The Bitter End

All I could do last Tuesday night was stare at my television set and appreciate a great hockey game and just how difficult it is to reach that elite Stanley Cup Championship series. Sure the Wings lost, but to be honest, I thought the game was over before the puck was dropped. I made up my mind that I wasn't going to get upset at whatever the outcome would be or what happened. And I wasn't. Was I bummed? Sure, but anger wouldn't describe my emotions when the Wings were knocked out by the Ducks, 4 games to 2. Instead, I just appreciated it. It was an incredibly even fought series. I wouldn't even say that the Ducks outplayed the Wings or were the better team, they just were able to capitalize when necessary.

I honestly thought that if the Wings were going to win the series, they would have won it in 5 games. I say this because they missed a huge opportunity in Game 4, with Chris Pronger suspended, to take a commanding series lead and would have likely closed Anaheim out at home in Game 5. But it didn't happen, and sure it was still up for grabs in Game 5, but that was another wasted chance by the Wings. The Wings never quit in Game 6 and that was great to see. There's way too much pride in that organization for them to get down a few goals and just give up. It was good to see them fight to the end. They're the most blue-collar they've been in a long time. Give us a healthy Matt Schneider and Nick Kronwall and who knows what happens. I'm not trying to make excuses, just "what ifs".

It's funny this year because the Wings are in a period of transition. Gone are Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan, in are many new faces. But even in a period of transition, the Wings did pretty darn good for a preseason bubble team to make the playoffs. Everyone makes a big deal about how there were some empty seats at Joe Louis Arena during this playoff run, but if you look past that you'll see that even in a transitional period as a team, support and fanfare never wavered for this group. Ratings on the Versus network remained high locally (up there with pre-lockout numbers), and that's not counting the fans (like myself) who were tuned into CBC. Unfortunately, ticket prices at the Joe are pretty high, and with the economy in such terrible shape, people have to decide what to spend their money on more carefully. A lot of them decided to watch instead of attend, which is fine. Management really should do something about ticket prices, but with the Conference Finals-year the team just had, I doubt prices will lower. Fortunately, Michigan is a hockey state and residents are born and raised Red Wings fans who will pay top dollar to see the team.

A few observations from the series:

-I watched every game I could on CBC, who has the best hockey coverage out of anyone. Jim Hughson was the play-by-play announcer, who I really like. I can't recall the color commentator's name but he could have been a public relations worker for the Ducks. I wanted to call him and tell him to get a room with them. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want announcers on our side or anything, but I figure if there'd be a team they would favor it would be an Original 6 franchise with 10 Stanley Cups, not an expansion team named for a Disney movie in a market it doesn't belong.

-I'll be pulling for the Ottawa Senators in the Finals. Sure it would be great for expansion of the league if Anaheim won, but I can't stand GM Brian Burke and some players on the Ducks. The only good thing that would come out of the Ducks winning is a Stanley Cup ring for former MSU captain Drew Miller, who played one playoff game, and by rule would get his name on Lord Stanley. Other than that, I would like to keep the trophy out of southern California. They probably think the Stanley Cup is some sort of drink for surfers or something.

2006-07's surprises and disappointments as well as an off season guide to follow soon.