He'll be back.

27 years.

Steve Yzerman was a Red Wing for 27 YEARS. That's longer than a lot of you have been alive. I use the word "was" with a heavy heart. Although we all knew it could happen, hell, it was likely to happen, but we were all in denial. Hopefully he brings the Lightning back to life. On the flip side, I now have an Eastern Conference team to root for.

Yay.

I think Stevie will be back. He just need to get some time being a GM, and when Kenny Holland finally ends his long and storied career, Stevie will be ready to step in. Then, we can go back to giving the guy 10 minute standing ovations at the Joe. In the meantime, hopefully he doesn't do SO well that we get a Red Wings/Lightning Stanley Cup Final. How would we all feel if we had to trounce the team that our hero, our savior, our CAPTAIN for God's sake now manages? It would be like punching your best friend in the grill for no specific reason. Like taking your dog out back and...and...well lets just say it would be an "Old Yeller" moment, to be sure.

Hurry back Steve, we miss you already.

Sportsmanship

Somebody told me once that we can learn from our kids. Well, your kids can teach other kids too. Today, my son Joey (the catcher making the play in the pic) set the example, and did something that you rarely see. Almost never. Except maybe in golf, where players have been known to lose a huge paycheck because they reported themselves for a rules infraction. Like Brian Davis did when he gave up a shot at a $1 million dollar payday. Rather than lose their integrity and honor, they chose to lose the match. Joey's team, the Coupeville Braves, did not lose today, in fact they trounced the Oak Harbor Red Sox 15-2. At some point during the game (I wasn't there, I had to work), Joey hit a slow roller, fair ball, to first base. The Red Sox first baseman charged the ball, and got there about the same time as Joey. There was no play at first, because the Red Sox pitcher failed to come off the mound and cover first base. So the first baseman made a desperate attempt to tag Joey. He reached as far as he could to get him, Joey stepped on the base, and the umpire yells, "SAFE!!!"

Just one problem

Joey was out. The first baseman had barely touched his back, out of sight of the umpire. Joey could not see the hurt look on the face of the infielder, as he was busy over running first base. The Red Sox coach looked disappointed, but said nothing. The first baseman, probably an 8 or 9 year old kid, coached NEVER to argue a call, looked exasperated, but said nothing. Even the opposing teams fans had looks that said, "At this point, who cares?" It was 11-1, and if the Red Sox didn't muster a heroic 11-run, bat-through-the-order-twice last couple of innings, the game was over anyway. They had, after all, only scored one run to this point.

Somebody finally challenged the umpires call.

Instead of walking back to first, Joey went to the umpire and told the umpire he was wrong. "He got me", he said. "I was out". The umpire stared at Joey a second, probably attempting to think of something to say. Seeing the conversation, and probably thinking that Joey was saying all the wrong things to the ump, the Braves coach calls time, and jogs out to first to investigate. What he finds is not an argument, at least not the type he was expecting. So the umpire call over the home plate umpire, who maintained that he didn't see the play, and could not call it. To his credit, the Red Sox coach did not get involved other than to step out of the dugout to listen. I am sure he was as amazed as I was to hear the story. After a brief conversation, the umpire asked Joey if he was sure. Joey said yes, he was. There were no tears, no drama. Joey had not gotten a hit all game, but apparently, he had no interest in staining his own honor for a single, in a game that was (pretty much) in the bag. He did this in front of his friends, his peers, and the entire other team. The umpire ended up calling him out, and he casually jogged back to the dugout. You might expect the reception he got from his teammates. If you said high-fives and pats on the back, you would be right. No jeers. No dirty looks. Then they went out and played the last two innings, scoring four more runs and allowing only one. You could say that they were not the least bit affected by what Joey did. Why should they be? They are solidly in first place, with an 11-1 record, and a 10 game winning streak to start the season. I don't know if he got a standing "O" on the way back to the dugout, but he probably should have. You might find one kid in this league of 6-12 year olds who would have had the sack to step up to the umpire and with 6 little words, set the example for everyone in attendance.

His name is Joey, and he plays for the Coupeville Braves. He may not have given up a million bucks, or even the win, but he certainly moved up a few notches in the respect department.

I may have to buy him a bigger cup...

Summer, Summer...

Summer is coming. I can tell, not by the way the weather is warming up, but by the way my twin 9-year olds look at me when I tell them they (still) have to do their homework, and yes, they do have to go to bed while its still light outside. I am also sure that they are giving me the finger behind my back. Soon they will like me again, when summer vacation hits and everybody gets some time off. Except the grown-ups.

Kenny Holland is in for a challenging summer. Whatever he does, hopefully it will be better than the deal we made for Ville Leino. Now, before all of you start throwing fresh road kill at me for bashing the legendary Mr. Holland, bear in mind that we got seriously screwed on that deal. Pending of course, the draft pick we get in the fifth round. Other than that, we traded Leino (11G, 9A, 16PIM in 68 games) for Ole-Kristian Tollefson (4G, 8A, 296PIM in 163 games). To be fair, Lieno wasn't doing much to impress Mike Babcock (though Danny Briere is now singing Leino's praises), and we needed some beef on the blue line. But Kenny went against his usual "wait and see" strategy, which has been proven over and over to be a pretty good idea. Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren knew that Leino was going to be gone one way or another, and Kenny was forced to take "something" rather than "nothing". Meaning that if Leino was placed on waivers, he would have been snapped up right away, and the Wings would have nothing in return. What we got, however, was almost as bad. Tollefson averages two trips to the box per game. With that kind of rep, how do you think he would have been treated by the refs in this years playoffs? So yeah, we got jobbed by Philly's GM, who is no slouch himself. Remember that when Paul Holmgren took over as Philly's GM, the Flyers sucked donkey. Now they are in the Conference Finals.

Kenny also has to look for another goalie to fill in for the departure of Daniel Larsson for Sweden. I say good riddance. Besides, if he stops whining long enough to make a few saves for HV-71, we can still get him back since the Wings still own him for three more years. His reason for leaving? Too long on the farm team. Boo-frickety-hoo...I mean, this is the Red Wings. Everyone knows that you will be on the farm team for a while. Jimmy Howard was there four years. So quit crying and play. Rumor has it that Chris Osgood is going to retire next year, at the end of his current contract, so why not just stick it out? I think the underlying reason is that he didn't want to be a backup to Jimmah, but that's just me.

As an aside, the Magical Mr. Holland's contract has been extended, so he will continue to work his magic for the foreseeable future. Hopefully, he is giving Stevie Y some pointers, so that he will stay in the Red Wings camp. Talk about Stevie going to Tampa Bay has died down a bit, and Ron Hextall's name is being bandied about. Maybe Stevie or Tampa Bay (or both) have lost interest? If Stevie must go, then I would rather see him go north to Toronto. The Maple Leafs don't have a Stanley Cup team picture in color, for chrissakes, so would it really be so bad to see him help some other team out? Especially the storied Leafs?

Nah, fuck 'em...

Yeah, I know. Like we need another one.

Do we really need another Red Wings blog? The answer is yes. Of course we do. Besides, I am the only Red Wings Blogger from the Pacific Northwest. Let me start by asking how in blazes did I manage to pull down a name like "11 and Counting" on my FIRST TRY??? Come on people! is a prime example of just why we need another blog. It's obvious that not everyone is thinking outside the boards. Sure, sure, some of you "glass half empty" folks are going to tell me that I will eventually have to change the name, and I know this. However, I wasn't going to jinx the team by naming this "Waiting for 12", or maybe "On the Road to 25" or something equally superstitious.

So...just keep in mind that this blog will be my OPINION, and any facts or quotes will be given due credit. If you see anything to the contrary, let me know and I will fix it.

Anyway, I will say that i am pretty excited about the return of Jiri Hudler, apprehensive about the goaltending situation (what else is new?), and will probably die of a massive anuerysm is Nicklas Lidstrom retires.

'Nuff said for now. I will start soon, after the reailty that number 12 is not going to be this year, and once I get all my shit in one sock. Just gotta find a sock...