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…)

If you’re a reader of this blog with any regularity you know that I have had a lot to say about how much of a mistake it was that the Blackhawks lost defenseman Matt Walker at the end of last season. So I was surprised that there wasn’t even a mention of Walker and his move to the Lightning before the start of the game tonight. (more…)

Coming into tonight’s Hawks/Sabres game there was a lot of talk about the Hawks going up against their old goal-tender Patrick Lalime, which was weird because Lalime has been out of Chicago and in Buffalo for two seasons now. On the flip-side, Brian Campbell has been out of Buffalo and in Chicago for three seasons.  You’d think that would be long enough for the Buffalo crowd to forget about him and not boo him, but apparently not. (Chuckle) (more…)

There were many goon moments in tonight’s 2-1 Hawks win over the Penguins. The Penguins trash-talked and were guilty of cheap shots and picking fights.  In fact, and I never thought I’d say this, there were too many scuffles.  The Penguins were obviously using their gooniness as part of their strategy, and too many times the Hawks did not keep their composure, not that you could blame them.  Still, for all the Penguins’ jawin’ and scrappin’ the Hawks still took them. (more…)

Jonathan Toews proved early on in the first period of tonight’s Hawks/Preds match-up that he’s worth every red cent of his new 5-year deal when he pulled off what we in my household call a “Superman” goal.  You know, the goals scored out of nowhere, faster than a speeding bullet, and in this instance, in midair? (And yes, Tazer’s goal may remind old guard hockey fans of that famous Bobby-Orr-in-midair photo, and rightly so.)  (more…)

It’s official, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane both signed 5-year contract extensions with the Blackhawks worth $31.5 million each (or $6.3 million a year each).  Duncan Keith signed a 13-year, $72-million deal (or $5.5 million a year).  At the press conference announcing the deals, Jonathan Toews said “It’s been an incredible ride so far…It doesn’t get any better than playing here in Chicago.” Patrick Kane ribbed Toews adding, “I get to be honored with Captain Serious again too…though it’s actually nice to not be sitting next to him for once…” (more…)

Ok kids, I’m back.  Sorry to leave my little hockeylings hanging yesterday, but as much as hockey is life, sometimes real life interferes.  Luckily, I taped the game and was able to go radio silent until this morning so as not to hear the score.  So here, belatedly, is your run down of last night’s loss to the Kings if it’s not still too painful. (more…)

The most consistent thing about last night’s 5-2 win over the Oilers was the inconsistency of the officiating.  Beyond all the missed hooking calls that were so numerous I lost count, there were a couple of missed boarding calls (i.e. dirty hits from behind).  The weird thing is the refs didn’t allow any fights.  So, in theory, the refs would allow dirty hits which had the potential to do damage, but they wouldn’t allow fighting ostensibly because fighting leads to injuries?  Yeah, that makes sense.  (more…)

Last night’s 7-1 win over the Flames was breathtaking.  For the first time this season, it felt like the magic of last season had returned.  I can’t decide if that was because the Hawks have finally gelled with each other, or if the Flames just fell down, psyched out by the remembrance of the playoffs last season.  I want to believe it is the former, not the latter.  (more…)

My reaction to the Blackhawks signing Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to 5-year deals, and almost signing Duncan Keith to a 13-year deal?  Yippee (!), oh great (!), and holy crap 13 years (!?) respectively.  Thank you.  That is all.