Detroit Free Press

He had tried the slapshot. He had tried the rebound. He had tried the quick flick. So when he came down the ice early in overtime, puck on his stick, crowd on its feet, Johan Franzen, with eight failed shots on the night, made a decision for No. 9."I was gonna try," he said, "and deke him and go backhand.""Why that?" he was asked."Well, the other shots didn't seem to work."

He had tried the slap shot. He had tried the rebound. He had tried the quick flick. So when he came down the ice early in overtime, puck on his stick, crowd on its feet, Johan Franzen, with eight failed shots on the night, made a decision for No. 9."I was gonna try," he said, "and deke him and go backhand.""Why that?" he was asked."Well, the other shots didn't seem to work."

So now we enter 'Sheed's world.Looking for a 'Ship.He'll collect his T's. He'll play his D.He'll grab his 'bounds. Hit his 3's.He loves those W's. He hates an L.And you know he'll 'xplode.But what the 'ell?It's an apostrophe world, the Rasheed Wallace universe, where a 'Ship for the 'Stons is the ultimate goal. But there is no shortcutting this reality: The Pistons will go as far as Wallace takes 'em, and as far as he lets 'em.

Are you in? That's supposedly the Red Wings' playoff slogan this year, but midway through the third period Thursday night, it already had become a desperate fan's question. Are you in? That puck flying across the crease? Are you in? That shot that hit the post? Are you in? That Johan Franzen second chance? Are you in? That Pavel Datsyuk solo rush?

He has come a long way in 20 years, when he was skating for a British hockey team while teaching at a local college."Did you ever come to class with a black eye?" I ask Mike Babcock."Probably," he says.You can't get much more anonymous than the Whitley Warriors, near Newcastle upon Tyne, where Babcock, between classes, played hockey in "a barn that sat 5,000 people" and had a mesh screen instead of glass, so the puck bounced off it.