Not the Red Wings, but still Red and White

So today there was no hockey. But...

There was another team in Red and White that played, and they were 7th and 8th grade girls. Tough ones too, what with all the flying elbows, collisions at mid-court, and "boxing out" which sometimes involved hip checks that would make Vladimir Konstantinov proud. There were pre-teen girls flying all over the place.

The Coupeville Middle School Wolves faced off against the Granite Falls Tigers tonight, and the JV Wolves for 8th grade took a fleecing, which we wont mention. The JV 7th graders lost by one measly point. Then the Varsity teams took the court.

In the 8th grade Varsity game, you started to get the idea that the future of Coupeville girls basketball could be getting a little brighter. Powerhouse players Skyler Lawrence and Tiffany Briscoe set the tone in the key, grabbing nearly every rebound from the Tigers. Now, before we go further, we should get something straight about Skyler Lawrence. You see, if she wants the ball, she will get it. It doesn't matter if you think you have the ball or not. As if it wasn't enough that she's stronger than you, she's quick. More than one opposing girl was fooled because upon looking at Skyler, you might make the mistake of thinking shes slower than you. She isn't. If you underestimate her (as many do) she will make you pay. Many Tiger girls found out the hard way that you can't often make it around Skyler, and you certainly aren't going through her, unless you have a death wish. More often than not, the Tiger girls found themselves empty handed and had to catch up to the play going the other way. Jump ball? I don't think so.

While Skyler and Tiffany were dominating in the rebound and physical play departments, Carlie Rosenkrance was putting the biscuit in the basket enough to ensure victory for the Wolves. She touched the ball nearly every play, and made as many assists to Valen Trujillo and Mattea Miller as she scored points. Wolves defense was stifling, especially with tough Jaelynn Levine throwing checks like she was in a hockey game (despite giving up as much as a foot in height) and offense was more than enough to get the "W".

Photo courtesy of Justine McGranahan

If the 8th grade game got you thinking about the future, the 7th grade Varsity game really made you feel good. From the time that Katrina McGranahan (#11, pictured) won the opening tip, the outcome was never in doubt. Tigers 7th graders didn't see the scoreboard tick over to the number "2" until well into the second quarter, and would only break into the double digits at the very end of the game. That's right, the 7th grade Varsity "D" only allowed 10 points. Katrina wasn't done though. Apparently, winning the opening tip lit a fire, and she scored 7, dragged down a few rebounds and got in the way of many Tiger plays by picking off passes. Now, everyone knows you cannot win a game with only one person doing well. So its a good thing that the rest of the team was doing just as well. Kyla Briscoe found her stride (and a good place to shoot from), and drained 3 scores in short order. Speedy Payton Aparicio ensured that the ball was well into the Tigers zone. Bruiser Mia Littlejohn made sure that Tiger girls knew that getting the ball into the Wolves zone was going to hurt, and if that wasn't demoralizing enough, she stole the ball enough to cause the Tigers coach to start looking around for law enforcement. Whatever player Mia couldn't stop, ran squarely into Sage Renninger, who would remind Tiger players that scoring (or even keeping the ball) in the Wolves zone is expressly forbidden. In addition to speed, the 7th graders have some size. Half the team is over 5 foot 6 (these are 12 year olds, mind you).

So when High School rolls around, you can watch all the girls mentioned above play on the same team. Yes, the future looks very bright indeed.

Detroit M*A*S*H Unit

Since I haven't blogged in a while, I figure this game, against the Predators, is as good as any to start.

The injury report was put up on the screen for tonights game and I had to put on my reading glasses to read it since the print on my 60 inch TV was so small. Problem is, I don't wear reading glasses. That didn't include the injuries this game, which include Kronwall and Howard and up until a few minutes ago, Cory Emmerton. Since he came back, I'm not counting that one. I don't want to have to take my shoes off. Likewise, I'm not counting Kronwall either, since he has showed back up on the bench.

It's a weird game anyway. The Wings had to put Gustavsson in for Howard, and hopefully this is better than the Mrzak experiment the other night.Within a few min, he gets a penalty for delay of game for covering the puck, allegedly outside the goalies playing area. The good thing is that the guy is HUGE. On his knees in front of the net, his shoulders are still pretty close to the crossbar. Not a lot of net to shoot at when hes standing there, which is a good thing for the Wings right now.

The Grand Rapids Griffins coach is very likely pulling his hair out right now, because pretty much all of his two way players are dressing in the Red Wings locker room. This means that the Griffins are not going to be doing much in their league, unless the Toledo Walleye team has a few hidden gems. At this rate, the Walleye players will be wearing the Winged Wheel as they approach the playoffs. Starting to wonder if this is the year when the Wings don't make it, and though they will have the record for consecutive appearances, it will be a small consolation prize for Wings fans used to sitting in the Joe at playoff time.

I still cannot believe its only 2-1 since the Wings have had a constant parade of players to the penalty box. 12 minutes spent shorthanded. If not for Gustavsson and Pavel Datsyuk, the score would be somewhere north of a slaughter.

So just when the game shouldn't be any weirder, Jordin Tootoo bounces his first goal as a Red Wing off the skate of a Nashville player, and before I got done typing this, the Predators score to re-establish their lead. Where are the hockey gods that reward heart and desire? Oh, there they are. Datsyuk scored just as quick to tie it again.

This is why I don't blog during the game. As we head into OT, I can only wonder what tomfoolery will result in the winning goal. Another thing is that Ken Daniels is already factoring in "games in hand". And now the game is over, 44 seconds into overtime as two Wings get tangled up and Gustavsson finds himself out of position. See you next time. Predators beat Griffins 4-3 in OT.