And allow me to pre-empt the “best championship money can buy” crowd. The Wings traded for Hasek. They got Hull after Dallas dumped him. He scored 39 goals for them last year, but apparently wasn’t part of what their team needed. They then proceeded to not make the playoffs, because they couldn’t fucking score. Schmucks.
And let me add that no other teams were exactly beating down the doors for Hull and Robitaille. Hull sat, unwanted, on the free agent heap for weeks.
As for the rest of the team, well, they were almost all drafted. Get better scouts, panty-waists.
While having a lovely budget and a team hockey players want to play for helps, it ain’t everything. You might wanna ask a Rangers fan about that.
Forgive me as I indulge in the delights of a wonderful season, a fantastic playoff run, and the buzz of a very expensive victory stogey - my third in six years.
Can I get a Whoo-hoo!?!?!?! Duck your heads - low-flying octopi!
I’m with you, Milo. While not a Wings fan, I think they really deserved this one. They worked hard all year, and earned the chance. They played excellent hockey against the 'Canes and proved they were the better team. Nobody gave them this win.
Well, this doesn’t really seem to qualify for a Pit-thread yet, so let me fix that:
Damn Detroit Redwing sons of bitches. The 'Canes were minding their own business, and you had to come in and screw up the party. Can’t you let us have one? You already had 9!
Ok, so that became more of a whine, instead of a rant or anything.
Go ahead and bask in the glory that is the Grail my friend, the Wings earned it.
I tip my hat to Scotty Bowman who will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches ever. While he coached my beloved Habs in the seventies they won FIVE Stanley Cups in seven years. How can we not love the guy?
I’ll still keep on cursing the name of the Red Wings as they have been and will continue to be “the enemy” but despite that one has to recognize that this years Wings will go down as one of the greatest teams ever.
I am thrilled that Detroit won the cup. But I am almost just as thrilled that it’s over so the fucking media up here can stop cracking lame, unfunny, stupid jokes about how dumb/incestuous/Deliverance-like the 'Canes fan must be.
I’ve been to nearly every state in the union and I can state with authority that there are backward-ass hayseed rednecks in every fucking one of them. And fer chrissakes, some of the Red Wings fans are POSTER CHILDREN for cousin-humping.
Michigan, by the way, has some of the scariest examples. Last year, not 20 minutes from where I live, two guys jumped a black guy and beat him to a pulp because they didn’t like seeing him dancing with a white chick.
Right, so we here in Michigan are so morally and culturally superior to people who live in North Carolina. Riiiiiiiiiiiight.
I love the Red Wings and I love how excited people get during the playoffs. But the “hillbilly 'canes fans” jokes weren’t funny the first time and they weren’t getting any funnier. Thank GOD that shit is over.
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I’m with you there. And the Hurricanes fans were way better sports about it than they needed to be. They were an overachieving team that played their butts off for two months, and have nothing to hang their heads about. Neither do their fans. I hope the hockey tradition that seems to have taken root there continues to grow. (As opposed to, say, the Florida Panthers, who have faded off their fans’ radar screen since reaching the Cup finals.)
Sorry about the thread title. I guess it wasn’t as self-evidently referential to currently playing Pit threads as I thought.
I know there’s a lot of ribbing going on during playoffs, but did this really happen? Doesn’t Raleigh-Durham have the most per capita Ph.D’s on the planet or something?
Carolina has nothing to feel bad about. (They have pretty good scouts as well.) They paid a ton of dues during this year’s playoffs, don’t bet against them, they’ll be back.
Detroit deserves its props, they had to play as a team to outlast one of the best team-teams in the NHL. They’ve really made a leap from outstanding to historically great. I’ll bet a lot of the guys on the team end up in a Canadiens-like diaspora coaching and managing teams all over the league. The head-scratching over the Conn Smythe trophy is probably a result of too many great players.
Yes, Dallas did give up on Hull and yes they could have used his goals. However, the Stars didn’t miss the playoffs due to lack of scoring, they missed the playoffs because too many players just didn’t care. Also, last year Hull started coughing up the puck far too often. His turn over lead directly to the Blues series winning goal against the Stars.
Here is a hearty FUCK YOU to all Wings fans (just because), and another well deserved congratulations to Steve Yzerman.
I agree that Carolina should feel some great pride. I feel that they played a great team game, but just didn’t have the talent to hang with the Wings. Given the way that things go in the Wales conference I’d be willing to bet that the Hurricanes don’t make the playoffs next year.
Phew, what an amazing season this was. The highlight came for me in the Western Conference Finals, but the Cup Finals were great as well. A huge congrats go to Carolina for putting forth such and amazing effort. I have nothing but respect for them and their abilities.
Mad props to Scotty for a career like no other. Congrats to Yzerman for dealing with pain like no other mortal could to lead his team to victory. Yes! to Shanny for getting the game winner against his former team (and curing his empty net funk). Hell, congrats to Jiri Slegr for getting to play a game (I’ve been waiting for him to kick a little ass!). Much love to Hasek, Hull, Robataille, Datsyuk, Larionov, Federov, Chelios and all the rest for a run that will go down in history.