Showing posts with label Stanley Cup 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stanley Cup 2009. Show all posts
Detroit’s Cupcake Station and Pittsburgh’s CoCo’s Cupcake Café Compete for the Stanley Cup(cake)!The Cupcake Station in Birmingham is in their own Stanley Cup(cake) competition with Pittsburgh-based CoCo’s Cupcake Café to see who has the most cupcake loving fans in hockey.
For every Wings or Pens cupcake purchased, a goal is added to the Goals Chalkboard located in each store. At the end of the series, one cupcake bakery will be able to claim the highest scoring, most dedicated, cupcake loving fans in hockey, and will be the rightful winner of The Stanley Cup(cake). Each location will be updating the “opposing” team’s score daily.
From now until the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Cupcake Station will be offering special Red Wing cupcakes. Choose from an Octopus cupcake, a “Go Red Wings” cupcake or one in the team colors of Red and White. Why not score a hat trick and try all three?!
CoCo’s customers can choose between black and gold cupcakes, ones the spell out “Let’s Go Pens,” or those that show their support for a favorite player.
The Cupcake Station is in Birmingham, at 136 N. Old Woodward Ave., just north of Maple. The Cupcake Station was founded in 2006 and serves up fresh-baked cupcakes unlike any you’ll find in other area bakeries. We proudly cheer for our Red Wings. Let’s keep the Cup(cake) in Detroit! For more information, check out www.cupcakestation.com or call 248-593-1903.
JOIN US FOR CRAZY DAYS!
Monday Madness - any size Coffee, only $1 all day.
Two Buck Tuesdays - All Regular Size Cupcakes are $2 and Minis are $1.
Wild Wednesdays - Buy 2 Cupcakes and receive 1 free all day.
Thirsty Thursdays - All Fountain Drinks are 75 cents.
Frosting Fridays - A Shot of Frosting is only 25 cents.
Shop till you drop Saturdays - All Cookies are $1, while they last.
Sunday Sundaes - Buy a Frozen Yogurt and Receive 2 Free Toppings. Walk-In purchases only.
Larry Lage
Associated Press
Jonathan Ericsson will have a pretty good tale to tell his grandkids someday.
Ericsson scored for the Detroit Red Wings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, helping them beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 to take a 2-0 lead, and got the best of superstar Evgeni Malkin three times on the same shift.
Not bad for a defenseman who played just four days after having his appendix removed.
"We've got really good team doctors here, so they take care of that so I can get out there," Ericsson said. "It doesn't bother me at all right now."
After Ericsson's goal made it 1-1 early in the second, he sure did bother Malkin on a shift later in the period.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Swede stood up Malkin to thwart his rush with about 12 minutes left in the period, then used his big body to get the MVP finalist off the puck again.
Malkin reacted by interfering with Ericsson, putting Detroit on the power play.
The Red Wings scored just after the penalty was killed, generating enough pressure that Valtteri Filppula's backhander gave them a 2-1 lead.
Ericsson is one of the young players performing for the defending Stanley Cup champions after being forced to develop in the minor leagues.
Detroit general manager Ken Holland likes his prospects "overripe" before they get a chance to play in the NHL.
The 25-year-old Ericsson was buried at Grand Rapids in the AHL until getting called up in March because defenseman Andreas Lilja was sidelined with a concussion.
Ericsson played 19 times in the regular season, scoring once and adding three assists.
In 17 playoff games, he has three goals — including on in his playoff debut in the first round against Columbus — and six points. Ericsson missed only one game after abdominal pain the morning of Game 5 in the Western Conference finals sent him to the hospital.
"He's a real good player," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "He's got the long reach. He's got the ability to get his hands out and get you on his back and make that good pass to get you going with speed.
"He's a guy who is going to be, I think, an elite player in the league for a long time."
Plenty of teams had a shot at drafting him because he lasted until the 291st — and final — selection in the 2002 NHL draft.
Steve KowalskiMirror Staff Writer
With the Detroit Red Wings advancing to the final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, fans are eager to get their hands on tickets.
At Superior Fish Company in Royal Oak, owner Kevin Dean is just as interested in landing the biggest octopus.
The sea creature is the traditional mascot of Red Wings playoff runs, its eight tentacles signifying the number of wins it once took to win a Stanley Cup.
Each time the Wings reach the finals, Dean fills the Superior showcase with the biggest octopus available on order.
Its biggest on record, weighing 52 pounds, with a height of 7 feet, 2 inches and wingspan of more than 12 feet, was aptly named “Octo-zilla,” Dean said. Also dropping by have been “Octo-Al,” named after the octopus swinging Zamboni driver Al Sobotka, and “Oscar the Octopus,” according to Dean.
The name for this year's import?
“We're toying with the idea of calling it ‘Octo-dad,'” Dean said.
Superior Fish, at 309 E. 11 Mile Road in downtown Royal Oak, has gained notoriety over the years as the place to go for octopi.
Dean said the National Hockey League called in advance to find out Superior's plans to hype the Stanley Cup finals. In the past, the octopus/Wings connection has led to televised spots locally, nationally and internationally, he said.
Throwing octopi onto the ice at Wings games is a tradition rarely observed anymore, though one landed in Wednesday's Game 5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, clinching the NHL's Western Conference championship.
Dean prefers Wings' fans eat their octopi. An Octopus Taste Fest was planned before Game 1 of Saturday's final round at Superior, he said.
Pierre LeBrunhttp://www.espn.com/
Long after most reporters had left the Red Wings' dressing room Tuesday night, Daniel Cleary was still sitting there with most of his equipment on, chatting with a handful of reporters.
An introspective Cleary was contemplating what made this club so special. Again, take a second to consider that this team has had eight conference finals appearances in 14 seasons, including three straight in the salary-cap era, not to mention four Stanley Cups in 11 seasons. Much has been written on why that is, but it was interesting to hear it from a player.
"It just starts with the core, you know: Lidstrom, Drapes, Malts, Tommy [Holmstrom]," Cleary said. "We had Stevie [Yzerman] here, and Z and Pav learned from Stevie. Kronwall learns from Lidstrom. We bring in Raffy from Jersey, who's really solid. Once you've established a core, you bring in guys like Franzen. … I mean, me, Franzen and Sammy were the fourth line four years ago. Franzen's an All-Star now, and Sammy's been huge for us."
Oh, and Cleary hasn't been too shabby himself. Plucked off the scrap heap by the Wings coming out of the lockout (meaning any other team also could have had him for nothing), Cleary had back-to-back 20-goal seasons in 2006-07 and 2007-08 and posted a 14-goal, 40-point campaign this regular season. He's been Mr. Clutch in the playoffs with six goals in 13 games. Penalty killer? Shot-blocker? Power-play guy? Goal scorer? He can do it all.
But one of the reasons Cleary went from unwanted free agent to quality veteran on a Cup champion team is the culture he walked into four years ago.
"The big thing is the work ethic we have off the ice," Cleary said. "The guys are always in the gym working."
Then there's Detroit coach Mike Babcock, who figured out the new NHL before many other coaches coming out of the lockout.
"We play a system that Babs instills in us that's defense, pressure and skating," Cleary said. "Everybody buys in. When your best players are your best defensive players, everyone has to buy in. If not, I don't know, you probably won't play."
Hart Trophy nominee Pavel Datsyuk is the reigning Selke Trophy winner, and he's up for the award again this season. Enough said on that front.
And if people are waiting for the Wings to grow old and go away, forget it. GM Ken Holland and assistant GM Jim Nill are the best in the business and ensure that there's young blood coming up the Wings' food chain. One of the best Red Wings players I've noticed so far in the six Detroit playoff games I've covered? Darren Helm.
"Young players that get drafted by Detroit, they're not rushed into the NHL," Cleary said. "You go down, you get some seasoning in the minors, you become a good pro, and when your time is right, you come up. We've got good examples of that. Ericsson is a great example, Helm, Abdelkader, Filppula, Hudler -- these are all guys who played in the minors for a long time, who came up and we're better pros because of it.
"And each guy here, there's no egos. No matter how much you get paid or how many goals you score, everyone is even keel, and that, along with the work ethic, makes us a good team."
That's why guys such as Henrik Zetterberg and Franzen take discounts to stay in Detroit. It's why Marian Hossa might do the same after this season. The buzz is in Washington, Pittsburgh and Chicago, where wonderful young stars are playing some exciting hockey. But Hockeytown is still printing Stanley Cup banners.
Steve KeatingReuters Canada
The Detroit Red Wings will give Motor City spirits another boost when they launch the defense of their Stanley Cup crown this week against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Red Wings march to the Stanley Cup last year provided one of the best feel good moments for Detroit and another championship parade would no doubt bring the same to Detroiters in 2009.
The long Stanley Cup grind begins on Wednesday with 16-teams trying to become the last one standing at the end of four punishing best-of-seven series that will carry into June.
A Stanley Cup run is something Red Wings fans have come to expect with Detroit in the playoffs for an 18th consecutive year.
But it will be a new experience for first round opponents the Blue Jackets, who will be making their first playoff appearance since joining the league nine years ago.
In the last 40 years, only two teams have reached the Stanley Cup finals in their first trip to the post-season and if the Blue Jackets are to join them it will largely depend on the play of brilliant rookie netminder Steve Mason, who led the league with 10 shutouts.
"We know what's in front of us, Columbus captain Rick Nash told reporters during a conference call. "They know what it takes to win the Stanley Cup and we will have our hands full."
The San Jose Sharks finished the regular season as the NHL's top team but must shed their reputation as playoff under-achievers after exiting in the Western conference semi-finals the last three seasons.
The Sharks open against Anaheim and will have to be wary of the eighth seeded and in-form Ducks.
In other Western conference matchups, the Chicago Blackhawks take on the Calgary Flames while the St. Louis Blues, the NHL's hottest team in the second half going 25-9-7 to clinch their first playoff spot in five years, face-off against the Vancouver Canucks.
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