One reason the Red Wings may not be terribly disappointed to play Game 6: a potential return to the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, "one of only 21 hotels and resorts in the world to host AAA Five-Diamond lodging and dining." The team took up residence there last week, for Games 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh. And thanks in part to Gary Bettman's postseason scheduling, the Wings enjoyed an unhurried stay.

If it was the Wings' mission to get away from the distractions of downtown Pittsburgh (such as they exist), they'd have a tough time bettering themselves than in Nemacolin's isolated pampering. The resort, located about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh, is situated on 3,000 acres, features its own private airfield, a Pete Dye-designed golf course, and black bear and buffalo roaming about the property. Rooms at Nemacolin can fetch $700 a night. At that rate, Mike Babcock's crew, you'd think, was highly unlikely to encounter the typical Penguins ruffian-fan, and in point of fact the resort enforces a strict prohibition against extreme mullets.  

In an interesting irony, Nemacolin is the official resort of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Be fun to know if the Wings selected the site as a thumb in the nose of their Finals foes or if the Pens actually had a recommending hand in selecting it for the visitors.

Among the guests late last week at the resort was a contingent of Washington lobbyists, a few of whom read OFB.

"I was checking in and all of a sudden I see a stream of hockey players line up behind me," one told me. "I knew it was Detroit because each player had 'Red Wings' on his bag."

"What was so funny was for the rest of the time we were there when we'd ask about the Red Wings everyone on staff would reply 'What hockey players?' They were in button-lipped mode alright."