Tough loss

Congratulations, Pittsburgh. Once again, the Red Wings and Penguins show the rest of the NHL what a finals should look like. Sadly for me and the majority of my readers, the Wings wound up on the short end this year. Games 6 and 7, Detroit did not bring their A game and Pittsburgh did. Hard to win when you only play one period.

Still, I’m proud of my team. How can I complain when they’ve practically been a contender since the Reagan Administration? Year after year the Red Wings have been a great team and this year is no different. Could be worse, we could be the Sharks or Avs! Of course, at the end of every series, the injury report comes out and we find out just how hurt people were. Usually, you find out that so-and-so who couldn’t score on a soccer net had a pulled groin or whatever. So far though, the Red Wings have not resorted to excuses. When asked about his foot, Pavel Datsyuk said, "It's too late to talk about injuries, foot or no foot, it's fine now. I look forward not backward." Hard to read a quote like that and not respect the guy. Same went for Rafalski, Hossa and Lidstrom.

Speaking of Hossa: The media and fans can pretty much play in traffic as far as I’m concerned. He’s a goat because they made him a goat. I can’t even imagine having to play through what was clearly going through his head every time momentum shifted. Watch replays of him losing the puck and you’ll see how he puts his head down and just tries to do too much. Also, watch when the Wings score when he’s on the ice. It looks like the weight of the world was just lifted off his shoulders. At least for a second. I honestly thought he played just fine in the first 3 rounds, but the better Pittsburgh did and the more the media asked dumb questions, the more he tried to do too much. I hope he stays in Detroit because I think Stanley Cups will continue to be won here and I think he’ll do awesome if he’s allowed to just do his thing, but you never know.