I'm gonna put this out there right now. It's been 2 days since the Red Wings lost the Winter Classic to Toronto, and I'm still shaking my head over it. Call me a blasphemer if you will, but that loss kinda ruined the whole allure of the Winter Classic for me.
Now to be fair, I am a long ways away from where the Hockeytown Winter Festival took place. I did not have a chance to go--much to my chagrin...at the time. Looking back on it, though...I'm not sure I would have felt like it was enjoyable to go all the way out there, get all wound up over all the hype, all the build-up...just to watch Detroit blow it in (SURPRISE!) a shootout. I will tell you one thing, though: feeling that way doesn't make me a bad fan like I'm sure some will want to denounce me as for saying it.
My disappointment in the loss has been so great that it's taken me this long just to drum up the will to write about it! This was supposed to be the big, legendary, once-in-a-lifetime triumph, and what did we get instead? We got placed in the record books for the largest hockey game EVER...as the other guys who lost to the goddamned Maple Leafs.
Really? What reason do I have to look back on THAT with anything resembling fondness?
Again in all fairness, the game itself was quite good: back-and-forth action, saves, hits, an almost playoff-like atmosphere at times...and then it also had the shootout. I should have known better than to get my hopes up when we got to that point, the last 12 we'd been in gave you a pretty good indication of what to expect at that particular juncture.
On the bright side, Datsyuk scored in the shootout! ...And he deked, too! He beat the goalie so bad that Datsyuk left him outside in the-waaaaaait a second...
But yes, in all seriousness, I don't look back on the Winter Classic fondly, nor do I believe I ever shall. My one big regret is not being able to see the alumni games, seeing Yzerman skate in the Winged Wheel one last time, or seeing the Russian Five reunited...that one would have done me in.
The Red Wings need to make this up to me by winning some damned games and making sure we get into the playoffs, because that loss, I should remind you, dropped us below Toronto to the final Wildcard spot in the East. Our asses have never been so close to the flame this year as they are right now. Don't let the result of the WC be a portent of what's to come from here till April...
