Sunday, January 4, 2009

Winter Classic Wrap-Up

Wow! Hard to believe it's 2009 already, time has flown by. Amazing isn't it?

Ahh, Wrigley Field, one of baseball's most historic ballparks, and home to the Chicago Cubs. It's one of baseball's most beloved fields that Cubs fans gather to watch some baseball, ski jumping, and hockey. Wait? Did I just say ski jumping....hockey? Well you can read about the ski jumping here, and I'll wrap up the hockey part.

The Winter Classic has come and gone, and I must say, this was about 2 times as better than it was last year. Last year the ice sucked, there was one good hit, and was miserable conditions. Now not to take away from last year, because it was neat seeing the snow fall while the game was going on, and it was the ending the NHL wanted, Sydney Crosby scoring the game winner in a shootout. Great for hockey TV.

This year was a total different story. I wished for two things: A close, high scoring game and a Blackhawks win, well I got one outta the two. After the first period I thought the young Blackhawks were going to win this thing, I expected Detroit to come back and maybe tie it up but WOW 5 unanswered goals. But they are the defending Stanley Cup champions, and with a deep talented team like that, they know how to come back big.

I loved the intensity of the game, you couldn't get a better story plot than this...2 of the NHL's most prestigious sports cities...2 of the NHL's most legendary teams, one is the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and the other is a young rising team, who's brought a hockey city back to life. Oh, did I mention they are heated rivals also?

Brent Seabrook's hit on Dan Cleary was friggin the best hit of the year, if you ask me, at least this far. I mean it was textbook, videogame/movie style "act," Seabrook lines him up, and just sends Cleary flying into the Blackhawks bench, having him land upside down. Then Ben Eager's sweet battle along the boards, the fake to go to the right side of the net, spins around and get's Conkin's glove hand. Pretty cool. I loved Eager, and Sharp while they where in Philly, and glad they are succeeding in Chicago. and how about Kris Versteeg's beautiful backhand pass to Martin Havlat to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead?

Let's not forget about some of them Detroit goals, I mean hey even though I can be biased because it is my blog, I won't be. How about when Pavel Datsyuk split the Chicago defense, and their goalie, Cristobal Huet, to give the Wings the go ahead goal in the second? Then 16 seconds after Brian Rafalski scored to make it 5-3, Brett Lebda scores a wicked wrister that went in so quick, that the officials waived it off, then upon a lenghty video review, after video clearly showed the puck going under the cross bar and hitting the net. That gave Detriot 5 straight goals, to take a 6-3 lead.

I am still amazed on how the Detroit Cougers....I mean Red Wings, lol (hey gotta love the heritage jerseys), stormed back to win 6-4. The Blackhawks had at least 3 goals that didn't go in. Like the one where it could have went in and been 4-1. Ty Conklin made the save but lost track of the puck as it dribbled behind his pads, luckily for Detroit they had more than one goalie on the ice on the ice at the time, as it was cleared away by a Detroit defensemen. How about that 1 on 2, shredding the defense, Patrick Sharp did in the third? I think it was Sharp....As you can tell I'm still stoked with this game.

It's also amazing that these two franchises have played 701 games against each other. This is a league record, no 2 team have ever played that amount of games against each other.

And how about the altered version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame?

Take me out to the Hockey Game
Take me out with the crowds;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,
I don't care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the Blackhawks,
If they don't win, it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three pucks, you're out,
At the old hockey game!

I would have altered it a bit more, replacing "1, 2, 3 pucks you're out with 1, 2, 3 pucks it's a hat trick" but hey I'm no song writer, lol.

Mr Bettman doesn't have a location for the next Winter Classic. I say it should be the Rangers and Flyers, IF the Flyers host, they should wear their third jerseys, and New York should wear the "New York Americans" jersey...that'd be cool, but the Americans jerseys won't happen. Maybe the Flyers could wear replicas of their 70's style white jersey, that'd be bad ass, and an excuse for me to get another Flyers jersey.

Maybe Bettman should limit the games to 1 goalie per Winter Classic, also (lol) ? Ty Conklin has played in all three, with the Oilers, Penguins and now the Red Wings. Now it's most likely just coincidental, but if he goes to another team next year and they are apart of the 2010 Winter Classic, something is fishy.

There was at least one Flyers fan, attending the Classic, check his interview out:




Well, I hope you enjoyed the Winter Classic as much as I did. It's a great way to celebrate the heritage, the grass roots of hockey, as well as promote the NHL. Can the ratings top the 2008 Classic?

Good Night, Good Hockey!

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