Backtime Dateline: Hockeytown

Detroit is a great sports town but one of its beloved sports teams is MIA. It hasn't been on my radar much, I haven't followed hockey with any regularity since I was in my early 20s. But I know the Red Wings are a big thing around here, and for the second time in less than ten years their fans may be deprived of even a single game this season.

I know that the absence of hockey hasn't made much of a dent in the national sports landscape (which is part of the owners' point in hard-lining player salary structures), but it does affect a lot of people. That includes the mostly-local TV crew I am working with here in Detroit, who count on the home NHL team to provide 40 events they can put on their calendar - not including playoffs.

But what else is lost, is the identity of a city, and a fan base that may not return even after the sport does.

As a baseball guy first, I remember the MLB labor dispute in 1994 and what it cost my team. The Yankees were 70-43 and dominating the AL East. Paul O'Neill was hitting .359 and Jimmy Key was 17-4 when the season was interrupted and then ultimately disbanded.

What if the season had been completed? How would life have been different for Buck Showalter? Don Mattingly? Joe Girardi?

Only the Montreal Expos had a better record in 1994. But what if they went on to win it all? Could they have kept Pedro Martinez or Larry Walker a little longer? Could the franchise have been saved?

But today in the NHL, in Hockeytown, there aren't even "what ifs," only ifs.

Cross-Checking Game Sevens: Wings Wake-Up Call, Cardiac 'Canes Do It Again

Those manic Hockeytowners have survived one more round. The defending champ Red Wings took out previous champ Anaheim in the West semis, but let their fans stew in self-doubt for 6 games and 57 minutes before advancing.

So the NHL Final Four is here, featuring four working-class cities synonymous with hockey: Detroit, Chicago, Boston, and Raleigh.

That's right, the Carolina Hurricanes, the 2006 Stanley Cup champs are back on the threshold after a second improbable series win.

The team that left broken hearts behind in Hartford continue to succeed in the 919, and are getting downright dramatic about it. In the opening round, they were 80 seconds away from elimination in Newark, before scoring twice in regulation to stun Martin Brodeur, the Garden State faithful, and the hockey world.

Then in Round 2, the Hurricanes blew a 3-1 series lead and had to go back to Boston to win a Game 7 against a hostile crowd. They had to beat Goalie Tim Thomas, who was often "standing on his head" and had to overcome the mojo of our favorite hockey fan:

The Hurricanes finally beat Thomas on a rebound toward the end of the first extra session. Bruins fans still saluted their team after their best season in a long time.

But Boston faithful don't get much of a breather after the Bs were eliminated. The Cs host Orlando on Sunday night and it will be the 3rd Game Seven at the New Boston Garden in a fortnight.

In fact, there will be two Game Sevens in the NBA on Sunday, including the bi-polar Lakers taking on the under-manned, over-compensating Houston Rockets. More appointment viewing ahead this weekend.