Winter Classic - Sabres vs. Penguins

[jjreason]

Right now it's 4:33pm and I'm feeling barfy.

[UKWildcat]

Congrats Red Wings fans!!!

[Ran]

Yeah, it's great the Wings won, but more importantly, Sid the Kid can finally shave that half-assed playoff beard.

[jjreason]

And you KNOW Gillette will be comping the little puss a billion dollars to use their shit.

I'm really going to have to shake off this Crosby hatred, the little bugger is likely going to win about 4 of the next 5 Cups.

[anarky]

I'm really going to have to shake off this Crosby hatred....

I rather like Crosby. Sure, he's no Neil Young, but he's better than Stephen Stills or Graham Nash.

[/zing]

[Antropov]

Today is such a relief. I guess I didn't realize how heavy this was weighing on me for the last two months. In hindsight it is a bit silly, as I don't have any sort of physical, vested interest in the team nor their performance. Mrs. Antropov would always joke, "Jesus Christ, you don't own the team, dude!"

But today I am floating. If I had to go through the bad, I am certainly gonna live up the good. I realized this morning that I missed the initial Wings celebration, as I was too busy poppin' beers for DB and I, so I had to find that so I could see it.

[mabudon]

the fuckin crickets elsewheres are fuckin deafening

[Ran]

I imagine I'd be floating too if one of my teams ever won the big one. I was a Yankees fan and a Blue Jays fan when they won their world series, but baseball has always been 3rd to me behind hockey and football.

The NHL Draft is in a couple weeks. The experts believe there is going to be a flurry of trades. Free Agency starts July 1st.

And Gary Bettman said that they are looking at optoins for another outdoor game this year. They have it narrowed down to 2-4 cities: Chicago and New York are the only ones I know for sure. I think Detroit was mentioned possibly playing at one of the Michigan or Michigan State's football fields.

[jjreason]

They could run a pretty nice outdoor game at Ford Field as well, it's in a pretty nice (from what I recall) part of downtown, right by the ballpark (not to mention the Hockeytown cafe, oyes).

[Diabolical]

They could run a pretty nice outdoor game at Ford Field as well, it's in a pretty nice (from what I recall) part of downtown, right by the ballpark (not to mention the Hockeytown cafe, oyes).

Yeah, its got a dome and everything to keep that cold and snow out.

[Diabolical]

Oops!

Stanley Cup OK after slight dent at eatery

DETROIT (AP) - The Stanley Cup is OK after taking a tumble during the Red Wings' celebrations in Detroit.

NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur says Saturday the Cup got a slight dent Friday after some players took the trophy to Cheli's Chili Bar, a downtown restaurant owned by Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios.

Mansur says dent was smoothed out, and the trophy was expected to keep making the rounds.

Thousands of Red Wings fans cheered Friday during a parade and rally in downtown Detroit where the Cup was shown off. The Red Wings clinched the Cup on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/8220108?MSNHPHMA

[jjreason]

Good times! Search for Stanley Cup history and you'll see HORROR stories about the damned thing - it wound up at the bottom of a canal in Montreal one time back in the 50s or 60s and had to be fished out. Good thing no one's ever drinking around that trophy.

There are supposedly a number of identical replicas - I've seen one in person and I have no idea if it was "the one" or not. I still gave it a wee kiss.

[Ran]

There are two Stanley Cups.

There is a second version of the Stanley Cup that remains in the Hall of Fame, which never travels, and is used for display purposes only at the Hall when the Stanley Cup is traveling; this Cup is perfect and has no misspells

I thought the original cup was the one in the Hall of Fame, but I guess not.

[Diabolical]

Red Wings' Hasek retires after Stanley Cup win

DETROIT (AP) - The Dominator is done.

Dominik Hasek announced his retirement during a news conference in Detroit on Monday, only days after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in six games over Pittsburgh.

"Sixteen years is a long time in life that has unfortunately gone by too fast," Hasek said.

The six-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top goaltender and two-time Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP leaves on a mixed note.

Hasek, the only goalie to win the NHL MVP award twice, lost his job during Detroit's run to the Cup. The 43-year-old from the Czech Republic was benched during the opening-round series in favor of Chris Osgood and never regained the starting job.

Hasek won 389 games with the Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him in the 10th round in 1983 and had to wait until the 1990-91 season to get him on the ice. Chicago kept him just two seasons, then watched him become one of the game's greats in Buffalo.

Hasek ranks 10th on the career list in wins, 10th in goals against average, 18th in games and is tied for sixth in shutouts, according to STATS.

He won 65 playoff games - including 16 in 2002, when he won his first Stanley Cup with Detroit - and gave up an average of just two goals in the postseason.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/8224812?MSNHPHMA

[Ran]

Part of me was hoping that he'd play one more year as a backup in Buffalo. I got to see him play in person once when I was living in Colorado in '97 or so. It ended up being a Roy vs. Hasek duel that ended in a 0-0 tie.

Buffalo got him for nothing:

Chicago Blackhawks traded Dominik Hasek to the Buffalo Sabres for Stephane Beauregard and 4th round selection (Eric Daze) in 1993.

And traded him for nothing:

Buffalo Sabres traded Dominik Hasek to the Detroit Red Wings for Vyacheslav Kozlov, a 1st round selection (later traded to Columbus, later traded to Atlanta - Atlanta selected Jim Slater) in 2002 and future considerations.

Kozlov didn't do squat for Buffalo. I'll have to look to see what the Sabres did with the draft pick.