:06 elapsed to be precise) the Lions have taken a 21-0 lead over the Vikings.  Detroit has run 11 plays on offense and have scored 21 points.  On the Vikings first play from scrimmage, at their own 7, QB Christian Ponder had the ball slapped out of his hand by Cliff Avril and Stephen Tulloch recovered in the end zone for his first career TD.  7-0, Detroit.  On the Vikings second possession, Ponder was intercepted by Alphonso Smith of Detroit and the Lions turned that turnover into points too, when Matthew Stafford hit a streaking Titus Young down the near left sideline for a 57-yard TD.  14-0, Detroit.  Stafford made it two TD passes in the first quarter the next time Detroit got the ball when he hit Brandon Pettigrew from 17 and with just under 6 minutes left in the quarter, the Lions had a 21-0 lead.  The Vikings have just driven down the field to score and make it 21-7 and we still have almost two minutes left in the quarter.  What a start we are off to here.

Halftime and we've been having a heck of a time with the internet here this afternoon.  Let's get caught up on what has transpired so far.  First of all, it's 31-14 Detroit.  Minnesota turned it over 4 times in the half and the Lions got 24 pts off the turns.  Alphonso Smith had two intercepts in the half, returning one for a score.  Matthew Stafford threw 2 TD passes.  Christian Ponder has 2 TD passes for Minnesota--the only reason they remain in the game at all.  Word at the half is that Carolina has the lead over Atlanta, which is great news for Detroit.  Remember, the Lions, Falcons and Bears are all 7-5.  Only two of the teams will make the post season.  If current scores stand up, and if the Bears can lose at Denver, Detroit will have a one-game lead in the playoff chase.  Second half just underway...

We're into the 4th, now and the Lions lead 34-21, but haven't put them away just yet with 12:09 to go.  Joe Webb is in at QB for the Vikes and all he did was tear off a 65 yard scramble for a TD, probably the longest QB scramble I've ever seen.  The Detroit secondary continues to rack up injuries, and there is some cause for concern here.  Meanwhile, ATL has come back to lead CAR 24-23.  

Let's Watch the Red Wings and the Coyotes!

Well, let's see.  We haven't been together since last Saturday night and that thrilling down to the last cup Big Ten Title game.  Tonight, a contest of much less import as the Wings try to put an end to a modest two-game losing streak against the Phoenix Coyotes, a team many say is playing its last year in the National League.   For the record, this will go down as the day Albert Pujols got a contract worth a smidge (4 million dollars is indeed a "smidge" when it's part of a $254 million dollar deal) over a quarter of a billion dollars.  Wow, etc.  That is more that the current owner of the Angels, the team shelling out the dollars for Pujols, paid for the entire franchise short a few years ago.

I've been at this for about five minutes and can report that the Red Wings lead the hockey game 2-0.  Twice Wings were left all alone in front of Coyotes goalie Mike Smith, and twice they buried the thing.  Todd Bertuzzi made no mistake at 1:16 and Valteri Filppula--who I had heard earlier today wasn't even going to dress tonight due to a leg injury--found the net at 2:09.  The goals were strikingly similar.  In each case, the goal scorer was all alone below the hashmarks on the circles, right out in front of the goal.  In a strange oddity, Phoenix has outshot Detroit 5-4 here in the early going.  DETROIT 2, PHOENIX 0.  


8:05 Make it 3-0, Detroit.  Phoenix put Detroit on the power play and Tomas Holmstrom put it on the board at 14:46.  He fired in a rebound and in spite of a 10-10 shots on goal total, the rout is on.  And now it is REALLY on.  Darren Helm just took a feed off to the side of the net and made it 4-0 at 15:29.  Which turns out to be bad news in the extreme to those of us up here in the press box as Mike Smith is replaced in goal by Jason LaBarbera which is much more difficult to spell. DETROIT 4, PHOENIX 0.


Juri Hudler greeted LaBarbera with yet another goal and Detroit's running away, 5-0 after one.  In a statistical oddity, or quirk if you prefer, shots on goal in the period were even: 12-12.  Sometimes things just don't add up. AFTER ONE: DETROIT 5, PHOENIX 0.


True story: back in the day, Phoenix coach Dave Tippet was the coach of the Houston Aeros, and when we'd go down there to play them I'd run into him outside the arena between periods, pacing, having a smoke.  I don't know if Tippet's quit yet, but if he hasn't I'll bet he's lighting the last one with the next one right now outside the building between periods here at the Joe.  

Hockey hurts.  I'm out there tending some net this very afternoon and some guy winds up for the slapper from the point to my left and I go down but the puck surprises me a little and goes up.  No problem--I figure to snag it with the trapper but I miss and it ticks the edge of the ole catch glove (that's what they call it: a "catch" glove) and deflects a little but that's no problem because it has to hit me in the chest and stay out but no, it finds a gap between my torso and arm and in it goes and I'm left down on my knees muttering some very bad words which I will not share with you here except to mention that one of them (which I may have uttered more than once truth be told) is a perfect rhyme for "puck".  Literally adding injury to the insult which this goal was, is the fact that on its way through it nicked my left side which felt a lot like being snapped with a wet towel in the boys locker room and which left a welt.  I hate hockey.  I hate it so much I have vowed never to play again until next Tuesday when the usual crew gets together again at the Oak Park Ice Arena.

There was a fight out there today which you really don't like to see in Rec Hockey.  I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm out there to have some fun and get some cardio and that's it and the boys know that if they screw with me--slashing me with their sticks trying to dig the puck out from under my pads and crap like that--I will up and leave which apparently ruins their entire game because it's better with a goalie than it is without even if it's a crummy goalie like, oh I don't know, me.  Anyway, out there today one guy gets it into his head that he's Gordie Howe and this other guy decides that he's John Ferguson (look it up if you have to) and they stand each other up and then there's a shove and then there is the dropping of the gloves and then there is a guy prostrate and motionless on the ice and I decide I've played enough hockey for this day.  They say the goalies are the crazy ones, right?  Let me tell you, the boys who skate out are, as was so well put by goalie Denis Lemeaux in the movie classic Slapshot, all a "bunch of English pig-dogs with no brains."  And with that, the second period is underway here in Detroit.

Here's your Middle of the Period update: still 5-0, Detroit.  Phoenix got back-to-back power plays, including an overlap which gave them :49 of a two-man, and got nothing.  9:13 left in the middle twenty.

Ok, 5-1 after two.  Radim Vrbata slapped one by from the left circle late in the second.  Same thing that happened to me today.  Jimmy Howard went down and the puck went up.  There wasn't much of an opening under the bar but these are NHLers and they don't need much.  21-20 shots after 40 mins, favoring the Coyotes.  Did you know that Detroit and Phoenix each have 33 points and are tied for 3rd place in the Western Conference?  Me neither.  AFTER TWO: DETROIT 5, PHOENIX 1.


Here's the quote of the day/year, courtesy of Pujols circa 2009 via Deadspin:


"People from other teams want to play in St. Louis and they're jealous that we're in St. Louis because the fans are unbelievable. So why would you want to leave a place like St. Louis to go somewhere else and make $3 or $4 more million a year? It's not about the money. I already got my money. It's about winning and that's it. It's about accomplishing my goal and my goal is to try to win.


The third period is about to begin.  I'm going to do something I rarely do in deference to the score.  I am going to go downstairs early tonight and get set up for the post game interviews.  I've the Wings blow the lead it is on my for the karmic disruption this change in routine will cause.  If I don't get back to you tonight, we will see you Sunday at Ford Field for the Lions and the Vikings (I can't come to the game here Saturday against Winnipeg because we are going to cut down the Kincaide Family Christmas Tree and we always get the chicken dinner in Frankenmuth afterwards and we never get home before ten or so). So, for now and unless a change in conditions warrants it, goodnight from the Joe Louis Sports Arena!