Wings vs. Blackhawks

[amazinblue]

I live in Chicago and am a died in the wool Wings fan - and have been a Wings fan my entire life. There's no doubt that this series has a LOT of interested people in Chicago, and it has the potential to be a very good series. The Blackhawks have youth on their side - younger, fresher legs. The Wings have experience and a home ice advantage.

My thought is the Wings should win the series - probably in six. But, the Hawks have shown their resiliency - having fallen behind in several games against the Canucks and demonstrated the ability to come back and win. The Hawks are aggressive - I think the Wings are smart.

Production of some of the "top line" players - i.e. Datsyuk, needs to come out for the Wings to win.

Your thoughts?

[bigboyBlue]

Detroit is not the kind of team that suffers letdowns after huge series with the likes of the Ducks. Hawks get overwhelmed in five.

[The Michigan Man]

I'll stick with my typical Detroit in 6 games guess. It could be less.

Anaheim was probably the 2nd best team in the playoffs behind Detroit, despite their seeding, and stylistically presented the toughest matchup. They had a lot of experienced players who knew how to win a cup, and the late season acquisition of Whitney and Wisnewski really made that team a lot more solid.

Chicago may be the future of the Western Conference, but they aren't there yet. Good series wins against Vancouver and Calgary haven't prepared them for the balanced attack and experience that Detroit brings. It will require that Luongo take over games - I don't see it, but you never know. It is exciting to have a couple of Original 6 teams play in the conference finals.

Incidentally, I am unable to get this game on TV in the Cleveland area and will be going out to watch it at BW3. It is preempted by the 14-24 Indians, playing 1 of 162 regular season games with nothing at stake. Uggghhhh...why did I relocate to the only midwestern city that is too irrelevant to have an NHL team? The worst part is, they are too naive to even understand how dysfunctional it is that Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, NY, Boston, etc., all have rabid hockey fans and Cleveland doesn't...I suppose ignorance is bliss...

[UM4life]

Wings 1, Hawks 0

"Hockey is a bloody business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Slash them in the belly. Shoot pucks in their guts. When fights are happening all around you and you wipe the ice off your face and realize that instead of ice it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friends nose and face, you'll know what to do! I don't want to hear any talk about 'Lets hold the lead.' We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Hawks do that. We are scoring constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the Hawks balls. We are going to twist their balls and kick the living shit out of them all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to score and to keep on scoring regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through their defence. We are going to go through the Hawks like crap through a goose!" - unknown Red Wing fan

[hail2mich]

Tough loss last night. Came back from 0-3 to tie it, then lose in OT. Once again, it looks like the Wings will have to battle the refs too. What a terrible call to throw Kronwall out in the 1st. The play was clean, but just because the guy was went down, the refs called it a 5 minute major. I hate refs.

[amazinblue]

Tough loss last night. Came back from 0-3 to tie it, then lose in OT. Once again, it looks like the Wings will have to battle the refs too. What a terrible call to throw Kronwall out in the 1st. The play was clean, but just because the guy was went down, the refs called it a 5 minute major. I hate refs.

Hail2Mich,

I live in Chicago and watched the game with a lot of Hawks fans. You wouldn't believe the talk out here. People were calling it a dirty hit - saying all kinds of just crap. When I watched it at "game speed", some of my Hawks fans / friends - hey, that was just a clean, hard hit - no penalty...

Ahh, the refs... just like against Anaheim and the quick whistle in the last minute of play that would have sent the game to OT.

My only hope is that Detroit wraps it up on Wednesday, and that Lidstrom and Datsyuk are back in the lineup. I do not want to see Chelios on the ice in the Finals...

[Check]

Hard to beat the depth of the Wings. I look for a good series with the Pens, but the depth of the Wings will be the difference. Wings in six, celebrating on the Pens home ice...again.