Do Wings fans actually think this way?

[LeannaM]

I know you guys are upset that you lost the cup, but this lady has apparently lost her mind. From this forum: http://hockeytownforum.detroitredwin...showtopic=2928

-- Start of Quote --

"“Strife: The only conspiracy in the league is that they're out to make as much money as they can, just like any other business. NHL stands to make bank off of this Detroit loss. I'm more or less convinced that Bettman doesn't give a ******* about the sport of hockey, he's just in this gig to make a buck, and that's why games 3 and 7 were handed to Pittsburgh on a platter."

"Call me when Pittsburgh outplays their opponent in four games of the Stanley Cup Final and I'll be happy to congratulate the better team. I'm only slightly less disgusted at this win than I am at the 2007 Stanley Cup win."

"All of you know well I have been suspicious about this whole season and not just the playoffs. I have been saying months now that th NHL wants Crosby and the Pens to win. The playoffs made me more suspicious that this whole thing was planned and game 7 just confirmed it for me. Sealed the deal if you will. I won't go into the regular season but deal with just the playoffs. My thesis is that yes it was planned, not won by the pens because they are the NHL's best team , they won it with help from the league and the powers that be. This essay I write now says that this is so, and why."

"The celebration itself. No one even seemed too interested. I’ve a feeling they all knew it was planned. They never even celebrated the cup like as in past championships [[last year we acted like nutters when we won ) Players and management are usually so happy when their team wins the cup. They just seemed watered down this year. You could hear it in the players interviews and management and such. I don’t have to speak about how Bettman seemed so happy. I am pretty sure the nhl and management were all in on it. The pens had to win. They were also building their nice new stadium, and to have a cup banner in the stadium of his poster boy’s team was just a birthday gift for Bettman. Pitts also had a sagging troubles, and it was necessary to bring money to the city. What better way than to have his poster boy win the cup?

It showed in the reffing. It showed in the sharp sloppy dropoff in the wings play. The Cup was not won by the best team in the league. The evidence will probably never be there – as I have said they are furtive enough most likely to rig things without actually doing anything illegal – but there are just too many little things that make me wonder."

--End of Quote--

I realize fans are upset, but are they all this paranoid? Was the 2006 World Series a fix, too? A Detroit team can lose by being outplayed, not necessarily by being cheated. Could it have been fixed? Possibly, but I'm leaning toward a "no."

Sounds like sour grapes from Wings fans. Sometimes upsets happen.

I realize that there is a lot of bad news in Detroit right now, but not everything is a conspiracy.

Just wondering if this fan is in the minority.

[izzyindetroit]

Well according to this article, "Detroit, Pittsburgh Both Attempting to Lose Stanley Cup, Avoid Expensive Victory Parade", the Red Wings won.

[redvetred]

The first five games were played in eight days then the last two games played over a week. The schedule favored Pittsburgh but the Wings almost pulled it through. No conspiracy suggested just Bett's favoritism.

[EastsideAl]

Bettman is an idiot, the scheduling was screwed up by NBC, and the series wasn't very well played, but that hardly rises to the level of conspiracy. The Wings were older, ran out of steam, and got outplayed over the last 2 games [[especially game 7) by a younger team.

No fix, just a loss. But it never ceases to amaze me what crazy unlikely conspiracy theories people will come up with to try to explain results they don't like.

[Sstashmoo]

It does make one wonder. Look at all the money that is lost with a sweep. It would be in the league's/team owner's best interest to take every series out to seven games. I'd hate to think the games are fixed or even influenced by the ticket sales, but they could be.

[lilpup]

Plus Malkin's getting tossed for a game was overturned.

[thnk2mch]

I'm not sure about "fixed", but I sure think all things associated with the series favored the Pens.

[diver1369]

If the Finals were fixed, how is it that Detroit had two chances to win one game and the Stanley Cup? It's just sour grapes on the Wings fans part. They sound like spoiled babies with their whining.

[yupislyr]

During the series, go on a Wings-centric board, it's a conspiracy against the Wings. Go on a Pens-centric board, it's a conspiracy against the Pens.

[Sstashmoo]

Whenever I look at Bettman, it reminds me of that old: "Would you buy a used car from this man?" gig. Obviously not. He is one shady looking character.

Quote: "how is it that Detroit had two chances to win one game and the Stanley Cup?"

Why is it the f'ing refs made some of the worst calls ever and missed so many Penguin penalties? The Red wings were cheated out of several 5 on 4 opportunities and had to endure just as many on bad calls. i.e. Pens player deliberately shoved our guy into their net and goalie, so we couldn't score. Plus we got a penalty for it. That guy should've been suspended for the rest of the series.

I don't care what anyone says, we got screwed on the officiating end of it. I don't know if it is a Detroit thing or a Red Wing thing, but we had very few allies in the media and elsewhere going in to that series. F em'.

[daddeeo]

Sounds like sour grapes from a cry baby.
The Wings had their chances. Winners always have to overcome a certain amount of grief. That's what always makes winning so much sweeter.
Bettman doesn't know his head from his a-- but hockey still overcomes his ineptitude.

[Downriviera]

The Wings lost the Cup because they could not bring the momentum gained from game 5 to games 6 or 7. They knew from the start of the playoffs that they would have to beat the opposing teams and the officials. They pulled it off last year but came up just short this year. Clearly Bettman favored the Pens, just watch any NHL tv promo from last season or check out the NHL's website. It will be interesting to see if this years first pick, Tavares, will become Bettman's new poster child.

[Bobl]

Downriviera poses an interesting question:

"It will be interesting to see if this years first pick, Tavares, will become Bettman's new poster child."

I think not. Bettman seems to be enamored with his Favorite Son Sydney.
The Wings were banged up and lost to a hungrier and younger team. No team that scores only one goal in each of the last two games should expect to win the Cup. Give the Pens their due. They won four out of five games, after losing the first two.
Daddy Bettman should have instilled a bit more sportsmanship and respect for tradition by insisting that Sydney complete the traditional handshake, though.

[Ltdave]

The Wings lost the Cup because they could not bring the momentum gained from game 5 to games 6 or 7. They knew from the start of the playoffs that they would have to beat the opposing teams and the officials.

so, did the Wings lose because A) they could not bring the momentum or B) they were unable to beat the officials?

Malkins misconduct should NOT have been overturned...
Pittsburgh should NOT have been able to skate for 21 seconds with 6 offensive players AND a goalie...
Zetterberg should NOT have gotten a goaltender interference call when he was shoved from behind into Fleury...

just my quick take on things...

[R8RBOB]

Did the NHL fix the Stanley Cup series so that the Penguins would be the winners? I can't say yes but maybe they should have started the series on June 2nd instead of May 30th. Instead of having at least 5 days of rest, the banged-up Wings had 2 days of rest to get ready for the finals. Who knows.....

Let's have a little fun with this. The Detroit Red Wings lost the Stanley Cup because they were under "the curse of Marian Hossa." Let me explain.

Last year Hossa turned down a multi-year contract from the Pens and signed a one-year deal with the Wings because he felt that the Wings would win the Cup. The curse works like this: had the Penguins dissed Hossa and he signed with the Red Wings then the revenge factor would have been on his side since the Pens told him he was not good enough for a long-term contract. Instead, the Pens from Super Mario to Sid the Kid had revenge on their side. Sure they wanted to beat the Wings but they wanted to show Hossa, he "f'd" up. The team had it in for him. Hossa was the cherry on top on the Stanley Cup sundae.

Again, if it was the Pens who dissed Hossa, he would had fire shooting out his eyes to get back at the team that told him he was not good enough for a long-term deal. Instead he looked lost on the ice because revenge was not on his side and there is the curse of Marian Hossa.

[smogboy]

Sounds like sour grapes from a cry baby.
The Wings had their chances. Winners always have to overcome a certain amount of grief. That's what always makes winning so much sweeter.

I'm so inclined to agree. So what if we had some calls go against our Wings. We didn't exactly capitalize on our breaks when we had them. There were numerous power play opportunities that we didn't score upon to which we can only look to our team to blame.

It wasn't like the Wings were blown away in any of the games. Outside of game #5 where the Wings were unreal, all of the games were close and could've gone either way. We could've easily have won it as well as losing it in seven.

I'm disappointed as a Red Wings fan, but as a hockey fan I was elated that the games were close and compelling. I would almost love to see how these so-called Wings fans were to observe this series if they didn't have a bias in this series. Sometimes one has to take the homer glasses off, see it impartially, and realize that there's fans from the opposing team that feel just as passionate and just as biased as they are.

I implore to all fans let your intelligence rise to the surface while watching these games as opposed to letting your emotions do your thinking for you. I know it's a physical sport but there's also some intelligence to it as well; it's not all brawn out there.

I was appalled while watching this series with some friends of ours awhile back when they were yelling at the TV set [[like that ever did any good) and hoping for the Wings defensemen to "hurt" the other team with a bone crushing hit [[ie. Kronwall on Havlat during the Chicago series). It's one thing to hit an opponent during the game but to me hurting an opponent crosses the line. I also know that if one of the Penguins had "hurt" one of our Wings, they would've also called them every rude crude cheapshot artist name in the book. So much for the cerebral nature of the game.

[Sstashmoo]

Picture this: It's game 7, Stanley cup playoffs. This is for all the marbles. Player intentionally breaks the opposing players stick right in front of the ref and draws a penalty, knowing he'd get a 2 minute penalty. What hockey player in his right mind makes a mistake like that?

[East Detroit]

The Wings lost fair and square.

However, Bettman is obviously not as interested in hockey as he is in making money. During his interview on Versus, all he talked about was ratings and things like that... never mentioned anything that would indicate they were talking about hockey versus any other entertainment or sport.

[lilpup]

If he really cared about ratings he would get NBC to contract the CBC feed.

[detmsp]

Yes people really think this crazy stuff... but it's not just wings fans. I like to read articles from newspapers in the cities that detroit is playing against in the playoffs just to get the other perspective and once in a while I'll look at the comments. There were a number Blackhawks and Ducks fans where convinced that the NHL conspired to have the wings win those series, even w/ the crazy stuff like the goal against the Ducks that didn't count.

[Detroitej72]

To answer the original question, no, I don't think so.

I do, however, think Bettman had a hand in the officials not calling certain penalties for the Wings. I also find it rather convenient that the Malkin penalty was rescinded.

As for game 7, the Wings looked pretty tired, and Pittsburgh seemed to be the hungrier of the teams.

[reddog289]

I myself don't think there was a fix, Yet I have heard that brought up from a few people.Going back 90 yrs ago there was the little thing called the BlackSox scandel.Which proves anything is possible. Yet in this case I say no and while sad that the Wings did not win the cup I can say that it is not 1995 and at least it went 7 games.