Clash of the Titans
It doesn’t get any better than this in the regular season for a hockey fan. One of the best things about following a terrific team is the number of terrific games you get to see. Detroit against Vancouver? That’s as good as it gets for effort, excitement, razzle and dazzle.
But just for fun, let’s make it better. Why not make it a battle for first place? A four point game in the race for the President’s Trophy. And if that isn’t a good enough reason to drop everything to watch it, let’s make it even spicier let’s stick the Red Wings remarkable record of 23 home wins in a row on the line. Even though the Canucks are chasing the Wings in the standings, I’ve been hoping for them to keep the streak going just to add that spice to the game tomorrow. Apparently so has Alain Vigneault and the rest of the boys:
“We were hoping they’d still be undefeated by the time we got there, so it’s going to be fun,” Roberto Luongo said. “I was talking to the guys two or three weeks ago, hoping Detroit would hold on till we got there. That’s what’s fun about playing the game, challenges like this. As a group, we’re excited about it and we’re going to step up to the plate.”
Indeed. Both teams are going to step up to the plate. Negative Nellies can point out that the game would be even better if Pavel was in the lineup, and better still if the Canucks were not playing their fourth game in six nights. True enough, but we should save something for the Conference Finals shouldn’t we?
And yes, I’m hoping we do play the Wings this year despite the fact that there will be about fourteen easier opponents in the playoffs. Why? Because it doesn’t get any better than that in the playoffs for a hockey fan.
Postscript: I’m always struck when players look forward to these games as being fun because they mean it like road hockey is fun for kids. They are going to enjoy themselves. On the other hand, if the game lives up to expectation, the “fun” I have watching it is entirely different. While there are little and even big bursts of joy, it is mostly excruciating. Totally unfun. Totally unfun is pretty much as good as it gets for a hockey fan?
Why do we do this to ourselves?
