Second City Hockey: FanPosts

SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice

2010-03-20T00:48:02Z

>> Take SB Nation Survey

Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.

So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.

By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.

You can take the survey HERE

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT

Thanks for your support!

Letter to Soupy from Hjalmarsson

2010-03-16T20:10:36Z

Editor's Note - In these trying times, humor is the best medicine. With that, I'm pleased to bump this entry from ChicagoNativeSon to the main page. Job well done, sir. --McClure

Dear Soupy, (I still don't get how that rhymes with Brian or Campbell? Plus you look more like that Dinty Moore kid to me. Maybe "Stewy" then?)

Please hurry back. I heard in the media and on numerous blogs that you're just "milking it". I hope that's true and you'll be on the ice soon because as you know, milk builds strong bones and does a body good. As usual, Coach Q won't tell us anything and just keeps repeating "He's got a shoulder. He's got a rib." I already knew that, duh!! I wish people wouldn't keep me in the dark on these things. Maybe my English is still not so good...

Kim Johnsson is really starting to freak me out and I'm worried about this upcoming road trip. New "partner" doesn't translate very well into Swedish and last night I found him sleeping in my ASPELUND. He also keeps making sexual innuendos about his MEATBALLS and singing in the TOFTBO that "Salty Balls" song by South Park's "Chef". I think I'll sleep with the LJUSÅS UVÅS on.

I mentioned this to Keith and Seabs in the locker room. Duncs told me not to worry and that he'd "watch my back" (I never noticed he was such close-talker before). He offered to let me crash in their room and suggested we buy some Absolut and rent Swedish movies from the 70's. (I'm so glad he's finally willing to expand his cultural horizons!) Seabs has been giving me dirty looks all day though, so I might just sleep in the hallway. Hopefully Kaner doesn't trip over me.

What's bothering me even more are the media headlines. On Monday, a story in the Trib read, "Due to Campbell's Absence, Hjalmarsson Plays with Johnsson". This is really misleading. I even got an email from my mom back home and I think I'm grounded. Then yesterday at practice, I accidentally highsticked Kim above his lip. Of course, minutes later JayZ twitters "Hjalmarsson Sticks Johnsson in Mouth." This has to stop.

The straw that broke the reindeer's back though was what happened after practice. Kopecky was home taking care of Hossa, so Kim and I figured we'd pick up the slack and fake bitch-slap Niemi around. (It's really more of a Scandinavian thing anyways. Kopecky's such a poser) Well, as I sat down at my JOKKMOKK to write this, I googled "Blackhawks" to see how to spell my name. Of course, there on my own team's website, "Hammer Smacks 'Aunty's' Face with Johnsson." Are you fucking kidding me??

Well, needless to say I miss you.

Your ~~partner~~ bud,

Niklas ~~Hammerstein~~ ~~Hjammerson~~ Hjalmarsson

P.S. This new guy Boynton is such a pain. He must have watched too much Muppets as a kid and keeps calling me "Chef". He denies it, but every time he skates past I can hear him mumble "Börk, börk, börk." What a dick! Eager thinks Boynton's funny though, but that's probably because he still watches Sesame Street.

Past the name calling, why Huet must be on the bench

2010-03-13T22:39:39Z

No matter how "pissed" he was after this afternoon's meltdown, chokers choke. There is no way to make a donkey into a horse. Huet is not as winner. That is the difference between an Osgood (we may hate the scum, but he wins), as an example and Huet. Osgood plays better when it matters most, Huet finds a way to lose. Play Niemi, his play is better when it matters most. Niemi also makes plays to bail out his teamates mistakes, thats what winning goalies do. Huet rarely comes up with the big save to bail out his team (can't remember one actually). Huet is defended to the death by the media, but that can not defend what we all see. He has the heart of a sheep.

Coach Q, you are a good coach, we are glad you're here. Soon we all will wonder why you continue to put our season at risk by playing Huet. I can tell by the look on your face that you know Huet will never be a winner. I can also see that you believe that Niemi is. Let him play. We have no time anymore to worry about feelings. Huet can sit on the bench and mope. I don't care. I want the cup.

Hawks Nicknames

2010-03-12T23:59:00Z

Been lurking around this site for a while and finally decided to register. Most educational and entertaining Hawks blog I've seen so thanks to everyone who contributes. Anyways, I caught the Sharp Attack segment on the Eric and Kathy show yesterday and they were discussing some newspaper piece that came out recently on the Hawks' lesser known nicknames. Some of them were actually pretty amusing, notably Versteeg's tendency to give himself nicknames like Verstud and Verbeauty!!! Sharp confirmed it too - said that Steeger even sews these names on the inside of his custom made suits. Thought you might find this entertaining so here you go.

Introducing myself...

2010-03-10T15:29:31Z

Hey everyone. I just found out about this board, and decided to join immediately. For the 99.9% of you who don't know who I am, my name is Jay Zawaski. I'm the producer of the Danny Mac Show on the Score, Hawks playoff postgame show host on the score, and author of the Red Light District blog on Chicagonow.com. I'm looking forward to a new hockey board. Thanks for haviing me.

What do I need to know about this place?

Chicago Sports Radio Sucks

2010-03-09T19:37:58Z

I just ran out to grab lunch , and I happened to scan my AM670 and they were talking about the Hawks anthem. They were trying to figure out how it started, and they had no idea. People were texting them saying it was when Iran released the hostages when Regan took office, and all kinds of crap.

Then the one guy said he has an issue when Jim Cornelison sings "our flag was still there" that he point at the flag.

Really?

How pathetic. It's not so much that they didn't know, but they just were guessing and apparently dont know about "the google".

So for the idiots on the radio here is the real story, thanks to Puck Daddy for running it and Jeff Bartl for writing it so well. And for the fans that just never heard the history, here it is. Personally, because of how it started, I love the tradition even more.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yg29am7

Chicago’s National Anthem tradition

I get chills discussing what this feels like. I even interviewed current Anthem singer Jim Cornelison for my blog before the season because I needed to know what goes through his mind attempting to sing over 20,000 screaming fans before each home game.

The tradition started when the Blackhawks returned home for Game 3 of the 1985 Campbell Conference Finals trailing mighty Edmonton 2-0. The fans were so ecstatic, they began cheering during warm-ups and didn’t stop. They cheered through the National Anthem, throughout the entire game and saw their Blackhawks get back into the series.

When Chicago hosted the 1991 NHL All-Star Game just days after the Gulf War began, the tradition reached its pinnacle and inspired the country when Wayne Messmer bellowed out the tune over a packed house waving American flags and displaying signs supporting the troops.

I’ve never heard a stadium so loud than when I was in attendance for Game 1 against the Calgary Flames in last season’s playoffs. I couldn’t even hear Cornelison, it was THAT crazy at the United Center. Over 20,000 people standing, clapping and cheering at the top of their lungs to get behind their team is inspiring. It’s a tradition that’s stuck for nearly 25 years and will continue before each game as long the franchise exists. If you’ve never experienced this, you need to.

Here is a youtube link of the anthem during the all star game so you can see first hand why this became a tradition.

Anyways, the I’d be more offended at the dudes starting hawks chants than the cheering at the national anthem, as it’s more about patriotism than hockey imo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpxVE_kQXg&feature=player_embedded

Idea (Category - Pipe Dream)

2010-03-06T23:55:36Z

The Olympics got me thinking about what elements of that tournament could be adopted by the NHL to capture some of the excitement that it brings.

One element that seems interesting is the fear of sudden death during the single elimination tournament. The Canadian players who had to go through the play in round compared it to having to win four consecutive Game 7's. I don't think it makes much sense to alter the NHL playoff format, but they are right that the sudden death tournament added to the excitement.

So why not scrap the All-Star game in favor of a mid-season single elimination tournament? I don't think this idea has a snowball's chance in hell, but it does make some sense in some ways. Explanation after the jump.

One likely complaint against scrapping the 5 day All-Star break is that for the non-All Star's you are eliminating their midseason break. Once you see my proposal you'll see that most teams are still getting just as long a break as they normally would (in many cases more), except for the final few teams that are playing to the end. That's not much different than what happens now where two full teams worth of players (in this case the league's superstars) are playing hockey over the 5 day break, while the rest of the league probably gets a 2-3 day vacation, once you factor in travel and practice. If the league were to instead feature a 10 day long single elmination tournament, they could still find a little time to give each team some extra days during the course of the season where even this year the Hawks took a 2 week break for the Olympics and still have had some extended breaks during the season. This is very doable.

The other negative issue is the locations/logistics. Especially at the beginning you're going to need someplace or places that can accomodate a large number of hockey games in a short amount of time and you're going to want to host the games someplace where there is enough fan interest to get some bodies in the seats.

So here's my suggestion, the NHL has 30 teams, or two conferences of 15. You give the top seed in each conference a first round bye, so that after the first round you're left with 16 teams (14 winners and 2 bye teams), and then you proceed from there. Let's say you start the tournament on a Friday in February and finish the following Sunday. Here's a sample breakdown:

Friday - Round 1, each conference's teams 2-15 play (14 games total, 14 losing teams get at least a 9 day break)

Sunday - Round 2, features all remaining teams (8 games total, 8 losing teams get at least 7 day break)

Tuesday - Round 3, features Round 2 winners (4 games total, 4 losing teams get at least a 4 day break)

Friday - Final 4 play

Sunday - Championship game

To accomodate for the extra games reduce the number of non-tourney regular season games from 82 to 80. Also, settle all tourney games by the same point awarding rules as any other regular season games. Sure, at the end of the season some teams will have won standings points because they played more games than other teams by winning games in the tourney, but that's the reward for winning in the tourney. By doing it this way the average number of games played for all teams will fall just under 82, which is comparable to what happens now.

Under this scenario, 26 of the 30 NHL teams will get at least a 4 day break, and 22 of those teams will get at least a 7 day break, so the bulk of the NHL players will still get a lot of mid-seaon rest. For the remaining 4 teams that play their way late into the tournament, they will have an opportunity to earn extra standings points that will make a large difference when it comes to trying to qualify for the playoffs and/or trying to earn home ice. And there's an incentive to try and win the tournament games because the reward comes in the form of very valuable standings points.

Also you could probably create some cool trophy with a cool name to award to the tourney winner.

I think that would be a lof of fun, at least as much fun as All Star weekend. You could still name an All Star team (which I thought they should have done this year) without having to play the game, there's no reason not to recognize the players. And I've got to think that this scenario would generate more revenue for the league than the All Star weekend does. You could still entertain all the same sponsors/bigshots that you do at the All Star game as you could at the final four weekend, only these games would matter.

Unfortunately it will never happen because 1) the NHL can't do anything right, 2) purists will whine, and 3) logistically it's hard to pull off. #3 is admittedly difficult. But they figured out a way to play hockey in Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, there's got to be a way to figure this out as well. I just wish it wasn't such a pipe dream, this would be a lot of fun.

Thoughts from a lurker: Goalies, Comments, and Gibberish

2010-03-04T20:29:01Z

Just a quick disclaimer. I've been a hawks fan all of my life. I used to be able to see them when I was a kid. But due to a lot of reasons, it became impossible to continue to afford tickets to the games during their lean years. Which was, pretty much, the majority of my life. And since they weren't on television, I didn't really see much of them, nor was able to really "support" them during the dark ages. I also want to say that I've always enjoyed reading SCH and have spent a lot of time these past two years since the Hawks have been back on TV.

But something really started to irk me during the live blogging of the trade deadline. First of all, someone posted the Red Eye article about the bandwagon fans. I think what bothered me there was everyone complaining about fans that yell, "SHOOT!" Well, I'm a very vocal fan. I'm yelling at the athletes no matter what the sport. And, for example, against Islanders when Hossa was 5 feet from the net and couldn't decide to pass or shoot (and ended up whiffing), I was screaming "SHOOT THE PUCK!" at the TV. Like Edzo says, it's never a bad idea to direct the puck towards the net." And when I see the Hawks dancing for 2 shifts in the opponent's end like the Harlem Globetrotters (which is a good thing) and not get a shot off, yeah, I'm a lil' annoyed. I don't see how that is any different from the people on here that complain about the lack of Versteeg(!) dumping the puck, or Byflugien being constipated on the ice. Or posting pictures of clown shoes.

On to the goalies. It is a very polarizing issue, I get that. I don't like Huet. I think he is overpaid for what he brings to the team. And Niemi has the ability to be good, I think, but not yet. The goalie situation is quite possibly the weakest link of the Blackhawks, right behind the sloppy defensive play of late. People want the weakest link to be shored up a bit. I don't understand the backlash against people complaining about the goalies. I get that it is an old subject, and people have been bitching about Huet all season, and that it can be tiring to continue hearing about it, but it is a valid concern. If our defense is off, our goalies can't seem to pick up the slack. Will that be fatal in a cup run? Maybe. Maybe not. Nobody knows the answer. Even Josh Mora said he was concerned in the podcast. Reading the comments about the goalie situation is like being in a room with PS3 owners facing off against 360 owners. Seriously, you're both right and both sides have a fair amount of cognitive dissonance goin on there...So the personal attacks and idiocy on both sides has led me to stop reading the comments on this site, which I used to enjoy.

And a quick aside, I've seen a couple times where comments have talked about the psyche of the players and their body language and whatnot. I have a Master's in psychology and am working on my Ph.D. To listen to people in the comments say that Huet giving in soft goals doesn't impact the thought process and the feeling of the players on the ice is sheer...well...naiveté. The Hawks DOMINATED that first period against the Oilers. Got up one goal. And then it came crashing down. Someone said in the game thread "Is it too much to ask to see the hawks play angry for a period." Well, it took a while but they finally did. Other nights they haven't. If you paid attention you could see the Hawks struggling to regain that anger and drive. Eventually they did, thanks in part to Eager, Toews, and yes, even Kopecky.

I could go on for a while on this, but the simple fact is that is that you cannot say that the stress level of the defense is not extremely high. Almost every time they make a mistake, one of the goalies let's in a goal. That pressure could very easily lead to more mistakes. So the goalie situation is a very real problem. I don't think there is any question there. If only for the fact that we pay nearly $6 million for an average goalie. The question, though, is: "How big of a problem is it?" Only time will tell.

So I guess what I've been trying to say is that I used to enjoy reading the comments on this blog. And getting different people's perspectives regarding things like the goalie situation. I enjoy having my positions challenged and being forced to examine other's perspectives. But with the amount of vitriol in the comments lately has become overwhelming whenever the goalies are brought up. Both sides are right. It is a problem, but it also isn't. It is as much as a problem as the cap space. It is a problem, just not yet. Will the goalies be the Hawk's downfall? Time will tell. Snapping at people that complain about the goalies is a bit hypocritical when you are quick to point out the downfalls of every other player on the ice, like Steeger, Kopecky, and Seabs.

I have to echo the thoughts of the other fanposts. As I write this the Hawks are now first in the division. First in the conference. Second in the entire league. They have a +54 goal differential, second only to the Capitals. Their PP% is 7th. Their PK is 6th. They average the most shots per game in the entire NHL. They still have the fewest shots against. Both our goalies have a Sv% above .90 and a GAA below 2.5. As much as I don't like Huet and think Niemi needs experience, we've won 42 out of 63 games.

The Hawks can seemingly dominate every statistical category (save goaltending) most nights. Toews is a monster. Kane's face lights up after an assist. It is a fun team to watch. It is an aggravating team to watch. They are not a perfect team; they have flaws. And if you want to bitch about one thing, don't snap at people that bitch about another. Because in the end, it's all just bitching about a team that just keeps on winning. Even when they do play like shit.

I apologize for the ramblings, but I just needed to vent after getting so annoyed at the comments these past couple of days.

5 on 5 Play

2010-03-04T15:32:41Z

Well, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get my ass kicked on this one, but does anyone else here find it troubling that the Hawks have just been outscored 7-2 by the Islanders (5-0) and Oilers (2-2) during 5 on 5 play? We're talking the Islanders and Oilers here folks. I know that shaky goaltending and turnovers contributed to this. However, I think that the way the Hawks dominate play, there should be more scoring while playing 5 on 5. While I have only referenced the last two games, this has been going on for awhile. The Hawks are good at playing 4 on 4, and pick up a power play or shorthanded goal every once in awhile, but I just feel these are situations that shouldn't be relied on as a source of scoring.

Hockey! Blood! Tacos! Pictures from Saturday in Rockford

2010-03-03T04:25:20Z

Contrary to popular belief, I do have more to contribute than smart ass remarks and the occasional picture of clown shoes. I bring you photos from "Taco Bell Blackhawks Night" at the Rockford IceHogs game this past Saturday.

I had bought my tickets a couple of weeks ago with the hopes of scoring some autographs and a great hockey game. I got one out of two at least. I ended up picking up KofC on the way as she wanted to go and had luckily grabbed a ticket before they sold out. So after a stop at the IceHogs store at the local mall (I bought a puck), food and a walk around downtown Rockford (they have some cool old signs and buildings down there) we headed over to the MetroCentre.

There was already a long line to get in - they opened the doors up shortly before six. Myself and my gf headed directly to the line for the autographs. I had brought three pucks I got for an early bday present to get signed, and my gf was tasked with getting my brother's Versteeg jersey signed. The line was ginormous - the had the cattle gates set up and it resembled the lines at Great America in July. Apparently at some point the line stretched almost completely around the arena. After an hour, we had just reached the cattle gates and guys left for the pregame festivities. Before they did, I ran over and snuck a couple pictures by the signing table:

You can see Mike Haviland and Niemi in the foreground. TOFTBO, Versteeg, Fraser and Brouwer are behind the burly man in the suit. After they all left, we decided we paid to see the game, so instead of waiting for them to come back at the intermission, we'd head for the seats. We ended up sitting just inside the blue line of the goal the Hogs shot at twice.

As you've probably seen, the Hawks came onto the ice for the ceremonial puck drop via convertibles. Here is Niemi & Versteeg's ride:

Meanwhile, Fraz, Brouwer and TOFTBO await the second convertible:

I really want to know what they were laughing about. Any thoughts?

Onto the game, here are some familiar faces:

Corey Crawford

Jake Dowell & Bryan Bickell

The early highlights included two beatdowns. The one in the first period involved the Hogs' Kyle Hagel and the Rivermens' Mitch Love (yes, that's his name):

Hagel went to the dressing room afterward to get a little sewing on his face. He was back out in the second period. And of course a great fight is always followed by the scraping of the blood off the ice:

The second period featured a scrap between Adam Hobson & Ryan Reaves:

Hobson has the classic post fight expression:

As for the game itself, it was fairly evenly matched. The Rivermen scored in the second. Skille had a sweet breakaway that he missed on (Doh!). In the third, the IceHogs got a powerplay for goalie interference with less than two minutes in regulation, and with Crawford pulled, Bracken Kearns tied the game at 1 with 12 seconds remaining. That was very exciting - I would have been disappointed to not see the Hogs score at least once. After a scoreless overtime, it went to everyone's favorite skills competition.

Akim Aliu was the first shooter and scored.

Matt Keith was the second shooter and also scored. By the way, that's our newest Finnish goalie, Hannu Toivonen (he of the slow motion net pratfalls).

Crawford made the first two saves. The third Hogs shooter was Skille and he missed. The Rivermen scored on their third attempt. Since the AHL goes to five shooters (which I wasn't aware of and prematurely started cheering, thinking the game was over), and the final two rounds were scoreless, the game ended in a 2-1 shootout win for the IceHogs!

Overall I had a great time, and I will definitely try to catch at least one more game this season. And bless KofC's heart for putting up with my inherent dorkiness. I don't know how my gf puts up with me sometimes.

One last thing. I would be remiss if I didn't put a picture of this guy on here:

This little man in the taco costume had me in stitches all night. I don't know if he wore his taco costume in honor of Taco Bell or just felt like it, but I salute him!

Getting creamed by the Islanders is just what this team needs

2010-03-03T02:24:12Z

A big fat slice of humble pie is PRECISELY what the Blackhawks need. Their play the 15 games preceding the Olympic break were iffy in too many regards. A beatdown at the hands of the New York Friggin Islanders is the super duper attitude adjustment that this team needs.

Memo to Stan Bowman....fire the weapon on Vocoun if that option does indeed exist. Pony up Versteeg, Crawford and Beach. The window to win a Cup is THIS SEASON. So get a deal done. If you have to overpay, then overpay.

Magic Numbers

2010-03-02T21:21:17Z

December 17th, 1991...........A chubby young boy opens up a paper door labeled "17" on his chocolate Christmas calendar, takes out the piece of molded chocolate, crams it into his mouth, and then happily counts the number of days until Christmas. The boy makes sure no one else is around before opening up the number 18 door of the identical calendar that sits next to his and then consumes that bit of chocolate before closing the small paper door as if it had not been opened at all. What can we deduce about this young boy?

1) He may be south suburban Chicago's version of Augustus Gloop.

2) He enjoys pissing off the owner of the second calendar, his little sister.

3) He loves counting down to special events.

The third point is the key folks, find out why after the jump.

Common amongst baseball fans in September is the observance of their favorite team's magic number. Baseball's number is easy to understand, it is simply any combination of your team's wins + opposing team losses that is needed for your team to win its division, league, etc.

Hockey's magic number, while not too difficult to understand, is a bit more complicated and there are many more interesting scenarios to keep track of. With our Blackhawks having a nice lead in the division and in the playoff hunt, hawk fans are to the point in which magic numbers can be useful to look at, if you are into that sort of thing.

With 21 games left to play, here are the Magic numbers.

The creator of the site has also provided a useful page of FAQs, I will highlight some of the more important ones.

To get one team's magic number over another team, here is the formula. (the team with the greater number of points is A, the team with the lesser number of points is B)

I will use the Hawks and Nashville as an example, so this would be the Hawks magic number to win the division and obtain a top 3 seed.

# of points that B has = 71

max number of points B can earn for the rest of the season = Nashville has played 61 games, they have 21 left. A win each game would be 2 X 21 = 42.

# of points that A has = 87

71 + 42 - 87 = 26

As you can see from the magic number website, the Hawks' magic number over Nashville is 27.

An additional point has been added as a tie breaker.

Here is my understanding of the tiebreaker point.

The number of games B has left is Z. In this case Z = 21.

For team A to achieve the magic number (26) on its own, it would need X wins. In this case X = 13.

if X > Z, there is no need to add 1 point to the magic number

if X < Z, add 1 point to the magic number

In the Hawks-Nashville example, 13 (X) < 21 (Z), so the magic number of 26 goes to 27.

To me, the most practical way to use this magic number in countdown fashion is this.

If Nashville plays a game and loses in regulation, take 2 pts off of the magic number.

If Nashville plays a game and loses in overtime, take 1 pt off of the magic number.

If Nashville plays a game and wins, the magic number doesn't change.

If Chicago plays a game and loses in regulation, the magic number doesn't change.

If Chicago plays a game and loses in overtime, take 1 pt off the magic number.

If Chicago plays a game and wins, take 2 pts off the magic number.

As you can see, the most points a magic number can be reduced in one day is 4. The least amount of points a magic number can be reduced in one day is 0.

A quick example: The hawks play tonight against NY, the preds also play tonight. Hawks win and nashville loses in regulation, the magic number is now down to 23.

In closing, I'd like to leave you with some noteworthy magic numbers.

Hawks to secure a top 3 seed.................27

Hawks to secure the 2 seed....................32

Hawks to secure a playoff spot................23

Hawks to obtain top seed in the West.......42

Hawks to obtain the Presidents' trophy......43

and that's a magic number.

Happy counting,

Augustus Hack

Blackhawks talking to Leafs about Huet (Espn source)

2010-03-02T17:04:01Z

Source: Hawks in talks with Leafs about Huet

via us-poker-sites.com

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/blackhawks/post/_/id/4662137/source-hawks-in-talks-with-leafs-about-huet

NEW YORK -- The Chicago Blackhawks are discussing a trade that would send goaltender Cristobal Huet to the Toronto Maple Leafs for defenseman Jeff Finger, according to a league source.

The Hawks also would include at least a draft pick, the source said.

The NHL trade deadline is Thursday.

Discuss.

Blackhawks night in Rockford & The Goalkeeper Swap (Icehogs GM comments)

2010-03-02T16:40:19Z

So the trade of Joe Fallon from the Chicago Blackhawks (Icehogs) in exchange for goaltender Hannu Toivonen (Rivermen) and defenceman Danny Richmond. (rivermen) has gone down.

I heard Icehogs GM Marc Benard on Rockford's 104.9 WXRX talking about the Blackhawks night and the trades.

via www.icehogs.com

Video of Blackhawks night here http://blackhawks.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=894&id=61310

His comments after the jump

If you've never been to an Icehogs game in Rockford here's a quick rundown.

The Icehogs came to Rockford in 1999 at a UHL team, the Blackhawks brought an AHL team in 2007 and moved them to Rockford and kept the Icehogs name. In the final year of the Icehogs in the UHL, the team won their first and only championship in a 7 game series. (which was amazing)

The Blackhawks signed a 10 year 100 Million deal to have their affiliate in Rockford. The money quickly went to fixing up the arena which is now really nice. It seats around 6100 to capacity for hockey, more for concerts and other events.

On Saturday night, the Icehogs held, Blackhawks night. Former Icehogs Fraiser, Versteeg (icehogs PIM leader, lol), Hjalmersson, Brouwer, Niemi, and coach Mike Havland all came to Rockford for the game. After the sellout game (I didn't get tickets, I was parking and was told it sold out :/ ) the Icehogs GM was on the radio the next day.

He had some interesting comments.

The two hosts of the radio show Jim Stone and Double T, both work for the Icehogs. They are on the ice for the intermission games, and promos. Stone also interviews players during intermission and give live comments during the game at ice level. The games are broadcast on 1330 WNTA. It's a weak signal even in Rockford, but the online streams are great. ( I listen on my iphone with WnderRadio).

On the radio Monday, Stone said that he heard complaints about the players not signing long enough. People waiting in line and not getting autographs. This is when GM Marc Bernard was brought in to comment.

He said that this is the first time the Hogs did something like this, and it's unprecedented. Have 5 NHL players and a coach come to their AHL team, for free, really hasn't been done. He said they had the idea and called the Blackhawks PR office. He was told to just call the players directly, so he did. All the players agreed. They did this for free, on probably the last Saturday night they'll have off this season. So this was pretty awesome, he said, especially knowing that players usually make some nice cash for personal appearances. The plan was to have the guys come out, sign before the game, drop the puck, and sign after the 1st period and then drive home.

What ended up happening was that the guys had a great time, stayed the whole game, and it was a very special night. The Hogs played The Peoria Rivermen (St Louis Blues) that night and won the close one in a shootout. Tickets sold out 3 hours before the game, which I believe is the 2nd sellout this season. (Rockford leads the AHL in attendance). During the game Marc Benard said he was sitting with the Rivermen's GM Kevin McDonald. He said McDonald was blow away at the energy and turnout at the game. He said they tried to do something similar with the Rivermen alumni now playing with the Blues, and basically the players refused. This says a lot about the character of our Blackhawks, we keep talking and hearing about how great these guys are off the ice, and this is a nice example to point to.

(photo gallery of Blackhawks night in Rockford Saturday Feb 27, 2010 http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/gallerylanding.htm?id=13716 )

They said they would be doing it again, but it might be harder next year because the olympic break helped a lot this year. He said most AHL teams average 10 promotions a season, and the Icehogs average about 30. They also do the most giveaways in the league, and the quality of the items are exceptional. Which again is impressive and why they get the fans and attendance they do. Bernard said they will learn from this event, address the complaints and make it better next year.

The talk then turned to the trade between the Blues and Hawks.

He basically stated that they wanted some goalkeeping depth for the playoffs. It sounded to me like they were worried that if Crawford gets hurt or called to the Hawks if Huet or Niemi goes down, they didn't feel Fallon was ready to carry the team in the second season. He also was happy to get the defensemen Richmond to help the depth on defense as well.

Again I got the feeling this was to keep the Hogs defense strong should a Hawks D man go down (yes I'm looking at you Sopel, I'm surprised you haven't missed more time with the damage you take night in and night out). Should the Hawks need a D man to come up in the stretch run the Hogs will have players ready to fill in.

The Hogs are 3rd in the West right now (77 pts), behind Hamilton Bulldogs (86 pts) and the Chicago Wolves (81 pts). The Hogs are also tied for 5th in the league with the Worcester Sharks. So they are prepping for the playoffs as well.

After Benard explained the trade, Jim Stone replied that he thought it was BS, and he wasn't going to believe a word he said until Wednesday night, which made me laugh. We all know anything could happen before Wednesday, so for Stone to make light that the dealing is probably not done yet was comical.

Overall, the interview was great, and Bernard is a wonderful GM in Rockford.

If you haven't caught an Icehogs game I recommend it to anyone that enjoys hockey. Tickets run $10(end Mezzanine) to $25 VIP (On the Glass). On Wednesdays you can get the 4/$44 pack, (4 tickets, 4 hotdogs, 4 sodas, 4 popcorns, for $44). Tickets are $1 day of game, and you can get them at the box office at the Metro Centre or at www.centreevents.com

Parking is available in a few lots or streets nearby, there are parking garages for $5, so that's a sweet deal too.

Check them out. In fact it'd be a lot of fun to get a group together of SSC and go watch a game featuring our future Hawks.

www.icehogs.com

USA A-OK

2010-03-02T06:19:48Z

I apologize in advance for taking up this much space with worthless ramblings. You needn't bother reading, I'm mostly just writing this to get it out of my system. That Olympic hockey tournament was the best pure heroin of hockey there ever was, and now it's over, and I'm supposed to pretend I care about the Islanders tomorrow. Fuck.

So I need to get all of this out of my system so I can get back to enjoying the Blackhawks and NHL hockey again. Endless BS, after the jump ...

- I decided to add the USA flag to my profile during the middle of the Olympics. I figured it would be fun for a few days and eventually the Americans would bow out gracefully and I'd go back to using nothing. But after what that team did I just can't bring myself to do it, so it's going to stay for a while.

- I missed the whole second half of the Olympics with hockey fever, I barely even watched the NBC broadcast. I usually enjoy the Olympics and I watched the whole first week, biathalon, ski jump, moguls, all of it. But I got so caught up in the hockey by the second half that I missed the rest. I would get out of work and then it was curling until hockey came on and three hockey games at night. I got home today and there was nothing, no curling, no hockey, it's just over.

- The speed, the pace, the intensity of those games, even the blowouts was unreal. Here's the difference, all the players in the Olympics, even the marquee players in the top countries wanted to win like nobody's business. In the past this was just an exhibition for them. In the past it was just good fun but they had a NHL team to go back to so they gave the same effort as an NHL All-Star game. Not this time, and it showed. (except Russia (except, except Ovechkin v. Jagr))

- How is Getzlaf so fucking bald? He's 24.

- USA hockey isn't that far away. Sure they'll probably have a let down in Sochi, and they definitely overachieved here, but they didn't play run and hide hockey, they went and attacked everyone including the big boys. Team Canada is just unreal. That's a collection of future Hall of Famers, almost all of whom are in their prime or just entering it. Only Pronger, Niedermayer and Boyle are legitimate Old Balls. Team USA was Miller, Kane, Parise, a few genuine up-and-comers and a few "who the hell are these fucking guys". They had no business beating Canada or taking them to an overtime in what was a home game for them, literally and figuratively.

- the US stole the win from Canada in the prelims. It's true, it happens and I'm not going to apologize for it. Canada outplayed them but the US won. But in the rematch I thought the US outplayed Canada, at least in regulation. And there were stretches early in the first, the whole back half of the 2nd and especially late in the 3rd where the US was able to do whatever they wanted except score. Canada certainly didn't have the same jump but the US played with a lot of confidence and were able to dictate their will.

- what I was most impressed with was the poise once the US recovered the puck in their own zone. Canada featured full blown superstars on offense and nobody would have blamed the shell-shocked US defenders if the first chance they got their stick on the puck they lofted it to safety. Instead they showed time and time again that they had incredible poise and were able to work the puck out of their own zone and keep possesion. It was impressive.

- also, while the US couldn't get much offensive zone pressure in the first Canada game, by the finals they were able to carry the puck through the neutral zone and into Canada's end at will, especially Kane and Kesler, and even Kessel and Pavelski. The US improvement against a much improved Canadian team was really something special.

- the US had nothing left in overtime. They were getting beat to every loose puck and frankly the skill advantage of Canada worked better for them in 4 on 4. The US didn't really threaten and even if Miller makes that save we would have needed a lucky bounce (or just any shot near Luongo) to have beat them before the shoot out. But considering the way we played for the first 60 we earned it. And it would have been nice to put an end to the "This is Our Game" condescending bullshit. I sitll can't find it in my heart to hate Canada, but I had more than enough of that condescending crap.

- I didn't realize it until I watched the replay but we didn't get a bounce to go our way all night. I guess we used them all up against Finland. That's the way hockey goes. But it made the replay that much more difficult to watch knowing what the outcome was when you see time after time where every 50-50 battle the puck bounces to the one safe place for Canada. I guess we got a little bit of good fortune on the last goal, but at that point there had been such sustained pressure that something like that was bound to happen, and Canada had already made their deal with the devil in the closing minutes of the Slovakia game.

- the Parise line had it's least effective game in the final. I don't know if that was because they were up against the Toews line all night or if they just never found a rhythm, but they weren't very effective. Kane's line could create at will, and really for the first time in the tournament. Kane's line did well against Canada the first time, but that was largely because of Kesler who was everywhere in that game while Kane was just ok. But the second time around it was the Kane line, and they became the top line in the roation by the third period.

- can't say enough about the kid from Buffalo. The signature mental image for me that I still see when I close my eyes is with about 2 minutes to go when Crosby gets loose on the breakaway. It's great that Kane caught him and it's great that he was able to poke the puck away and keep it just a 1 goal game, but what sticks out are those first few strides from blue line to blue line. I've seen people run from the cops, I've seen people run after the ice cream man, but I've never seen anyone hustle like that. There was no quit in that kid, he wanted to win more than anything.

- I love that it burns Kane's ass to lose that game and I love that he wants to go to Sochi for "revenge". I love that he says he's going whether the NHL ok's it or not. Sometimes I've wondered if he has the fire in the belly, now we know.

- I could watch Brooks Orpik blow people up all day long. It must be fun to be a Penguins fan.

- Which is worse, the headlines that said Luongo answered his big game critics or the ones that blew Crosby for the only decent shift he'd had in about a half dozen games? Please.

- That pairing of Rafalski and Suter wasn't perfect, but man they had a hell of a tournament. They were the team's plus/minus leaders by a wide margin and made some great passes.

- I knew Tazer was good, but I didn't see that coming. Wow. He probably wasn't at a loss for confidence, but there really isn't a barometer to measure yourself quite like tihs. I'm sure he thought before that he was a great player if only he could get the opportunity to prove himself. Now he knows, there's no doubt about it. I'm guessing he goes to a whole new level, and just in time for the playoffs. I'll take this if the trade off is the whole fatigue issue. I'll take it in a heartbeat as a Blackhawks fan and what it means for him for the rest of the season and beyond.

- As far as the whole "fatigue" thing, I don't want to make it sound like I don't think it's an issue, but I think it's overblown. If a more capable and more confident Blackhawks team can end a playoff series or two in 4 or 5 games instead of 6 or 7 I think the late spring rest pays for itself. And really the only one I'm worried about is Keith, and you'd have to question whether or not we were riding him for too many minutes a night anyway, even if there was no Olympics.

- I loved seeing Jack Johnson cheap shot some Canucks to end the first period. One of their future HOF'ers did the same thing to us at the end of the 2nd period in the first game and didn't get a penalty on reputation alone. I love the fight in that kid to give it right back. For how young he is, and for how skinnylittletwerp-ish he looks I loved the way he was ready to go toe to toe with the much bigger Canadians. Christ that was a big fucking team. When Iginla's one of your small guys ...

- Erik Johnson in a few years is going to be ridiculous. I think he screwed up on the Tazer goal so he wasn't without his mistakes, but there were so many times he had a look-at-that moment that you had to stand up and notice.

- How much did the smaller ice help USA and Canada and hurt Sweeden and Finland? Maybe, maybe not, but it hardly got a mention in the press here while I'm sure it was topic A in the European press.

- Ryan Fucking Miller

- Adam Burish says we had to let Canada win because all they really have is beer and hockey. Well I'm an American and all I want is beer and hockey so let Canada have Paris Hilton and Burger King. I want to beat Canada's best at hockey and go get drunk.

- The ratings were ridiculous. Of course they were, this is the most exciting game, played at the most exciting level with the best players in the world with national pride at stake. How could they not be. Only the NHL could fuck this up.

- Also, maybe the players get a stiped and some schwag, and of course they get lodging and meals but for the most part their Olympic salary is a number pretty close to $0. Those guys fought like hell, put their body in front of everything and played their hearts out for nothing but pride so the crooks at the IOC who screwed the City of Chicago could get rich. Hockey players are proud athletes.

- Now the NHL gets to take all of this good will and piss it away by making hockey as hard as possible to find on tv. NBC can't hold a candle to how bad the NHL treats televison hockey. At least sometimes it's on broadcast (and I don't have the same hate for McGuire that everyone else does) but the rest of the time it's on shitbag fucking Versus which I'm pretty sure is an imaginary network that I can never seem to find at home or in a bar. Even for the people who pony up for the Center Ice package get blacked out of half the games they want to watch.

- Speaking of Center Ice, I'd like to see a study that says that business model is the way to go. Maybe it is, and it certainly works for football where the demand is so high. But for me the two most exciting tournaments in sports so far have been this past Olympic hockey tournament and every March Madness. The common denominator is that half the fun of the tournament is watching endless exciting games all day. Maybe the NHL makes more money off of Center Ice subscriptions than they would if they just made the games available for free and sold the ad rights, but I doubt it, and I'd like to see someone study it to find out.

- Fighting. You can't come out of that tournament and not at least ask the question. The most exciting two weeks in hockey had no fighting, so does that extrapolate to a full NHL season? I'm not sure. NHL playoff hockey has almost no fighting because the stakes are too high anyway, so would automatic suspensions really improve the way the game is played and policed in the regular season? I don't think the Olympics is the right comparison, but what it does certainly show is that neither the skill of the game or the advantage of playing physical declined. The teams in this tournament that played the most physical had the best outcomes. You don't need a 3rd grade playground mentality to govern a physical sport to have it played at it's very best. Besides the NFL already proved that.

- The NHL will end up in Sochi, but they're going to hold out for a while until they get some concessions. Even Sports Center can only show still images instead of highlights on their Olympic recaps, it's why their coverage is so anemic. Only NBC has the rights to Olympic video and highlights so there's no incentive for the NHL network to cover the games the way they do day to day or even the Winter Classic. The Winter Classic is played on NBC and yet the NHL network runs about 2 days of nonstop coverage. Imagine if they were the one stop shop for all the Olympic highlights this year, even if NBC and it's family of networks still had exclusive broadcast rights to the games themselves. It would be a whole different ballgame and an opportunity for the NHL to make some ad revenue off an Olympics that gets the NHL's most valuable asset (its talent) for free. That dynamic has to change before the NHL agrees to do it again. Since NBC's Olympic broadcast contract is up again it's the perfect time for them to flex their leverage, and they're coming off the high water mark for international hockey.

- also, this was the perfect set of circumstances to have the best possible outcome for the NHL. The games were played in a North American time zone, on the smaller NHL size ice and the two countries that host all of the NHL cities were the two finalists, with the outcome somewhat in doubt after the USA's upset in the prelims. Almost none of that will be true in Sochi, just like it wasn't in Torino. They caught lightening in a bottle this time and the NHL better take advantage of the situation because they're unlikely to have it happen next time.

- Has anyone looked at the map to see where Sochi is? Safety and security are always an issue ever since Munich but they couldn't have picked a town in Russia any closer to some of the world's hot spots.

- You know what's on Late Night tonight? It's not bobsled, it's not speed skating, it's not ski jump. It's Leno. Jay fucking Leno.

- What's the next anthem going to be like at the UC? How are you going to treat Ryan Miller the next time the Sabres walk into the building? Backes the same way? I'm going to have a hard time going back to hating guys like Kesler and Backes. I'm sure it will only take a game or two, but it won't happen instantly. Each time a Team USA member plays against the Hawks at the UC they should run a little highlight reel during a break in the 2nd period just to acknowledge the effort.

- Olli Jokinen - American-born player Adam Burish has your name written down in his locker. He's going to beat Ben Eager to the punch, so to speak.

- Are we sure this tournament is really over? Does anyone even understand the Olympic rules? Did anyone read the book? I'm pretty sure there's a losers bracket play in game with Latvia at 11 tonight. I'm sure of it.

- I wonder what Vikingstad is up to right now. Shouldn't CNBC be covering this?

- No injuries, or at least nothing major. Considering the way every player went all out with shot blocking and hard checking we're probably pretty lucky, but I'll take it.

- Hockey's had young stars before, Gretzky was a teenaged legend, but there's a lot of top level young talent in the world. Here's a list of players 25 or under: Crosby, Getzlaf, Nash, Perry, Richards, Toews, Doughty, Seabrook, Weber, Kane, Kessel, B. Ryan, Stasney, E. Johnson, J. Johnson, Suter, Halak, Backstrom, Malkin and Ovechkin. How does that lineup not go to Sochi?

- I guess now I have to put all this out of my system and try and pretend I give a shit about beating the Islanders and who our goalie is. I can at least care a little about beating NY, it helps us get into the playoffs and winning the Cup is still the goal. This junkie hangover will wear off eventually and NHL hockey will move to the forefront in a few days, hearing the anthem and Pat Foley will help. But I can't wait for Wednesday's trade deadline so we can get back to bitching about the goalies we have instead of playing pipe dream GM.

Sorry for wasting up all the space. If you're still reading this I pity you and you have my most sincere apologies.

The Big Winners of the Olympics Are (Drum Roll) the Chicago Blackhawks

2010-03-02T06:05:47Z

Hey! International Hockey was actually entertaining and fun, who'da thunk it right? I was entertained for two reasons: (1) At the end, no matter what some blackhawk(s) was going to skate away with a gold medal around his neck. I'm disappointed that the USA lost, but I'm happy for Johnny Toews. (2) On a worldwide stage, heck on the biggest stage, the stars burn bright, and Blackhawks stars burned the brightest.

* Johnny Toews took home the big accolades, and deservedly so, but the kid that impressed me most was Patrick Kane. Sure it took him a few games to find his place on team USA, but once he got going it was astounding, and unlike Toews, Kaner wasn't surrounded by the biggest names in hockey. I'm not surprised, yet kind of disappointed, that Kaner was snubbed for the all tournament team. In the second and third periods, team USA turned into the Patrick Kane show, on both sides of the ice. Both American goals, and especially the second were made possible by Kaner's deftness of hand and heads up play. Dustin Brown, Ryan Kesler (unfortunately, now that the NHL is rolling again I can happily go back to hating him), and Patrick Kane were far and away the United States' best line in the gold medal game, and Kaner had a lot to do with that. Ladies and Gentlemen, we saw flashes of it in the playoffs last year, but Kane has seriously become the type of player that can lift a team onto his shoulders and carry it. He proved that he can do it on a big stage too: San Jose, you can have your Canadian wonder triplets, Kane's worth more than all of them.

* How would you people feel about Citizen Kaner as a nickname?

* Will someone please just give Jonathan Toews the Selke Trophy already? Seriously.

* Marian Hossa was the best Slovak skater, and you can take that to the bank, the fact that he carried an undermanned and overmatched Slovakian team to a medal game offers a pretty nice rebutal to accusations that he's a regular season player and nothing more.

* Hopefully after refinding their mojo in the Olympics, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith can return to being the best defensive pairing in hockey, like they were in october and november.

* Anybody else worried about Tomas Kopecky being tired after the tournament? Me neither. With Burrish back as soon as Sunday, Kopecky will get plenty of rest.

A Hawk Fan in Exile.

Poll

Do you like "Citizen Kaner"?

Yes

13 votes

No

29 votes

42 votes | Poll has closed

Toews gold medal no joking matter now

2010-03-01T08:04:37Z

His maturity, skill and leadership will lead the Hawks to a Stanley Cup. No question. I thought he was the best Canadian player in the tournament.

The Globe & Mail had a good article about him;

Could any 21-year-old possibly have a better sense of the moment than Jonathan Toews? Could any hockey player his age match Toews's uncommon maturity and sure-footedness on and off the ice?

In case there is any doubt that the only international hockey match-up that matters any more is Canada versus the United States, consider Toews's statement about how his Olympic gold medal - the one shared with Blackhawks teammates Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook - is now officially off-limits as a joking matter in the Chicago dressing room. Somebody wants to mention it to teammate Patrick Kane? He'll have to go through Toews.

"I don't see it as a joking matter between the two of us," Toews said Sunday after Canada's 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. in the gold-medal game at Canada Hockey Place. Toews and Kane were among the best players on the ice.

"I think I will definitely be very, very respectful of what their team did in this tournament and what he did," Toews added. "We were this close to coming out on the losing end too, and it wouldn't have been a good feeling. So you got to give it to him for the way he played and leave it at that."

But when it was suggested to him that Toews v. Kane seems likely to become a sidebar to every future international hockey tournament, he smiled and said: "I'd like us to win something together, too."

Complete article, click here.

A Salute to Team USA

2010-03-01T05:05:18Z

It’s over. After coming within one good shot of winning gold, it’s over.

I can’t say I’ve really felt this kind of sting from a sports loss since Super Bowl XLI. Sure, the Cubs have broke my heart, but that’s what the Cubs do. Getting bounced in the WCF last year sucked, but it ended with us knowing that the Hawks were going to be a juggernaut this season. Tonight, finding that kind of silver lining has proven difficult.

The best perspective to put things in is the fact that our boys weren’t supposed to be there at all. The gold medal game was supposed to be Russia challenging Canada. The bronze was supposed to be Finland and Sweden. I mean, with Russia bringing out superstars like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk, Finland coming off winning silver in Torino, Sweden the reigning Olympic champion, and Canada bringing a team that many in their country called their best ever, who would have thought an American team with Brooks Orpik, Ryan Callahan, and Tim Gleason had a chance to sniff the medal round? Instead, we not only made it to the medal round, but on the way we beat the gold medal favorite in regulation, embarrassed one of those four powers, and took Canada to the brink on their own ice. That’s something to be proud of, and I’m sure we will be. But not yet.

Looking forward to Sochi is cool too. Patrick Kane will hopefully have realized that being a 2-way player like he was today is pretty badass. Zach Parise will be an even more explosive player. David Backes will have destroyed a few more Canadian stars in the NHL. And Ryan Miller will hopefully still be ridiculous. However, it won’t really be the same. In 2014, people will be expecting a repeat of this year. This year, hardly anyone was expecting us at all, and that’s what made this run so awesome. There’s just something about cheering for a team that everyone doubts. We felt it last year with the Hawks, and we felt the last two weeks with this Team USA.

At the end of Miracle, the voiceover points out that soon after that is when we started using NHL players in the Olympics, and how Brooks found the term "dream team" ironic as it rarely gave us a chance to dream. In 1998 and 2006, the piss-poor effort shown by the American squads made us think it would be a dream for us to expect our team to play hard, let alone win. However, our team this year did just that and put forth an effort that every American should be proud of, while actually giving us the opportunity to dream about hearing the Star-Spangled Banner after the gold medal game.

Even though that dream may not have been realized, I still say thank you to the 2010 United States Olympic Hockey Team for giving us the chance to dream at all.

Now let’s see Kaner, Tazer, Dunc, Panda, Biscuit, and that other guy bring their outstanding Olympic play back to Chicago.

Oh, and Canada: We’ll see you Sochi!

Egos, The Media, and of course... Goalies

2010-02-28T23:07:28Z

I know, I know. Two FanPosts this weekend. Believe me, I don't intend to make this a habit - too much work. I was sitting on this one until after the Olympics.

IMO the media frenzy over our "subpar and unqualified" goaltending tandem (with the best GAA in the league) has backed Stan Bowman into a lose/lose situation unless he makes a move. The situation also gives him an opportunity to take "ownership" of the team from Dale Tallon. Here's why:

Scenario 1: Bowman Does Nothing

A. Hawks Win Cup (Woohoo!)
Even if Stan brings in another blueliner, the average fan probably doesn't consider acquiring a couple of D-men to be a "big splash in the pan" (Johnsson who?), therefore Tallon still gets credit for building the team.
Result: Bowman's ego loses

B. Hawks Don't Win Cup
Unless Huet and Niemi have a shutout in every game (which they obviously wouldn't if we lost), Bowman would get blamed for not "upgrading" the goaltending.
Result: Bowman loses (cue Frankenstein pitchfork and torch scene)

Ah, there's no justice like Angry Mob Justice. - Seymour Skinner

Scenario 2: Bowman Trades for a Goalie

A. Hawks Win Cup
Bowman gets credit because everyone knows the Hawks can't win with our current tandem.
Result: Bowman wins, gets his parade

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SuperStan!

B. Hawks Don't Win Cup
As long as the goaltending is average or better (which as we know isn't too difficult behind our defense), Stan can say that he at least tried. The move would pacify the media and most fans. Stan can also claim that he did his best to correct a previous "mistake". Plus, if he can move Huet, he'd still have fan favorite Niemi to fall back on if the new goalie faltered. "Hey, I gave you what you wanted."
Result: Bowman escapes media and fan scrutiny, it just wasn't our year

I know I'm oversimplifying things here, there are a lot of factors that going into making a major trade (e.g., no trade clauses), but for better or for worse, if Stan can make a deal, I believe he will.

BLou suggested we discuss one of the obvious targets of said trade, Tomas Vokoun of the Florida Panthers. There has also been speculation that the Hawks would send Huet back to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak. I personally don't see this happening, but feel free to thrash that out.

Vokoun has been in the league for 11 years, as a full-time starter for 7 of them. I‘m assuming most of us have seen just enough of him in the Olympics and over his career to have a semi-informed conversation regarding his merits. Someone commented on SCH that Vokoun is "a mediocre goalie on a hot streak." I disagree and see Vokoun as being far from mediocre and statistically extremely consistent.

I'm pretty sure Vokoun has the highest SV% in the league over the past 5 years. Chiblackhawks wrote that Behind the Net suggested it was because the scorekeepers in Florida pad the SOG totals. That may be so, but Vokoun is also tied for the league lead in shutouts (7) and there's no way to manipulate that. I'm not sure I buy into the padded SOG argument; there may or may not be something there. Vokoun's SV% was about .920 for 3 of his last 4 years in Nashville before going to Florida. Also for comparison, Roberto Luongo's SV% over a 5 year period in Florida was .920. His SV% during his 4 years in Vancouver is .919. That's pretty consistent, unless Vancouver is fudging numbers too.

Player stats since the beginning of 2006 season

Player         SV/SOG             SV%       GAA
Vokoun         8,367/9,068      .923        2.52
Halak*        2,443/2,663    .917    2.72
Huet         5,394/5,888    .916 2.47

*Halak only played in 22 games from 2006-08 and has split time with Carey Price over the past two seasons, so we don't have a very big sample here (Did you get that? Not a very big sample. Sound familiar?) Halak? Good, but definitely not the solution. Just say no.

I've stated it here before, I believe the goalie tandem we have can get us to the Promised Land, but if there is to be a trade, I'd like to see Vokoun wearing the Indianhead. If there's one thing Vokoun lacks, it's playoff experience. But if you're good, have confidence, and your name's not Thornton, playoff experience is overrated. To support my case I present you with the 2008-09 Blackhawks. Dispute that.

I know a lot of commenters have been champing at the bit for the past two weeks to discuss potential trades. It's a unifying topic Americans and Canadians alike can get worked up over. The trade freeze ends at midnight tonight, so have at it if you like. I just wanted to present my opinion and to throw out some information on the player we might receive if my gut is correct.

Unashamed flag-waving post

2010-02-28T07:39:11Z

Ok, I know we've all taken the time to post our comments about the games that have led up to Sunday's clash for the gold. We've all sung the praises of the Hawks playing in this little midseason tournament and gone on about how proud they've made us (yes, even Kopecky...kind of). I personally think that no NHL team has contributed more outstanding players to the Olympics than the Hawks have. And we all know that the rematch with the Canadians is the kind of game that has us drooling on ourselves in anticipation. But I haven't seen a whole lot of time spent on how improbable this run to the gold medal game really has been, and that's why I'm posting. The youngest team in the tournament, only 3 of whom have previous Olympic experience, has shown the world that they can play with the best anyone has to offer. Along the way, they punched the bully right in the mouth, and are coming back for a second helping with that mixture of confidence and skill that makes you think they're gonna knock the bully right on his ass again.

I think the "fuck yeah" American in each of us (each of us Americans, that is) expected to be in this game, whether it's because of awesome hockey knowledge, or just the attitude that makes us think we can beat anyone at anything - after all, that's sort of the American way. But seriously....we weren't supposed to be here, not this year I couldn't be more proud of this team no matter what happens Sunday, and all I really want is for the rest of our Hawks to come out of the game healthy and ready for the rest of the season. You done good, boys.

That said.....I hope we kick their ass up one side of the ice and down the other. Hey, would a sweep of the World Juniors and the Olympics make it our game now?