Hooray, hockey’s here! But…

Hey everyone. In case you didn’t see, the Red Wings look fantastic this year. The offense is moving well, and both goalies got wins for us over the weekend. However, I have a touch of bad news.

Due to the hustle and bustle of my schedule, I am putting Hockeytown’s Finest on hiatus for now. When it gets to the end of the day, it’s most likely 3 a.m., I’ve got three stories due at the end of the week, and I am not thinking about updating all of y’all on the latest. I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to watch all of the games. So, I’m sorry, but this blogger is temporarily resting from the blogosphere.

I will definitely come back. Things won’t be all bad all the time, and chances are I will have things to talk about pertaining to hockey. But for now, I just want to use hockey as a break from the busyness of life and not to analyze everything and broadcast it here. So don’t worry, I will return. But for now: Watch the Wings, and have a good season. It’s going to be a good one.

Ahh, preseason

Hey guys. The Wings are 2-2 on the preseason so far. They play at the Rangers tonight. The next game on TV is this Friday against the Maple Leafs, but alas, it’s on that dubious Fox Sports Plus (What’s more important right now? Tigers baseball? C’mon, it’s October and we are in lame duck time). We are about two weeks out from Friday, October 8th start against the Ducks. Get pumped!

Check out this cool article from The Hockey News on this little camp that Datsyuk puts on in Russia. Apparently, the two week camp is designed to simulate everything from training camp to a playoff to win a championship cup. More evidence that Datsyuk is just a boss. I kinda wish I could go to this.

For the most part, Franzen is feeling better and he’s supposed to skate tonight. I haven’t received any word on disciplinary action against Brooks Orpik for his hit on Franzen. Not sure how much I agree with that, but whatever. Draper’s injury is apparently more serious, and he could miss time into the season.

Oh, here’s the lineup for the game tonight. It appears Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Modano and Lidstrom are sitting out.

One more link to share with you guys: NHL.com’s preview of the Wings. More lofty expectations and praises, even though they like calling us old.

An Outrage!

That probably should’ve been a game they put on TV.

What appeared to be a relatively quiet preseason opener against the Penguins turned into outrage for many Wings fans.

First off, the Wings lost 5-1, and it sounds like we had a lot of starters in. But no worries, we don’t want to be the Detroit Lions of the NHL preseason. Many of you in the Michigan market may know what I mean.

However, the culprit behind the 5 goals was none other than our lovable Chris Osgood, who gave them up on 27 shots in 40 minutes. It seems like he is in mid-season form. Distant backup Thomas McCollum finished the game perfect.

I’m not even to the worst part of losing to the Penguins. They somehow managed to knock Johan Franzen out, thanks to a kneeing penalty by Brooks Orpik near the end of the first. Before Orpik could leave the game via major penalty, big ol’ Bertuzzi gained some style points and most likely pummeled him, because he received an instigator, a fighting major and a game misconduct.

Yet another Penguin to hate

Now, we’ll never know what Bertuzzi did exactly since it appears that no TV cameras were at the game at all, but I’m glad Bert’s teammate senses tingled this early in the season. Also, we’ll never know how bad the kneeing was. Coach Babcock downplayed the injury, and mLive.com went as far to label it a charley horse. However, that information could be skewed, since neither team really commented on the hit and whether it was inappropriate.

If this wasn’t some freak accident, I only have one thing to say. How dare you, Brooks! It’s the preseason, for goodness’ sakes! These should be merely scrimmages with minimal contact. What led him to kneeing Franzen is beyond me. But it really is a stupid decision, especially given Franzen’s injury past. I am suggesting Mr. Bettman does something despite this being the preseason, because these cheap maneuvers shouldn’t be happening in any season.

Let’s hope we get an injury update soon. Babcock says he’ll be out a few days. I can’t imagine any longer.

Also, check out how the NHL.com covered the game. They lead with a wimpy injury that Crosby somehow tweaked, and bury the potentially damaging injury to Franzen below Cindy’s latest whining. That’s just bad journalism, kids.

Like, woah, it’s the preseason!

Training camp came and went so fast we barely even covered it. But that’s how it goes these days, I’m not very surprised. Training camp is usually like a weekend and a few extra days.

Nevertheless, the NHL kicked off the preseason last night and the Wings start tonight, visiting the Penguins and their shiny new arena. Hopefully it plays as much metal as Mellon Arena did. I’m serious, between every whistle I would hear great songs from Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica. Whoever does the audio is clearly all about 80s-era thrash.

Here is the schedule at redwings.com. I listed the dates for September below as well.

Sept. 22: @ Penguins…7 p.m.

Sept. 24: vs. Blackhawks…7 p.m.

Sept. 25: @ Blackhawks…8 p.m.

Sept. 26: vs. Rangers…5 p.m.

Sept. 29: @ Rangers…7 p.m.

The preseason boasts some interesting opponents, including our lovely division rivals and an odd back to-back to-back series this weekend. It is the preseason though, so no big deal. Early on, the Wings will be playing a lot of their younger guys, including guys that aren’t likely to make the team when it comes time for roster cuts. Unfortunately, the only game on TV this month on FSN Detroit (which I still don’t have) is the Sunday game against the Rangers. There’s a few more in October, but for now you may have to be content with the radio. Let the games begin!

It’s getting crazy…

Sorry for my rather lackluster coverage of training camp. It’s been absolutely nuts up here at school so far. To make up for this, I’ll throw a whole bunch of videos at you:

Ozzy triumphant in camp

http://video.redwings.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=-7&id=75725

Modano in red…gasp!

http://video.redwings.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=-7&id=75052

Pav, Zetty and Homer having fun

http://video.redwings.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=-7&id=75772

Meanwhile, people have been quabbling over Draper’s groin injury. The Wings are hoping it’s not a nagging, long-term deal. Surprisingly, I feel the same way. A solid regular is always needed at the NHL level, no matter how far down the lineup. Plus Drapes is always eligible for penalty killing duties. We will have to watch that.

Also, reports are coming back about Ozzy and Maltby doing well early. Like a lot of old guys, they really may just be coming out fresh because it’s the start of the season. If anyone can remember back that far, Maltby played really well the first few games last year and then sunk down to the bottom of the stat chart.

Hmm. I really wish I could give you a better, in-depth update. Like how Jimmy Howard is faring, to give us clues about his performance this year. Or how Hudler is looking. But I’m not in Traverse City. Stay tuned for any more news I can throw at you.

NHL season previews are like…pro wrestling?

You guys don’t have to wait any longer for a season preview.

Puck Daddy, clearly my favorite hockey blog to reference, has released their preview of the Red Wings this year. Check it out here. But before you do, I have to warn you of some strange things you may see.

I think Puck Daddy tried too hard to make an interesting monthly feature after their pretty cool Mt. Puckmore series they had last month. Because now they have tried to tie hockey in with a pro wrestling theme, going as far as to match a wrestler’s entrance music with each team and matching a wrestler that most embodies the team. You can go and check out who we match up with yourself, since I have no idea who these characters are.

But other than that, the review is pretty solid, and it hits everything pretty accurately and realistically. In the end, Puck Daddy says we are good enough to get to the conference finals with a chance for the Cup, which are pretty fair. He warns thought it’s going to come down to that consistency we missed last year and our goaltending, with the threat of a sophomore slump from Jimmy being a possibility.