All Hawks Hockey

The Finals: Pre-game 4

2010-06-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Hi!

I realize it has been a long while since I checked in on here but oh well!

I am tremendously excited that the Hawks have made it this far, don't get me wrong, but I'm worried. In games 1-3 of this series, they did not look like our Hawks. Not our hawks from the first 98 games of the season, at least to me anyways. I thought that they were lucky to get the wins in 1 and 2 and were dominated in 3. Simply put, they have to be better. I know Philly is a tough building to play in on the road but they have played in a lot of tough buildings this year and have done tremendously well.

Tonight's game is so important. The difference between 3-1 and 2-2 is huge. They need to win tonight, they simply have to.

Personally, I think they need Ladd back. I don't know why, he doesn't seem to be the game changer most nights but I think they need to try it.

Thoughts?

Miss Me?

2010-03-09T16:50:00.001-05:00

Hi,

Just popping in to say hi! I am still around and paying attention to the Hawks. I haven't been blogging as I am very busy with school. I have also realized through my English class that I'm a terrible writer! But enough about me. :) I hope all is well with all of you out there and I will try to return to blogging soon! In the meantime, go hawks and sabres!

My View: The Paul Kelly Situation

2009-09-02T22:34:00.000-04:00

I smell something fishy going on in the whole Paul Kelly situation. I just feel like there is something more than they are telling us. Especially the timing of the situation. When else have you ever met in the middle of the summer on a Sunday at 7 o'clock and met until 3:30 am then started the next morning at 8:30 all over again.

Also, they said that the vote was overwhelming. I'm sorry but an overwhelming vote doesn't take six hours to conduct with only 30 people. Unless Adam was hiding the vote slips and even then it would be like 3 hours tops. I would love to know the real reason behind it. You don't just get fired at 4:00 am for not being friendly enough with the players. It will be interesting if the real reason emerges or if the NHLPA ever becomes less corrupt or messed up. What do you think?

Also, we thought that the Huet signing was bad. At least that is only for five more years. Yes Roberto Luongo is an awesome goalie now at age 30 but at 42 who knows what things will be like. All I know is that hopefully DirecTV people can see the games by that time, so glad I have Time Warner.

Help Wanted!

2009-08-27T16:34:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

The Re-Draft has hit a wall. It is now required of all of the GM's to have an assistant GM so if you are interested please email me at hawksgirl924@gmail.com. If you have any questions feel free. You won't have to do much, it is just a formality. Or if you are interested in helping out with the blog let me know that too, I am trying to get better at posting but maybe having a person helping out would be good for me.

Thanks in advance,

Clare

Re-Draft

2009-07-24T22:29:00.001-04:00

Cycle Like Sedins is re-drafting the league. While the whole format is still being worked out it is a cool concept. For more information and the other picks head over there.

The Hawks had the fifth pick and it was pretty obvious to me (as the Hawks GM) who I was going to pick. I'm sure a lot of people won't necessarily agree but without further ado, my pick was:

Don't be so shocked about it, Jonathan.

He's a young leader that you can build your team around. The fact that he has a scoring presence and isn't afraid to use a bit of grit helps too. Logically if you were picking the best player, I wouldn't have picked Toews next but I looked at his overall game and the fact that he stays so cool under pressure and is so respected.

I could go on and on about why I picked him but chances are if you are reading the blog, you know why I picked him even if you don't exactly agree.

Free Agency Thoughts

2009-07-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

Hmm...I am quite interested in what exactly Dale Tallon has been thinking the past two July 1-2. It has certainly created a pickle of the salary cap. I wonder if he is a magician, does he have one of those freaky fortune teller globe things?

First of all- the length of the Marian Hossa deal! 12 years, if someone asked me to commit myself to something for the next 12 years I would be hesitant and I try to stick with things. As opposed to Marian "If you don't win the Cup during my first year with the team, then I'm leaving" Hossa. However, I have decided I am going to start over with Hossa, all of the bad feelings that I had towards him will be wiped away. Do you remember how your teacher's blackboard was so nice and pretty in the morning because it had been cleaned overnight and all of the math problems and everything for the day before are gone and it is a new day. That's how Marian Hossa is for me now. To warrant me disliking him he must do something in Chicago that I don't like.

The reason why they signed Kris Versteeg in my opinion is because Tallon didn't want to go through the hearing and wanted to quietly make this QO snafu go away. He knew that someone in his office messed up and he didn't want it to become a bigger story than it already is. He was in a rush to get this whole thing over with and signed Kris and Cam quickly and for bigger money than he wanted to.

At this point I really think Tallon needs to be fired. He has made many questionable decisions and I believe it is time for a change. Many people will claim that he has drafted well but other than Kane and Toews who else that he has drafted been a stand-out. Plus the drafting of Kane and Toews was a pretty simple decision. He has messed up the whole salary cap and is going for the cup this year while completely ignoring goaltending which is the last position to ignore to win the cup. The way things look right now, it will be a miracle if ONE of Kane, Toews, Keith would be back after this season.

I am scared for the future of the franchise. They have gone so far, I would hate to see it end so soon.

Happy Belated Birthday!

2009-06-20T23:21:00.005-04:00

I just realized that AHH is 1 year and 4 days old and I forgot, I had it on the calendar but my printer is on my calendar so it has slipped my mind.

I promise that a real post is coming soon but until then this is for my friend Cari:

Well that was bad

2009-05-24T18:15:00.000-04:00

If the guys on CBC said one more time that this could be the last home game of the season I was going to scream. I get it, guys I do. Maybe they have stock in Zoloft, because they certainly want me to be depressed enough to start taking it.

The Blackhawks are down three one in this series. Their comeback is about as unlikely as me getting over my fear of birds. However, it could happen. Again unlikely I know but who would have thought that after going 0-4 and then firing their head coach, this team would end up fourth in the west. They are the team that never says quit mostly because they don't know any better.

This is a group of guys that are good friends having fun. This was one weird game from start to finish. As the commentators said, who knows who the goalies will be on Wednesday. Could anyone have imagined that Jimmy Howard could face off against Corey Crawford in a WCF elimination game!

So yes it is unlikely that the Hawks will make it out of this series but I won't give up hope until the handshake line.

Conference Finals

2009-05-17T12:44:00.001-04:00

There is one thing I am pretty sure of and that is that most of the league hates Detroit (the Red Wings not the city). For whatever reason be it being sick of them winning all of the time, or a history with the team. After observing Twitter, one can come to the conclusion that even if a someone hates the Hawks they will probably be rooting for them just because they hate Detroit more. Lesser of all evils, good logic right. Now that 26 teams are out it seems as though most everyone has to pick a new team to follow the rest of the way. Even if your team is in the Eastern Conference finals you still need someone to cheer for in the west. If you have chosen the Hawks as your team to cheer for, congratulations, they are a great team. Lets hope this series ends differently than the Winter Classic did. Game time is in just over 2 hours and I am going to watch my dog roll around in the grass so:

Let's Go Hawks!!

Happy Birthday Captain Serious!

2009-04-29T21:56:00.001-04:00

I am going to start doing birthday wishes for the boys and what better person to start with than the Captain so without further ado:

Happy 21st Birthday Jonny!!!

Yes I realize it is a Ranger and a Devil, find me a better hockey cake and I will replace it. Now lets follow it up with a Hawks win tomorrow.

Next Birthday: Aaron Johnson tomorrow actually

GO HAWKS!!

WOOOOO!!!!

2009-04-16T23:39:00.000-04:00

If you don't think that Martin Havlat is awesome tonight then you are obviously not a Blackhawks fan. More tomorrow.

Hawks Flames Blog

2009-04-16T12:37:00.002-04:00

I am the editor of a blog devoted to the Flames vs. Hawks series. It is part of a mini-blog series from Cycle Like the Sedins. I will probably cross-post a lot of things but who knows. If you have something that you would like to add to it let me know, especially if you have some piece of writing you want to put up there about the series. You can email me here. So here is a link to it just in case you want to check it out.

Hawks vs. Flames

ETA: The game will be on Center Ice for those of you not in Chicago.

Series Preview: Round One

2009-04-16T10:15:00.000-04:00

Calgary VS. Chicago

How these teams match up:

Hawks record against the Flames: 4-0-0-0
Flames record against the Hawks: 0-3-1-0

Hawks outscored Flames: 19-7

Needs to be a factor for the Flames: Olli Jokinen
Needs to be a factor for the Hawks: Patrick Sharp

I don't know about the rest of you but I am absolutely thrilled for the playoffs, that is why this post isn't as well thought out as it should be. I am sure you understand.

GO BLACKHAWKS!!!

Playoff Preview

2009-04-15T09:19:00.001-04:00

I am worried that I won't be able to watch game one but I will try my hardest to find the game somewhere even if it means camping out at a restaurant in Canada watching TSN. I think that the Hawks will be able to win over the Flames, I really do. This Hawks team swept them in the regular season, yes, I know what you are going to say, the playoffs are a whole different ball game. I don't care call me delusional but I really think that this team can win over the Flames. I think that the Hawks can use the momentum from this weekend to start strong over the Flames.

If the Hawks start strong in the series, I think they will use that momentum to take them through. Can you guess what I think is the key to this series?

Momentum and Confidence and I think the Hawks will have it.

I will be back with a full game one preview tomorrow.

Chicago 2016

2009-04-07T22:03:00.000-04:00

I want you all to watch this video and then watch it again. Watch it in HD full screen and is it just me or is this video sort of funny?

A Major Announcement (to me)

2009-04-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ok so I have a major announcement for you:

There is a new blog joining the Hawks blogosphere. For the most part it is a Kris Versteeg blog but it will also have a couple of tidbits of the whole team. I am taking credit for the idea and why it came about but to say that it is my blog would be completely wrong. I have turned Cari, one of the lovely writers of Sabre Chaser and a diehard Sabres fan into a Kris Versteeg fan. So much so that almost every Hawks game we have a Hawks watch party at my house (they are always quite fun). I even bought her a jersey at the game against the Canucks. I will stop in and write a post from time to time but it will be Cari's blog. So without further ado I present:

Verbeauty and the Beast

A Sad Day-UPDATED

2009-04-04T22:47:00.000-04:00

ETA: I got the ok to link to the blog post from the author. Read it you certainly won't regret it. Why she still hasn't gotten a book deal is beyond me.

I am sure that by now you have all heard about Carly Bragnalo. I was going to write a long post about life and everything but then I read a blog entry written by another member of the blogosphere and it was so powerful and moving and I cried. I knew I couldn't write anything close to as powerful as that entry was so I hit delete. I didn't link to it because I am not sure whether it would be ok with the blogger, (you know who you are, well I'm using my common sense in hoping you know who you are (yes that was a big hint.)) So if she is reading this and gives me the ok (either by email or comment) to link to it I will but also if she doesn't want me too I completely understand.

It is truly tragic for Taylor and both his and Carly's families. They had been together for 11 years and were both only 27. From what his team mates have said, she was a delightful person and wonderful to be around. To think that they had been engaged for two years and just a few months before their wedding for her to pass away is just heartbreaking. I hope that you will take a moment and think about all of the people you love and make sure that even in just a subtle way make sure they know you care. Taylor, both his and Carly's families and his Canuck teammates and their families will be in my thoughts.

Welcome to the Playoffs Boys

2009-04-03T23:03:00.002-04:00

WE CLINCHED!!!!!

That's all until tomorrow I am so deliriously happy right now!

To the land of the Blackhawks

2009-03-28T05:22:00.002-04:00

I am off to Chicago, more when I arrive, including photos of some beautiful (and delicious) cookies. Thanks Cari and Kim!

Suddenly Things are Looking Sharp

2009-03-22T21:31:00.001-04:00

I never thought I would be as happy to see someone return from injury as I was to see Sharp back. I truly was thrilled before today's game and after his three point night I am even happier. We regained fourth place, you have no idea how deliriously happy this makes me. So to this I say:

Welcome Back Sharpie!!!

If you have ever wanted to meet Brent Sopel here is your chance, apparently he has stopped hanging with Nickleback:

I don't know how big this will appear so if you want more information just email me and I will be happy to pass the information along.

If you want to know what I did this Friday went check out this post from Frostee from the Fanatical Fan. I had a lovely time and the Sabres bloggers are truly awesome.

I have been spending a lot of time with the Sabres bloggers from Sabre Chaser, The Fanatical Fan, and Sabretooth's House. Links are all on the side, highly recommend them as well as all of the blogs on my blogroll. Anyways, I have converted the girls from Sabre Chaser to Blackhawks fans. The Hawks are Cari and Kim's western conference team (unless they are lying to me). I take no credit for it because this Hawks team just has a way of grabbing fans. Cari's favorite is Verbeauty and Kim's favorite is Sharpie. I love talking about the Hawks with them because somehow we always end up laughing. So if I ever mention that Cari, Kim and I were watching the Hawks you know who they are.

I am going to the game in one week. I am so excited!!! Let me know if you are going to be there.

Stay tuned for an announcement in the next few days (no you don't know what it is, actually one person does)

Welcome to Chicago Sammy Pahlsson

2009-03-12T11:23:00.002-04:00

As you all know by now just over a week ago the Blackhawks acquired Samuel Pahlsson from Anaheim. I try to watch as many Anaheim games as I can, if there is a 10 o'clock game and the Hawks aren't on I will choose them or Vancouver. I am in no way an expert or feel qualified to truly comment on Samuel Pahlsson as a player, even though I have watched him play enough and I know what his role on the team was, I didn't feel that I was the best person to comment on him. So I asked a couple of Ducks bloggers and one former Ducks blogger to write about who Sammy is.

Finny from Girl with a Puck:

"I can tell you this much about Sammy - I loved him, I adored him, and I miss him terribly.

As a player, Sammy was the kind of player that gave a consistent performance, night in and night out. He has a reputation for giving 110% effort on the ice. He's very professional about what he does, and very focused on his job. His role here with the Ducks was to be a shut down centerman. As a defensive forward, his job was to ensure that the top scorers on the opposing team were limited in their chances and didn't have an opportunity to score. And he's very good at it -- one of the most underrated players in the league, Sammy's been described by his coaches as a "workhorse". He's very "No Quit" and you can see it when he plays. He's played hard through injury in the past, and he's never been one to make excuses for a poor performance. But it'll be a rare night to see Sammy off his game. He's a very dependable player, and you can expect him to work hard and give all he can -- and then some. On top of all that, Sammy has always been very good in the face-off circle as well.

Of all the moves made this year by the Ducks, Sammy's is the one I wish could be reversed. (That includes my personal (new) favorite, Brian Sutherby being traded to Dallas)."

I want to thank Finny for writing this. She has been taking an extended leave of absence, and I asked her never expecting her to actually write something, it was more just asking her because I have always read her blog and I wanted to ask the bloggers whose blogs I read regularly, and with how busy she has been, I really appreciate it, especially since I probably inconvenienced her.

SK eleven from Girl with a Puck:

"I don't know if I could have said it better myself.

Sammy is for sure going to be missed around here, and I hope he's feeling well enough for you all to experience him soon.

Sammy's the kind of guy that you'll really appreciate if you just spend one game watching him when he's on the ice. He's the kind of guy that causes coaches to change up their lines when he's opposing them. He can completely dismantle an opponents top line just by pure frustration alone.

He's not going to light your scoreboard up every night, but he'll stop the other guy from doing it! When he's taking a face off, it's a good idea to put your money on him. When he's on your PK...feel confident.

He works hard, he plays hard. He's not a big guy, but hes very strong and powerful. He's insanely underrated.

He's an amazing defensive forward, you're very lucky to have him. Hopefully not for too long! ;-)"

SK eleven has taken over Girl with a Puck in Finny's absence and has done a great job, and I appreciate her writing this even though it was very hard to see a guy like Sammy go. I assured both of them that they will learn to love Wiz.

Earl Sleek from Battle of California was nice enough to take a break from getting ready to go to Hawaii (take a moment to be jealous, it's alright) to give a few points about Pahlsson.

He was the longest-tenured Duck prior to his trade, (he made his Anaheim debut literally one day before Giguere.)

He has played in every playoff game the Ducks have had this decade, and holds the iron-man record for the Anaheim franchise. The 2007 postseason was when he was at his best. Every round an opposing top line got split up trying to evade his checking -- Gaborik got split from Demitra, Sedin got split from Sedin, Zetterberg got split from Datsyuk, and Heatley got split from Alfredsson. There's a pretty legitimate case for Pahlsson to have won the Selke and the Conn Smythe that year. And of course, he's my favorite. Annually among the league leaders in PK time and facing the toughest opponents in the league (and really -- nobody's dream linemates are ever Travis Moen and Rob Niedermayer, but he made it look good), he's got incredible attention to detail.

Basically I just took some bullet points and added a "he was" to make it in to paragraph form. Right before/during the SCF he wrote an "Ode to Sammy Pahlsson." I really appreciate this especially since I know how stressful trip prep. can be.

I also want to thank James O'Brien from Cycle Like Sedins for his help. Thanks!

Hopefully soon Hawks fans will be able to see what Sammy can add to the Hawks.

A Departure

2009-03-08T15:32:00.001-04:00

The trade deadline has come and gone. A quiet day for the Blackhawks until the very end. I don't know if there is a single Blackhawks fan that wasn't a little sad to see Wiz leave. He was an up and coming defenseman who was such a presence in the locker room. He always could be counted on to make a joke, pick on a teammate or lighten the mood when need be. He was injured for the first part of the season but once he came back he picked up right where he left off. He always lent a hand when he could, whether painting the ice at the United Center or starting a clothing line with proceeds benefitting the USO of Illinois. It was obvious that he was a great teammate and very well liked both among his teammates and Hawks fans. This should give a defenseman who is/was in Rockford, such as Niklas Hjalmarsson a chance to break into the NHL. I wish Wiz nothing but the best in Anaheim.

I also want to say that last night I went out to dinner with some of the lovely Sabres bloggers. it was so much fun and if any of them are reading this I want to thank them for including me even though I write about the Blackhawks. I had a wonderful time!

Day Before the Trade Deadline

2009-03-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the trade deadline. My thoughts are posted here. I know most of you probably won't agree with my thoughts but it is just what I think. One of the things that the trade deadline makes me think about is how glad I am that I am not Dale Tallon, I think it would be a very hard job especially on days like the trade deadline day and July 1st. I will be back tomorrow with my thoughts on everything.

A Toews Hat Trick

2009-02-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

Well that was a weird game for Jonathan Toews. He had a hat trick, lost the hat trick, got another, this one counted, chipped or lost a tooth and lost the game in overtime.

The Blackhawks came back twice from a two goal deficit in last night's game to lose to the Penguins 5-4 in overtime. When the Tazer got his 2.5 goal, since it didn't really count but everyone thought it did I will call it his 2.5 goal rather than the disallowed goal, called back did they collect the construction helmets and re-hand them out to random people in case he scored again or did a lot of people not throw their hats on the ice because when he got his actual hat trick there were a lot more hats on the ice than I would have expected.

Everyone had to be happy for Toews who in the past couple games has been on an extreme scoring streak and it was nice to see him get the hat trick especially at home in front of what I am sure was a happy United Center crowd.

Kane and Toews also surprised some youth hockey players today when they showed up to practice with them. More pictures are at the Hawks website. We are treated to pictures of Kaner's haircut and Tazer is smiling.

Welcome

2009-02-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

I have noticed that there have been a lot of referrals from the Chicago Sun-Times website, due to my post for Cycle Like Sedins. So I thought I would write a welcome to all of you who are new here or relatively new here that have been linked to from places other than the Sun-Times website.

I'm Clare, the sole writer of this blog. Just recently, my schedule has cleared up and I should be able to blog more often. (Regulars, I'm serious this time, just consider it my New Year's Resolution about a month and a half late) I love new commentors so don't be shy. The Welcome to All Hawks Hockey link at the top of the page was just updated this morning. I try to keep updating the blogroll because I am a little blog obsessed so let me know if I have missed anything.

I'm in the eastern time zone, Buffalo to be exact, so for all of you who are in Chicago or elsewhere, if the times on my blog seem a little off that is because they are in eastern time although when I am writing I try to put everything in central time.

I am a grammar freak and I try to make all of my posts perfect. They are not but if you notice an error feel free to correct me I would much rather you tell me so that I can change it than have it be wrong.

Loving the Blackhawks

2009-02-14T19:57:00.001-05:00

This post has nothing to do with Valentine's Day because I am sort of indifferent about the holiday. However, Happy Valentine's Day if you love it. If not, be glad it is Saturday.

I wrote a post for Cycle Like Sedins about the Blackhawks. It was for the series of Hockey Orphan (explanation is in the last post on that page) posts being put together, so go read that and check out the rest of the blog while you are there.

The Blackhawks website has a video asking the players who the ladies man on the team was. The answer was unanimous but be sure to watch to the very end and while Burish is talking pay attention to the background for Captain Serious being not so serious. At least it is good to see that he still can have a little fun.

The Hawks are home after a their long road trip. Hopefully, the UC can give them the boost to beat the Stars.

I also want to add that my thoughts are with all of the family and friends of the victims of Flight 3407. It is a horrible tragedy and Buffalo will be there for whatever they need.

This Could Be Bad

2009-02-12T21:27:00.005-05:00

I will attempt to string more that one sentence together tomorrow, until then my initial reaction when I saw this was:

No!!!!

Hopefully Khabby will be back soon.

Vegas...Really?

2009-02-03T19:49:00.015-05:00

So it seems as though the guys took an extra long layover on the way to Edmonton, they stopped in Vegas for the Super Bowl. There is no word on exactly what took place during their layover *skips over probably the most overused cliche ever* but I guess we will see how it affected them tonight in their game against Edmonton. Hopefully they had fun, not just too much fun. The game is going to be later than normal so who knows how much of it your humble blogger will be awake for but I am going to try.

On a more personal note:

This weekend I was in Toronto and while I was there I got the opportunity to go to the Penguins morning skate. Practice was optional so there weren't a ton of players practicing but quite a few nonetheless. One of the players that wasn't practicing was defenceman Kris Letang, who coincidentally I met.

That's all until tomorrow.

Escaping the Shark Tank

2009-02-01T17:59:00.022-05:00

Any Blackhawks fan who was being realistic with themselves, probably thought that the Blackhawks would be hard pressed to pull out a win last night. Not that they couldn't win just that they weren't likely too. Group myself into that category. Before last night the Sharks had only lost once in regulation at home. After the disputed goal was taken away early in the first and the Hawks got a four minute high sticking penalty which was the play that caused the goal to be called back. The Sharks capitalized on that power play to make it a tie game. Somehow the Hawks pulled off the win, thanks to two goals from Jonathan Toews and showed that they can beat the league's best team. Now if only they could figure out a way to beat Detroit and the rest of the central division.

The Blackhawks still have 6 games left on this road trip before stopping home to do a load of laundry, repack their suitcases, and play a game against the Stars before heading back out on the road. February won't be a great month for the Hawks schedule wise but this is a team who has proved that they can play well on the road and if they can continue with success on this road trip it will make heading down the stretch much easier especially since every game in April is against a central division foe.

Bonjour

2009-01-22T06:22:00.002-05:00

No, I haven't just gotten back from Paris (I wish.) Sorry for being incommunicado lately, I have no idea how long it is going to last. Definitely no longer than January 30th, I will find out later today. Sorry for being cryptic. I am going to try to wrap up the past week in about 30 seconds or less.

The Hawks won against the Sabres! Not without a considerable loss though, it included the injury to Duncan Keith off of an elbow from Drew Stafford.

Friday, the Hawks lost in overtime to the Rangers, quite frankly I tuned in at 9:30 and was asleep by 9:45, (no the game wasn't that boring.)

They won over the Blues in OT on a goal by Martin Havlat on Saturday night.

Monday was pretty bad for the Hawks they lost to the Wild 4-1. The first period was especially bad.

They also didn't do well last night in their last game before the All-Star break. They lost to the Blues 2-0 and possibly lost Kris Versteeg to injury (I didn't see the end of the game so he may have come back). I think that the All-Star Break is coming at the perfect time. They have a week off before their next game.

I realized I never linked to my Twitter . Feel free to follow me, I protected my updates, (I'm paranoid like that) but as long as you request to I will let you follow me.

Blackhawks vs. Sabres Pre-Game

2009-01-14T20:19:00.001-05:00

I am really excited about tonight's game for a multitude of reasons.

1. Being from Buffalo, I have watched and been to a bunch of Sabres games, I really only know Sabres fans IRL and I would really like to know that my Blackhawks can beat my hometown team.

2. It hasn't been the greatest of days and Hawks games always make me feel better.

3. I really am sensing that this will be a good game, although I would really rather have Miller in goal because I really don't like Miller (sorry, Sabres fans) and I would get much more enjoyment out of the Hawks scoring on Miller as opposed to Lalime. Although as long as the Hawks are scoring I don't really care.

4. Since they are from Buffalo or have played here, it should be a good game for both Soupy and Kaner but I am sensing another Blackhawk player will be the hero.

GO HAWKS!!

News and Notes

2009-01-12T20:51:00.001-05:00

1. The Winter Classic got excellent ratings.

2. The Sharp Shooter cover got the most votes for the next Blackhawks magazine, obviously the team didn't really like either.

3. Meijer is having a contest. Sorry all of you out-of-towners skip to the next item.

4. Read this. I will have my thoughts on it tomorrow.

5. I really need the Blackhawks to win on Wednesday because if they lose I will never hear the end of it living in Buffalo.

New Years Resolutions

2009-01-11T11:24:00.000-05:00

Since it is 2009, I thought I would make up some New Year's Resolutions for the team.

Nikolai Khabibulin: to keep playing like he is playing, he is giving new meaning to contract year
Cristobal Huet: to start playing consistently like he was in Washington last year

James Wisniewski: to make sure that the knee is healed fully.
Matt Walker: to get out in the public eye more so he is more recognizable
Duncan Keith: to show the NHL that they were wrong to not put him on the All Star team (yes, I fully realize why they didn't, it was hard coming up with something.)
Brent Seabrook: to get a better hair cut
Brian Campbell: to get a funny endorsement deal in Chicago. I miss this:

Cam Barker: to play to his full potential everynight
Brent Sopel: to keep making fun of his teammates

Kris Versteeg: to talk about his family more. It always provides for a good laugh.
Jonathan Toews: to do more post game interviews with Sharpie.
Patrick Sharp: to do more post game interviews with Tazer
Andrew Ladd: to remember how awesome it was to win the Stanley Cup and really want to bring it to Chicago
Patrick Kane: to get his hair cut more often
Martin Havlat: to have more ridiculous photo shoots
Colin Fraser: to make it easier to come up with a New Year's Resolution next year
Ben Eager: to be more likeable more often.
Dustin Byfuglien: to start scoring more
Adam Burish: to find a permanent role on this team
Troy Brouwer: to be more noticeable, sometimes I forget he plays for the Hawks
Dave Bolland: to get a better nickname, the other Bolland boy isn't working
Craig Adams: to remember how awesome it was to win the Stanley Cup and really want to bring it to Chicago

The Video Crew: to keep making hilarious videos

Me: to blog more often (I'm working on it I promise)

Thoughts on the Winter Classic

2009-01-11T11:06:00.001-05:00

The Winter Classic was awesome (except for the final score, of course).

The excitement surrounding the game was so huge you could feel it on TV. Either that or I was excited enough that I felt that the city was that excited too.

I found it mildly amusing that the NHL Network was talking to Jonathan Toews and they thought that it was Sharpie. They even had Sharpie's stats up and everything. I was in the kitchen listening to the TV, not watching and I heard the commentator say Patrick and then the Blackhawk started to answer the question and I immediately said "Wait that's not Sharpie or Kaner that's Tazer." I thought it was funny when a few minutes later the same guy interviewed both Sharpie and Tazer.

I thought it was amazing that a game like that could make a few non-hockey fans scream as loudly as me while watching the game.

I was glad that the ice conditions were so good. I think it helped the game to go more smoothly.

During play, the first period was awesome, the second and third not so much.

ETA: We were all really tired the morning of New Year's Day because some insane person (that would be your delightful blogger) decided to get up after 3 hours of sleep. My cousin found an old stuffed penguin downstairs and dressed him up in the Blackhawks gear I had brought for my cousins and I took pictures.

Winter Classic Postgame Delayed

2009-01-02T23:05:00.000-05:00

I have a bit of a Winter Classic hangover, but I promise to get my act together and have some thoughts on the game tomorrow. I hope everyone had a happy new year except for the Hawks loss.

Winter Classic Pregame

2009-01-01T11:51:00.000-05:00

I wrote a post over on Red Light District about the Winter Classic. I am sitting here in my aunt's living room in my brand-new Jonathan Toews jersey (it is gorgeous, I love it, I'll post pictures later), watching the NHL Network listening to commentary from various members of my family. The game is on NBC so watch it! I don't really have much to say yet other than that the weather looks good and I am glad it is not too sunny, that will make it easier to play. I really want the Hawks to avenge their loss to the Wings from Tuesday.

I'll be back after the game with a full recap (I promise), my thoughts on the game, and stories of anything funny that might have taken place while I was watching the game. Who knows maybe I will check in during the game?

GO HAWKS!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T03:03:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Today is the Winter Classic and I really should be sleeping so that I am wide awake for the game but I am not. I am really excited for the Winter Classic. I will be watching the game with family who has never watched hockey before, other than my cousin who chose to watch the USA-Kazakhstan game of the world juniors with me Tuesday night. I will probably (hopefully) check in tomorrow morning, and definitely after the game. In the meantime, enjoy 2009 and...

GO HAWKS!!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.

I have been sick these past few weeks but am feeling better now and am going to try to blog again soon, in the meantime I hope everyone has a nice Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any holiday that you celebrate. If you don't celebrate any holidays try to enjoy the snow, or if you live somewhere without snow consider me jealous.

A Great Story

2008-12-15T21:50:00.000-05:00

I already mentioned this in a previous post but it seems as if this story has really taken off and it deserves its own post.

It all started with a forwarded email, I don't know who started it but it started going around the hockey circles. The first time I saw it was on the NHL Home Ice's website. A few days later apparently Deadspin saw it and asked Sarah Spain of Mouthpiece Sports whether it was true and she confirmed that it was, there were just a few details that weren't. After that it seemed as if every single news outlet in the US and Canada reported on it. Even Peter King wrote about it in his football column on Sports Illustrated's website. Now once we have all stopped gasping that someone not in the hockey circle decided to mention hockey we can back to the story. The Blackhawks website published their own version of the story. The link to the original version of the story is in my last post.

Burish and Kaner talked about the situation on the Hawks website.

Isn't it nice when your favorite team is the one creating the positive hype not the negative hype.

Catching Up

2008-12-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

I have a bunch of videos to start out with:

I mentioned these in passing a few posts back but since the Hawks have added another I thought I would add them now. At least they are funnier than the ones Americans have to endure from September to early November every year.

The Blackhawks video crew really deserves some sort of award because they never fail to have great videos. At the risk of breaking my blog with all of these videos I am going to post the first one again.

The first and third are my favorites. Isn't it awesome that they are still funny even though it is obvious they were all taped right after each other. Either that or Sharpie is obsessed with that shirt and they travel to Columbus a lot.

To finish off the videos, if you haven't seen Tazer's goal from the other night WATCH IT and if you have watch it again.

That goal is just one of the many reasons that Tazer was named second star of the week, this week by NHL.com and it was certainly well deserved.

It looks to me like there might be good news about Khabibulin. The Hawks have sent Corey Crawford to Rockford. Even if he is not ready to start, I am glad he is on his way back.

Kris Versteeg got an instigator penalty in the last second of the game last night. He was automatically suspended for one game and Joel Quenneville was fined $10,000. Certainly a one game suspension is not what you want to see for a player who has been playing fantastically of late.

Now for the sort of feel good story for the night: I really recommend you read the article, its a good one and the sort of story I wish we heard more of rather than all of the bad stuff. I am not sure about the validity of the details of the article I have heard some conflicting things but the main points of the article are true.

(h/t to the Goal Line Report for the link)

A Rookie Fan

2008-12-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

This all came about after reading a story from Paul Kukla on NHL.com. The premise was Happy Hockey day. For me it was very simple to come up with an idea. Here is my story:

It was a chilly Saturday afternoon on November 1st. I was working around the house when at 2 o'clock the phone rang. It was a call telling me that I had 4 tickets to the Sabres/ Capitals game in under five hours. I had no problem going, I lead a pretty boring life and I was just going to be watching hockey at home. Now the problem was filling the other three seats. I ended up going with one of my friends, Melissa. We found two other people to take the other two tickets.

Melissa was a rookie in terms of hockey. She had never been to any sort of hockey game and the only highlight she had ever seen was "The Goal" scored by (her words not mine) "that guy you say is really good" known to the rest of the world as Alex Ovechkin. Oddly enough we were going to a Caps game but Alex was in Russia.

When we got to our seats, I pointed out all of the Capitals who were warming up and as Sabres would skate towards center ice I would point them out as well. I tried to attach an anecdote to every player or connect him to someone she might have heard me talk about. She seemed so interested in everything and so engaged in what was going on. This was my first glimpse of the night ahead. Everything was so new to her that nothing could be negative. Something that a hockey diehard might not have noticed because it wasn't spectacular or wasn't a mistake was noticed simply because it was all new.

As the national anthems were sung I think Melissa finally understood why I knew every word to both the Canadian and U.S. anthems when we used to have to sing them freshman year of high school. Once the game started I tried to explain the rules of the game as they were used and I was very impressed by how much she had remembered from me talking about hockey.

At different points in the game I would hear her gasp or mutter something and even if it was just a simple play that would be normal for us but for a new hockey fan it was an exciting play.

I guess my point is that it was wonderful to go to the game with someone who had never experienced hockey before, since everything was so knew nothing could be negative. None of the players had a reputation for her she could just sit back and enjoy the game. Even though the game ended sort of one-sidedly 5-0 Sabres. It didn't matter because even a simple mistake was not noticed. It made me rethink back to what made me fall in love with the game in the first place. The excitement, the goals, the hits, amazing saves and it made me realize that through the years I have lost sight of that and just focused on the negatives. Which is truly a shame when I think of what I possibly could have missed, but I am grateful that Melissa could come to the game on November 1st because it truly was a happy hockey day, so that I could re-realize what is awesome about the game.

Crazy Hockey Teams

2008-11-29T22:22:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I wish people would stop living in the past and accept technology. There has been another issue between a blogger and a hockey team. This one involves Wrap Around Curl and the Spokane Chiefs. You can read her account of what went down here.

The fact that the Chiefs refuse to accept the internet never mind embrace completely boggles my mind. If not for her, I would know three things about the Chiefs:

   1. They are a WHL team
   2. They play in Spokane
   3. They were the team that broke the Memorial Cup.

To quote Lorelai Gilmore "They should fall down on their knee socks every day you even deign to show up at that loser school." Only in this case it should be writing about their team not going to their school. Every team should want a blogger like her. She is funny, smart and actually gets you to care about her team. In fact, if I am ever in Spokane I would now consider going to a game. The fact that she provides information about a team that doesn't even get mentioned on this side of the country is just another reason why they should be grateful for her.

The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that she can't even post her own pictures. This line is directly from the Chiefs or the CHL, I don't know which

"they’re very protective of how their product (the players images, logos, etc.) is portrayed."

I'm sorry but she is the one taking the photo, she owns it. She is the one who bought the camera and took the photo. She should be able to distribute it how ever she wants. As long as the photo isn't altered in an unnoticeable way then the way the players, logos, etc. are being portrayed is accurate. They have no ownership over the actual photo.

I hope she can get this whole issue resolved and it won't have a huge effect on the content of her blog.

I know this was sort of ranty but I really don't want to talk about the Blackhawks today. Weren't they supposed to have a great end of the circus trip?

Will Nylander Return?

2008-11-23T14:01:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk of a possible trade involving the Hawks. The biggest rumor has been trading Byfuglien and Sopel to Washington for Michael Nylander. I personally wouldn't make this trade at this point in the season. I watch a lot of Washington games and Nylander hasn't wowed me this year especially for what he costs. Byfuglien is a good young forward who fits on this team.

Nylander has been a healthy scratch some nights, which means that when the Caps aren't too decimated with injuries they don't view him as a crucial part of their success. At almost 5 million per year that is way to expensive to not be a crucial part of success. I don't want to make this all about money but the cap is projected to go down by almost $9 million next year and with the economy the way it is who knows what the near future may hold.

Nylander is signed through the 2010-11 season. Does any Hawks fan want him taking up $5 million in cap space when after next year the Hawks have to re-sign Kane and Toews? Both will have to be signed well before July 1, 2010 because if they aren't signed I can't even imaging how fast the offer sheets will come. I would much rather not trade for Nylander than have to face losing either Kane or Toews, this early on in their careers. In this post-salary cap world everything is about looking ahead and being cap concious.

I think that the Hawks could benefit from another veteran but I don't think Nylander is necessarily the best option.

Did anyone take a look at the standings recently? I know it is only about a quarter way through the season but did anyone think when the Blackhawks fired Denis Savard that just a few weeks later the Hawks would be 4th in the west.

Hawks Top Leafs

2008-11-22T23:45:00.001-05:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I promise that one day I will write a recap. I just won't start tonight. Because this will be me in about 15 minutes.

I didn't see Sunday, Tuesday or Thursdays game. I did however find a few minutes to look up Tazer's fight and all I have to say is that Tazer was completely right with the comment that 5 for fighting was probably a bit much since it wasn't really a fight. What's that old saying? Oh yeah, its the thought that counts.

I am not going to talk about the circus trip yet because I haven't seen much of it. I am going to try to watch the last three games tomorrow.

Just when we thought we were done with political ads for another 10 months we find out the Hawks have different plans.

I will write about the trade rumors tomorrow because I just spelled every word in that last sentence wrong and if I wrote about it tonight it would be so horribly written I would end up rewriting it anyways.

Obsessed with Overtime?

2008-11-15T12:48:00.001-05:00

As I sit here and watch last night's game a few things came to mind that I feel I should mention

1.) Some Montreal fans (some, not all) set up a javascript function to vote for the Habs even when they are not at their computers. That would explain why the Canadiens have hundreds of thousands of more votes than everyone else on the face of the earth. What that doesn't explain is why Sergei Gonchar is so high up in votes. Listen to me people: He can't play so use your votes on someone who can. No disrespect to Gonchar but the guy is injured hasn't played a game all year.
Now back to the javascript problem. My suggestion to the NHL start the voting over. We are only three days in and it will be more fair. You know what they will say to me: "Well guess what Clare, life's not fair so deal with it." So I will because at the end of the day I really don't care. Plus I think the NHL has bigger problems to deal with.

ETA on 11/16 I can't believe I forgot to add Ryan Whitney to that but he is in the same category as Gonchar. That was my mistake.

2.) The Blackhawks need to stop losing games in overtime. I understand that at least they get a point but that doesn't matter I want two points and I will not be denied.

3.) If you need a laugh you can watch the completely ridiculous video on the Blackhawks website.

4.) Barry Melrose got fired and all I can say is YAY!

5.) If don't know if any of you remember in August when I mentioned that the comments page looked very small on my computer. Well, it continued until a few days ago when I clicked on the comments page on My Safety is Harvard and much to my surprise the comment font was back to normal size. I don't know what happened but I think that I liked the smaller font better oddly enough.

6.) I was on TSN the yesterday afternoon and saw this. I wondered to myself why they didn't just say that he had an undisclosed injury.

It's All Just a Popularity Contest

2008-11-09T15:24:00.007-05:00

The All-Star ballots for the starting lineups were released the other day. There are three Blackhawks on the ballot: Kane, Toews and Campbell. I believe Sharpie should have been on the ballot as well. He has played really well this year and certainly deserved the nod. It seems as if the sixth leading scorer in the NHL this season should be on the ballot but then again you would have thought the 5th leading scorer would have been on there to:

OK now the male readers can stop reading. The rest of the post doesn't concern you. Go read other news. Here's a link to TSN if you need a suggestion.

I want to start out by saying whoever decided it would be a good idea to have the Rangers in a photo shoot for Men's Journal is a genius. Now I am not a Rangers fan but I appreciate a good idea when one comes along. Now you look at the next picture and tell me this wasn't a good idea:

This picture didn't even have Lundqvist in it.

Now normally I like to keep this blog devoted to serious hockey news but there are certain times that I will go off track a little.

Here's a video from the shoot:

Oh and the issue is on newsstands now. (It's the one with Paul Newman on the cover)

Back to serious hockey news next post and Happy Veterans Day!

Also is this seriously the first post I tagged with Patrick Sharp?

A Week Without the Hawks Makes Me Crazy

2008-11-06T20:53:00.002-05:00

Here are pictures of the third jerseys:

Apparently Kris Versteeg really likes Fergie. I'll let him explain:

The other night was Rookie of the Year Figurine night and Kaner's teammates gave him a hard time about the figurine.

Here is a photo of the figurine so that you can make your own judgments before you hear what his teammates thought.

Now the Blackhawks reaction:

The Hockey News website had a "Getting to Know Patrick Kane"

On Monday a woman died at a Blackhawks game. The weird part: 22 years ago her mother died at a Blackhawks game. My condolences to the Kuhlman family. Don't you think it might be a good idea for them to no longer go to Blackhawks games.

I was going through my Google Analytics today and all I have to say is to whoever found my blog by searching "why does patrick kane always have his mouth guard out of his mouth" I have no idea but if anyone finds out feel free to let me know. I mean I expect them to be chewing on them when they aren't on the ice or after the whistle but while he is playing seems unusual.

I know I didn't mention the All-Star Ballot but I have too much to say about it and it deserves it's own post.

Blackhawks Third Jersey

2008-11-03T20:16:00.001-05:00

I just posted about Winter Classic tickets and I hate to post this close together but I feel I should.

Since tonight was the first time that I have had a free moment I was catching up on a couple of the blogs that I like but they aren't in my Google Reader so I don't read them as often as I should. In catching up I realized that I had forgotten that tonight is the night that the Blackhawks will debut their new third jersey.

Now it seems a bit odd that the Blackhawks didn't have an unveiling. It would have been a good promotional thing for them in a Chicago market that so desperately needs to pay more attention to the Blackhawks but apparently the boys are going to take to the ice in these new jerseys that no one has seen the official versions of. I will post pictures as soon as I can find them. If you go to Icethetics you can find pictures of what the third jersey is assumed to be but I guess we won't know for sure for another 14 minutes. Readers in Chicago may already know because of the pre-game, I don't get those perks with Center Ice.

ETA: Pictures can be seen here.

Winter Classic Ticket Info

2008-11-03T19:57:00.001-05:00

Finally the NHL and the Blackhawks have released ticket info for the Winter Classic. If you are a Blackhawks season ticket holder I am assuming that you have gotten a letter or something and that you know what is going on. I don't know, hopefully you do, I have too much else to worry about.

If you are not a Hawks season ticket holder and would like tickets here is what you should do:

Go to the Blackhawks website between 11 am CT on Wednesday and before 11pm on Friday to register for the random drawing. Then the Hawks will perform a random drawing to see who will have the opportunity to buy tickets.

This is a very different style from what was done last year and I will be very interested to see how it works for the NHL. I have a feeling that this will be a better system.

Is it just me or...

2008-10-31T11:03:00.000-04:00

is the NHL sort of boring this year. Sure scoring is up which makes Gary Bettman happy but does it make hockey more exciting? In my mind, NO. I would rather watch a hard fought battle that ends in a 2-1 or 3-2 score than I game that ends 6-5 in the shootout and where you are just waiting for the lead to change AGAIN. For example there have only been two game that were genuinely exciting that I have seen so far this year. I haven't seen very many games this season but here are the two:

The Blackhawks game against the Capitals on October 11. It may have been because I was there and the crowd was absolutely electric. Granted that was a 4-2 game and the Blackhawks didn't play that well during it but it was an exciting game.
The other game that was genuinely exciting was Tuesday the Lightning vs. Leafs. It was a 3-2 final and the game was exciting because both teams had some great chances but they also failed to score on a lot of them. It made the game more exciting because it wasn't just all goals there was more to the game than that.

I am certainly going to keep watching but I don't think that scoring needs to keep going up.

I am not advocating for 1-0 games especially in OT because those can get pretty dull but I like lower scoring games. What do you think?

Hawks lose to the Wings

2008-10-25T23:59:00.000-04:00

I'm agree with Sharpie, Red Wings make me gag. I hate that team. There is no other team that just flat out bugs me as much as the Wings do. I didn't watch the whole game...yet. The NHL's Super Saturday didn't work out so well for me. There was too much hockey in too short an amount of time to watch it. When you think of it who did it really benefit? I can't think of anyone. Either it didn't matter to most people or it was just way too hectic for the rest of us. Then there is no hockey on tomorrow. Really... is the NHL trying to punish me because if they are they need to stop because I don't like it.

I TIVOed the game and spent the time it was on watching other games that I wasn't recording. Every so often I would flip back to the Hawks game. I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by Kris Versteeg's performance thus far. I didn't really expect much from him this year and he certainly has far exceeded my expectations.

I did watch the shootout and I have to admit I screamed in excitement when Toewsy scored in the shootout. I know it doesn't count towards his goal total but just to have him score in any form was ok for me.

I didn't exactly know how to react when Hossa scored but it certainly wasn't excitement, happiness or anything like that. You see I have never liked Hossa, I didn't like him in Atlanta, I do have to admit he redeemed himself a little in Pittsburgh, but the minute he bolted for Detroit I knew that I was right about him all along. I expected him to score in the shootout because he is Hossa, but I can't tell you how desperately I didn't want him to and then for that goal to win the game for Detroit made it all that much worse.

Hopefully we can take the next 5 against the Wings including the Winter Classic. I will be back to regular blogging tomorrow. I have 4 or 5 posts I am working on but I am currently exhausted and watching Edmonton @ Vancouver on HNIC.

Canucks @ Blackhawks

2008-10-19T21:29:00.004-04:00

Ok since I won't be able to find time during the day to write a recap tomorrow, I figured I would do a live game blog. We will see how it goes. Here's hoping that Center Ice decides to show the whole game tonight as was not the case with last night's game.

I saw the Canucks play Friday night in Buffalo. They were tired because of just having beat Detroit the night before, but I expect them to be ready tonight.

Brian Campbell is wired for sound. Oddly enough even after years of having him play for in Buffalo, I have no idea what to expect.

Before the game the Hawks honor Pat Foley. He is there and drops the ceremonial first puck.

Ryan Kesler and Dave Bolland take the first face off and the game begins

I feel like I have watched more of the Canucks this week than in the past three years combined.

Kevin Bieksa is back for his third game this season. He was injured a week ago. Sort of a pest on the ice but a pretty nice guy off of it.

Not even three minutes in and the Hawks are being outshot 5-1.

4:47 Neither team is really dominating so far but it is still early.

There was a skirmish after the whistle because of a hit on Hordichuck. O'Brien and Burish are fighting. It appeared that Burish wanted to fight with Bieksa but Bieksa wouldn't. Both were pretty evenly matched.

Hawks will go on the power play.

5 minutes each to Burish and O'Brien.

On the power play there was 3 on 0 and somehow no one could put it. I think it went in at one point and they didn't review it and no goal. Still 51 seconds on PP.

7:28 Another skirmish after the whistle and now Bolland and Burrows are off to the box.

This is hard to blog about there is so much going on. It appears that this is going to be a very physical game.

9:32 Pavol Demitra scores. 1-0 Vancouver. Demitra from Raymond and Kesler.

10:35 Jonathan Toews just went in between two defenders but couldn't get a shot. He stayed with it, got it to Kaner who passed it to Seabrook who scored. 1-1.

13:28 Penalty coming up to the Hawks. Havlat for slashing.

13:55 4-4 Taylor Pyatt gets a hooking penalty.

14:30 Brian Campbell's shot hits the crossbar and I swear you could hear the ping in Japan.

15:29 Sharp scores on the power play. 2-1 Blackhawks Originally thought it was Versteeg but it was Sharp.

Every game the Hawks go to commercial after an icing which is not allowed. When they return from the commercial they weren't supposed to take someone always remarks what a great rule it is. Really? Then why can't you ever remember it exists.

End of period 1. Hawks up 2-1

Roberto Luongo 2-10
Cristobal Huet 1-11

Period Two

We see the whole Foley family in their box.

Mike Brown and Ben Eager fight and Brown easily dominates. Both get 5 for fighting.

I got a phone call and missed the last 15 minutes. It appears I didn't miss much other than maybe a few power plays and penalty kills.

Campbell made the spin-o-rama move and then slid into the boards. Obviously it didn't work so well.

End of period two. Hawks 2-1

Does this girl on the shoot the puck contest really have nothing more than a Toews jersey on? Please have some decency, there are small children there. Plus isn't she a little cold.

One of the contestants on Shoot the Puck won the contest. I believe he wins two roundtrip tickets to anywhere that United flies to.

Period 3

2:28 Vancouver goes on the power play due to a penalty by Ben Eager

With 13:02 left Kane scored from Byfuglien and Sharp to put the Hawks up 3-1.

Sharp is playing great tonight. He got his second goal with 6:45 left, has had at least one assist and had a couple of chances. 4-1 Hawks.

Vancouver scores with just under five minutes left off of a turnover by Versteeg. 4-2 Hawks.

Bernier has a good opportunity to score. Huet stopped it.

With four minutes left Toews was taken down and slid into the boards. No call on the play.

Kane passed it to Toews as time expired so that Toews could get his first goal. Time expired just before the puck went into the net. Still a very nice gesture.

Game ends 4-2 Hawks!!!

Next game Wednesday against the Oilers at the United Center

Coaching Change

2008-10-17T12:13:00.000-04:00

I follow the Blackhawks on Twitter and I have the text alerts for the Hawks on and so when I turned my phone on today I was a little surprised by what I saw:

This was the internet version (obviously)

This seemed kind of odd to me. I mean when you fire a coach four games in you were ready to fire him a while ago. It isn't even like the Hawks had no points. Through 4 games they had 3 points. Plus they didn't look completely horrible in those games. I think that if a coaching change needed to be made it could have been made at a better time. I hope that the Blackhawks can rebound from this sudden change. They were already up to a rocky start and hopefully things will go up from here.

You also have to assume that the Blackhawks were waiting to fire Savard since they hired Joel Quenneville as a pro scout over the summer. It seems as if the Blackhawks were just waiting for the team to hit a rough patch so that they could fire Savard and hire Quenneville. Quenneville has been a pro coach and it seems like scouting would not be his ideal job unless he was hoping to be Chicago's head coach. Only the future can tell whether the right move was made or not.

Road Trip to Washington

2008-10-15T20:45:00.001-04:00

I left out the first and last part of the trip because you would find it quite boring. Even people who know me got bored with the story.

THE GAME: The Capitals play at the Verizon Center right in D. C. We arrived around 6:15 for the 7:00 game. We got to our seats and they were fantastic seats. We were 4 rows from the ice right in section 114 on the aisle.

The only drawback was that the view of the other end of the ice wasn't that great but thankfully we were at the end the Blackhawks shoot twice at. They introduced the Capitals and Caps fans are very passionate about their team and they take great pride in the fact that they were Southeast Division Champs. When they showed the Hawks starting lineup on the scoreboard the spelled Martin Havlat's name "Martin Hablat" I tried to take a picture but they changed it too fast.

The game started and the Blackhawks looked good. They scored 26 seconds in. They really looked good for the first 10 minutes and the score was 2-0 Blackhawks. Then things started to change.

The Hawks celebrate the first goal.

Things kind of went down from there. The Hawks didn't score after that and the game ended 4-2. I would show more pictures except that the rest of my pictures all have Jonathan Toews in them. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course. I honestly didn't mean to have him in every picture he just kept skating into the picture.

A few other thoughts:

When Ovechkin scores he skates and practically jumps on the glass and for a split second you wonder if the glass will be able to stop his momentum.
The kid sitting in front of me thought everything should be a penalty. He kept screaming "Tripping" and I had to keep from saying "When your own player falls when he is just standing there it is not tripping. He just can't stand up."
Did anyone else notice that Pat Kane never had his mouth guard in his mouth even when he was playing? It may not have been noticeable on TV but it was driving me crazy at the game.

Never mind I am going to post some pictures:

One of the best pictures I took

One of the best photos I took of Ovechkin

After the Game: I met some of the Capitals after the game which was great. I met Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Brooks Laich, Mike Green again, and Nicklas Backstrom. I saw both goalies but they were both with their wives and their daughters and so I didn't want to bother them. I also met Ovechkin's parents and two people who I am 99% positive were Mike Green's parents.

All in all it was a great trip.

Other things:

I didn't watch game 3 but I am going to watch the game starting in 2 minutes. I am hoping to either live blog that or get the recap up early tomorrow because tomorrow night will be crazy.
I also have a few links about Jonathan Toews that I will post tomorrow. I think it deserves its own post.
I am sure there were other things that I wanted to post about but I can't remember.
I am desperately hoping for a Blackhawks win tonight because they need one.

ETA: Is anyone else as sick as I am of the NHL Center Ice commercial where the guy builds the boards around his TV? It's like I already ordered Center Ice, I am already convinced and can we stop playing it 7626374626 times per game.

GO HAWKS!

A Few Thoughts Part 2

2008-10-12T19:30:00.001-04:00

1.) Apparently the first game of the season was pretty pathetic. I will have my account of the second game of the season in a post later tonight. I didn't see the first game, I was going to watch it today when I got home but my TiVO spazzed and didn't tape anything I had set up this weekend. My Tribe has a recap of the first game.

2.) Ben Eager did end up getting suspended. I guess I wasn't patient enough for the NHL to make a decision when I posted the other night. He got suspended for three games, two of those are over and the last game is tomorrow.

3.) The Chicago ICE Program, which "provides academic scholarships to financially “disadvantaged” kids who play hockey" is hosting a charity event. All the details are below (click to enlarge so that you can actually read it)

A Few Thoughts

2008-10-11T14:51:00.000-04:00

If this post looks slightly odd it is because I am emailing it from my
phone. The hotel we are staying at is great, beautiful and modern
except that there is no wireless Internet in our hotel. I have two
posts ready except I can't post until I get home tommorow night. Had I
known I would have posted from the Hampton Inn in central PA that we
stayed at last night, which had free wireless. Long story short, if
you need to get a hold of me email me or leave a comment.

Predictions

2008-10-05T21:19:00.001-04:00

I want to start off by saying whatever happened with the whole Ben Eager situation . Did he get suspended did he not get suspended? A girl wants to know. I am assuming that since I haven't heard anything that he wasn't suspended but I started thinking about how I hadn't heard anything while I was waiting in line at Wegmans. Which, by the way was surprisingly crowded for 8 p.m. on Sunday. Did everyone watch the Bills game from their rabbit ears and decided they just had to go to Wegmans? Apparently so.*

Buccigross at ESPN thinks that the Blackhawks will finish 4th in the conference. I personally would love that. I am not sure it is going to happen but it can't hurt to dream can it. I am pretty sure that 4th is the highest the Blackhawks will finish because they have improved but I don't think they are going to beat out Detroit for the division title. I truly can't figure out how Detroit stays so good year after year after year. Do they have anyone on their roster this year that wasn't part of one of the Stanley Cup finalists last year? The answer to that is no.

Now back to the Blackhawks finishing fourth. Again I would love it but I am not sure it is realistic. Don't call me a pessimist. I am simply a realist. Now don't get me wrong I am 99% sure that the Blackhawks will make it into the playoffs. I think this Blackhawks team could make it to fourth in the conference but I think that the competition is so fierce in the Western conference that it will be difficult for them to finish fourth. I think that Minnesota, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Chicago, Calgary, Anaheim and possibly San Jose will make it in to the playoffs. Those were in no particular order so don't take that as what I think the standings will be at the end of the season. Now the question is "Will I be right?"
Thanks to Hand of Godard (formerly DrunkArmyFan) for the link.

*Wegmans is a grocery store. CBS and the CW are no longer on Time Warner Cable because of contract issues (I am siding with Time Warner on this one) and so people had to watch the Bills game through antennas (which Time Warner was giving away for free) today.

Blackhawks News and Such

2008-10-01T11:56:00.002-04:00

The season starts soon. The Hawks started the preseason with three wins then lost terribly to the Blue Jackets (7-1) and lost in OT last night to Minnesota.

They also placed Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers. He cleared waivers and it remains to be seen what the future holds for him. Maybe a team will pick him up off re-entry waivers (if he is placed on re-entry waivers), maybe a trade will happen, maybe he will stay with the Blackhawks.

A little too much of this happened last year

Now to a link that DrunkArmyFan left:

It is an article from NHL.com about Kane and Toews. The article is so true because off the ice they are so different and they have such different styles of play but they really work well together on the ice.

I went to a Sabres preseason game on Sunday and had such a weird time that I may post about that later.

Only 9 days until the season starts!

I hate the preseason but the Hawks win

2008-09-24T22:05:00.000-04:00

The Blackhawks won 4-3 over Columbus. Other than that I know nothing. Center Ice doesn't start with the pre-season unfortunately. I didn't see the game and I hate listening to just the radio because I get so distracted, so instead I watched Buffalo vs. Montreal on the NHL Network. I do know that Pascal Pelletier, Kris Versteeg, Patrick Sharp and Troy Brouwer scored. I don't know how well the Blackhawks played or anything like that so I am relying on the score sheet for everything. Expect a more detailed commentary in the future (like when Center Ice decides to show the games). I was going to post pictures but decided not to since they would just be a bunch of pictures in a row and I have more important things to discuss.

The Blackhawks have set a new season ticket record but season tickets are still available.

They also cut 16 players from training camp today.

But the thing I am most excited about is what came in the mail yesterday:

2 tickets to the Blackhawks @ Capitals game on Oct. 11!

I get to only about two Blackhawks games a year so this is very exciting. Plus I have never seen a game at the Verizon Center so that will be fun.

Robert Lang is off to Montreal

2008-09-12T19:35:00.002-04:00

Well I have to admit this one came as kind of a shock to me. If you would have told me this morning that the Blackhawks were going to make a trade today I would have thought they would have traded a defenceman or Nikolai Khabibulin.

However the more I thought about it this makes the possibility of Kevyn Adams coming back more plausible. In the past week the rumors have been swirling that the Hawks were thinking about bringing Adams back. Lang and Adams are both older guys with leadership experience. Granted Lang will put up more points than Adams will, Adams will also not command $4 million, which is a good thing.

Chicago will get Montreal's second round pick in the 2010 draft. The Blackhawks had cap issues so they had to make a deal before next Saturday.

Tomorrow marks a week from when training camp will start and I can't remember a year (not including the lockout) that I was more ready to have hockey start again.

Plus I just bought great tickets to the Capitals-Blackhawks game on October 11 so I am super excited about that.

LATE EDIT: For any of you who may have read this post before 8:45 sorry, I started a sentence and then didn't finish it so I just deleted it. I have a bad habit of not proofreading things before I post them.

Stuff Other People Wrote

2008-09-10T21:55:00.001-04:00

I have a bunch of links I think are worth reading. If I missed any let me know because I pulled this list together in about 10 minutes, I haven't really been on the internet in days.

These three were left in the comments by DrunkArmyFan:

TSN is writing a daily preview of one of the teams in the NHL. Today was the Blackhawks day.

TSN is also writing sort of a fantasy hockey outlook on each team.

Puck Daddy at Yahoo! Sports wrote a preview about the Blackhawks in a school yearbook style.

These were a couple that I found:

Someone is making a romantic comedy about Sean Avery. Insert your own joke or remark here. (This one was found by Seth at The Empty Netters)

Kevin Allen wrote an article in USA Today about Jonathan Toews.

Like I said let me know about anything I missed.

At Least There is Some Sign of Hockey

2008-09-05T22:50:00.001-04:00

That's actually a lie there is a lot of signs of hockey recently. I also haven't been around much lately. Not even just here but I have not been commenting in other blogs as often as I like. I promise that will change and now that there is more to blog about that will help. Moving on..

Tuesday was Blackhawks Night at Wrigley Field. There were quite a few Blackhawks there and Brian Campbell sang the 7th inning stretch. I am glad I wasn't there because after hearing him sing after seeing that video on YouTube of him at The Bucking Buffalo, I would not have wanted to hear him sing again. Of course I can't find the video now but it was memorable to say the least. The Ice Girls were also at Wrigley and someone apparently decided that it would be a good idea to have the zamboni in what appears to be a parking lot and have the Ice Girls stand around it. Not exactly my idea of a perfect photo-op but whatever works I guess.

All 82 games are going to be on TV this season in Chicago. Not that that could be considered as new news because at the end of last season they announced that, but the full schedule has been released. I'll post it tomorrow and link to it on the side bar. This doesn't really affect me because I was able to get the other teams feed last season but I can imagine for fans in Chicago this is huge. I retract my comment about it not affecting me because I will like to watch games where the commentators aren't biased towards the other team so this will be good for me.

Training camp starts two weeks from tomorrow. It can't come soon enough this off-season has been way too long and boring.

My 100 Things Part 4

2008-08-27T23:53:00.000-04:00

Yes I am still alive but there isn't much to blog about. The Blackhawks signed Akim Aliu to an entry level contract but that is it. Is the font on the comments page coming up really small for anyone else? I will leave a comment for you to test but if you could let me know that would be great. Thank you. Here is Part 4: The Finale of my 100 things

70. I still have one baby tooth. I don't have a permanent tooth underneath it and so my dentist keeps sealing it to keep it in for as long as possible.

71. I have been taking French for 10 years and am hoping that within the next two years I will be somewhat fluent.

72. I have always been great at math and horrible at science. Apparently if you are good at one you are supposed to be good at the other but I am not.

73. I love the idea of small town life but could never live in one. I like big cities.

74. I have glasses, but I only use them while watching hockey. It got to the point last season where I couldn't see the puck and I decided I needed them.

75. I have my DVD's arranged by their stars because when I watch a movie undoubtedly I will want to watch other movies with the same stars.

76. I cannot wear the color orange. It looks horrible on me. (Good thing I am not a Flyers fan)

77. I was a dancer instead of an athlete. I took Irish Dance for 6 years and took ballet for 5 years.

78. I love watching MSNBC, CNN etc.

79. I no longer have an iPod I just use my iPhone.

80. I don't understand the obsession with reality TV, but I do like Dancing with the Stars.

81. I absolutely loved the musical Wicked. It was absolutely amazing. I want to read the book but I can't imagine Wicked without the music.

82. Blood freaks me out. I could never be a doctor. I can't handle even hearing about someone's injury or illness.

83. I am scared of basically everything. I could write a whole post about what I am scared of.

84. I have very fair skin and have learned to always use sunscreen because I will never be tan a day in my life.

85. Whenever I have to bring a pen anywhere I always bring at least five. This comes from one day in elementary school when we were taking a test and about halfway through my pen ran out of ink. I let the person behind me borrow my other pen at the beginning of the test. When I asked my teacher if I could have another pen she told me no that I should have asked for one at the beginning of class then promptly took my test ripped it up and gave me a zero. Since then I have always been over prepared.

86. I hated elementary school. Grades 1-8 were very bad. The incident described in #85 was one of the better things that happened if you can believe that.

87. I have an uncanny ability to be able to find anyone's (even sometimes dogs) NHL look-a-like.

88. I once sat next to Marty Biron at a Sabres game. He talked through the whole game (go figure).

89. I don't have a Facebook. Yes I realize how that makes me not up-to-date but I don't care. I don't want one or feel I need one.

90. Both of my parents are big hockey fans.

91. I already have a countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics on my computer because I absolutely love the Olympics.

92. I love watching movies but I would rather watch movies at home because I like to multi-task. For instance, I am watching The Holiday right now. It's a great chick flick by the way.

93. I hate cleaning and therefore try to keep everything every clean so that I can just dust once a week and be done.

94. I am the tallest female on my mom's side of the family at 5'4"(Well actually 5' 3.5" but I am rounding up) .

95. I think and write best when hockey is on. If I had been watching hockey tonight instead The Holiday this list would have been done hours ago.

96. I try to avoid drama at all costs but I have a lot of friends who crave drama and I don't understand it. Why would you want more stress and arguments in your life?

97. I have always loved to sing however I have a horrible voice and never actually sing.

98. I dress mostly in black and white but like to add a touch of color to everything.

99. I love the show Brothers & Sisters on ABC. Even though it probably doesn't portray big family life accurately it makes me glad I am not from a big family.

100. I am done with this list and feel strangely accomplished.

When will this off-season be over?

2008-08-21T17:06:00.002-04:00

Not soon enough. That's for sure. I am positive you will agree when I say that this has been a dreadfully boring off-season. Is it just me or has this off-season been more boring than most? There seems to be no Blackhawks news. I guess the bright side is that training camp is less than a month away but still. I realize this is the most meaningless post ever but other than the weird, odd and slightly creepy Martin Havlat fashion spread I saw this morning, I haven't heard any new news in about two weeks. If you want to see the photos I was referring to they are here. Thanks to M.J. at My Safety is Harvard for the link. So hopefully there will be something newsworthy in the next few weeks otherwise it is going to be one long month.

ETA on 8/27/08: I messed up something on my other blog and in trying to change it I messed up the banner on here. Then when I tried to take the banner off and just have regular text (like it is now) the colors looked wrong so we are going to live with it like this until I can change it to something that looks right.

Regular Season Tickets

2008-08-14T11:08:00.003-04:00

I'm back early. I had a horrible allergic reaction to the place I was staying and had to go to the hospital and they told me to just go home and I would feel better. So I am home and the hospital was right I do feel better.

While I was gone nothing notable happened in regards to the Blackhawks, except tickets for all home games except the Winter Classic went on sale Monday. According to the Blackhawks website tickets are still available. Still no word on when Winter Classic tickets will go on sale to the general public.

A Break

2008-08-09T19:30:00.005-04:00

I am going to be out of town without my laptop for about a week. I leave tomorrow morning and won't be back until at least the 16th. I am not anticipating anything big to happen while I am away but it might. For Blackhawks news while I am gone see the links to the left.

My 100 Things Part 3

2008-08-08T19:57:00.001-04:00

I only came up with 20 more but since this will be my second last post before I go away here are #50-69:

50. I have terrible allergies. When I went for allergy testing because my allergies were affecting my life on a daily basis, I had the worst reaction to dust and dust mites than anyone in the office had ever seen. They actually had to give me anti-reaction medication so that my back would stop swelling and return to its normal color.

51. My allergies have also prevented me from having a dog that sheds. That is why we have Rory. I really wanted a big dog but the good thing is is that Rory truly is a big dog trapped in a little dog's body. She has every personality trait of a big dog.

52. Everyone spells my name wrong. They most often spell it Claire, Clair or once I even saw Klair. (That last person wasn't exactly smart.) Even some extended family members spell it wrong.

53. One of my favorite TV shows is Gilmore Girls. This is possibly because I have a life very similar to Rory's. Obviously my life is not the exact same but it is similar in many ways.

54. I played the violin for a while when I was a little girl. Then my lower jaw stopped growing. A few surgeries, two stints with full braces and eight years later I was finally finished with the effects of the violin.

55. I terrified of elevators. I am always scared that they are going to stop. I will still ride them but there are very few elevators I can ride comfortably.

56. I am 3/4 Irish, 1/8 Welsh and 1/8 I don't know what.

57. I only drink Diet Coke, not Diet Pepsi. I love Diet Coke with Lime if it is available.

58. I don't drink coffee but I love a non-fat white chocolate mocha from Starbucks.

59. I have toe thumbs. Don't feel bad if you have never heard of them. They are thumbs that are very wide and short. They look more like toes than thumbs. I have always hated mine and intentionally hide them in pictures. Here is a picture of someone else's toe thumb. I won't allow mine to be photographed.

60. I also bite my nails. This doesn't help my toe thumb problem, nails kind of hide the wideness of them but not a lot.

61. I am an only child, but I love it.

62. I am terrified of squirrels.

63. I don't listen to music except late at night.

64. My mom and I are very close and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

65. I broke my foot when I was nine and Tim Russert signed my cast. I recently found it in my basement.

66. I am very reliable. I always have been, I expect that of myself and make myself feel guilty if I am unreliable.

67. I actually have very readable handwriting. My mom has the best handwriting and growing up I always wanted my handwriting to look like hers. (In a completely non-malicious way) My handwriting looks nothing like hers but is still very neat.

68. I am terribly impatient.

69. I hate PC's. They are way too slow. See #68

Happy Birthday Sidney!

2008-08-07T19:50:00.003-04:00

The Penguins fan in me would be guilty if I didn't post this:

Happy 21st Birthday Sidney!

Chill Out Detroit

2008-08-02T19:14:00.002-04:00

I have heard some Detroit fans saying that Scotty Bowman is a traitor. All I have to say is RELAX. Seriously, a traitor? I am sorry but it is not like he has worked for only Detroit for his whole life. His son is assistant GM for the Hawks and has two young sons. Did it ever occur to these Detroit fans that maybe he just wanted to spend some more time with his son who is fighting cancer and his two grandsons. Is that a crime in Detroit, because if it is I am glad I don't live there (this being one of a multitude of reasons, believe me). He was not under contract for the Red Wings, so he did nothing wrong. I say to you chill out Detroit. If things are so well for the Red Wings that the only thing the fans can worry about is this than good for them but don't bug the rest of us with your problems. It is annoying and Blackhawks fans really don't need another reason to dislike the Wings.

It's About Time

2008-08-02T09:15:00.002-04:00

I posted 100 Things Part 2 last night so don't miss that. Cristobal Huet will be arriving in Chicago sometime this weekend returning from France or wherever he has been vacationing for the past three months. Monday the Blackhawks will hold a press conference to introduce him. The press conference will be at 11 am and you can see it live on chicagoblackhawks.com

My 100 Things Part 2

2008-07-31T14:55:00.011-04:00

Sorry I am two days late with these. Here are #26-50

26. I hate semis.

27. I walk really fast. I always have, whenever I am walking with someone I am always trying to slow down to stay at their pace but when I am alone I walk extremely fast, but I am not conscious that I am walking as fast as I do.

28. I cannot stand Taylor Swift. I don't know why, she just annoys me to no end. Every time that a song of hers comes on the radio my finger can't hit the button fast enough to change the station.

29. I cannot draw to save my life. Whenever I try to draw something I have to give a long explanation about what exactly I drew because no one can figure it out.

30. I hate shopping. If you have known me for even 5 minutes you would assume otherwise but I hate it. It is not so much the actual shopping, that I like. If I could just go into a store and buy a lot of clothes I would like that. What I don't like is trying clothes on, I find it annoying and horrible.

31. I love jewelry but rarely ever wear it, I think it is that I don't have enough time in the morning to look through all of my jewelry to figure out what to wear.

32. I love email. I check it obsessively and I even have my phone set up to check both my personal email and the email that is associated with All Hawks Hockey and Blogger every 15 minutes. I also love getting email. Some people find it annoying but I don't.

33. The most productive time of day for me is between 11pm-1am and 5:00am-6:30am. The only problem is that normal life normally prevents me from being productive at those times.

34. I love shoes and purses.

35. I am very impatient. I hate waiting, I believe it is a waste of time and life's too short to waste time.

35. I live a very boring life (to most people, to me I find it quite interesting) but am happy with my life.

36. I hate being wrong, but if I am wrong I will admit that I was wrong immediately.

37. I change the desktop on my computer almost daily.

38. I actually like most change and feel it is a very important part of life.

39. I love iced tea and hate hot tea. This is weird because I use the same tea bags when I make iced tea as I would use to make hot tea.

40. I always pass out when I go for blood work. I warn the nurse every time and they always laugh it off like I am not serious, and for some reason act all shocked when I do in fact pass out (I find out after I wake up)

41. Other than black pen, for non-professional things I love writing in purple pen.

42. I don't forget things very easily. If someone has been a bad friend to me then chances are a few years down the road I am going to be less willing to do a favor for them than a good friend. It may be a flaw but that is who I am.

43. I hate confrontation. That may be why I hold onto things for so long.

44. After seeing Marc-Andre Fleury hide in Colby Armstrong's hockey bag (I think it is about 10 minutes in), my mom decided to dare me to get in a bag like this one. I fit, she zippered the bag and I proceeded to scare various members of my family including the dog.

45. I ask a lot of questions. Not when I first meet you but after I get to know you, I ask a ton of questions.

46. I love to save things, but only important things and I don't subscribe to the whole "save it for 6 months and if you don't use it throw it out" because of course you don't remember in 6 months and then the whole process starts again when you do find what ever you had put away. If you think you aren't going to use it then just throw it out.

47. I just looked at the side bar and realized I have been writing this for almost 2 months but to me it seems like I just started yesterday and am now wondering could it have possibly been two months? Apparently yes and I am apparently still as shocked as I was 50 seconds ago.

48. I have always hated science.

49. I am terribly nonathletic. I have tried almost every sport imaginable and been horrible at them. However, it gives me a better appreciation for what athletes go through on a daily basis because I could never.

I know I cheated and only came up with 24 things but I will post 26 tomorrow.

Scotty Bowman joins the Blackhawks

2008-07-31T14:24:00.002-04:00

The Blackhawks have hired Scotty Bowman as a senior advisor of hockey operations. The announcement will be made at 2pm Central time, today. I will post video and quotes and everything later when it becomes available. Also expect 100 Things Parts 2 and 3 later.

My 100 Things

2008-07-29T12:00:00.004-04:00

It turns out that Meet the Player is going to take longer than I had expected because it is hard to find information that the average fan doesn't know so I am changing things up a bit.
If you read any other blogs and for your sake I really hope you do because some of them are terrific (and then there are the ones that are really bad). I am an avid reader of hockey blogs, the list on the side of the page is short (of the blogs I read, not the general blogroll), I have so many bookmarked it is scary. Lately it seems like the fashionable thing is to write lists and since I adore lists I figured I would jump on the bandwagon. This idea came from Heather B. over at Top Shelf whose blog is truly one of my favorites. It is 100 Things, basically 100 random things about me. I am going to write it in 4 parts because these things are very hard to come up with.
1. I am one of the most organized people you will ever meet. I like everything to have it's own place. When someone tries to find something on my computer I have to help them find it because everything is hidden within so many folders it is like a puzzle to find anything. I have three different calendars at home, one on my phone and one on my computer. I never miss anything.

2. I use my cell phone a lot however I barely talk on it. When looking at the cell phone bill I had sent and recieved over 1,000 texts that month but talked on my phone for less than an hour.

3. I remember the oddest things. I can remember what episode of Design on a Dime I watched in a hotel in Gettysburg 4 years ago but I can't remember what I had for dinner last night.

4. I am alway worrying about something. I have a tendency to worry about the smallest things in life like right now I am worrying about when I will have to get a new battery for my laptop even though I just got a new battery 2 weeks ago and the old battery is still in my house.

5. I love to talk but am one of the quietest people you will meet. Once I get to know you I will talk your ear off (most likely about hockey if I know you are a fan). Yes I am trying to talk less and it is going well.
6. I am extremely opinionated but won't share my opinion unless asked. I don't want to impose my opinion on anyone.

7. That being said I am the most indecisive person ever. It takes me hours to make decisions about small things like what to have for dinner.

8. I love to read but don't read nearly as much as I should.
9. I don't watch much normal TV, in the fall, winter and spring I pretty much only watch hockey and the news and in the summer I watch DVD's.

10. I am a total girly girl and when people hear I am a hockey fan they look at me with a shocked expression and sometimes I hear "puckbunny" (which I am not) or "girls aren't sports fans" (which if I have the time means they will get a lecture) but most of the time I just hear "Wow I wasn't expecting you to say that"

11. I love roadtrips and it doesn't matter where the roadtrip is too I almost always have fun.

12. I absolutley have to know what time it is. I am always wearing a watch and carry an extra with me in my purse in case the battery on the one I am wearing dies.

13. My favorite movie recently is 27 Dresses. I have seen it so many times it is insane. However, I loved The Jane Austen Book Club. I rented it the other night and the next day went back and bought it. I absolutley hated the movie Evening. Please if you haven't seen it, don't you will feel like you have wasted 2 hours of your life in misery. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to make it into a movie should be fired.

14. I love photos and I feel every important moment in life should be photographed. I am pretty sure this comes from my mom who has more pictures than anyone I know.

15. I like to knit. I don't knit anything fancy, just scarfs that never get worn.

16. I am always cold. It can be 90 degrees in Buffalo and I will have jeans and a long sleeved shirt on.

17. I love making lists. I have notepads everywhere so I can make a list whenever.
17. b. I didn't realize how hard certain lists are to make. (Like this one)
18. I have no idea why I use parentheses so much. I think it was because in elementary school we were never allowed to use parentheses and therefore ever since then I have always used them to make up for those years of not using them.

19. I am a complete nightowl and a complete early bird. I don't really ever sleep. Everyone calls me the Perpetual Insominiac. I know it is not healthy and it is not like I intentionally don't sleep, I try to sleep and just can't.

20. I hate the tabs on Firefox. I would much rather have 15 different windows open than having 15 different tabs. It may be because I like making my screen look like this.

21. I absolutely hate my hair. It is so frizzy and if I try to make it look nice it just frizzes within an hour. I normally just have it curl because that is the only way I can hide the frizz.

22. I will only write in black pen and it has to be a black pen that really shows up.

23. I hate Wednesdays and have no idea why.

24. Even though I don't like talking on the phone when I am at home I have both the home phone and my cell phone with me at all times.

25. Even though I am from Buffalo, I really, really hate chicken wings.

That was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be once I got to 21 it got almost impossible and I have 75 more things to think up.

These Long Summer Days

2008-07-28T14:23:00.004-04:00

As we pass the time until the season starts there seems to be no good way to occupy August. There are somewhere around 75 days until the season and not a lot of Blackhawks news for a while. As the Blackhawks themselves are hopefully enjoying their summer at home, the fans countdown the days until the season. So to pass the time I am going to start a Meet the Player series. It will profile the guys on the Blackhawks. I am not completely sure how it will be structured but I will figure it out. I am going to use the guys listed on the official Blackhawks roster on the website. They are:

Craig Adams
Cam Barker
Adam Burish
Dustin Byfuglien
Brian Campbell
Ben Eager
Martin Havlat
Cristobal Huet
Patrick Kane
Nikolai Khabibulin
Duncan Keith
Andrew Ladd
Robert Lang
Brent Seabrook
Patrick Sharp
Brent Sopel
Jonathan Toews
Matt Walker
James Wisniewski

If it is the middle of August and I am done with this list I will continue with the prospects but for right now I am starting with this. I will go alphabetically. Tomorrow we will start with Craig Adams.

Logos, Trades and Tickets

2008-07-27T09:02:00.008-04:00

They released the logo for the Winter Classic a couple of days ago

The Blackhawks traded Martin St. Pierre to the Bruins for Pascal Pelletier. This isn't the trade that the Blackhawks need to make. It doesn't clear up cap space. Quite frankly, there needs to be a trade involving players that play in the NHL or players that will play in the NHL this year. These smaller trades aren't going to solve the Hawks problems I think that that is obvious. Now I am not saying that I want the whole team to be overhauled, in fact it is the complete opposite. I think that a few positions need help but overall I feel very good about this team making the playoffs.

Tickets for home games this year go on sale August 11.

Blackhawks Convention- A Recap of Sorts

2008-07-22T05:11:00.000-04:00

I of course can't really recap the Blackhawks convention since I was nowhere near Chicago this weekend. The weekend seemed to be a success. You can see the full opening ceremonies at the Blackhawks website but it is long (67 minutes). I also recommend watching today's Hockey Show on NHL.com which Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane hosted today. It is yet another example of the fact that they shouldn't quit their day jobs and become actors. Now I love both of them as players and are both very nice but their acting skills are not exactly stellar. I guess that's why they are hockey players. Good choice boys, good choice.

There is also a bunch of stuff on the Blackhawks website from the convention mostly interviews and such. From what I have heard everyone had a lot of fun.

More photos can be found here.

Clarification About Winter Classic Tickets

2008-07-20T14:08:00.003-04:00

From my site stats a lot of people are finding All Hawks Hockey from searching winter classic tickets. If you are not a Chicago Blackhawks season ticket holder there is no information about if, or when the general public will be able to buy tickets.

I'm Back

2008-07-19T16:00:00.010-04:00

My puppy is much better now. She is back to her normal self today.

This is Rory (I love that photo)

Back to the Hawks:

The schedule came out on Thursday and it features "at large" or home and away games with three teams from the eastern conference. They play Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and the Pittsburgh Penguins in Chicago on February 27, 2009. I am working on a download of the schedule for any Mac users for their iCal because the Blackhawks don't have one. I will post that on the side bar with Welcome to All Hawks Hockey and Contact Me.

Yesterday at the Blackhawks convention Jonathan Toews was named captain. I obviously feel this is the right selection. Yes he is very serious but I think he leads by example and is a very intense player who feels a need to win.

The Blackhawks announced yesterday that they will retire #3 in honor of Pierre Pilote and Keith Magnuson this season. The date that they will retire #3 will be announced at a later date.

The Penguins and the Blackhawks made a trade. The Blackhawks sent Danny Richmond to Pittsburgh for Tim Brent. He played one game for the Penguins this year and 15 games for Anaheim in 2006-2007. He had 61 points in 74 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this past year.

Tim Brent, the newest Blackhawk

Here is a very nice article about the Blackhawks from NHL.com.

Tomorrow I will give an update from the Blackhawks convention.

Sorry You will Have to Wait Until Tomorrow

2008-07-18T23:58:00.003-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. I have been away from my computer lately. If you read my earlier post you will see that the time stamp was from 6:12 am. I left my house right after I posted that. I just got home (it is after midnight) and am exhausted since I only got two hours of sleep (literally) last night. When I got home I got home to a sick dog. Needless to say I am ready to crash right after I finish this post. There is a lot of Blackhawks news to catch up on. I still haven't gotten a glimpse of the schedule. When I get up tomorrow morning I will make sure I am up to date on all things Blackhawks. But I have to say how psyched I am that Johnny has been named captain!!!

If you are waiting for an email back from me you will get one tomorrow I promise.

The Schedule

2008-07-18T06:12:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry to not be able to post earlier but I still haven't seen the
schedule. I only know of one game they are playing other than the
Winter Classic. The only way I am getting Internet this fine morning
is through my cell phone. As you can imagine it is not the most ideal
situation to study the schedule and put important dates on a blog.
What I can tell you is that Feb. 27 the Penguins come to the United
Center. When I finally find an alternate means of getting the internet
I will go over the schedule very carefully and have a much better post
than this one.

If you have emailed me and I haven't gotten back to you I am sorry. I
have read your emails but as my much as I love my phone, I have
decided that emails written from an actual computer are more
intelligent sounding and therefore I will get back to you later.
Thanks for understanding.

The Winter Classic Comes to Chicago

2008-07-16T12:26:00.005-04:00

The worst kept secret in hockey has been made official, Chicago will host the next NHL Winter Classic. I want to warn anyone living in Chicago that the minute you say that you are a Blackhawks fan the first thing people say (even others from Chicago) "Are you going to the Winter Classic?" In Buffalo we were inundated with progress on the building of the rink, interviews with the ice man were the lead story on the local news. This is a big event as you might expect. The fact that a week before the Ice Bowl it was 70 degrees sent the whole city into a tailspin. I wouldn't expect quite the same reaction from Chicago because the Ice Bowl was the biggest (positive) thing to happen in Buffalo in years (don't believe me go to wgrz.com) The best thing for me last year was that the Penguins were coming to town. (I am not as crazy about the Sabres as everyone else here) Here are the details

Who: Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings

When: January 1, 2009 12pm central time

Where: Wrigley Field

If you are a Blackhawks season ticket holder you will be able purchase tickets to the game. They will be able to purchase the same amount of tickets as they have at the United Center during the season.

There is no more information about tickets at this time. Here is an FAQ about tickets.

There isn't a lot of information so far but I will let you know when more becomes available.

LATE EDIT: Yes I have signed up for email alerts about tickets even though I am not going to Winter Classic 2009.

Blackhawks Sign Two More Defensemen

2008-07-15T19:06:00.003-04:00

Will someone please explain to me what Dale Tallon is thinking? I just don't understand. Did suddenly all of the Blackhawks defensemen come down with the plague or something? That is the only way I can understand the recent signing of sub-par defensemen. The Blackhawks have 9 defensemen not including Jordan Hendry and Niklas Hjalmarsson who have proved that they can play in the NHL. Before the signing of Doug Janik and Aaron Johnson the Blackhawks were already 400,000 over the cap. They have to be well over that figure now because the league minimum salary was 450,000 last year and with the salary cap going up it most likely has gone up. Even if both guys only got paid 500,00 then the Hawks are still close to $1.5 million. This means that there has to be a trade before training camp and with the Hawks being so far over the cap I can't imagine it would be a minor trade. The most common name has been Cam Barker with Brent Seabrook coming up a couple of times. If someone can explain why the Hawks need so many defensemen please let me know.

Blackhawks Preseason Schedule

2008-07-15T11:51:00.005-04:00

Today the Blackhawks announced their preseason schedule. All times are central.

Tuesday September 23, Blackhawks vs. Blue Jackets 7:30

Friday September 26, Blackhawks vs. Wild 7:30

Sunday September 28 Blackhawks vs. Stars 6:00

Monday September 29 Blackhawks@ Blue Jackets 6:00

Tuesday September 30 Blackhawks @Wild 7:00

Thursday October 2 Blackhawks@ Stars 7:30

Friday October 3 Blackhawks@ Avalanche 8:00

Sunday October 5 Blackhawks vs. Avalanche 6:00

NHL Schedules

2008-07-14T23:51:00.006-04:00

I just read this on The Buffalo News's website:

With lots of chatter all over the Internet about when the 2008-09 NHL schedule will be released, here is the latest word from the Sabres:

1). The current plan is for the full NHL schedule to be released Thursday at noon.

2). There may be a couple small pieces released Wednesday. Several outlets are reporting that teams are going to be given the go-ahead to announce their openers and perhaps a couple of other key games but the full schedule will still be held to Thursday while it's finalized.

I will make sure to recap key dates Friday afternoon since I have plans Thursday afternoon/evening and Friday morning.

Potential Trade

2008-07-14T17:36:00.004-04:00

I was going to write a piece about contracts and the salary cap. (I was procrastinating) Then I noticed on my new blog list that shows when my favorite blogs were updated that My Tribe had a new post. After reading it about a potential three-team, ten player trade, my contract post could very soon be outdated and completely wrong. So I will wait a few days to see if anything happens before I write the contract post. If anything more happens with the trade I will add it on to this post.

This is Slightly Off-Topic

2008-07-12T23:18:00.013-04:00

Get used to me saying that because it is one of my favorite transitions and most often it is your cue to skip to the next part of the post if you only want Blackhawks info because this is most likely not about the Hawks. Now that doesn't mean that the rest of the post won't be about the Hawks because it will. Just the next part won't be about the Blackhawks.

OK so this is slightly off topic:

Today I spent most of my afternoon at the local Apple Store. It was of course crazy due to the launch of the iPhone 3G. I already have an iPhone so I had absolutely no desire to get in that line. I was actually visiting the Genius Bar for both of the computers in my house. The desktop computer upstairs wouldn't connect to the internet and my computer kept dying which finally I realized was due to the fact I needed a new battery.

My boring first generation iPhone, which works just fine (sorry about picture quality)

The iMac (this photo is not of my iMac)

My MacBook, where this blog was thought up and created with the battery box

Suprisingly enough, I got a very nice Genius Bar guy who didn't make fun of my wallpaper (Blackhawks related) or critique everything on my computer (like usual). He was able to get me a new battery. It was suprisingly not stressful.

Now back to hockey:

In case you haven't heard Vincent Lecavalier has signed a contract with Tampa that will bring him close to his 40th birthday. It is an 11-year $85 million contract. It starts out at $10m and decreases to $1m in the last year. Personally I think this is a good signing for Tampa Bay. Sure the money is high and the salary cap hit at the end of the contract won't be great for Tampa Bay but assuming that he comes back stong from his injury he has shown he can be a star in this league. Plus with all of the other long term contracts signed in this league it doesn't seem too out of the realm of reason.

Now Back to the Blackhawks:

Housekeeping:

Prospect camp ended and if you are interested in seeing what went on go to My Tribe.

I am working on a post that takes an in-depth look into the salary cap situation regarding the Blackhawks, where they are strong, where they are weak for the short and long term. Look for that either tonight or tomorrow.

When the schedules come out (sometime early this week) I will give highlights and a countdown to opening nights.

Toews Named Captain- Almost

2008-07-12T11:21:00.008-04:00

As I think everyone has expected, Jonathan Toews will be captain this upcoming season.

From the Chicago Daily-Herald:

Jonathan Toews is going to be the next captain of the Hawks, with the 20-year-old center likely wearing the "C" as soon as opening night.

Hawks coach Denis Savard all but confirmed Toews' captaincy Thursday.

"It's a natural fit," Savard said at rookie camp at the Edge in Bensenville. "Personally, when I sit down with the staff and my coaches, I know that I've got my mind made up. I don't care how young you are. He's that type of person that is going to be a great captain for us. But we'll see before I make a final decision."

You can see the full article here.

I haven't heard of one person who thinks that Toews isn't the right person to be captain. He is driven to win and has worn a letter for Team Canada and at UND. He will be the third youngest captain in NHL history only behind Sidney Crosby and Vincent Lecavalier.

LATE EDIT: I was just reading My Tribe and Amy Lynn pointed out that in the Daily Herald article Patrick Sharp is now Patrick Shark. (Obviously, I didn't read the article as carefully as I should have)

If you feel like letting me know what you think of the new format either leave a comment or drop me an email.

Welcome to Chicago Brian Campbell

2008-07-08T18:54:00.009-04:00

The Blackhawks held a press conference today to introduce Brian Campbell to the media. As expected he will wear #51 with the team.

Here are some quotes from Campbell:
''I played for great organizations in Buffalo and San Jose, but I made the right decision in coming to Chicago,''

''The main thing is I'm going to a place that loves hockey, that sells out its building and wants to win. This organization has proven that.''

''This team will have expectations within the locker room right from the get-go,'' ''It's not about making the playoffs. It's about getting the whole prize.''

''Around the league, Chicago is being noticed as the greatest city in North America,"

"Players want to play on a great stage, and that's what Chicago's going to be. I've talked to a lot of guys, and they're saying, 'Get me here -- quick!''

For video of the press conference click here and here

Outdoor Games, Weird Signings, and an Apology

2008-07-08T12:39:00.004-04:00

I am going to start with the apology. I just realized that I haven't posted here since Saturday and even that I didn't put much effort into because the post was already written. Honestly, I don't have an excuse and am not going to take the time to make one up but sorry. Ok now moving on:

I am going to start with the outdoor game. Now nothing is official yet (because it seems like it is the NHL's mission to have every news outlet report something before they make it "official") but it looks as if the Blackhawks will play the Red Wings at Wrigley Field on January 1st next year. Now personally I am thrilled that the Blackhawks will play a game outdoors. I think it will be a great experience for the players, the fans and the city of Chicago. However, I wonder if the outdoor games will lose some of their appeal if they are played every year. If it becomes an annual thing soon everyone will have played in one. Will the fans lose intrest in a couple years and begin to think that is just another hockey game played in an different venue? Again like I have already stated I am thrilled to have the Blackhawks play in the next outdoor but a part of me has to wonder if an outdoor game should be an every other year thing.

The Blackhawks have signed defenceman Matt Walker to a one-year contract. Personally, this signing really confuses me. First of all, the Hawks are over the cap. It seems to me that Dale Tallon would be trying to shed salaries not take more on. Second, I could understand if this seemed like a logical signing but to me it doesn't and here's why:

The Blackhawks already have 6 NHL defencemen and even though James Wisniewski will be out at least to start next season my counting of six doesn't include guys such as Jordan Hendry who played 40 games with the Hawks last season.

He doesn't have stellar career numbers even for a defenceman. In 175 career games he has had one goal and ten assists.

I realize he will add grit to protect some of the smaller guys like Kane but I just am not sure it was the best (or even a good) option.

Recapping Free Agency

2008-07-05T11:54:00.006-04:00

I have had this post for a while and thought I had published it but had only saved it. Sorry.

Patrick Lalime went to Buffalo, which I think everyone expected him to leave. Even if the Blackhawks hadn't signed a goalie I think that the consensus was that Corey Crawford would be backup to Khabibulin. He was a solid back-up and seemed like a nice guy.

The Blackhawks signed Cristobal Huet for 4 years and $22.5 million contract which one can only assume means Dale Tallon is looking into a trade for Nikolai Khabibulin. To keep both would be an awful lot of cap space reserved for goalies. Huet is a good goalie when he gets going. He was acquired by Washington at the trade deadline this year and helped Washington make the playoffs. Even though the Capitals lost in seven games to Philly, Huet ranked eleventh in GAA for the playoffs. He ranked eighth in save percentage in the playoffs.

Brian Campbell was also signed by the Blackhawks. He is a very good defenceman who was considered to be the top defenceman available. He signed an eight-year $57.12 million deal. The Blackhawks were interested in acquiring Campbell at the trade deadline this past year but instead he went to the San Jose Sharks.

The Blackhawks are over the cap right now so don't be suprised if a trade comes before training camp.

Wisniewski to have Surgery

2008-07-04T13:08:00.004-04:00

James Wisniewski re-injured his right knee and tore his ACL while training for next season.
He will have surgery sometime this week is expected to make a full recovery and be back sometime during the upcoming season.

Free Agent Frenzy

2008-07-01T21:13:00.011-04:00

There were tons of deals however two big names did not go today and those were Mats Sundin and Marian Hossa. Hossa will not decide until at least tomorrow and Mats Sundin is still contemplating retirement. According to TSN the Vancouver Canucks have offered Sundin a two-year $20 million contract.

In actual signings I am going to go through from the earliest deal this morning to the latest deal and then I will go back and analyze the Blackhawks signings.

Washington re-signed Mike Green, D to a $21 million four year deal.

New Jersey re-signed Bryce Salvador to a four year deal worth $11.6 million.

New Jersey also re-signed three forwards, Jay Pandolfo for 3 years, $7.5 million and David Clarkson and Barry Tallackson. Terms of both latter deals were not disclosed.

The Red Wings re-signed Brad Stuart to a 4 year deals which averages at $3.75 million per year.

Pittsburgh re-signed forward Pascal Dupuis, who they got at the trade deadline from Atlanta, to a three year contract which averages $1.4 million per year.

Anaheim re-signed Corey Perry to a contract very similar to the deal Ryan Getzlaf signed last year. It is five-years $26.625 million.

The Lightning signed Radim Vrbata to a 3 year $9 million deal.

Boston signed former Phoenix draft pick, Blake Wheeler to an entry level contract.

Vancouver signed Kyle Wellwood to a one year deal for $997,500.

The Wild signed Andrew Brunette to a $7 million three year contract.

Pittsburgh re-signed Mark Eaton to a 2 year deal for one million per year.

Phoenix signed Kurt Sauer to a 4 year deal averaging $1.75 million per year.

The Capitals signed goalie Jose Theodore to an undisclosed 2 year deal.

The Avalanche signed Andrew Raycroft to a one year $800,000 contract.

The Canadiens re-signed forward Andrei Kostitsyn to a 3 year contract worth $3.25 million per season.

Detroit signed Ty Conklin to a $750,000 one year deal.

Phoenix signed Todd Fedoruk to a 3 year deal. Money was undisclosed.

Toronto signed Jeff Finger to a 4 year deal worth an average of 3.5 million a season.

Toronto also signed Curtis Joseph to a $700,000 one year contract.

The Lightning continued to sign seemingly every former Penguin available by signing forward Adam Hall to a three year deal worth a total of $1.8 million.

Pittsburgh signed Eric Godard to a 3 year deal. Money was undisclosed.

The Rangers signed forward Aaron Voros. Money was undisclosed.

The Panthers signed Cory Stillman to a 3 year $10.6 million deal.

The Blackhawks signed goalie Cristobal Huet to a four year deal.

Vancouver signed David Backes to an offer sheet worth 3 years $7.5 million. Almost immediately the Blues matched the offer sheet.

Colorado signed Darcy Tucker to a $4.5 million two year contract.

Tampa signed Olaf Kolzig to a one year deal worth $1.5 million.

Ottawa signed Alex Auld to a 2 year $2 million deal to replace Ray Emery.

The Buffalo Sabres signed former Hawks goalie Patrick Lalime to a 2 year $2 million deal.

The Hawks signed former Buffalo Sabre/ San Jose Shark Brian Campbell to an 8 year contract.

Columbus signed Mike Commodore to a 5 year $18.75 million dollar contract.

The Flyers signed defenceman Ossi Vaananen to a one-year deal worth $1 million.

The Rangers signed Patrick Rissmiller to an undisclosed contract.

The Devils signed Brian Rolston to a $20.25 million four year deal.

The Flyers signed Glen Metropolit to a two year deal and Nate Raduns to a one year contract.

Vancouver signed Darcy Hordichuck to a two year deal.

The Rangers signed Michal Rosival to a $20 million four year deal.

Niklas Hagman signed a four year contract for $20 million with the Maple Leafs.

New Jersey signed Bobby Holik to a one year $2.5 million contract.

The Rangers signed Wade Redden to a 6 year contract worth $39 million.

The Lightning signed David Koci to a one-year two-way deal.

The Wild signed Craig Weller to a two year contract worth $1.2 million.

The Islanders signed Mark Streit to a five year contract worth $20.5 million.

The Rangers re-signed backup goalie Steven Valiquette.

The Bruins signed Michael Ryder to a 3 year deal averaging $4 million a year.

Free Agency

2008-07-01T20:42:00.003-04:00

Although it looks as if the Blackhawks are done with any major signings since they are about $1 million over the cap, I am still going to wait until a little later to recap the day, in case anymore deals go down around the NHL in the coming hours.

A Video for a Long Summer Day

2008-06-27T17:59:00.004-04:00

For as busy as the rest of the NHL is now, things have been pretty quiet in regards to the Blackhawks. I will speculate about free agency in the coming days but until then I have something that is the perfect way to end the day. If you have already seen this sorry but if you haven't then enjoy.

Catching Up

2008-06-26T15:51:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, things have been crazy here. Things have also been hectic in Blackhawks land, so today I will be catching up on everything I have missed.

In the first round of the NHL draft the Blackhawks had the 11th overall selection. They used it to select Kyle Beach. He is described as a Sean Avery type of player who has had some injury problems. To me this sounds like a potential high-risk high-reward situation. He is a very good player who has had some troubles off of the ice.

The other Blackhawks draft picks were:

Round Pick Overall Name Position Height Weight Current Team

3 68 Shawn Lalonde D 6-1 175 Belleville (OHL)
5 132 Tiegan Zahn D 6-1 217 Saskatoon (WHL)
6 162 Jonathan Carlsson D 6-1 198 Brynas IF (Sweden)
6 169 Ben Smith RW 5-11 195 Boston College (Hockey East
6 179 Braden Birch D 6-3 185 Oakville (OPJHL)
7 192 Joe Gleason D 5-9 178 Edina (Minn.) HS

Learn more about all of the picks here

The Blackhawks also resigned Jordan Hendry for two years. Hendry, 24 split time between Rockford and Chicago this year.

The Hawks signed Tim Hambly, a free agent defenceman to a one year deal. Hambly, 25 spent this season with the Quad City Flames of the AHL.

The salary cap number was announced today. The upper limit is set at $56.7 million about $6 million more than this year. All teams must spend a minimum of $40.7 million.

I have a few things I am working on for this weekend and early next week. Look for a full blogroll which I hope to have finished by Monday. Also on Monday, I will have a free agency preview, including an update on the Marian Hossa sweepstakes which the Blackhawks are believed to be in the running for.

Andrew Ladd re-signs with Hawks for two

2008-06-23T23:46:00.003-04:00

Andrew Ladd has resigned with the Blackhawks. His new contract will keep him in Chicago for at least the next two years. No information as of yet as to how much money the contract is for. He is 22 and won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. The Blackhawks acquired him at the trade deadline this year and personally I think it is a good signing. He is still young and I believe he showed that he can be an important member of this Hawks team.

The Blackhawks Select Kyle Beach

2008-06-20T20:46:00.003-04:00

With the eleventh pick overall the Blackhawks select Kyle Beach. I will have more tomorrow, in addition to all of the other picks for the Blackhawks in the 2-7th rounds tomorrow.

Late Edit: I am still working on the post about the draft but I hope to have it ready by tonight.

Kane wins Calder Memorial Trophy

2008-06-17T18:29:00.009-04:00

I am a little late with this but I guess late is better than never.

Patrick Kane won the Calder Trophy at the NHL Award. He beat Jonathan Toews and Niklas Backstrom for the trophy. He had a great rookie season (obviously). He was the Blackhawks points leader with 51 assists and 72 points.

I personally am very glad that Pat won Rookie of the Year. I think Toews would have won it had he been healthy all year but I think that Pat deserved it more because he played all 82 games this year. I am positive both Pat and Jonny will win MANY awards in the years to come but this was definitely Pat's year.

Pat Foley Returns

2008-06-17T13:28:00.003-04:00

That's right Pat Foley is returning as the Blackhawks television play-by-play announcer. He will replace Dan Kelly who was fired earlier this spring. Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk will call all Blackhawks games. Click Here for more. Foley worked for the Blackhawks up until two years ago when he left to be a commentator for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.

Contact Us

2008-06-17T11:18:00.006-04:00

If you want to pass along a story, video, photo, audio clip, a comment about the blog, politely worded hate mail, have a link you think should be added to the blogroll, whatever:

Email Me at hawksgirl924@gmail.com