Spartans Make It Two In A Row In OT At Home-Wings Split Home And Home With Columbus

Instead of writing about each game individually of the Detroit-Columbus home and home series i thought i could talk about them after the series wrapped up tonight in Detroit, i had know idea they would be so similar. Friday night was another game when the Wings didn't start "on-time", as head coach Mike Babcock likes to say, and the Blue Jackets took an early 2-0 lead. The Wings just can't get out of the way of this injury bug lately and it came up to bite them again last night when Jim Howard went down with an apparent knee injury (Howard is day to day with a sore knee) and net front presence Tomas Holmstrom left the game with a broken hand (Holmstrom is out for 3-4 weeks with the injury). The Wings kept battling and found a way to tie it up and send the game into overtime. Both teams would trade scoring chances in the overtime period and the game would be decided in a shootout which was the Wings 3rd shootout in 5 games. Joey McDonald came on in relief for the injured Jim Howard and didn't allow a goal until Antoine Vermette won it for the Blue Jackets.

Tonight was another game that the Wings didn't start "on-time as head coach Mike Babcock like to say with the Blue Jackets jumping out to an early 2-0 win (sound familiar?). This time though the Red Wings would tie it up before the end of the 1st period on goals from Valtteri Filppula and Drew Miller. The teams would trade leads and ties for the rest of the game Jonathan Ericsson, Brian Rafalski, and Kris Draper would add goals for their team to put them up 5-4 in the 3rd period. The most underrated player in the league and the one player that scares me the most as a fan Rick Nash scored with the goalie pulled to send this game into overtime (i feel like i've seen this before). But this time Johan Franzen would make sure that his team wouldn't go to another shootout when he scored on an absolute snipe shot off of a great feed by Zetterberg to win it for the Wings by a final of 6-5. The Red Wings head back out on the road on Tuesday when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pen's in their new arena. The injury report update for both teams are that Jim Howard is thinking that he will be ready to go on Tuesday night and Sydney Crosby is still unknown with post-concussion symptoms.

The Spartans hoops squad had to come back and win in overtime in their last two games at home. First it was a gritty comeback win against Wisconsin on Thursday night with Draymond Green leading the way with another one of his double-doubles this season. This afternoon was no different, Northwestern gave the Spartans all they could handle in a game that saw over 10 lead changes. Draymond Green tied the game again on two big free-throws with under a minute to play before fouling out in the overtime period. Freshman and Senior guards Keith Appling and Kalin Lucas filled up the scoring column for their team today scoring 19 and 18 points respectively, the 19 points Appling scored setting his career high. Turnovers reared their ugly head for the spartans again today with the team turning the ball over 16 times, which gave the Wildcats way to many opportunities to stay in the game. The Spartans will try to carry the momentum they gained from these two overtime wins with them when they play Illinois on Tuesday night at Illinois.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and please beat the Jets tomorrow Patriots i can't stand Rex or any of his players.

Drew in the D

Wings Try To Make It 3 Comebacks In A Row Against Colorado, Come Up Just Short

The Wings made it interesting in the 3rd pulling to with in one but they couldn't find away to get the equalizer and lost to the Av's by a score of 5-4. Tonights game was another one where the Wings found themselves playing from behind giving up a 4-1 lead to Colorado in the 1st period. But they found away to claw their way back into the game scoring at the end of the 1st period to make it 4-2 and then scoring on a 3rd period powerplay to bring it back to a 1 goal game at 5-4. It just wasn't enough tonight though as they weren't able to find that last goal to tie it up and ended up losing their first road game in the last 7 games. The team has been hit by the injury bug with key players going down for lengthy periods, but Henrik Zetterberg hasn't seemed to be effected by this very negatively. Hank has been on a 11 game point streak since his Euro Twin Datsyuk went down with a broken hand, and had 2 points tonight to help his team try and get back in the game. The Wings will wrap up this long roadie with a home and home series with the Columbus Blue Jackets starting in Columbus Friday than in Detroit on Saturday.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and congratulations to the National Champion Auburn Tigers.

Drew in the D

Howard Makes Save Of The Year In Wings OT Win Over Vancouver

It was another gutsy win for the Wings Saturday night in Vancouver, when they beat the NHL's top team in overtime. Jim Howard had what could possibly be the save of the year when you robbed Daniel Sedin on a breakaway, snatching the puck out of mid-air just before it crossed the goal line while laying on his back. It was a hard fought game that ended 1-1 going into overtime. Franzen scored in regulation to tie the game up for his team and Jiri Hudler netted the game winner in overtime and give the Wings the extra point. Once again though it was Jim Howard that kept his team in the game and gave them the opportunity to win it for him by not only making the amazing save on Daniel in the 1st, but also making another great glove save on the other Sedin brother, Henrik. Its nice to see the Red Wings playing well and finding ways to win despite the major injuries to some key players they have to deal with right now, but i can't help but wonder how close these games really would have been if Modano, Filppula, and Datsyuk were in the line up.

Wings Douse The Flames In OT

Wings win 2 straight games in Alberta, beating Calgary 5-4 in overtime. A night before the Red Wings face off against the best team in the Western Conference in Vancouver they had to grind out a big win against the flames. For most of the game Calgary outplayed the Wings and the score showed that, until the 3rd period when Brian Rafalski tied it up on his 2nd goal of the season and the game. Howie was a little shaky in the first 2 periods but he picked it up and held strong between the pipe during a big 4-3 penalty kill in overtime to send it to a shoot out where he wouldn't allow a goal to help his team to 2 points. It wasn't all good news for the Wings tonight, yet again another key player went down with a serious injury. Brad Stuart's jaw was broken on a very dirty hit by Tom Kostopoulos in the 2nd period. The hit is probably (should) bring on a suspension for Kostopoulos but i couldn't believe that he was only assessed a 2 minute minor, what no 4 minute double or maybe a 5 minute major for that asinine hit on Stuart. Hopefully the Wings can stay healthy until some of their players get healthy and get back on the ice with the team. The team will take the short trip out to Vancouver to take on the 1st place Canucks at 10 pm.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and how about those Spartans beating #8 Michigan in OT.

Drew in the D

Wings Start Long Road Trip With A Win In Edmonton

After dropping two straight games at home the Red Wings were looking to get back on a winning track tonight in Edmonton. That is exactly what they did beating the Oilers 5-3 in the first of 5 road games the Wings have in their up coming schedule. The Wings opened up the scoring tonight when Henrik Zetterberg scored in the first period to give his team the early lead. The Red Wings would build up a 3-1 lead through the 2nd period only to give up 2 3rd period goals to allow the Oilers back in the game. The Wings has to of been thinking about losing their last two game at home and how bad of a taste that left in their mouth because they turned it on in the last 5 minutes of the game and took it to Edmonton. Bertuzzi and Helm would score about 30 seconds apart from each other to give their team a 5-3 lead with less than 3 minutes left in the game. Bertuzzi and Helm came up huge in the game both recording multi point game with 2 goals and 1 goal and 1 assist respectively. The teams win also gave Chris Osgood his 401st win of his career which now puts him just 2 wins behind his childhood idol Grant Fuhr in the all-time wins list. The Wings continue their second Canadian road trip on Friday when they skate with the Flames in Calgary.

I would be remiss if i didn't offer my opinion on how both of my Football teams finished on the season this past weekend. First the Spartans, what can i say it hurt to see my team get dragged through the turf up and down the field b a faster and more physical Alabama team, but i can't nuke the whole season just because how they performed in a post season "money" bowl. Yes i wanted them to win and yes i probably was jaded in thinking that they might actually have a chance against a team that is light years ahead of them in talent but Michigan State athletics is and will always be with the Red Wings my first loves in sports. 

Now as for the Lions, can we please get this new collective bargaining deal done NFL PLEASE!!! I need, we need...No Detroit needs this next season more than any sports team in any city in the world has needed a season. The way this team has come together and has been coached and guided in these past few weeks has been everything that i have asked for from this organization as a whole and that i have never gotten, until now.  There is a feeling within the Honolulu Blue Nation that there is a new day dawning in downtown Detroit at Ford Field the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel coming this off-season and in the 2011-2012 season. Our two best players have been our two best players all year, and to be honest they were the two best players at there position in the entire league this year. Calvin Johnson 77 catches for 1,120 yards and 12 Td's with three different quarterbacks and Ndamukong Suh with 66 tackles 10 sacks an interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown in his rookie year as a defensive tackle. I know all the old guard fans will say oh its just meaningless wins that don't effect the outcome of this season. Well you know what FUCK YOU then if you can't get excited about winning after winning only 2 games in the past 2 seasons than you don't deserve to feel the joy and pride i feel for my team today. This team has started on a path to redemption this season, they didn't start out pretty but i think we can all agree even in those early season loses there was something different about this team than the past few, a mentality that they could not just play with every team but actually beat them and we saw that in the Philadelphia game and the Jets game. Yes we lost both games but there needs to be some perspective with a team that set the water mark for being bad in sports. Martin Mayhew and the management did a great job this off season of not only getting talented players here but finding players that would work in this kind of system and environment and even thrive in it. Jim Schwartz would probably admit this off-season that he made some rookie coaching mistakes this year that ended up costing a game or two for his team, but i don't think anyone can argue that he had his team running at top gear for every game this year especially in the last 4 that they won. In the first time in a long time i am excited yes even giddy to see what kind of moves Mayhew and Schwartz make in the free-agent market and the Draft this off-season to improve this teams chances of being even better this up coming season, so again i beg of you Roger Goodell and NFL owners PLEASE PLEASE!!! Get this deal done not just for Detroits sake but for all the NFL fans.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and thanks for a fun and entertaining football season Michigan State and Lions.

Drew in the D