From: SGLENN@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
Subject: Wings News
Date: 5 Oct 92 11:58:12 GMT
Organization: GM Research Labs


The Wings dropped their last 2 exhibition games, 5-4 in OT in St. Louis
on Saturday, and 4-1 in Chicago last night.

Last night the Wings played without Yzerman, Ciccarelli, Fedorov, Cheveldae,
and Howe.  The team looked very flat and didn't have many great scoring
chances.  Ed Belfour picked up his first exhibition win for the BlackHawks.
Steve Chaisson scored the only Detroit goal.

Saturday, Detroit lost to St. Louis when Brendan Shanahan scored less than
half a minute into OT.  Shanahan shot the puck from behind the goal and it
hit Cheveldae in the leg and went in.
Detroit appeared to have won the game when Dino Ciccarelli deflected a point
from the shot past goalie Curtis Joseph with 13 seconds left.  But the ref
ruled that Ciccarelli interfered with the goalie and called off the goal and
put Dino in the penalty box.  The replayed seemed to show that he hit the
goalie after the puck was behind him.
Ciccarelli, Fedorov, Yzerman, and Sillinger scored for Detroit.
The Fedorov goal was one of the best of the preseason.  Fedorov sent the
puck from along the board out to Lidstrom on the point, who then passed
it back to Fedorov who was skating in on the net.  Fedorov one-timed the
perfectly timed pass, easily beating Joseph.

INJURY REPORT:  Ray Sheppard - hit a rut in the ice last night and injured
his knee. Out possibly 2 weeks.
Stu Malgunas - hurt his knee that was injured last season and returned to
Detroit after Saturday's game.
Sheldon Kennedy - sore wrist.  Day-to-day

OUTLOOK:  The Wings start the season in Winnipeg Tuesday night.  It is anyone's
guess what the lineup will look like with Sheppard out and Probert unable to
play in Canada.
The Wings will need to get better output from some players who had a "silent"
camp, most notably Carson, Ysebaert, and Burr.
This morning's paper had a report that players were complaining about Bryan
Murray.  Some of the more popular complaints were that too many players were
on the roster too late in camp, making many uncertain about their future;
younger players have been waiting patiently for their chance and then he
brings in Ogrodnick, Ciccarelli, and more Europeans (Hrbek, Motkov, Kozlov,
Malykhin); he tells players one thing and media something different; he let
Barry Melrose leave when many players wanted him as the coach.

I would guess thet the players who did the complaining were players who were
and still are fighting for positions.  I don't really think airing out these
complaints before the season opener will help the team at all, if anything it's
going to hurt the chemistry a bit.

I think most Wings fans will agree that the key to this season is going to be
a solid lineup, in which the same lines are intact each game.
Will that happen?  I doubt it...I don't think the players even know who their
linemates are going to be at this point.
My prediction is that the Wings have the same season as last year...sluggish
start with a hot streak in the middle.  No telling how the season will end,
but I would guess that if they don't make any trades for a defenseman by
March, they won't make the Cup finals.

NOTE:  Bobby Dollas was very critical of Murray earlier in the week, saying
he was tired of being sent back to Adirondack and then coming back up.
Murray said that Dollas would have been with the team, but he showed up to
camp 15 pounds overweight with a sore back that kept him out of the fitness
test and out the first few games.

-Scott