lordstanley

Once the Wings get good again, the Leafs will hire a P.I. firm to investigate the Wings for an elaborate network of animal cruelty towards octopi and the NHL will throw the book at them.

The Leafs got to count the trip as two road games. That doesn’t seem fair. For the Wings, it counts as one road game yesterday and home game today.

The Wings played a beautiful first two periods. If the game had ended after 40 minutes, I might have considered it the best win of the year. Alas …

The Leafs never sit back, regardless whether they are down 2, tied, or up 1.

3-2 regulation loss. Sucky. I usually feel better this on a Friday afternoon starting the weekend.

First two periods were too good to be true. Wings now look headed for a loss! 3-2 Leafs with under 5 to go.

First two periods were too good to be true. Wings now look headed for a loss! 3-2 Leafs with under 5 to go.

9 minutes might be a long time for the Wings to “hang on” to a 2-1 lead.

Crap, Bertuzzi gets the Leafs back in it.

2-0 after 2. Considering the opposition, and that it’s a back to back, and 3rd string goalie in net, this is one of the Wings’ best efforts of the season.

Calle Jarnkrok is on the Leafs. Hard to believe it has been 13 years since Wings drafted him in 2nd year. Has carved out a decent career. Has never had a 40-point season but has stuck around for 662 career games

And now Raymond pings one in off the post! 2-0 ha, Eminem goal song brought to Sweden.

Penalty shot? Sprong comverts!

Wings 2 of their last 39 on the powerplay.

TSN colour commentator: “The Leafs, right now, are kind of looking for a defenseman like Justin Holl”.

Pretty solid opening period for the Wings. 0-0, held Toronto to 5 shots.

Back at it right now against the Leafs.

It's not a big deal to me, really. I don't think it gave a competitive advantage. And living thousands of miles away, no one in my day to day life even pays attention to this, unlike people in the Michigan area who work with, play with or are married to Buckeyes or Spartans. I took two courses on campus years ago but am not an alum, no U of M degree. In fact, while I prefer this had never happened, last weekend I was getting pumped by the drama, which is really what I turn to sports for. Was setting up for a great week leading up to The Game. But there are people even today on mgoblog who are upset that Michigan is being treated unfairly and should be fighting the NCAA harder on this. I disagree. I don't see how Michigan could NOT fire the assistant today. Sure, maybe if they knew last week he had deleted evidence they could have written the same letter and taken the same stance - let due process take place, sign stealing is legal, in-person scouting bans are outdated. But when you get new evidence it cuts the legs out from under you and makes you look silly. I'm an M&A advisor and we stress to our clients to tell us the good, the bad and the ugly from the outset and we'll deal with it. Nothing worse than working on a deal for months and making reps and warranties only for something dumb to come out a week before closing. I agree with what the regents did yesterday, knowing what we now know. Public perception matters in that, unfairly, it will diminish the accomplishments of this team and last year's. Public perception, as in Michigan supporters may have to take some ribbing from haters over this, does not matter to me.

I don't have sympathy for Stalions, the coaching staff, Harbaugh, the alum, the "insiders", boosters, fans, broadcasters, regents, Santa, whoever. The only victims in this are the players. They're getting jobbed for others' mistakes and dishonesty. If they can somehow compartmentalize this and beat Maryland and OSU and Iowa, to me they'll be the greatest Michigan football team ever. Although with all this swirling, they likely won't be given credit for that by others.

https://www.si.com/college/2023/11/17/big-ten-pulled-offer-to-reduce-michigan-harbaugh-suspension Earlier this week, the Big Ten indicated it was willing to cut Jim Harbaugh’s suspension from three games to two—allowing Harbaugh to coach his undefeated Michigan team’s regular-season finale against Ohio State, two people familiar with the settlement talks tell Sports Illustrated. Then the NCAA presented the Big Ten with new information in its investigation of Michigan’s sign-stealing. The Big Ten, in turn, presented it to Michigan, and Harbaugh and the school agreed to drop their legal challenge and accept his three-game suspension, a person aware of the situation says.

Oh I was sure people were taking and using the info. My thinking was that it could have been in his best interests to hide from everyone how he was obtaining this info, so that he would look like a genius to his bosses rather than a short-cutter. I also was prepared to minimize because I see Stalions as a low level staffer, not an actual member of the coaching staff. This now involves an assistant coach and that is enough to make Harbaugh’s suspension warranted. It is up to Harbaugh to instill a culture among his coaching stuff that there will be zero tolerance for rule infractions, no matter how silly a rule might be.

I recall a couple of things Cowherd said last week. One, that the running to the NCAA that started all this a month or so might have come from within. Two, that the regents were 100% united behind Harbaugh for now (last week) but he sensed that could change quickly if more came out, specifically if this went beyond Stalions.

Now watch the conference say, wow, this is new information as of Friday morning, so we are extending Harbaugh’s suspension into the conference championship game. That would crack me up actually.

44!

My question is, will Harbaugh be watching the Michigan game from a College Park hotel tomorrow, or will he be on the Minnesota sideline wearing sunglasses in Columbus tomorrow?