Shaved Ice – April 29

Playoff hockey in the D.

They did it. The Red Wings managed to increase their consecutive playoff appearance streak to 22 seasons after beating the Stars Saturday night in Dallas. Detroit’s four-for-four performance in the final week also moved them out of the No. 8 spot and into the seventh, which means they will take on the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. The first-round playoff schedule is:

After looking at those 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. start times, it seems like a good time to point out that starting next season, the Wings won’t have to start the playoffs on the West Coast.

The Grand Rapids Griffins evened their series with the Houston Aeros last night, posting a 3-2 win in Game 2. Now, the first-round series shifts to Van Andel Arena and stays there – the Griffins will be the home team for the duration of the series. We’ll be there Wednesday for Game 3.

The Plymouth Whalers’ season came to a close on Friday, despite a remarkable comeback. Plymouth erased a 4-0 deficit to force overtime, only to watch Max Domi score 20 seconds into the extra period.

Team Michigan fell in the championship game of the Chicago National Invitational high school hockey tournament. Great showing by the boys to make a return trip to the final after winning it all last season.

No caption necessary.

The NHL playoff match-ups:

Western Conference
Chicago vs. Minnesota
Anaheim vs. Detroit
Vancouver vs. San Jose
St. Louis vs. Los Angeles

Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh vs. New York (Islanders)
Montreal vs. Ottawa
Washington vs. New York (Rangers)
Boston vs. Toronto 

The NHL Draft lottery takes place tonight, and the Florida Panthers hold a 25 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick. Hopefully Edmonton doesn’t get the top pick again.

Team USA came up short in the gold-medal game against Canada yesterday at the U-18 World Championship. However, it’s the 10th straight year that the U.S. returns home with a medal. Not bad.

And Corey Potter kicks off this week’s Michi-gamer selections after two goals for the Oilers on Friday night.

The last time the Red Wings didn’t make the playoffs, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” had just started on TV. Click here to see a bunch of other things that were going on in the world the last time the NHL didn’t have the Red Wings joining them for postseason play.

Oh yeah, and here’s highlights from Saturday’s Red Wings game.

See you later today.