AGRI Biz

Alright, as the Wings are now on the brink of being on the brink of elimination (read it again, it makes sense), I thought it was time to bring out the heavy artillery. The Crystal Ball has been a deceptive divination device in the past, but, despite being foggy on the details, it's apparent good luck for the Red Wings. I've given three Crystal Ball predictions and, though I've ...

"Intensity" is a word that gets tossed around a lot come playoff time in the NHL. In fact, it gets used so often that it almost becomes just another cliche to describe whatever intangible asset one team has and another does not. When it comes to NHL playoff hockey, "intensity," to my mind, encapsulates two very specific things: passion and execution. A team playing with passion works hard every shift, finishes their checks, ...

When considering a seven-game series, the general consensus is: a series isn't a series until the road team wins a game. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a series. After shooting themselves in the foot (the bullet being a terrible penalty-kill) in Game One, the Detroit Red Wings used a seven goal onslaught to earn a Game Two victory in Arizona on Friday night. The Phoenix Coyotes proved to be as dangerous and determined ...

Who says hockey doesn't belong in Phoenix? Judging by the 17,000-plus hockey fans who flooded Jobing.com Arena on Wednesday night, some paying upwards of $400 per ticket to do so, NHL hockey is very much alive in Arizona. And this just wasn't a bunch of know-nothing gawkers that came out to see playoff hockey in the desert for the first time in eight years, these fans knew what to do at a ...

At the beginning of this season, if someone asked you who would win a playoff series between the Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes, you'd likely laugh at the idea that Phoenix would have been able to squeak in to an eighth-seed position. Because, back then, the only way one could fathom these teams meeting in the playoffs would be as a No. 1 vs. No. 8 match-up. Hmm, what do they ...

With good reason, whenever anyone refers to, "the most important position in hockey," they're referring to the goalie. However, if one had to choose a (very close) "second most important position in hockey," the center position would be a hard one to argue against. The center-man is the nucleus of hockey's five-man unit. He takes face-offs, has defensive responsibilities in his own zone, offensive duties at the other end that ...

You hear it every year around this time. No one wants to play so-and-so in the first round. This declaration usually refers to a seventh or eighth seed team made up of a bunch of plucky, young upstarts with designs on pulling off an upset in the first round. Alternatively, such teams could be relatively veteran squads that didn't do much during the season, but are heading into the playoffs on a tear ...

Dear 2009-2010 Detroit Red Wings, First, I can't tell you how happy I am that we are going to the playoffs for the 19th straight year! What an accomplishment.  You have my sincere congratulations for all you've accomplished so far. I am now looking forward to banging the "ra-ra" drum, talking trash to the fans of our opposition and using this space as a bullhorn for unbridled Red Wings fanaticism. But, before I ...

Like it or not, parity is in full-bloom in the NHL. As of this writing (4/1/2010), only seven of the NHL's 30 teams have secured a playoff berth with many spots (especially in the West) likely not being decided until game 81 or 82 of the season. It's been said that there really are no "bad teams" in the NHL anymore, merely teams that may be having bad seasons. Looking at the number ...

Tonight, the Red Wings will take on the worst team in the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers. Though the Oilers have won all three meetings this season against the Red Wings and have been beating some very good teams of late (San Jose and Vancouver among them), their winning streak against Detroit ends tonight. The crystal ball is currently 2-1 in it's win/loss predictions and has even yielded some detailed scoring ...