ANAHEIM — Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski reported to work Thursday morning, and while he won’t play in Thursday night’s fourth game of a second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings at Honda Center, he’s looking forward to getting back in the lineup as soon as possible.
Wisniewski, who suffered a lung contusion when he was struck by a shot off the stick of Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk in Tuesday’s 2-1 Ducks victory, said his goal is to be ready for Game 5 Sunday in Detroit, or certainly a potential sixth game back at Honda Center on Tuesday.
Wisniewski, who took an elbow to the face from Tomas Holmstrom of the Red Wings shortly after being hurt by the Datsyuk shot, was dubious of Holmstrom’s claims that the elbow was not intentional.
“If he says it, I have to believe it,” Wisniewski said. “I saw three different replays. I look back and see it was a blatant elbow. It’s a little bit of a gutless play.
“If it was (Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger), I’m sure all you media guys would be talking about how dirty the Anaheim Ducks are. Since it’s the Detroit Red Wings, I guess it’s OK.”
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I love James Wisniewski. He’s a better version of Matt Greene, gotta give credit to management for stealing him in exchange for the wimpy euro pahlson.
I really hope the Ducks take a big lead on the eurowings tonight, then they can afford to take runs at holmostrom without worrying about penalties and losing the game…
unbelievable the whining by wis and neid about holmstroms elbow. apparently they missed game one. let me fill them in. brown going out of his way to elbow hudler with a cheap blindside shot to the head. apparently with all the red in the building, they could not see the blood splattered on the ice. these two whiners have no business even talking about a hit. browns shot was nearly as classless as bertuzzi’s years ago. hockey fans have learned to expect this kind of whining (its ok for us but not them crap) from the west coast.
What are you talking about? There’s a big difference between Brown’s hit and Holmstrom’s dirty elbow. Mike Brown was finishing his check, and there definitely was no intent to injure there, just a clean hit, Hudler had his head down like the typical euro he his and simply got caught. On the other hand, Wis was obviously shaken up and in serious discomfort and pain and Holmstrom knew it and still went ahead with the dirty elbow to an injured player. It was disgusting and lacked honor, whereas, Brown’s hit was honorable, if if the eurowings had a problem with it, he would drop his gloves and answer the bell. You know Holmstrom or any other wing wouldn’t dare drop the gloves… No comparison, and frankly, you lack common knowledge in respect to hockey…
The big difference between brown’s check and holmstrom’s elbow is that Brown was given a 5 minute major and game misconduct (for a hit the league later determined was a “clean hit) whereas holmstrom wasn’t penalized at all. It doesn’t matter if holmstrom intended the elbow or not - it is a penalty (just like high sticking isn’t based on intent). Intent only matters in determining if it is a minor or major.
For the record, the bad refereeing has gone both ways. The interference call on Stuart was bad (like brown’s hit, it wasn’t a penalty) and the refs rewarding the red wings dives (Hossa) is pathetic. On Hossa’s disputed no-goal, did anyone hotice Hossa cross-checked Pronger into the net to get to the loose puck? As far as I’m concerned, the goal could have been disallowed on that basis.
I think the reason is most people outside of detroit hate the wings is that players like holmstrom, franzen, and hossa (really all of their players) are plenty strong when dishing it out (for example, franzen running Hiller in game 1 and holmstrom in front of the net), but complete divers when the other team takes the body. Asking for the referees to bail you and give you unjustified rewards is inherently dishonorable in a sport where, more than any other, honor and character are valued.
Mike Brown skated over sixty feet to drill a defenseless player in the head, and you don’t think that’s a dirty play? Apparently the officials did when they immediately threw him out.
The league never came out and said it was a clean hit. They merely determined that it didn’t warrant further punishment, no doubt because Brown was ejected, missed the majority of a game anyways, and that Hudler escaped serious injury.
For the record, Wisniewski got hit by Datsyuk’s shot while he was cross-checking Tomas Holmstrom in the back. None of you seem willing to acknowledge that. Forgive me if I take your ideas of ‘honor’ and ‘character’ with a grain of salt.
“On Hossa’s disputed no-goal, did anyone hotice Hossa cross-checked Pronger into the net to get to the loose puck? As far as I’m concerned, the goal could have been disallowed on that basis.”
Go back and watch the tape, and you’ll see Hossa was cross-checked into Pronger by Marchant, pretty blatantly.
Franzen didn’t run Hiller, either. Scott Nidermayer turned and tried to slew-foot Johan Franzen. Hard to stop when your foot gets kicked from behind.
You know nothing about hockey!!!! You should actually watch a game with your eyes open or even try playing. If I am not mistaken Brown took a HUGE cheap shot since Huds didn’t even have the puck. Yes. Homer should have been called for a penalty because of the elbow but it was not intentional. I can’t wait till my “Eurowings” beat your classless ducks in 6. And if you are looking for someone from Detriot to drop the gloves feel free to over and lace ‘em up. I hit you like Brown hit Hudler and then you can make a decision if it was a cheap shot or not….
Let’s start calling him “Whiny Wisniewski”! I love the Ducks, but his integrity is in question, as is his manhood, if he pretends that was a cheap shot.
Ya know, Dan…I respect you, as a journalist. But come on….
For such a dirty Team, (and they ARE dirty….see Perry’s elbows on Marleau AND his constant punches to the back of Osgood’s head….Prongers “physics”, and his HISTORY…..Brown’s “clean” hit on Hudler…..), they sure whine like a group of little girls with a scraped knee.
They can cry all they want to about what a “dirty” Team the Wings are.
Reality is, everyone, EVERYONE knows how dirty the Ducks are. It’s not some “myth”. It’s fact. Acknowledged fact.
From fans, Coaches, GM’s, journalists, to thier OWN FELLOW UNION MEMBERS.
If that’s their game, fine. It’s obviously worked for them. Looks like it may just work again.
But let’s not insult the intelligence, and eyesight, of EVERYONE who sees them as the goons and cheapshot artists they are.
Please….
DerFerret. Thanks for the respect. If you have constructive criticism, I’m all for hearing it. Keep in mind, though, that my job has nothing to do with filtering, or even necessarily evaluating, comments that someone makes to reporters. Whether it is a coach, player, general manager, whoever, if they are speaking to the media, my job is to report what they say — not to question it or evaluate it — and certainly not to change it, edit it or throw in any opinion I might have. So if your impression is that the Ducks are crying, that is certainly your prerogative. To be honest, though, I think it’s pretty easy to see that most fans’ perceptions are greatly colored by which team they are rooting for. As a professional journalist, my job is to report facts — which certainly include what coaches and athletes have to say. It is not my job to interpret those statements. That is up to you and all other readers.
Yeah, let me elbow you in the head and see how you feel. And while I’m at it, I’ll get one of my buddies to shoot a puck into your chest! How’s his integrity in question, much less his manhood? It’s questionable whether that was an intended shot by Holmstrom, but regardless, that was irresponsible of him to swing his elbows knowing there were players around him.
kinda like a basketball player getting a rebound and swinging elbows to kill.
I totally agree, classless eurowings
classless? get a clue fool…..we don’t drop the gloves because 1. we aren’t DIRTY and 2. we don’t need to. We will beat the MIGHTYDUCKS again, just like we did tonite. What a SMACKDOWN, EH? So, you’re a Kings fan, huh? Then if you saw the game it was a SMEAR huh? You’re probably a Ducks fan, embarassed to admit it!! LMFAO at you, boy….
I didn’t see the play, but Homer’s such a bad skater that he’s constantly off balance. If he’s already wrestling with one Duck in front of the net, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear he thew an elbow trying to keep his balance.
He has a history of bugging goalies, not rough stuff with defensemen. I’m inclined to believe him, but I acknowledge my bias.
I know I’m biased here as well.
But it seems to me, that Wis was all ove rHolmstrom and he got frustrated… through the elbow blindly to back Wis up and then turned to skate in the space the elbow created…
Dirtiest play int he world… no.
Dirty & Suspendable… also, no… but only cause he wears Red, not Orange.
If Pronger did that he’d be sitting tonight, no doubt.
No one has yet questioned the shot from Datsyuk. That shot was not tipped from another stick. It was one of those “once in awhile you have to waste one to send a message.” It was well placed and just shows his frustration and lack of character.
James is quickly becoming one of my favorite Ducks. If it was Prong’s elbow it would have been front page news on every hockey site. The league’s own NHL.com and NHL on the fly didn’t say a word about it.
The biaised reporting will never change when it comes to Anaheim. We are in the hockey universe’s backwater. That’s fine. We seem to work just fine out in the weeds growing stronger ready to surprise all the experts.
Amen Southsider, Amen. We “backwater” hockey folks seem to be doing just fine outside of the Canadian and East Coast hockey universes.
As a Anaheim Duck fan, I’m really amazed at how blinded our fans are to the fact that the Ducks are probably one of the most physical teams in the NHL. If there was an award for cheap shots, Correy Perry or Chris Pronger would be league leaders. Sports Illustrated just conducted a poll of NHL players, and Chris Pronger was “honored” as the dirtiest player in the league. This was a poll of his own peers. Pronger has been suspended by the NHL 8 times for hits or other infractions, twice during the 2007 playoffs. The Ducks are obviously trying to emulate the success of the Philadelphia Flyers of the Bobby Clarke era, the grindem into the glass, Rope a Dope Canadian style that emphasizes grit over skill and size over talent. Don’t get me wrong, the Ducks do have talent, but not as deep as the Detroit bench. In order to match up properly, the Ducks will have to push the envelope, and not spend too much time in the box and try to take Detroit off their game. If Hiller can continue to stop the puck as he has, the chances of a Red Wing Repeat grow slim.
The Ducks and their fans, from my experience make no excuses for the physical style…
the 70’s had the Broadstreet Bullies, the 00’s have the Katella killers.
The complaints are not so much about calls against the Ducks, as they are about the lack of calls against other teams.
The Diving by Detroit is ridiculous, It may make me a bad person, but to be honest, I’m just hoping at some point here the Ducks have a big enough lead in a game that they can send Holmstrom a message on behalf of Wiz.
OK, even someone who doesn’t understand statistical analysis should understand that a “poll” of about half of all NHL players where they are required to pick a player who is NOT on their own team is far from accurate. I’m guessing the “poll” was conducted before Avery was banished from Dallas so that cost him 20+ votes from the rest of the Dallas Stars! Remember that the last time they did this “poll” Avery was the runaway winner with over 20% of the votes compared to Pronger and Ott each getting only 13% this time.
LOL…Holy Krap, After reading comments from eric and steve o….I’m at a loss of words. Neither of you know krap about this Northern sport. Get a clue. Let’s see, Datsyuk DELIBERATELY fired the puck…from 50 ft., trying to hurt your D man. If he was that accurate with a laser shot the Wings would be up 3-0. He’d just bury em’ top shelf in the corner all day. Ah, Holmstrom was right there with Wis.(getting tied up)and it’s D-mens job to get in front of…and BLOCK shots fool. Eric, you don’t “finish” checks(and charge)by trying to take a guys head off with your shoulder, while in FULL flight. If Hudler wouldn’t have returned, it would have been a suspension, for sure. As for Holmstrom, he has the mosy UNDESIRABLE job in hockey. NOBODY gets ABUSED like this guy…ELBOWS, CROSSCHECKS, STICK JABS and so on. Yet he still skates in front of that crease, knowing he’s going to be MUGGED!! They don’t call that GUTLESS where I come from. My guess is, Anaheim is chomping at the bit to do their mugging act, so they cry the victim now in hopes of a free pass. Clearly, the only thing containing that behavior is that Detroit PP. If I’m Detroit, I dress McCarty and Downey and let’s get this settled and move on to hockey. BTW, that EURO Erickson beat the snot out of that little Prick Perry. I’m sure Perry’s seen enough of him.
Actually, the Ducks are not my team. I’m a Kings fan, but I do appreciate true hockey wherever it is, and currently, the Ducks play the most true form of hockey on this planet, so I will continue to watch and cheer them on until other teams follow suit, especially the Kings!
As for Erickson, he didn’t beat the snot out of the feisty, skilled, gritty, full of heart Perry; instead, he won by decision, I didn’t see any damage on Perry’s face buddy.
As for Holmstrom, I will agree that he plays an undesirable role, but I have news for you, HE GETS PAID FOR IT! If he didn’t play that type of style, he wouldn’t play in the NHL genius. Where I come from, he is gutless. If you’re going to throw dirty elbows, you should answer the bell instead of crying to the refs and hiding.
Also, I do know a lot about the “northern sport” and I have much respect for it. You may know a little about it, but not enough. If you want, I may have an opening in my class for you- I can teach you what real hockey is all about you Euro lover…
Actually, it sounds like you don’t know anything that Don Cherry doesn’t tell you.
DUCK FANS PICK ONE TO DESCRIBE YOUR TEAM: 1. SMOKED 2. SPANKED 3. DOMINATED 4. JUST SHOWING THEIR TRUE COLORS 5. ALL OF THE ABOVE THE CORRECT ANSWER IS 5. OUCH THAT HAD TO HURT!!! YOU GUYS ARE DONE LIKE DINNER!! I COULDN’T HEAR THE ANNOUNCERS ON VERSUS THE WINGS FANS WERE SO LOUD THERE!! LMFAO IS ALL I GOTTA SAY…. DIRTYBOY PRONGER CAN MAKE HIS TEE TIMES NOW….
Time for an anecdote (that means a story, for you cali undereducated types)…. I lived up the street from some kids who were BAD. Always getting in trouble with the law, the parents would openly declare ‘my kids are angels.’ A bunch of THUGS! Kinda like how you turds honor Pronger, THE dirtiest player, probably of all time!! And you people are PROUD of your thug-boy, just like my neighbors were of their little criminal kids!! 234 nhl players aren’t wrong, fools.
You guys are DONE. 6-3. Wow did we smoke you tonite. Wings heading at you like a FREIGHT TRAIN!
wisniewski sounding a bit like coach carlysle, huh?
“WAAAAAAHHHHH WAAAAAAHHHHH”
Another crybaby…..
It seems one thing Ducks fans are forgetting is that Selanne and Hiller are “Euro-trash.” They’re the only two that have showed up this series for the Ducks. Call them what you want but from what I’ve seen the past 10-15 years Euro players are out-playing Canadians and Americans. Trashing the best players in the sport makes you look racist. Just like your messiah Don Cherry.
GO WINGSSSSSSSS!!!!!