Ahira's Hangar

I think they should think about improving protection to that area of the body for hockey players. Kind of silly, I know, but that's just me.

The fans gave Bettman a boo-vation? Awesome!

I know that the goalies wear steel ribbed protection in that area - maybe the position players should start as well!

I felt a twinge of nausea reading that. Surely no athletes suffer more for their sport than hockey players (except maybe footballers.)

And that is not even close to all of the injuries they suffered during their playoff run. Tomas Kopecki got a broken eye socket (orbital bone) against the Ducks. Pavel Datsyuk had three separate injury incidents involving the leg and foot on the same side of his body. Holmstrom (Homer) had so many cumulative injuries that he had to have a shot of a pain killer before every game.

Not making excuses - the Penguins won the Cup this year fair and square - but I am explaining part of why Wings fans hate Bettman so much and booed him so hard when he showed up at the Joe to hand out trophies at the end of game seven. While NBC might have requested the finals be moved up a week and played two games in two nights, Bettman was the complete tool who went along with it, giving the Wings no chance to rest or heal up. The Pens might have well won the Cup anyway - they are a really good team - but the scheduling took away any chance the Wings had to possibly win it.

Ah, so it was NBC that wanted those consecutive games. I thought that was some whim of Bettman's.

Btw, on one of the post-game shows I heard them mention that Crosby had breached a tiny bit of etiquette by failing to shake hands with Lidstrom. The commentators said it was an inadvertent "snub" of the customary Captains' handshake, easily explained by Crosby's overwhelming excitement for his own teammates at having won the Cup. Again, not a big deal - but I guess the fact that this little faux pas was mentioned at all shows the kind of public scrutiny Crosby has been placed under.

I think it was just a simple mistake due to Crosby's age and inexperience. Lidstrom himself was not bothered by it and says is was unintentional, and that is good enough for me.

A couple of the Wings - Zeterberg and Draper - did complain about it, but I think that a big part of that is the Lidstrom injury, and that his team mates were feeling extra protective of him.

As I said, the NHL is doing Crosby no favors by making him such a center of so much attention at such a young age. Very few people could live up to that without becoming spoilt and/or arrogant at a bare minimum. While I do not hate Crosby, I do hate all of the hype centered around him. a

All of the talk around Hockeytown today centers around the possible complete renovation of Joe Louis Arena or the possibility of a new arena being built in the next year or so for the Wings.

The consenus about a new arena on the part of the fans:

We all want a retro building on the outside - a great big old red brick barn a la Olympia Stadium.

On the inside we want something roomy - that seats at least 25,000 - with plenty of rest rooms (the rest rooms at the Joe are small and the lines are just... ), a wider and roomier concourse with an actual sit down restaurant or two or three that are open even when there are no events at the arena as well as a much roomier pro shop, and a "room of honors" museum type of place to recognize all of the Hall of Famer Red Wings who were not here long enough or were not quite good enough to get their numbers retired (the Brett Hull and Chris Chelios and Sergei Federov types who are Hall of Famers but not rafter hangers or number retireees) and hung from the rafters (which is reserved only for the true Red Wings greats like Howe, Sawchuck, and Yzerman). We want both a modern sound system AND an old fashioned organ. And maybe a huge ass loud foghorn that rattles your very bones like the Hartford Whalers used to have in their arena.

We want to feel like we are sitting right on top of the ice, and have no obstructed view seats, like in Comerica Park for baseball.

We want our existing springy living boards.


If the money does not exist for a new stadium (quite likely with Detroit's current economic woes) we want an entire outer shell built around the existing Joe. This would add a second concourse with plenty of bathrooms!!! And a sit down restaurant or two or three. And a pro shop. And a wall of windows facing the River.




Notice that the main theme here is ADDING REST ROOMS.

Well, a new state-of-the-art arena may be good for the economy, if it excites people and inspires them to go there on a regular basis to spend money.

The MTS Centre here has been a top draw since it opened in 2004. It's consistently been among the top 20 busiest concert venues in North America, and it's home to the Manitoba Moose, our AHL team. The old Winnipeg Arena (now torn down) that used to be the Jets' home was kind of a dingy place - compared to other NHL rinks, anyway. Die-hard Jets fans have opined that the Jets might have stayed here had there been a commitment at the time ('96) to build a new arena for them. That's debatable, but the success of the MTS Centre certainly is beyond debate. So now we have a snazzy arena, but no NHL team. Anyway, the Moose might feel a bit resentful at being kicked out of their home.

That's my long-winded way of saying YES, I think a new arena (or a complete renovation) would be a good thing for Detroit. Along with the spacious restrooms.