Olympic Break Could Be Key to Success Or Failure For Detroit Red Wings

Though it was 15 years ago, I remember the Spring Break of my Senior year in high school vividly.

The day before my release from what, to my mind, was a prison with classrooms, I was called to the assistant principal's office.

Mr. Manino was a fire-plug of a man who dressed, talked, and looked like a mobster.

The kids always assumed that his thick New York accent and beat up face were signs that our Southern California high school was somehow a key strategic location for some shady doings orchestrated by wiseguys back east.

As I sat in front of this rumored mafioso, he explained to me that I was in danger of not graduating.

"You been messin' around too much, Hutter," he said. "You been acting like you ain't gonna be hurtin' if you don't start turnin' in your 'signments and stop ditchin' class. I'm tellin' ya busta, you can use dis break to pawty or laze around, or to figa out how you're gonna pull up dees grades and get outta dis place. It's up to you, spowt."

Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't know for sure that he didn't have a .38 on his ankle, or that his words just hit me at the right time; but, Mr. Manino's suggestion that I use my Spring Break to think about how I was going to turn my semester around and graduate worked.

I didn't pawty, I didn't laze around.

I read the chapters of books I was supposed to be reading all semester, I worked on a term paper that was due at the end of the year, and I figured out that, if I stopped ditching every other class, I'd probably have a pretty good chance of graduating.

I did, barely.

For the Detroit Red Wings, the Olympic Break could do for their season what my Spring Break of senior year did for me.

The Red Wings go into the Olympic Break tied with Dallas for ninth in the Western Conference.

The last time the Wings were this low in the standings this late in the season was 1990.

With 20 games left once their play resumes on March 1st against Colorado, the Wings will need to win at least 13 of these in order to reach 94 points, what most analysts are projecting to be the minimum price for eighth spot in the west.

Think about that; a 13-7 record just to get in the playoffs, forget home ice advantage.

For a team that hasn't won more than three games in a row all year, this is going to be quite a feat.

However, if their last two games prior to the Olympic Break were any indication, we may yet see playoff hockey in Detroit.

The Wings played a very solid game against the visiting San Jose Sharks last Thursday night, firing 52 pucks at goaltender Evgeni Nabokov through regulation and overtime before being downed by Patrick Marleau's shootout winner.

On Saturday night facing the Ottawa Senators, fans may have seen, for the very first time this season, the team they've come to recognize as the Detroit Red Wings.

A team that dictated the pace of the game, out-shot their opponent, executed a lethal power play, was buoyed by solid goal tending and played, for the most part, as a single entity sharing a brain.

These are the hallmarks of what has been Detroit Red Wings hockey for over 15 years, and they may be returning just in time to count for something.

That is, if the Red Wings use this break to their advantage.

For those Red Wings now making their way to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics (Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Brian Rafalski, Valtteri Filppula, and Pavel Datsyuk) their play of late is something they can carry with them onto their national teams.

With Olympic gold and national pride on the line, each player will have ample motivation to maintain the kind of consistent effort, smart play, and desperation with which the Wings have played of late.

However the games resolve, each player should be coming back to Detroit with a healthy appetite for winning.

Be they a gold medalist or a player whose team failed to make it to the medal round, the taste of success or cold hunger of defeat should infuse their NHL team with renewed vigor and determination to push as hard as they can down the stretch.

For the majority of the Red Wings however, the next two weeks will be theirs to do with as they please.

While many are sure to be relocating to numerous sunny and sandy locations for a brief time, they'd do well to acknowledge, if only to themselves, this is not party time.

Rest and relaxation may be in order, but, as Chris Osgood or Brad Stuart sip on their umbrella drinks, they may want to consider how soon they'd like to return to vacationing.

Clearly, they could be back beach side by the second week of April.

Or, they could use this time to make a conscious choice to hit the ice on March 1st as individual men on a shared mission of winning, winning and then winning some more.

Though hanging out in Florida in June, sipping Mai Thai's from Lord Stanley is an all but impossible dream this year, the Wings extending their season into May would be a huge accomplishment considering where they now sit.

The Wings aren't yet assured to miss the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, but they're dangerously close to it.

If they can use this break to reflect on just how close they are to finishing outside of the top eight, and deciding that doing so is simply not an option, the Olympic Break may just save the Red Wings' season.

However, if they simply play their games or take their rest, hoping that the next 20 games will take care of themselves, then they might as well book their tee times now, because they've already set themselves up for failure.

To a man, the message to the Detroit Red Wings regarding how the rest of their season will go should be the same.

In the immortal words of Mr. Manino, a Marine Corps vet, former boxer and a stand-up, law abiding citizen, "It's up to you, spowt".