You didn’t think it’d be easy, did you?

okay, it’s official. THAT was a hell of a hockey game.

Mid January, rolling towards the all-star game break, just two teams looking forward to the break in a meaningless mid-season game.

well, not quite.

Sharks carried the game and momentum pretty well most of the game. Detroit fought hard, but really had trouble at times getting into the zone and setting up, and  when they did, they rarely kept the pressure too long. Doesn’t matter, though, they proved quite capable of taking advantage of opportunities and could easily have won the game without domination. That kind of game.

It was a game in which secondary scorers (Errhoff, Cheechoo, Clowe). Errhoff and Semenov get solid notice for stepping up with Blake being out.

This was your classic heavyweight battle (“DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER”) and a true classic, both teams body punching each other for 60 minutes.

Statement game?

Not to me. Unless you want to make the statement that these are the two teams to beat if you want out of the west. It really felt like the first game of the Western final tonight. Neither team has beaten the other on the road; if one does, then maybe we can talk statement. But in reality, it’s going to be like this until one team or the other goes home for the summer, and I’d certainly bet that the other team will be the one sending it home. These are the teams to beat, and there won’t be a true statement made until it’s done in the playoffs. Two really, really good teams playing really good hockey. Eleven goals, and not a soft one in the bunch. Damn….

I like it! Especially after the Calgary game, which was also a hell of a hockey game, even though the Sharks lost. To me, one of the biggest reasons to chase the Presidents Cup this season (not something I’d normally worry about) is that if Calgary is the third seed, you don’t want to be the second seed.

Right now I’d call the West (1) San Jose, (1) Detroit, (3) Calgary, (4) Minnesota. Which means whoever comes out of the west has a hell of a challenge. And honestly, I’d rather face the Wild than the Flames, and I’m not dissing the Wild here.

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