You’d think Downey was from Europe.

Hell, even I think Downey pussid out, and I’m a Fruit Euro! My God, the Wings are the gayest bunch of hockey players your side of the Atlantic ocean, that’s for damn sure.

i also noticed cam janssen yelling at downey after the first period. so, apparently downey is too much of a pussy to even take on janssen. or maybe it’s just the coach who made downey warm the bench for the rest of the game. either way, kudos to king for stalking him all the way to the bench and giving him a shot to the shoulder as downey was running away. i’m not holding my breath that downey will play friday. i fully expect him to be on the healthy scratches list. gutless bastards.

Fortunately I’ve seen aaron play in the note.

Understandably he was never my favorite player even then

Couse being a wing didnt help that situation.

King should have taen the instigation just to even things up

Detroit is a good team
Everyone knows it
Trouble is they can’t dominate the central
Right now chicago and st louis expect to be better
Only going to get harder for the wings
Isnt’t it.
The cup or bust for them is a tough goal

(does this count as a fuck detroit message or was it too hidden?)

The only thing I hate more than Detroit is…. Oh wait, there isn’t anything I hate more than Detroit. But a close second is a motor mouth who won’t face the music when he gets called oot like last night. What a giant Pussy!!

I propose that, henceforth, any line that Downey plays on be referred to as the Labia Line.

I was in the stands last night, sitting in the lower bowl near the benches. My brother and I couldn’t believe what we were watching. To make matters worse, the refereeing was horrible. Who throws players in the penalty box for just yapping at each other?!

It could get ugly in Detroit on Friday night.

yeah but his team leads the league in points and we will once again miss the play offs. so maybe, just maybe, oh i don’t know, maybe our priotities are wrong? tell me how many times have we made the playoffs with king on the roster?

just checking. who the fuck cares. you want to get a team like detriot back? how about king or janssen man up and crash the net hard and knock osgood out for the season. really fuck detriot up. but no the blues are the pussies.

Chris D, here’s where you and I probably differ.

One of the inate things about being an NHL player is being held accountable for your actions out on the ice. You cross check a guy to the head or cheap shot him from behind into the glass, at some point someone on the other team is going to make you pay up. And that carries over to what you say in the media too.

Downey showed a lack of class in that March 5 game and last night. He showed up a young guy on the Blues and King was trying to do his job to remind Downey the Blues weren’t going to stand for that. Granted, the best response would have been a win, but Downey still needed to answer the challenge and he didn’t.

I’m not going to argue D.J. Dwayne is a good player or that he will help them win. But he has a definite role on the team and he’s pretty good at it when he does it.

So Chris D, would you rather they take fighting out of the game? Would you rather the players didn’t try to police themselves? That’s what King attempted to do.

One more thing. I have no doubt that the Wings are going to fold like a tent before the conference finals. They have the right mix to succeed during the course of the season, but that does not feel like a team that will win it all. Part of that goes back to clowns like Downey but also the number of finesse players who may not handle the increased physical play of the post season.

i agree with brad that i don’t think the red wings are built for a long, physical playoff run. if you look at the games where the blues have beaten the wings this year, it’s been because they had a physical presence that threw off detroit’s puck possession gameplan. teams in the playoffs will be capable of doing that even better than the blues have.

that being said, i don’t think that dj king is the blues’ problem. i think the fact that there aren’t enough skilled players around him to let him play his role is the problem. if the blues were scoring enough, dj could “chuck knuckles” and not be expected to play on a line with andy mcdonald. hopefully the offseason will help with that problem!

That my friend about Downey is a bunch of bull. So what he didnt feel like ruffin up the other scrappers of the Blues. He was the better man not to take the fight. No disrespect to anyone but its childlike to go provoke someone to fight just to if they will fight you. Not saying Downey never has but anyways. Downey rocks and the blues are should be heisitent when Darren and Downey come back together. The grime line will be back.
 Well Downeys SUPERDUPER! I am pretty sure when i say this i speak for most Redwings fans when i say this,Downey we all love you.
                                              (:
                                                                 -Nikki.

While I have nothing against the grinder/enforcer/punisher (pick your label) as an individual, I do believe the Blues have a surplus of them and need to focus more on scoring. I applaud the efforts of the likes of RJ, Hinote, Jamal, King, Janssen, and guys on the blueline who play a stay at home style like Walker, Polak, McKee, etc…these types of players are my favorites. However, the Blues can’t expect scoring to come from just 4 or 5 guys (Boyes, Kariya, McDonald, Tkachuk, Stempniak). We need scoring depth.

As for last night’s Downey/King debacle, Downey’s a pussy. No other way to say it. Observe, if you will:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W8Eu8H1ts-k

Adjust the roster (long term) to 3 scoring lines. 1 checking line.

14th place and the never winning a cup will make a fanbase bitter, so I understand where this hate is coming from.

Chris D, I hate goalies as much as anyone but they are sitting ducks. Running over Osgood proves nothing. What I think we all are getting at is more of a moral vicotry. Downey talked shit and didn’t back it up. A HUGE no no in this game. No matter what level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvaJKQ-ZDI8&NR=1

Making the Blues Proud. This is when Downey was a Blue. Ugh.

yuo dont call out a player or a team without backing it up. period. if his coach was the one who put a dress on aaron (and remember wings fans, we have watched aaron in this town too) then the coach shouldnt have dressed him at all untill it was approipriate.

“The Code” is unwritten, but well- known. One major element is that when your name is called, you answer. Its far better to have your ass kicked than to turn tail. That being said, a challenger must let the other guy off the hook if there’s a valid reason: injury, coach, etc.

Downy acted without honor, and lost any respect he may have had, not just from us, but even from those within his own locker room.

Furthermore, you don’t make your point by running the other team’s goaltender. One, its all about accountability. Downey needs to be held accountable personally; Osgood has no role in this. Two, marking their ‘tender makes our own fair game. Manny doesn’t deserve that. Third, running the goalie is the low-class, easy-pickings, assclown strategy only a douchebag like Downey would do.

First Downey (or shall we call him Snuggles the bear I’m sure he can roll around on the clean towels in the locker room and giggle) calls our player a butter boy, then Savard says we’re a bunch of meanies that pick on his babies – which are we anymore? I’m confused!

Friday night – I say Dwayne goes for instigator if Snuggles runs away again, what the hell, need to show him he can run but not hide.
Chaser needs to send a giftwrapped box to him with the book “The Code” – wait, he probably can’t read, so maybe just whack him upside the head with it. I don’t think I would want Chaser staring me down even if he is retired – I’m sure he can still pierce concrete with his glare.

Saturday night – Make the baby Hawks cry again. I still can’t believe Savard of all people is objecting to what happened Sunday.

Also, penalties for yapping before the puck drops – what the fuck was that? Fuckin’Detroit blowing refs again?? Damn, I usually don’t cuss on here, but Detroit brings out the worst in everyone!!!

Why waste time going after Downey when you can pick on the sticks of margarine the Wings have?

I’d prefer to see Chelios being put through the end boards over Downey getting beat up [again].

fuck the code. you want a code. drop the instigator rule. i have no problem with fighting. i just don’t care for worthless players taking up a spot on the roster because they are extremely good at fighting but nothing else. and if you have a player like that on the roster you need to have enough talent to make up for the lost talent of guy who can only fight. the bues do not have that talent.
 what would running osgood do? probably nothing. but maybe then king would have gooten the response he wanted. so what if he gets suspended. he plays usually three minutes of a game.

running osgood was my way way of being sarcastic. have you all gone so blind because our team sucks so bad that now you want to have a cathartic moment of seeing a guy physically abuse another man so you feel better about losing?

the philosphical problem is best summed up by you brad are now begining to sound just like andy strickland that made the satatement the blues are becoming a tougher team that while maybe not being able to score or win many games in a league will send a message. i detected some sarcams in his remark which i just summed up. that is not his verbetim quote.

i don’t care about sending messages that don’t begin with and end with we won. that is how i differ. did i say the wings will win the playoffs? hell no. i think i matter factly have said san jose will play montreal. i think i mentioned the wings since the begining of the year as not winning. even going so bodly as to say they would struggle to make the play offs if both their elder goaltenders went down for a long period this season which i thought there was a good chance. it did happen but it did not last long enough.

but again i’d rather win a game than fight. win a war rather than a battle. i’ll tell you what as player pisses you off more than anything, and that’s in a toughly contested game is saying look at the scoreboard or look at the standings. would if king could maybe score and then do mocking celebration to get the wings off of their game? he’s such a good fighter i would have to say maybe downey is being smarter rather than a coward. does it take courage to jump off of a building? hell yeah. does it take intelligence? not very much of it.

::sigh::

Yeah, we need to win more games. Duh.
Yeah, we need to score more goals. Duh Duh.
Yeah, scoring more goals helps you win more games. Duh Duh Duh.

In summary, Duh.

However, in the process of trying to accomplish the above, there are other goals you try to accomplish. One is to match the other team in physicality (at minimum), and possibly dominate them man-to-man (best case). Its an amazing connection, but if you achieve that, you usually win the game. Or, at least, you put yourself in a better position to do so.

It’s a mind-staggering concept, but if you don’t win ANY battles, you’re probably not going to win the war, either. But, if you win a couple battles in a row, all of a sudden, your potential for winning the war becomes a little greater.

Downey is a shit-stain on the fabric of the NHL. When the Blues players (note the plural here) asked him to stand by his words, and his actions, he buckled.

Yet you call the Blues pussies.

Later, you say that Downey is “being smart” in his disrespect.

So, is he like your cousin, or something? Maybe an in-law, and your old lady won’t let you speak ill of him? Otherwise, pull your head out of your ass.

You know on Arrested Development, when George-Michael brings up his girlfriend Ann to his father, Michael, and Michael always says “Who?” because he cannot even remember who Ann is? Well that’s somewhat how Detroiters view St. Louis.

You are meaningless, bland, blah.

several comments from wings fans. they are pretty funny. wonder how we got on their radar/ the fuck detroits, or the act that all the detroites love buttery soft aaron “run to the bench” downey?

What I hate most about the Red Wings is that they like to promote an aura that they are not a physical team. “We don’t fight,” Babcock once said. The referees pick up on this, and so they have an advantage when it comes to physical play because they don’t pay as often for cheap shots.

They will yap about the other team. A few of their players will go late, hard and high. And then those guys will run back to the bench before someone can get to them, or if someone does, they turtle, and draw an instigator penalty-this is so-called smart hockey (get a free power play), but it’s not the way the NHL game is played. If you’re going to do something like that, even Tootoo knows at some point he’s gonna get called out and he’d better answer.

You can’t make them answer the bell on the ice, but I suspect that more teams are going to be taking retaliatory shots at Zetterberg and Datsyuk if the Wings instigators don’t start standing up (especially in the playoffs), and that would be a shame for the game of hockey.

Maybe you losers should worry about your team winning games instead of fighting. But I guess when your team is as terrible as the blues are then fights are all you have to look forward too. hahahahahahaha

that in the nutshell is the instigator rule sucking. again can hockey eliminate fighting, cheap shots? one would think they COULD, however they haven’t and won’t. i’d rather every team had a Kelly Chase than a Tyson Nash. since the nhl/refs can’t stop the cheap crap (and basiclly are currently in a position to PROTECT downey, tootoo, janssen, tyson nash, etc etc etc) I am 100% for returning to the players do it.

they did it better than what is going on the ice now.

period.

and to suggest that the goonery would rise or that incompetet fighters will return, is ill conceived. while the twists might return, the fact is the GREATS of the game (pre-gretzky) new a thing or too as well. who came in second for the toughest blue? (who was in first too, as he could play the game as well, but second is a hall of famer) what is a gordie howe hatrick? pah.

I love the image Diana just created in my head of Downey rolling around in soft towels after the game. That bear would bitch slap him too if he had the chance.

as a real fan of the blues and hockey. have an orgy with yourselves. enjoy a bunch of fighting. an duh. and stating the obvious about battles and war. most likely coming from someone who’s never even been in a war as i have.

turning my sarcasm around on me. hey if you guys weren’t so blind i would not have to break it down crayola style for you. that’s not everyone. but it seems to me since we can’t win a game you want to have a cathartic moment. how come you couldn’t comment on that? is it too far above your understanding of your emotional being at the moment?

quite possibly the blues can’t score becuase they have slow guys on their team that can only fight. quite possibly when you have a coach that’s stratagem is always reactionary and never making teams bend to your game then you will always fight a decent battle but never win the war.

who cares what detriot does. they win year after year. they have won far more Cups than we have. i can not fault them for having a subpar team imo always still implementing a far superior game plan. i am envious of their situation. but i can admit that. i’m not calling for a fight because we continue to lose. who cares about people talking smack. the best way to quiet them up is to beat them on the scoreboard. the best way to get a team to forget about the scoreboard and winning a game is to get them to think of things that won’t win the game like fighting.

hey there uckup-fay Matt Saler, if you read a little more carefully, it isn’t about him turning down a fight… it’s his mouth writing checks that his punk ass doesn’t intend to cash.
he needs to man-up or shut-up.

fuck Detroit

Wow…lot of bitterness from Blues fans…I can understand why, the season looked promising didn’t it?

I wish Downey would fight more often too, but just because he doesn’t want to waste his time with some random Blues player (too many fighters to remember them all…maybe that’s why they can’t score goals) doesn’t make him a coward. We don’t even know what he said to King on the bench.

Get over yourself Blues fans.

Chris. You seem to keep having problems with people “getting” your sarcasm. Maybe you should stop using it for a while, until you learn how to communicate it properly.

You picked the analogy of winning wars vs. battles. No one has ever suggested that this fight, or any fight, was supposed to have been a substitute for a win. That was made up in your pretty little head. (see, that was sarcasm right there, FYI). You are arguing against things no-one’s advocating. No one here wants a fight just for the hell of it. BUT, if someone disrespects your team, and teammate … he had damn well expect one. Downey didn’t back up his words with action, and is therefore a piece of shit. That’s called accountability, which is the heart and soul of NHL hockey.

So, when you get off your high horse, Chris, tell me where I am wrong on that.

That being said, there is something helpful to being a tough team to play against. I wouldn’t mind a little more fisticuffs now and then, provided that they serve a purpose. Ever hear of the Philly Flu? Look into that. When that was on the scene, Philly was also winning Cups … so there’s probably something to be learned from that.

Wow. I’d heard of the bitterness of the St. Louis Blues fanbase towards Detroit, but I’d never actually seen it until now…and man…you guys are quite the bitter bunch. Have any of you thought that Babcock maybe ordered Downey to refrain from fighting at that particular time in order to avoid swinging momentum in the Blues’ favor in a close game? No? Didn’t think so, considering that’s really all your team knows how to do. Well, that’s called smart hockey, and that’s how the Wings play. And guess what? My prediction is Downey doesn’t fight King or anyone else on Friday either. And it’s going to be hilarious, because it’s your last shot at him and he’s going to leave you all sizzling until the playoffs…oh wait a second…I forgot, you’re not going (again). Oh, and Chris D. is actually a pretty smart dude. Out of all of you, he seems to have the best handle on this whole “smart hockey” concept. Having finally seen the Blues’ fanbase, I would rank you all exactly two steps above Nashville fans and one step above Colorado fans in hockey smarts. (Hey at least Nashville has an excuse, they’ve only had a team for 10 years).

I suppose you will all now make comments about how Detroit is a bad city, etc. And yes, fuck Detroit, because I can tell, most of you aren’t fucking much else.

St Louis Game Time would like to thank new posters Tyler and Derek for continuing to prove our point for us.

Someday there will be something funny that happens in or near Detroit and maybe like 4% of you will be like, “oh, I get it. Laughing is fun. Maybe I shouldn’t take things so seriously.”

And then you’ll walk outside, see your car ablaze, return fire at some someone and the moment will be over.

It’s people like you guys that make me keep buying foreign cars.

Derek – I won’t argue that it isn’t “smart hockey”. However, I must assume that you are a relatively new fan because standing up for yourself and your teammates on the ice is a long-standing NHL tradition, one which one of your greatest platers (and one of the all-time greats) exemplified throughout his amazing career (answer at the end for the historically challenged). You’ve missed the point.

In baseball, an opponent questions your teammate’s manhood = high, hard and inside when he gets to the plate, or spikes high going into the bag. He knows it’s going to happen, and he accepts it.

In football, an opponent questions your teammate’s manhood = getting blasted across the middle or on the wedge, or you give the entire team a physical advantage through motivation.

In basketball, an opponent questions your teammate’s manhood = hard foul.

In hockey, an opponent questions your teammate’s manhood, he has to prove his own. Which Downey didn’t do. The drawback to this is that if he doesn’t do it, other teams are going to start taking runs at your skilled players, especially in the playoffs. While fighting is on the decline, intimidation has been, and always will be a part of NHL hockey. At some point, somebody is going to have to stand up for your team. Hockey players have always been the best at policing themselves during play, and part of that is because of this unwritten code.

Oh, and the great Red Wing player that exemplified this unwritten code: Gordie Howe. Look him up sometime, and maybe you’ll understand why it’s called a “Gordie Howe hat trick.” You’re welcome for the history lesson.

Yeah, I know what a Gordie Howe Hat Trick is, thanks. (Did you know he only had one his entire career?) And I see what you’re saying, but this is a sport, and winning the game means a lot more than backing up your mouth. Talk is just talk. Downey didn’t back it up because it was just too risky at that time. I’m positive Babcock ordered him not to fight in a tied game or a game Detroit was winning. Why would Downey go and disobey that order when he only gets about five minutes of ice time in the first place? Somebody mentioned respect of his teammates, and I know you want to believe it, but guarantee Downey didn’t lose an ounce of respect from his teammates.

As far as the Detroit jokes go, yeah, that’s pretty much what I expected out of some of you. We’re used to it by now, because that’s what all the rival fans say when they’re like, “Oh shit. He’s right. We do suck.”

Oh and gallagher: I don’t even live in Detroit, so suck it.

FYI: I’m reading reports that Downey’s not in the lineup tonight. McCarty is taking his place.

Hey Derek, you’re reading reports that McCarty is playing for Downey? Like our story with the Hockeyslum warehouse we posted yesterday afternoon? Your investigative powers are astounding. I bet in no time you will finally track down Carmen San Diego.

Brad: This is the first thread I’ve ever read at this blog. Sorry. Man, you guys are bitter.

It is perfectly legit to turn down a scrap if that’s the coach’s instructions. The challenger merely takes a rain check and moves on. If that was all there was, that would be the end of the story.

But-

The continued barking, from the relative safety of the box, demonstrates the little bitch that Downey is. And this was not an isolated incident, either. The way things work in the NHL, if Downey and his ilk aren’t held accountable, that will fall on someone else’s shoulders.

Man, interest in the Blues must be on the rise. I see all these Red Wings fans cruising an obviously St. Louis-based sports site. It’s just crazzzy. Thanks for showing up to the party you Wings faithful!

To put it into perspective about us Blues fans…while we are not all alike, there are quite a few of us who do enjoy the physical side of the game, like checking, and when it’s needed, fighting. As for myself, I think I’d best be described as a Charlestown Chiefs fan. If you can’t win, at least let them know you’re still on the ice. Throw some hits, agitate, make it hard for the other team to score.

As for whether or not Babs told Downey not to fight, if he did that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with listening to the coach. To be perfectly honest though I just don’t like Downey. From the different times I’ve seen him play, he reminds me of Sean Avery. Someone who likes to talk smack to a bigger guy, but then won’t back it up when the time arrives. Rationalize it all you want. Downey is a coward.

You guys are pathetic. Have you every seen the clip of Downey knocking Boulerice out when he played for Dallas?

Downey isn’t a pussy, he just knows when to fight and when not to fight. He was claerly trying to draw Blues players into instigator penalties and I’m sure that’s what Babcock told him to do.

So, how’s the playoff race going?

Oh….yeah…..sorry.

I love how you armchair fans sit back and question a mans bravery from the comfort of your own home. You lose a game, a guy won’t fight and you call him a pussy and a coward and this coming from who? Brad? Some guy on the internet? Who cares what you think? You have neither the ability, or the balls to do what Aaron Downey does or any of the other enforcers in the NHL yet you sure very easily call him a coward.

Hey Matt G, aren’t you just some guy on the internet, too? What makes your opinion typed in from home worth anything either? Who cares what YOU think?

By the way, nice job being over a month behind on your ability to comment on the issue. Did it take that long to craft your response?

Back to the armchair for you, Detroit Dickwad.

Look whos in the 3Rd seed of the playoffs!!!
where are you all?? didnt make it?
in fact i dont recall your team ever winning a stanley cup.
Plus Aaron isnt the only one on the team that will beat some one.
McCarty,Drake,Samelson,Holmstrom?
The redwings can handel there own when it comes to the aggresiveness in the playoffs. Surely we wont back down just beacuse one enforcer is not playing.
                   GO REDWINGS!
                          :DD!

Hey Nicole,
Way to post a comment on May 9th on a post that was put up March 26th.

And you must be loving these playoff games at Joe Louis. Lots of empty seats. Plenty of space to spread out, have some elbow room.

ive seen all of downey’s fights, and even though he’s not a hot head that answers every fight challenge, he can fight. i haven’t seen him lose a fight yet. maybe he got tired of winning, not sure

Wooo Hooo! Stanley Cup in DETROIT!! Eat it Mother Fuckers!

March 26? That’s when this was posted. And Seth, you whiny ass bitch, you feel like you need to remind us that Detroit won the Cup in June. We know. Thanks. And go fuck yourself, you unfunny, thin-skinned bastards.

brad brad brad, he is a detroit fan, he just found out today and is celebrating. hide your matches!!!!