Detroit Red Wings
Gordie Roberts remembers his namesake’s sheer endurance
His brothers named him after Mr. Hockey. Years later, he faced off against—and then played with—the elder Gordie
How to put an end to headhunting in the NHL
The league remains dangerously ambiguous about the role of violence in hockey
Bob Probert’s final years
The former NHLer put his off-ice struggles behind him and died a family man
Maclean’s Interview: Steve Yzerman
Hockey great Steve Yzerman on how to choose an Olympic team, who to pick as captain and how scoring stats can fool you
Let us now think deeply about Chris Osgood
Slapshot, the New York Times’ hockey blog, considers Michael Ignatieff’s hockey watching, as revealed in Adam Gopnik’s profile for the New Yorker.
The honourable senator
The 1987-1988 Detroit Red Wings included five players who finished the season with 130 or more penalty minutes (Doug Halward, Lee Norwood, Gerard Gallant, Joey Kocur and Bob Probert). Their coach was a bit intense too.
A real beauty, that Cup
It’s shinier in person.
Penguin power
A brief venture into the belly of the Pittsburgh beast reveals a stunning level of attention to the Penguins—as much or more than I saw in Ottawa when the Sens reached the final last year.
Do Wing it the Babcock way
Lots of prattle about Detroit needing to come out of the gate with their fangs bared, stedda letting in two goals early like last time. Shockingly, Coach Mike says the key will be control. We need to concentrate, he says. Pay attention to detail. Do the little things right … so tired, hmm, zzzzz …wha? oh yeah. “There’s so much motivation here right now,” the lantern-jawed bench-boss adds. “Both teams are highly motivated. It’s not like you need to get them jacked up.”
Live, from Pittsburgh!
That’s right, folks. The biggest Ball of Them All (six-three, to Frisco’s five-foot-nothing) is holed up in the Mellon Arena dungeon (aka the “Print Media Lounge”) in hope of catching a glimpse of Sid the Kid. Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final promises to be a dandy, after Petr Sykora’s triple OT heroics on Monday night. And hey, they let us in! There must be some mistake…
The Kid’s ok
When the Detroit papers are celebrating a Pens win in the Stanley Cup final, you know the series has gotten a little stale. But be careful what you wish for, boys. Momentum’s a fickle thing, and as invincible as the Wings have looked lately, they did go into a swoon around the middle of the season…
Letter from Oz
Sometimes those post-game quotes fail to capture the emotional undercurrent of a series. Luckily, we here at Balls are pretty wired with the big-league types. So straight from the inbox to you, dear reader.