Hockey justice

When things started to get serious with my fiance, Amy, I had to explain something. The playoffs were starting soon and the friendly, attentive guy she knew was about to disappear and be replaced with playoff Adam. The silent, angry, sports fan who lived and died with each goal or penalty kill. Gradually we made adjustments (well, Amy made adjustments) and got into a routine. I'd watch the games and as she worked on her new hobby, knitting. She would sit near me, but not close enough to be in the blast radius of any possible explosions on my part. It was a long two months and it ended with the Red Wings raising the Stanley Cup.

That was the fourth time in a decade that Detroit won the title and it was the last time I cared so deeply about the outcome. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. With each passing year, Detroit has lost earlier and earlier in the playoffs. In 2009, they were two goals short and a Brad Stuart turnover away from winning the cup. In 2010 and 2011, they came up short in the second round, losing by a goal each time. Now it's 2012 and it looks like they will be going home before things have really even gotten started. At this rate, you'd think they could be struggling just to make the playoffs next season.

But strangely, I'm not as upset as I would have been in the past. I remember in 2007, when a few fluke injuries to the defense and some poorly timed broken sticks made the difference for the Ducks, who put Detroit out one round before the finals. I was so angry. I'd been watching hockey all my life, and Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were playing at as high a level as I'd ever seen. But everything I watched and read was about Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. I was convinced that Detroit had the two best forwards in the league and had drafted them at a time when they were winning titles, not picking first overall. I wanted Detroit to win so the hockey world would have to admit those guys were the best.

That off-season the Red Wings signed Brian Rafalski and continued their dominant ways. But still, you'd hear commentators dismiss the team. They were too old. They'd lost too many players from the championship years. Pierre McGuirre made sure to point out that in his opinion a team whose top three players were Europeans just wasn't tough enough to truly contend in the playoffs. In reality, Detroit was in the middle of a three-year run that few modern teams could match. A bounce here and there and they could have won three consecutive titles. In 2007, before they'd won anything, I believed they were that good. So when they lost, it felt unfair, as if some kind of cruel force had intervened to take what was rightfully theirs.

That's one thing Amy learned about playoff Adam. I have a strong desire for "hockey justice." This is not a reference to the hockey code or player conduct, or any of that jazz. (Though I have strong feelings about that too.) When I say hockey justice, I mean the idea that the team that played better for longer, should win the game. If I cheer for a team and watch them outclass their opponent and yet they still come out on the short end, there is a bitter taste in my mouth that cannot easily be cleansed. But, if my team is outplayed, outworked, and just out-passioned, then I can accept their defeat as a just result.

And for the last few years, that's how I've started to feel. In 2010, San Jose had a huge advantage in power plays on some terrible calls and were still only able to scratch and claw to one-goal victories. Last year, Detroit should have been ready for revenge, but instead allowed San Jose to once again win the first three games of the series. Detroit fought back to force a game seven, and it was statistically the closest seven game playoff series in history. It was some of the fastest, high skill hockey I'd seen in years. But in the end there could be no doubt, San Jose was the better team.

Now it's the 2012 playoffs and Nick Lidstrom is 41 and may be finally ready to retire. The Wings have often looked the same, out-shooting Nashville by huge margins, killing off key penalties. But some thing's not right. Yes, they've run into hot goalies before, and trap-heavy defensive teams. In the past, it felt like it was just a matter of time before the goals started to go in. Game 4 did not feel that way. Yes, Detroit carried the play, but they didn't seem poised. They had 41 shots to Nashville's 17. But rarely did those shots seem intended to beat Rinne, as opposed to some soft slap-pass that then got redirected meekly into his pads. Nashville on the other hand seems cool and collected. Just waiting to slip another soft goal past Howard. Their best players have been their best. The entire team is chipping in. Somehow, even though statistically Detroit should have been the better ream in the last few games, it doesn't feel like they were. So when the Red Wings eventually lose game No. 4, I'll be sad to see another season end without a cup. I'll be disappointed that they finished the season with $5 million in unused salary cap. It sure seems like they could use $5 million more in players right now. But I won't be outraged or even all that surprised. It will just be hockey justice.