I thought of that one in the theatre. I was really proud of it. Then I thought about how nerdy I am.

First:

I've gotta get my necessary WJC promotion out of the way. I've stated my case for why this tournament is some of the best hockey you've ever seen. The NHL Network actually does a decent job covering the tournament and even not always stealing TSN's feeds, so I'm sure most that actually care have been watching. But if you still "meh" this tournament, just watch that video. All the "end of decade" lists out there are now out of date, because December 31, 2009 between Canada and the United States was easily one of the ten best games I've seen all decade. A second straight legendary New Year's Eve clash between the two countries, great stuff. I'm not even upset with the outcome. Best part is the only thing at stake for this game was a bye for tomorrow's quarterfinal games. Can't imagine what happens when a medal is on the line.

To gradually segue that into Wings-talk, prospect Brian Lashoff is on the USA roster. He started with a really limited role, and this game really vaulted him into the top US shutdown defender role. He had the task of going head to head with Canada's most explosive offensive threat (not that they don't have a full roster of explosive offensive threats) in Taylor Hall, who he was able to keep off the scoresheet. He made several really nice defensive plays in the first two periods. I didn't notice him as much in the third, but I wasn't really looking for him since I was so busy trying to keep my organs from exploding out of my body. The game was that good.

The States take on Finland in quarterfinal action tomorrow. Tomas Tatar and his band of Slovakians haven't nearly had the success of last year, when they finished 4th. Slovakia will take on Austria tomorrow to stay out of the relegation pool. Slovakia is a big favorite there, it'd be embarrassing if they were relegated over Austria. Andrej Nestrasil and the Czech Republic also play in the relegation game, against Latvia. That's probably even more unlikely to be an upset.

Speaking of the States (two for two on the segues tonight), the Winter Classic occurred and that was another fairly epic game. After the match, Team USA was announced via a group of confused looking children wearing defective jerseys. Brian Rafalski made the team as expected, but Jonathan Quick beat out Jimmy Howard for the third string goalie spot. Jimmy certainly did his part making the decision hard -- I don't think anybody felt he'd get considered for that spot at the beginning of the year. After the game, Brian Burke commented that goaltending was the easiest spot to pick for the team, except for the 3rd string. Hopefully that's a nod that he at least acknowledged that Jimmy exists. The final count is seven Olympians, plus a random obscure prospect. Not bad for a team supposedly lacking depth.

Onto the game, I'll keep it short. It was easily the best game of the year for two Wings: Darren Helm and Pavel Datsyuk.

Helm actually finally finished. Way overdue for how many chances he generates for himself. It's pretty obvious that Helm's never going to be a sniper, but learning two or three breakaway moves isn't going to hurt him. In an ideal world, he ends up as something between a Kris Draper and Dan Cleary in terms of that category. While he does have two 15 goal seasons (and two more 14 goal seasons), Draper's never been known for his silky hands and is pretty famous for hitting goalies right in the chest regularly on breakaways. Helm has definitely showed some signs of that. Cleary also really had no finish in his first season as a Wing, when he was just a 4th liner, despite the chances he was able to consistently generate for himself. I'm still holding out hope that maybe Helm will just "get it" once he gets more ice time, and goals like his first one solidify that hope. But who knows? Draper certainly scored some big goals in his career, so that would be more than suitable as well.

And Datsyuk finally delivered like I knew he could. On the last podcast, I called Datsyuk out for just not being that "Hart Trophy" quality player we saw last year, despite the fact that he was still really good (and has probably been better in December than November). He was just lacking in the offensive zone over the past few weeks. He just wasn't making anyone look really silly, he was passing up shots he'd been taking the past few years, and he was uncharacteristically turning over too many pucks at the blueline. But I felt like he was out there every other shift last night, doin' that Datsyuk thing he does. The goal was as much a sigh of relief as Helm's, which says something for the Todd Bertuzzi dominated times we live in. A quick double hesitation before launching a laser past Craig Anderson. That's definitely a shot he hadn't been taking recently.

I suppose the last thing worth noting is new blogosphere whipping boy Ville Leino has had enough of that moniker. Even before his goal, he was much less invisible. He seems refreshed and the benching did him well. Noticed him actually moving his feet with the puck and even driving hard to the net a few times. A few people gave him some groans for his comments after being benched, how just "working hard" isn't a payoff for him, and he needs to score goals. I don't think he meant as much by those comments as people interpret. Because he's not a fourth liner player. He's going to be a top six forward in the next two years, whether that's in Detroit or Europe is for him to decide. As long as he plays smart and is willing to pay the price, he can do that in Detroit. But the moment he slips out of that and starts coasting around the ice for 15 minutes a night... well, let's just say I'll live up to my New Year's resolution.

Phoenix is tomorrow to kick off a road trip. While Detroit usually prefers to lose a few games on the trip in dramatic fashion, this one has all the makings of a season-turning event, with so many players ready to come back from injury during it. The news heading into tomorrow is Patrick Eaves will step in for Brad May (but who will carefully stage a fight with Paul Bissonnette?). On the injury front, it doesn't look like Jason Williams will return on the trip, and just because everyone was feeling so optimistic, it's out today that Niklas Kronwall might be out an extra couple of days as well. So think about that the next time you want to feel hopeful or so much as smile about hockey.

That's just 2009 kicking the city of Detroit one more time in the junk before it leaves uncooperatively. Twenty-ten, in addition to being much more fun to say, promises new beginnings. Good karma. Good hockey gods. Good energy. Writing that reminded me of this clip. I think this should be Detroit's official mantra for 2010. All good things.