AND SO IT ENDS FOR ANOTHER YEAR

Posted by bigD | May 25, 2007 .

Before I say my final thoughts on the Red Wings and their season, I just want to say how lucky our Pistons are after 2 games. This was atrocious basketball. Great defense on LeBron James but thatâ€™s all Iâ€™ll give them. How about Princeâ€™s 0 for 8 from the floor and 1 point overall last night? Give me a break. What a terribly inconsistent jump shooter. Iâ€™ve never seen a basketball team that can mess around all game long like the Pistons do with very little offensive continuity and still win. It should be 2-0 Cleveland, not Detroit. This Pistonâ€™s team plays to true potential 10% of the time. The strange thing is, that seems to be good enough in the garbage East. Keep playing like that, Pistons, and the luck youâ€™ve had so far wonâ€™t matter, youâ€™re just plain gonna get beat. Enough said. From one team to anotherâ€¦itâ€™s the end of the Detroit Red Wingsâ€™ playoff run for yet another season. It took me awhile to allow all of this to sink in but now I have. My first reaction … obviously wasnâ€™t a good one. How can it be? Letâ€™s face it, in sports if you expect your team to go all the way and if they donâ€™t, no matter what the situation is, you feel upset at least a little. This season is kind of a strange one though in the sense that, I donâ€™t feel as upset as I have in past years. At this point, some would question the glass being half full (look how far they made it) or half empty (they should have won it all). Mine is a bit of both I guess. Although it was a terrific regular season, Detroitâ€™s true season is based on how well they perform in the playoffs. This season they most definitely performed and were successful and thatâ€™s what it should truly be remembered for, instead of the disappointment that many of us feel at this moment due to them coming up a little short of the Stanley Cup Finals. As mentioned, I feel more satisfied then not at this point.

I want to talk a bit about the playoff run in general. I thought from the very beginning that Detroit got a much tougher draw then the Anaheim Lucky Ducks. Getting Calgary to me was nowhere near the same thing as the Ducks getting the Minnesota Wild. Calgary gave Detroit all they could handle as far as a round 1 opponent goes. â€œKipperâ€ did all he could to keep his Flames in it and DID for the most part. The Flames were physical and dirty and tried to take it out on Detroit. Look where it got them! Round 2 was pretty much the same and many felt the Sharks would beat Detroit because they were bigger and faster but Detroit never gave up and battled back from every lead the Sharks had and every threat San Jose brought to Detroit, the Wings took it and brought it right back at them. The Sharks knocked them around a bit and they just got right back up and kept going. Again though, in round 2 the Ducks took on a tired Vancouver Canucks team that had gone all the way in the previous 7 game series with the Dallas Stars. This to me doesnâ€™t compare to what the Wings had in San Jose coming off the Calgary series. Is this my attempt at excuses? NO! Iâ€™m just stating the obvious here. I think it helped Anaheim a bit because they were well rested going into this with Detroit and it showed.

The first two games in Detroit were owned by Anaheim. I thought they were faster, more physical and just plain better but Detroit found a way to get a split. The next 2 in Anaheim were clearly Detroitâ€™s tell tale story for the series. Detroit dominated the Ducks in Games 3 and 4 but yet only could manage a split out of it. The real heartbreaking game was the 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5 at the Joe. I thought Detroit was CLEARLY the better team in this one too but it just wasnâ€™t meant to be. Game 6 was a completely different story. The Ducks dominated the first 2 periods and Detroit put themselves in a real bind being down 4-1 in the 3rd period. But, the never say die Red Wings fought back to 4-3 and almost tied the game at the end. It was too little too late though. The Ducks have made the Stanley Cup and they are my pick to win it all.

The most impressive thing about Detroit this season which truly made me proud as a fan as opposed to past Red Wing teams was their never say die attitude. They never gave up, EVER. They played hard right to the end of most games and were never really out of it until the final buzzer sounded. A lot of credit needs to go Head Coach, Mike Babcock and the entire coaching staff. Although the Wings didnâ€™t always come out completely on fire, they always battled hard despite being more of a finesse team then a gritty one. This team seemed to have the drive that again, past teams lacked. I have to say it was very impressive and so were the Wings. Perhaps thatâ€™s why I am not as saddened by this loss this time around as in the past. This team could have very easily given in when it was 4-1 Ducks but they didnâ€™t. They almost battled back to tie the game and were very close in the end. As a Wings fan I was very proud of that (and I let the Leaf turned Duck fans at the bar all know that).

Another interesting thought here is that, usually when the Wings lose out there are always question marks every year. Who goes? Who stays? Will there be a mix-up? Will they re-build? Well, this season those questions are, for the most part, already answered. There wonâ€™t be that many changes because, as their 4-line depth proved, they donâ€™t need it. Young players stepped up big this season. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg finally produced when it counted the most. And how about the play of Thomas Holmstrom? I think this might have been his best overall season and this team really showed how much they miss his presence whenever heâ€™s out of the lineup. Valterri Filppula might have been the most improved Red Wing from day 1 up until now. His future is bright, as is Jiri Hudlerâ€™s who, as far as I am concerned, should have played more. Daniel Cleary has really been an up and down player since he arrived but he proved in this playoff run that heâ€™s indeed a keeper. That plus, he is one of Babcockâ€™s favorites which certainly doesnâ€™t hurt his cause. Cleary really set the tone some games with physical play and hustle that the Wings desperately needed. He has often been ridiculed for not scoring enough and not getting enough points period but as an all around player, Cleary was one Red Wing that truly gave everything he had. How about the loss of Matt Schneider? Obviously, this might have been a different series if Schneider didnâ€™t get injured but thatâ€™s how the cookie crumbles. Schneider and Lidstrom are a twosome that canâ€™t really be replaced, particularly on the power play where Schneider might have helped decide a few of the overtime losses in a positive way instead, but it wasnâ€™t meant to be.

Youngsters, Kyle Quincy, Brett Lebda (great skater who will only improve on the point), Niklas Kronwall (tremendous upside still if he stays healthy), the aforementioned Hudler, Johan Franzen (a +7 in the Calgary series) and of course, Daniel Cleary are just a few who will make this team one to be reckoned with in the near future. The rebuilding of this team, along with the ability to pick up players like Todd Bertuzzi (I thought he was overmatched in this playoff run due a lack of speed) still gives hope for the future and makes you think that maybe the Wings will return to the Conference Finals perhaps even next season. The dedication of this teamâ€™s front office right down to the coaching staff really gives you pride as a Wings fan. I know I feel it and I expect no drop off next year. Will the Wings re-sign Robert Lang? Do Chris Chelios and Dominick Hasek still have anything left? These are just some of the questions now facing this team.

Despite this playoff loss, make no mistakes about it. Hockeytown is very much alive and kicking and should be for years to come. With the exception of stupid, inconsistent refereeing, I thought this was some of the very best 2-way playoff hockey Iâ€™ve ever witnessed. Congratulations RED WINGS! Your never give up attitude and resilience helped you make the NHLâ€™s final 3 teams. Something has got to be said for that kind of success, Stanley Cup or not. As a die hard Wings fan, I am as proud as Iâ€™ve ever been! Congrats Detroit on another fabulous hockey season!!!

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AND SO IT ENDS FOR ANOTHER YEAR

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