Liverpool Goes Down On The Road To West Ham United

Hammer fans had plenty of reasons for blowing bubbles today as their team took out EPL giants Liverpool 3-1 today. It seemed like the Reds had a bit of a cup hangover from their Europa League match earlier this week that saw them get off to a slow start sunday on the road. But give full marks to the Hammers for taking advantage of this a making Liverpool pay for their lack luster play by scoring mid way through the first half. West Ham would score again right before half time putting their opponents in a deep hole to try and climb out of in the second half. Liverpool was able to get one past Robert Green amidst cheers of USA from the Liverpool supporters behind the West Ham goal tender. But all hope for a draw was smashed when Hammers striker Carlton Cole scored his teams 3rd goal in the 89th minute to seal the win for West Ham moving his team out of the drop zone for the time being and all but dashing Liverpools Champions League hopes for next season. Liverpools next match is this coming sunday when they take on EPL leader and rival Manchester United at home.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and congratulations to Carling Cup winner Birmingham City

Drew in the D

Road Warrior Wings Win Another Away From The Joe-Manchester United Continue To Cruise Towards An EPL Title Beating Wigan On The Road

While the Red Wings haven't been as good at home as they would like to be they more than make up for it with their performances on the road this season. It was another frustrating beginning to the game for the Wings giving the Sabres an early 2-0 lead. The Wings played much better in the second period carrying the play to Buffalo for most of the period and Pavel "Magic Man" Datsyuk got them on the board, scoring on a power play. The Wings continued to play well throughout the rest of the game and really came on in the final 10 minutes of the 3rd period and "Happy" Hudler found a juicy rebound in front of the net and banged it home coming off the bench as the extra attacker to tie the game at 2. Both teams had chances to win it in the overtime period but both goalies made big stops for their teams and the game would be decided in a shoot out. The Sabres were undefeated in shoot outs this season with a record of 5-0 in them, but that just meant they were due. After Joey MacDonald saved Drew Stafford's shot on the Sabres first attempt Datsyuk had the first shot for the Wings and was absolute magic on his attempt going forehand backhand and lifting the puck over Miller's left shoulder. Joey MacDonald made it 2 for 2 on saves in the shoot out stopping Tomas Vanek and giving Jiri Hudler the chance to win it for his team, and win it he did. Following Pavel Datsyuk's lead Huds went forehand backhand adding a little motorcycle kick to his move and banking the puck of the post, off Millers back and into the net for the game winner giving his team a much needed 3-2 win, starting their road trip off on a good note. The Red Wings will hop on Red Wing 1 and pick up Brian Rafalski and drop off Johan Franzen on their way out west for the next 4 games starting in LA on Monday night.

It was all Red Devils today against Wigan with Man U winning 4-0 on the road. Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez opened up the scoring for United in the 17th minute of the match. Wigan had some bright spots but in the end they could never trouble Edwin Van der sar to much who kept a clean sheet through the game. Chicharito would add another goal to his total for the game and Wayne Rooney and Fabio would round out the scoring for the Red Devils. This was Manchester United's tune up match before taking on  Chelsea and Liverpool on the road this up coming week, where wins in both games would pretty much put them out of reach of any team trying to catch them in the race for the league title this year.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and welcome back Mike Madono its great to see you back out on the ice in the red and white.

Drew in the D

Wings Lose To Dallas Making it 2 In A Row At Home-Dirk Kuyt Lifts Liverpool Past Sparta Praha In The UEFA Europa League

It was another very frustrating night for the Wings and their fans with them losing 4-1 to the Dallas Stars. The lose tonight makes it 2 in a row at home and it adds to the teams home woes of late. Give full marks to Stars net minder Kari Lehtonen who was great in goal tonight for his team stopping all but one shot by Tomas Holmstrom late in the game on a power play. While there is still a lot of hockey to be played until the playoffs come around, the Wings need to nip this in the butt now and start making it hard for teams to get a result from playing at the Joe. The Wings will make a quick trip out to the east coast to play Buffalo, which will also be Mike Madono's first game since his wrist injury. Then they get to go on another Gary Bettman road trip out west to take on two of the conferences hottest teams LA and San Jose. While i expect the team to play well on the road as they usually do i will be paying special attention to their return game, which i might very well be going to, March 9th against the afore mentioned Kings.

Liverpool manager Kenny Daglish haasn't lost at home in any competition since taking over the position earlier this year and after todays 1-0 Europa league win he still hasn't. Todays return leg at Anfield between Liverpool and Sparta Praha was very evenly matched with both teams carrying the play to the other throughout the 90 minutes. With extra time and penalties looming large with the game still tied late Dirk Kuyt made sure there would be none of that drama by heading in a well taken corner to give his team the 1-0 win which sends them through to the round of 16 in the Europa League. The Europa League is Liverpools last chance at winning some hard wear this season considering they are out of the Champions League and 18 points back of Premier League leaders Manchester United.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and thats gotta sting still Michigan

Drew in the D

Bayern Munich Snatches A Crucial Away Goal And Win In The San Siro Today

It looked for all the world like the first leg of the Champions League knock out round between FC Bayern Munich and FC Internazionale Milano would end in a scoreless draw. That is, until German striker Mario Gomez picked up a loose ball in the box and slotted it home behind Inter goalie Julio Cesar in the 90th minute. It was an entertaining game and Inter had plenty of chances to get a goal of their own but just couldn't find a way to put the ball on target. Argentine international, Esteban Cambiasso had Inter's best chance when a deflected ball fell to his feet inside the box but he put it over the crossbar, missing a wide open net. Inter will now have to look for some big away goals of their own in the return leg, when they travel to the Futball Arena Munchen in Munich down 1-0 to Bayern. I wouldn't be surprised to see Diego Milito get a starting spot in Inter's line-up for that match if he is healthy by then considering he is a big target up front for the team.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world

Drew in the D

Wings Drop Yet Another Return Game Against the Sharks-Spartans Get Big Tournament Resume Win On The Road In Minnesota

The first game back in the Joe from a road trip has been a problem for the Wings all season and it was again tonight against the Sharks. After a very productive 3 game road trip on which the Wings were able to take all 6 of the available points they returned home for a short 2 game home stand starting with tonights game against the sharks. Tonights game started out well enough with the Wings putting 9 shots on the Sharks goaltender Niemi, but 4 Shark power plays including a full 2 minute 5 on 3 wiped out that advantage by the end of the 1st period and saw the Sharks take a 1 goal lead into the break. Dan Cleary gave his team a big lift in the 2nd netting his 20th and career high 21st goal of the season which also gave him 3 straight seasons of 20+ goals which is also a first in his career. The 2nd period would end tied 2-2 setting up a hard fought 3rd period between the two teams. The Wings carried the majority of the play in the period, Datsyuk and Stuart both banged shots off of the goal post, coming that close to giving their team the lead in the game but just as it usually happens in a hockey game scoring chances missed at one end end up being scored on the other and the Sharks would take a 4-2 lead shortly after. Z made it close scoring on a late power play with about 2 minutes left in the game, the Wings had a few chances late but just couldn't find a way to put in the equalizer. A side-note to this game was Patrick Eaves going down with an apparent lower body injury in the 2nd period, hopefully its nothing serious because the speed he has brings an extra element to the teams offensive attack.

When the Spartans entered the season ranked #2 in the nation no one thought that they would be looking for key wins at this point just to get into the tournament next month, i certainly didn't. But that's exactly the situation that the team is finds itself in right now, on the outside looking in for the tournament. Tom Izzo has his team playing better of late with 3 straight wins in conference including a big-time road win against Minnesota tonight. It's nice to see the team being able to string together a couple of wins in a row which shows that they can perform more consistently than they had been pretty much up to this point. But it's still strange to me that it seems like some of the players, and the senior players at that, are having trouble fitting in to a role out on the floor for this team. I have to admit that i have been less than impressed with Durrell Summers play this season, now there have been rumors that he is dealing with certain things internally that he is struggling with which i can understand being a college student myself. But im sure even he was expecting a lot more out of himself this season, if anything he just wanted to do the best he could to help his team get over that final hurdle to a national championship. The Spartans win over the Gophers in Minnesota will definitely help their cause but they are not out of the woods yet, they still have a big game coming up against top ten Purdue at home on Sunday along with a their final home game against Iowa and the rivalry game on the road against Michigan to end the regular season. In my opinion a win against Purdue would guarantee the Spartans a spot in the dance but in failing that i think 19-20 wins will see them through.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world

Drew in the D

So Yea Its Been Awhile....My Bad

So its been probably a month or even a little longer since i have posted, but i plan on starting up again now that im getting back into the grove with school and everything. It's been a great week for the Wings who are now on a 5 game win streak and are looking very solid in all phases of the game once again. My Spartans are slowly but surely coming out of their season long funk picking up two crucial wins this past week including one over a ranked Illinois team. I am going to try and mix in some European football posts along with the Detroit teams since i am a huge footie fan and have been watching as many matches as i can lately, so be on the look out for that as well. That's about it for tonight (or should i say this morning) i'll be posting after the next Wings game on Tuesday along with the Spartans game on that day and you can catch my comments on Inter Milans first leg Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Thursday.

Goodnight from the greatest sports city in the world and congratulations to Todd Bertuzzi on game #1000

Drew in the D