Quick Hits: Winging It In Motion

Hockeytown, no limits

Commie Has Earned His Spot In The Lineup | Nightmare on Helm Street
Chris at NOHS is, like most of us, very impressed with the play by Mike Commodore of late.

Mike Babcock answers a few questions | The Province
Babs answers some questions thrown his way about how he views the Canucks as a team. I don't believe he's lying one bit, but I do appreciate him making sure not to give them any bulletin board material.

Red Wings' Tomas Holmstrom will return for Thursday's game against Vancouver | MLive.com
Homer says he's back after the reaction to the Synvisc injection in his knee has subsided. You're welcome Luongo.

Red Wings-Canucks set-up and overnight report: situational awareness is a must against Vancouver | The Malik Report
George has all of the various collected storylines for the gameday.

Kesler avoids revenge angle regarding Kronwall | ProHockeyTalk
The good news is that Ryan Kesler only whines and cries immediately after the game. The bad news is I bet he's lying about not wanting revenge on Kronwall.

Marty, Murray Howe confirm that Mr. Hockey is suffering from dementia | The Malik Report
Sad news about Gordie Howe from Malik.

Around the league

Don Cherry and Brian Burke are feuding; please let this end in a barn | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Like watching an intra-division rivalry game not involving the Red Wings, I'm hoping this feud ends with both sides losing badly.

Ruutu on trade talk: "I’ve heard rumors I’m going to every team in the NHL" | ProHockeyTalk
It can't be easy on the guy who is linked to just about every trade rumor going right now, but Tuomo Ruutu has a pretty level head about things.

TSN analyst pokes fun at Dion Phaneuf during Toronto Maple Leafs game | Sports | National Post
In a clip that has already been making the rounds, TSN colour analyst Ray Ferraro is caught speaking, erm, frankly, during Tuesday night’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins

Fraser: Dispelling the conspiracy theory of Senators fans | TSN
Fraser does everything here but explain what ACTUALLY happens when a referee is found to have done a shitty job reffing the game, a question that all three of his participants asked him before he jumped on the cross both for and against his referee brethren before essentially telling Sens fans to suck it up.

Hey, Lay Off Varlamov - Mile High Hockey
When I read the headline, I figured it was a plea for the Avalanche to put Varlamov out of a job.

Wednesdays With Hildy: Fan Participation - Does It Even Send A Message? - St. Louis Game Time
I get a two-fer with the rest of the Central here as Hildy from SLGT (The one who has figured out that you can breathe through your nose) asks a pertinent question about the recent Blue Jackets fan protests.

Not Finding The Droids I'm Looking For - Second City Hockey
This is a fantastic rant by SamFels, several parts which could be ported over to discuss the Wings. I really like the part about meatheads complaining about the Hawks being "soft".

Extra Bonus OTF Video Caption Contest: Psycho Radulov - On the Forecheck
What in the hell?

Late Entry: Kuklas Korner (Via Aaron Portzline at Puck-Rakers)
Check out this video of last night's Kings/Blue Jackets game. The contest is tied 2-2 late in the game when the Kings get a flurry of chances in front of the Columbus net. Drew Doughty scores the game-winner with 0.4 seconds left on the clock, but the replay shows that the clock at the Staples Center "mysteriously" pauses at 1.8 seconds. The amount of time it pauses certainly looks like more than 0.4 seconds, meaning this goal should never have counted and the hapless Jackets should have gotten a point. I've embedded the video below.

Also, the guys over at The Cannon are just as understandably pissed off about this as I would be. Hell, I AM pissed about this.