At this point in his career Chris Osgood’s hearing is probably as selective as it gets. That’s what winning three Stanley Cups, getting named as an All-Star four times and being 10th all-time in wins for active goaltenders will do to a guy. It makes you deaf to the plethora of garbage mouth flung your way.
For years Osgood been shrugging off accusations of being soft and lazy just as well as he shrugs off the oppositions shots, but for some reason no one can fully explain he never seems to get the respect he deserves.
Maybe he should change his name to Rodney.
Now comes the newest (but definitely not the first) shot taken at Osgood, not off the stick of a streaking winger but from Michael Arace, writer for the Columbus Dispatch.
In response to the “Ozzie! Ozzie!” chants echoing through Joe Louis Arena during Detroit’s game 1 and 2 wins Mr. Arace writes:
“It’s as if there is a citywide effort to channel positive thoughts and artificially inflate Osgood’s confidence. Why? He is, by any measure, the Wings’ weak link, and everybody knows it.”
Now I’ll admit right up front that I’ve criticized Osgood a few times for not playing up to snuff – did you see his save percentage for the regular season? – but it’s hard to imagine anyone calling him the “weak link” after stuffing all but one Columbus shot in game 1 and earning his 14th career playoff shutout in game 2.
Arace went on to say that Osgood is “fighting shots” and has “looked shaky” during certain exchanges, but he was clearly watching something other than games 1 and 2. Golf? Shuffleboard? Beer pong?
If Mr. Arace considers Osgood’s play so far in this series shaky I’d love to see what he thinks of his hometown goaltender’s performance. Steve Mason has allowed soft goals in both of Detroit’s wins – one came off the stick of Jiri Hudler at an almost impossible angle and another was scored by Johan Franzen from behind the net – and his save percentage of .890 just isn’t going to cut it if the Blue Jackets want to get out of this round alive.
Osgood, on the other hand, is sitting atop a pretty cushy .978 save percentage and is getting help in front of the net by a stifling defense that is only now getting warmed up.
Shaky? I don’t think so. Fighting shots? Not so much.
Dominant? Absolutely.
Notes:
- Said Johan Franzen about Pavel Datsyuk’s uncanny ability to plant an opposing player: “As soon as somebody tries to hit him, he steps into them and makes them look bad. There’s a lot of cheering on the bench when he does that.”
- In an effort to help give their team an edge when the series shifts to Columbus the throwing of octopi onto the ice has been banned. No word on how exactly security plans to stop people from sneaking the slimy cephalopods into the arena in the first place.
I’ll be sure to read it.
And you never know. Detroit could choke just as easily. Everyone knows they’re fully capable of that. They were up 2-0 on Nashville last year and blew that lead.
and i don’t think my choking team is gonna meet up with yours…wait ’til you see my article once it is official!
I agree wholeheartedly.
good point. os-bad shouldn’t be taken personally, since it was not directed at you—it was meant as good-natured trash-talk. but it no more helps my point than your response helped yours.
The reason I called your comment asinine was because you chose to start name calling right off the bat (“Osbad” instead of Osgood) and, to put it quite bluntly, I expected better from a fellow writer.
I’ve read your stuff and you don’t need to resort to name calling to get your point across. You’re better than that.
With that being said I hope we can just agree to disagree (unless, of course, our teams meet up soon).
:)
i am glad i went from “congrats, buddy” to “my friend.”
i suspected you would try to draw the distinction between me and my comment. but if my comment was “the most asinine…all year” (and i would still like to know how it’s asinine to tell you to wait with the silencing talk ’til he stuffs a good offence or does it for more than one game), you are at the very least saying i am BEING asinine, even if you did not see it as a permanent condition.
however, i don’t think it encourages discourse, and i suggest you avoid it in the future with other comments…many people who had not had positive interaction with you in the past would just stop reading your stuff. your organization is extremely classy (my second favourite for it) and you want to reflect that.
MJ, I didn’t call you asinine. I said the statement you made was asinine. I never meant to insult your intelligence in any way my friend.
Even though you called me asinine for suggesting Osgood will struggle once he faces an offence that is not the worst in the Western Conference playoffs (though as I said, not in this series) and that you should not feel comfortable after (at the time) one good game, I do not see how he’s been “shaky.” Granted, I have not watched either game in full, but he’s looked pretty good in what little I have seen.
Still say you win in five, but lose to Vancouver…now it looks like that will be in the third round, not the second, thanks to our choking. Chicago (or Calgary) could also beat you, but I’m not picking that.
I wouldn’t say “shaky” but, you have to admit, Osgood hasn’t been tested yet. Detroit’s defense is indeed stifling and they’ve done a good job of shutting down the top line. The CBJ have the ability to get back in this series. They can’t let Detroit dictate how the game is played. They have to play “Hitch Hockey” to win.