Hooey to Hockeytown -- Avs win in six

ShareThis

DETROIT -- And, so, back to Hockeytown.Well, there are worse places, though the list is short. An active landfill. Reality television. Inside Dick Cheney's head.How, exactly, this became Hockeytown is unclear except the notion goes unchallenged, possibly because everyone else thinks the name is a practical joke that only Detroit does not get.It is not like being called Titletown, as Green Bay refers to itself, or the Windy City, a measure of toughness for Chicago, or our own Mile High City, which can be used to intimidate visitors, but rather more like the Mistake on the Lake (Cleveland) Cowtown (Kansas City) or The Big Guava (Tampa).There is just not a lot of competition for the names, and tying your identity to hockey is like tying your dog to a fire hydrant. Think about it.Odder still than pride in being the so-called headquarters for the fifth major sport -- maybe four, now that stock-car racing is slipping -- is the tradition of throwing octopi onto the ice, there being no natural habitat for such creatures near Detroit.Apparently, the throwing is still not prohibited but twirling is strictly against the rules. The Zamboni driver, Al Sobotka, had the habit of twirling the slimy cephalopods around his head, like some sort of crazed Jules Verne character.Again, for odd appeal, this would be akin to someone from Fiji, say Vijay Singh, throwing a cow patty like a discus after making a birdie, and who would care why?Because tiny bits of octopi tended to fly away, the twirling is now subject to $10,000 fine although folding the legs up like origami is still allowed.Into this bizarre world go the Colorado Avalanche, not strangers, of course, having won and lost here before to the Red Wings. The teams involved themselves in one of the great hockey fights of all time, enough to sustain a rivalry long after the teams themselves were worthy.But there are enough players left from those days to keep an edge on things. Joe Sakic, Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg remain for the Avalanche and Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty are still around for the Wings. Chris Chelios is, of course, older than hockey itself.In addition, there is the residue of an earlier chippiness, on the part of the Avs, that might cause some concern.In their final regular-season meeting, in Denver, Avs instigator Ian Laperriere threw a dubious forearm at star Nicklas Lidstrom's head. The Red Wings captain sprained his knee but did not suffer any real serious injury.Still, this caused Red Wing Aaron Downey to take a crack at Laperriere, and coach Mike Babcock got into a shouting match with Avalanche assistant coach Tony Granato along the bench.Because it is the playoffs, the normal payback might be withheld. On the other hand, check the first time Laperriere takes a shift.The Red Wings shut out the Avalanche in three of four meetings and won the other, doing something unfamiliar to the cleaning crew at Joe Louis Arena, which is to sweep.This was before the late-season additions of Forsberg and defensemen Foote and Ruslan Salei, not to mention the growing competency of goalie Jose Theodore.Plus, Colorado was without Sakic in all four games against the Red Wings, and Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny each appeared in only two.This is a whole new challenge for Detroit, and the top-seeded Red Wings had more trouble in the first round with the last seed, Nashville, than the Avs did with higher-seeded Minnesota.The reason for each is the goaltending. The great relic, Dominik Hasek, wobbled for the Red Wings in goal and has been replaced by the imperfect Chris Osgood since. Had the Wings lost, it would clearly have been the goaltending, just as the reason the Avs won is the revival of Theodore. Foote, who smothered the Wilds' best scorer, Marian Gaborik, might have the same task against the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk. Frustration by the Wild over Foote's competence showed itself in one game full of penalties, and if he does the same against the Wings' scorers, well, the pot is just under boiling as it is.There might still be a sense that the Avs are playing beyond their station, especially with Theodore, but that would be the feeling from a place that calls itself Hockeytown.After the Avs win the thing in six, a new name might be Loserville.(Contact Bernie Lincicome at lincicomeb@rockymountainnews.com.)(Bernie Lincicome writes for the Rocky Mountain News.)