King Of Pop Has Died

This is big... R.I.P. Michael.

Red Wings Post Season

After a disappointing loss to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup final the Red Wings have been prominent in the news. Pavel Datsyuk won both the Frank J. Selke and Lady Byng trophies again at the NHL awards show in Las Vegas last week. This marks the fourth consecutive Lady Byng for Datsyuk and moves him into a tie for 3rd most Lady Byng trophy wins with Red Kelly. (Wayne Gretzky has five, and Frank Boucher has seven) The Selke was Pavel's second win, and of the past 15 winners, 6 of them have been members of the Detroit Red Wings. (Fedorov [94 & 96], Yzerman [2000], Draper [04], Datsyuk [08 & 09])

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Former Red Wings forwards Brett Hull, Luc Robatille and Steve Yzerman have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame alongside defenceman Brian Leech. All three forwards won a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2002, but Brett Hull and Luc Robatille will most likely be remembered for their days with St. Louis and Los Angeles respectively. (I'm sure Kimota94 will recall Brian Leech's contribution in 1994 with the New York Rangers.) Yzerman enters the hall as the longest standing captian of one franchise and recorded 692 Goals, 1063 Assists, and 1755 Points in 1514 career games. A deserving inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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The Canadian Olympic Committee announced today that Mike Babcock will be sworn in as the coach of team Canada at the 2010 winter Olympics. Babcock boasts an NHL coaching record of 282-139-71 with 58 post season wins. He won a Stanley Cup in 2008, an IIHF World Championship in 2004, and a World Junior title in 1997. Babcock's resume proves he can handle "the big games" and after coaching the Detroit Red Wings I'm confident he'll be able to manage the star studded Team Canada line-up. I'm curious to see how his mind will work while trying to determine match-ups with Sidney Crosby against Henrik Zetterberg when Canada faces Sweden.

See why these men were selected into the HHOF by watching this;

The Aftermath

I haven't been around to blog much of late, and many are questioning if that has anything to do with the Wings loss to Pittsburgh in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I can assure you this is not the case, as I have more than a blog or 2 worth of input to type on that topic.

I was unable to obtain tickets to the actual game itself, but felt the next best thing would be to drive over the border and watch the game with the fine people of Detroit, Michigan while soaking in the atmosphere that was a Stanley Cup Game 7. The fans in Detroit are both knowledgeable and passionate about their Red Wings. It's safe to say 90% of the general public walking the streets were either wearing a Wings jersey or sporting some combination of Red and/or White clothing. There were dogs painted with Zetterberg's #40 and Datsyuk's #13, I saw fans with the winged wheel tattooed on their body, and countless jersey's from the past. Names like Howe, Linsday, Sawchuck, Probert, & Yzerman blended in with the Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom jerseys in the streets. Driving past Joe Louis arena I can honestly say I haven't seen that many media vans surrounding one sporting event before in my life. Local movie theaters were showing the game on the silver screen for free, and every bar had TV's broadcasting in the windows. I can only imagine the celebration in the streets had Detroit been able to pull out a game 7 victory on home ice... but alas, the Pens won. As the final buzzer sounded and the Penguins took to the ice to celebrate, it felt as if the air was sucked out of the bar I was in. It was a long drive back, but all-in-all the experience was well worth it. I would have much rathered a Detroit victory, but the game was close, the series was closer, and a new NHL rivalry was born.

There was no partying or celebrating in Detroit that night, but only conversations about how close it was, and a focus on taking back the Stanley Cup next year. Only 4 months 'till next season...

Pens Force Game 7

In an unusual fashion, the veteran Red Wings have a chance to eliminate the pesky Penguins and clinch their 12th Stanley Cup in team history but were unable to do so. The Wings had their chances to tie and even win this game as Zetterberg hit a post early, and Cleary missed on a breakaway in the final minute. I will admit that Detroit was outplayed for the first 2 periods, but also proved they can beat this Pittsburgh team with only 20 minutes of solid effort. Ozzie played huge, and kept his team in this, while I'm still waiting for Triple H (Hossa/Hudler/Holmstrom) to break out of their scoring drought. I'd be fine with a goal from each of them in game 7 to make up for it.

The officiating was horrible again tonight, and I am starting to wonder why I'm surprised. 2 bullshit penalties against Detroit early as Hank was checked into Fleury for a weak goaltender interference call, and Flipula's tripping penalty as he and Bill Guerin both collided at the blue line. OK, fine, make those calls but be consistent and call it both ways. Pittsburgh didn't score, but the physical toll of 2 big penalty kills early, as well as the momentum shift caused by the man advantage leaves the visiting team with even more of a hole to climb out of.

You can't tell me the NHL wasn't drooling over the possibility of a Stanley Cup Final going 7 games, and it was apparent in the fact the home team went 50 minutes before getting a penalty and even then Bill McCreary was hesitant to call a cross check from behind by Malkin. The only reason Detroit saw a second PP was because Draper took an errant high stick to the face that was so obvious Guerin was halfway to the box already. The part that burns me the most was the non calls. Mainly the stick in between the legs of Lidstrom that prevented him from getting a loose puck, and lead to the eventual game winner. CBC replayed the hook to Nick's junk and even he CBC announcers commented that 90% of the time that would be a penalty. Lucky for the Pens this was that rare 10% and it gave them a chance in game 7.

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There isn't much I can say that hasn't been written.

Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final is on tonight. Wings lead the series 3-2 and have headed back to Pittsburgh. After humiliating the Pens 5-0 in game 5 at the Joe, the Wings will have to finish off their opponents on the road.

If that task wasn't daunting enough, I have a sneaking suspicion the Wings will have to beat a proud & talented Pittsburgh team as well as the officials because we all know Evil Gary wants to see a game 7.

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A Slice of the UFC?

Kevin Ferguson a.k.a. Kimbo Slice, started out as a internet sensation after bare knuckle street fight videos hit the web and quickly went viral. Slice, a former strip club bouncer, had several impressive bouts in backyards/parking lots and even a bout in a boat storage yard where he fought 3 men on the same day, one after another.

While working as a bodyguard and limousine driver for RealityKings, a Miami based pornography production company, Kimbo suffered his only 'on-tape' street fight loss to ex-Boston Police officer Sean Gannon. This fight was the most popular of all Slice's viral videos and launched both men into the world of MMA.

Kimbo Slice was signed to EliteXC and began to train with retired MMA legend Bas Ruten before starting his career in 2007 against Olympic gold medalist Ray Mercer, winning in just 1 minute and 12 seconds into the first round. Slice went on to defeat Bo Cantrell (19 seconds), Tank Abbott (43 seconds) and was awarded a controversial win over James Thompson (3rd round) earning himself a fight with Ken Shamrock, who's MMA career was on the decline. In preparation for the fight, Shamrock suffered a cut above his eye, and was forced to pull out just hours before the fight was scheduled to start. 1 hour before the bout, replacement Seth Petruzelli stepped into Shamrock's spot, and stunned the MMA world by dropping Kimbo with a flurry of punches 14 seconds into the fight.

After the Slice/Petruzelli fight, rumours swirled that Seth was offered bonus money to stand up and fight Slice and avoid using any ground game. These rumours prompted immediate investigation into EliteXC's operations and less than one month after this event, EliteXC filed for bankruptcy. Many people consider the death of EliteXC a direct result of Slice's loss.

Often criticized in the MMA world, Kimbo is considered to be nothing more than a street brawler, and UFC president Dana White has been asked if he would give Slice a shot in the UFC. Dana boldly declared that nobody gets a free pass, and if Kimbo wanted to see UFC fight time, he would have to earn it. Kimbo Slice has been entered as a contestant on the 10th installment of the Ultimate Fighter reality show. This season has been dubbed "The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights" and will feature Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson as coaches.

We'll have to wait and see if Kimbo can defeat the 15 other heavyweights to take the UFC 10 title. The first episode airs September 16th, 2009.

Best of Three...

It would seem that out shooting your opponent in this Stanley Cup Final, isn't a good thing. So far, after 4 games, the team with the most shots has lost every game. I'm thinking Hossa must be injured as he's doesn't seem to have the jump he usually has, and you'd think playing against his former club would give him an extra boost above and beyond his normal level. This guy isn't 100%. You can't really blame Ozzie for the 4 goals that beat him tonight. He played well, but faced too many odd man rushes as a result of too many bad turnovers. Evgeni Malkin has clearly been watching some game tapes as he picked off at least 3 Red Wing passes back to the point and created break away chances. It's starting to look like Evil Gary's schedule is paying off for the younger Pens as Detroit played their 5th game in 8 days.

I can throw out any number of cliche's and say that "It's not over 'till a home team loses" or any of that garbage, but the fact remains this is a best of 3 series now and we're heading back to Joe Louis arena all tied up at 2 games a piece. One thing that amazes me, is that this Red Wing team still hasn't played the way they normally do, and are still tied heading home with home ice advantage intact. This win should give Pittsburgh a huge lift, but we'll see how they handle heading back to Detroit to face a healthy Pavel Datsyuk and company.

Game 5 on Sat.