Sunday, May 3, 2009

Raffy still out, Brown avoids suspension

Game two is only an hour away, and I'm already feelin' the stress. They creep up on you like nothing else, these playoff game goosebumps. It's nothing to do with how much confidence I have in the Wings (because that's still sky high); it has everything to do with the depressed and defeated feeling I have if they lose. I've been lucky enough to avoid it through five games, but I know it's coming at some point. Let's play hooky again on that today. Please.

As for an actual game preview, Rafalski won't be playing and Mike Brown will be. The "upper-body" injury that Raffy is nursing is troubling because losing him for an extended period would be disastrous, and the lack of suspension on Brown is ridiculous. I don't understand how you can so clearly bludgeon someone's head like that and not be thrown out another game or two. I guess the league might have figured that the hit was so early in the game that Brown had already served most of a game suspension, but that's no excuse. Baby Bettman should have handed out at least another game; it was a seriously illegal hit and the man should be punished justly.

But that's mostly my feeling, as many others think the hit was either a) legal or b) not as bad as it looked. The first group is full of idiots and the second just sees things differently. No matter what way you look at it, Mike Brown isn't going to make a difference in this series. He's a nobody. Nuff said.

One last thing: Coach Carlyle of the Ducks is starting to piss me off. First, it was just an annoyance at how much he was complaining to the referees at the post-game press conference on Friday. But today, he had even more to say about the non-suspension and kept whining about the "offenses" that Detroit commits but no one sees or does anything about. I don't understand how any man could be so thick, but I suppose it bodes well for the Wings that the opposing coach is already griping to officials for calls or attention.

Done. Bring on the Poultry round two game two. Recap later. Go Wings.

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