COLORADO 2, RED WINGS 3

I made my first ever trip to the Dive last night, to watch the Red Wings play their first game back from the Olympic break against the Avalanche.  It was an interesting experience–there was a good amount of Wings fans in the building, and my section had a fairly healthy “Let’s Go Red Wings” chant going on towards the end of the game.  There were some jackass Avs fans there, which was to be expected.  In particular was the guy behind me who kept yelling, “Detroit Sucks Shit” and then trying to explain that while their team is admittedly good, you can’t argue against the city being crappy.  And there was the ever present “Red Wings Suck” chant.  Stay classy, Denver.

But there are some classy Avs fans.  Specifically, @voteforgrant, and @shellieshel and @sandyhens who joined in on Grant and my friendly wager to donate to Children’s Hospital for each of our rival’s goals scored.  Three goals scored by the Red Wings is $15, and double that for the Detroit win!  Via Grant’s Twitter:

Thanks to the Red Wings win last night, @sandyhens, @shellieshel and I will be donating $30 each to @H2Hockeytown. (Thanks @inhyung!)

Big, big thanks to Grant, Shellie, and Sandy for participating, and being classy Avs fans!  That’s $90 for Herm to Hockeytown and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and I’ve kept my promise to donate to Denver Children’s Hospital to the tune of $10 for both of Colorado’s goals, which I will do so happily.  It’s awesome to see people willing to help out the children, team loyalties and deep rivalries aside.  So thanks again!  If there are any bloggers or Tweeps from other fan bases who want to play with upcoming games against the Red Wings between now and March 26, shoot me an email and let me know.

Some thoughts from the game (none of them very deep or insightful, as are my recaps when I go to games):

• The Wings looked good–really energetic, motivated in the first period.
• The wheels fell off a little bit in the second period, after the Franzen disallowed goal.  I didn’t really see the replay–the arena screen didn’t show a good angle–but from when the play happened, I certainly didn’t see anything egregious by Homer.  Reputation call by Fraser.
• During a TV timeout they showed each Olympic medal winner playing in the game.  Filppula got a nice cheer, Rafalski and Stastny got huge applause, and Mike Babcock was chorused with a rousing boo.
• Howard should have had that second Avalanche goal, no question.  He looked like he was caught napping a little bit, as Colorado only got 9 shots on goal in the period.
• Pavel was awesome.  He was making those brilliant little plays, and his set up to Lidstrom was a thing of beauty.  He got his bucket knocked off twice and it was kind of fun seeing him buzz around the ice looking old school, with his hair a little long and a little scruffy.
• Bertuzzi was the recipient of very healthy requisite boos every time he touched the puck.
• Lilja looked ok.  He didn’t play very much, 9:28 TOI, 1:18 shorthanded, with 1 blocked shot, 2 hits, and a -1 rating.  But he didn’t have any blatant turnovers or defensive gaffes.
• The Dive was actually very full, probably a mix of it being the first game back from the Olympics, and it being the Wings.

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