It's finals time!!!

For the first time since 2002, the Red Wings have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!!! We defeated the Dallas Stars 4 games to 2 in a series that took longer than it should have. The Wings led 3 games to 0 but let the Stars win two games before we closed them out in Dallas on Monday. (Please enjoy the above image of Zetterburg scoring a great shorthanded goal against Marty Turco.) However, I think the slight delay might work to our advantage if we can get Johan Franzen back from a concussion soon. If we had started the finals this week, he probably would have missed 3 or 4 games. Now it looks like he might miss only one (fingers crossed).

We will need Franzen against Pittsburgh in the finals. The Pens are the best team we have faced yet, but we are also way better than the teams they have been squashing on their way to the finals. We have a better defense than them (no question) and a lot more experience, but they have an (arguably) better offense, especially if Franzen doesn't come back. Goaltending is a wash in my opinion, as Ozzie and Fleury have both been great, although Ozzie has won the Cup before (like many of the Wings) so his experience should be an advantage. Still, Pittsburgh makes me nervous and no one has any idea who will win this matchup because the two teams haven't even played each other since 2006 (Stupid NHL scheduling).

Speaking of stupid NHL scheduling, the idiots at the NHL scheduled the Cup Finals games at the EXACT SAME TIME as the next 3 Pistons Eastern Conference Finals games. Do you hate Mighigan, NHL? Why are you making Michiganders choose between playoff games??? Granted, playoff hockey (especially the finals!) is WAAAAAAY more exciting than playoff basketball (sorry Steph) so the choice should be obvious, but I would actually have watched the Pistons games if they weren't on at the same time as the Wings. (And I'd guess Steph would watch the Wings if they weren't on at the same time as the Pistons.) The NHL's ratings were bad enough before they made this ridiculous decision.

But let's leave that bitterness behind us. The Wings will be playing in June this year, as they always should be, and it's time to enjoy a thrilling Stanley Cup finals. (See this article for 44 reasons you should watch the Stanley Cup Finals.)

I have one more thing to say: GOOOOOO WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Isis!

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the day I adopted Isis from the Humane Society. Most of you know the story, but for those that don't: I picked Isis because after I petted her at the shelter and then moved on to look at other cats, she followed me! She knew we were meant to be together! I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful cat!

To celebrate her special day, Isis got a special "cake" made of cat treats and a new mouse toy.

How sweep it is!

Yay! This week the Wings swept our bitter rivals the Avalanche out of the playoffs, winning four games to none! To be fair, the Avs were dealing with a lot of injuries. However, I'm sure we would have won the series even if they were healthy. We were clearly the better team. Johan Franzen set an NHL record with 9 goals just in this series (more than the entire Colorado team scored the entire series!). The rest of our team played great too. Now we await the winner of Dallas/San Jose for the Western Conference finals. Eight wins down, eight to go!

And, for Todd and Katie, here is a quote about how well two of our other players did:
"Pavel Datsyuk (drafted 171st) and Henrik Zetterberg (drafted 210th) were as breathtaking as Genghis Khan and Tamarlaine, sweeping down on the defenceless Denver folk."