On the Wings

Megan and I didn’t get back from the Griffins’ home opener* until the start of the third period of the Wings/Hawks tilt, so we missed the knee-on-knee collision between Chicago’s Brent Sopel and Johan Franzen. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled at the news that the play had resulted in the Mule having to leave the game. 

The news from TSN comes as a relief, however. A month is a fair result when it could have been six or more. What’s unfortunate is Franzen had been picking up where he left off in the post-season. With Henrik Zetterberg feeding him the puck, I wouldn’t think he’ll have any trouble continuing to put the puck in the net when he returns, but you never know.

* On the Griffins: they looked pretty good in the first period last night, putting up four goals on the Bulldogs before letting the Montreal affiliate come within one over the course of the rest of the game. They may actually put up a decent record this year. 

On some of the Wings’ main prospects: Justin Abdelkader looked good in his “hometown debut,” though a boarding penalty tarnished that a bit. He stood up for himself in a fight just after that hit, and I thought he was solid in both ends when he wasn’t getting jumped. Ville Leino looked good as well, as did Jonathan Ericsson. Jimmy Howard wasn’t bad, but will have to be better. Matthias Ritola was the rink’s #1 star of the game.

OtW favorite Aaron Downey wouldn’t have been too noticeable except for the fact that there was one donkey in the crowd near us who took it upon himself to scream insults at Downey every time he was on the ice. This went on for a while early on until the “fan” got a couple beers in him and quieted down.