Not panicing...

...yet. So I'm a little tired and brain-fried today after staying up until 2:00 last night to watch the Wings lose game 3 in double OT.

But I'm not panicing. In the first place, these are the Red Wings. In the second place, I saw sparks of greatness in their play last night. They gave great energy, were flying until the penalties started, and effectively obliterated Edmonton's trap. That was without doubt one of the worst officiated playoff games I've ever seen, but it's bad form to blame the reffs, so I won't go there. (first 2 periods - 6 Ed. penalties v. 12 Wings penalties??? WTF?) I'm sorry, I said I wouldn't go there. You have to wonder about how much these reffs are instructed to consider the "entertainment" aspect of the sport. Wouldn't be very exciting if the Wings just plowed through and blew their competitors away... besides, everyone hates Detroit, that ugly rust-belt city... It was like the second we'd get that spark and start to skate --uh, oh! Must call a penalty! And another. And another. I'm sorry! I said I wouldn't go there! Sorry.

Just hope Yzerman isn't hurt too badly and can return to the lineup tomorrow night; we need him.

On another random note -what a great town Edmonton is. You couldn't help routing for them a little with such great fans. They were so loud and into the game; never missed a chance to boo when Chelios touched the puck. The most endearing was during the national anthems. Unlike Vancouver (Left Coast) and Montreal (crazy quebecois) where the U.S. national anthem is booed before hockey games, the fans in Edmonton actually cheered --they gave a standing ovation at the end of the song! Awww. For someone who's spent a lot of time in Canada and really likes most Canadians (outside of Quebec), that was great to see. And of course they went absolutely CRAZY for Oh, Canada. Love patriots.

Regardless of what happens with the Red Wings, which I still think will be many good things, we still have our Pistons, who, unlike the Wings, don't have a hang up getting past the first round of the playoffs. They take on Milwaukee in game 2 tonight. Oh, and the Bucks
are total babies.