We gained two solid contributors last night that I'm sure will prove to be a wise addition, but the joy of that discovery was tempered by the injury to Marian Hossa. I was out of the room when the check that sent him careening into the boards occurred, so reading about it in The Detroit Free Press this morning it felt like I was still in bed, having a nightmare.
Fortunately for all involved, the standard hit didn't do Hossa any permanent damage, and I'm hoping he's back for tonight's late game against the Colorado Avalanche.
A note on the Avs. I am young...ish still, but I remember vividly the hit on Kris Draper by Claude Lemieux, a not-so-standard drive from behind into the crease between the boards and the ice. Why did Lemieux have to keep crushing Draper's face into the ice like that? What could possibly have been his motivation for delivering the hit that is still as fresh in everyone's mind twelve years after the fact as if it happened yesterday?
The year it happened I wore a Draper jersey almost every day to school, and suffered right along with the player as he recovered, having been through quite a lot of physical trauma myself. Seeing the Avalanche again, even though the only player I can remember from that team still with them is Joe Sakic, makes my blood boil.
It's very much like I said in my last post; many teams opposing the Red Wings seem to give up on trying to beat the Wings with brains, and resort to brutality. I rest a lot easier knowing Aaron Downey and Jonathan Ericsson are there now, and they will absorb some of the other teams' frustration. Even if they are sans Hossa tonight, the success of last night's game (a 5-0 win) gives me enormous confidence in the Wings.
Keywords: Aaron Downey, Avalanche, Claude Lemieux, Colorado, Jonathan Ericsson, Kris Draper, Marian Hossa, Red Wings, vivid
