Hawks Hockey Hoiden

Line changing seems to be the name of the game of late for the Hawks. On the Jonathan Toews line now is Patrick Kane again and Troy Brouwer.  Hmm, not bad in terms of forechecking and all out aggressiveness.  And how about that Madden line with Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien on wing; Madden who has steadily increased his face-off wins and overall performance?  And Jordan Hendry replaced Tomas Kopecky (Bout time somebody did!) on the Colin Fraser line.  Has Coach Q finally solidified the offensive lines?  Well, let’s hope so.  Let’s hope Q has finally found a winning combination. (more…)

Tim Sassone, my favorite writer over there at The Hockey News was spot on in his blog yesterday when he mentioned the ‘R’ word — Rockford.  But why bring up just one forward? (And if it has to be just one, it should be Jack Skille, no question.  Looking at Andrew Ebbett, you have to ask why Jack Skille was ever sent back down.)  I believe it was a commenter on Sassone’s blog that said that bringing up some boys (that’s plural) from Rockford might shake some of these guys just collecting paychecks from their collective reveries.  (more…)

Karma (or whatever you want to call it) can be a tricky thing.  Look at the Curse of the Bambino.  It would be 86 years (1918-2004) until the Red Sox won another World Series, supposedly thanks to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  Similarly, look at the Curse of the Billygoat.  The Cubs haven’t been to the World Series since 1945 allegedly thanks to Billy Sianis’ smelly goat (and it ain’t lookin’ like they’ll be returning any time soon).  Could it be that the misfortune-plagued Blackhawks have also cursed themselves for the goings on in the off season?  (more…)