Blackhawks Quick Hits 10/14/2009

On Monday, Hawks came back from being down 5-0 to winning 6-5 in overtime. And I missed it. I was/am in Indianapolis, IN and the only sport these folks watch is the movie Hoosiers. So needless to say I was not a witness.

That being said in about a 2 minute time span Huet allowed for 3 goals. Not good. He's not getting the start tonight even though its against Edmonton, whose currently goalie is Nikolai Khabibulan. That hurts. Although Q insists it's not all a performance based decision.

"It gives (Niemi) a home start," coach Joel Quenneville said. "He hasn't played here at home to start a game. We have back-to-back back games and when we looked at the planning of who was going to play we'd say we'd evaulate after the last game who would get today's game."

That's all I got for now.

A Loss, IR, and Jim and Pam get hitched

Hawks lose to Detroit 3-2 last night. Q says don't fret.

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, meanwhile, doesn’t want his club to get down about its 1-1-1 start.

“If we keep playing like that, we’ll find a way to win,” Quenneville said. “We had puck-possession time, we had chances, we had zone time.”

Ben Eager placed on IR. NHL teams is notoriously vague on injuries. No word on how long he'll be out and why, but Bleacher Report is speculating Eager's history with concussions has something to do with it.


Former Blackhawk and Southsider will practice with the Chicago Wolves and possibly be a player/coach/grandpa.

Chris Chelios will practice with the Chicago Wolves on Monday, when the team returns from Canada, ESPNChicago.com has confirmed.

ESPN 1000 was the first to report that Chelios had talked to the Wolves about being a player/coach. The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that Chelios would skate with the Wolves, the Atlanta Thrashers' AHL affiliate.

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And finally Pam and Jim from the Office got married last night. I'm only mentioning it because 2J over at BullBearSock has been on his high horse claiming that the Office is no longer funny. I disagree and the episode yesterday is proof positive that the show is still quite hilarious.

My favorite line from yesterday:

Looks like you're going to a fish fry, Dwight.

Blackhawks Trade, Power Rankings and The Great One

Hawks trade D Aaron Johnson LW Kyle Greentree.

Greentree, 25, appeared in two games with the Flames last season, spending the majority of the campaign with the AHL’s Quad City Flames where he led the club with career highs in goals (39) and points (76) while appearing in 79 of 80 regular-season contests. Greentree, who was on the roster of Calgary’s AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, British Columbia at the time of the trade, has been held scoreless in four career National Hockey League matchups, which includes two with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2007-08.

CBS Sports has 6 in the power rankings. Mentions our weakness at goalie a major concern.

Sure, Chicago looked as dangerous as advertised in its season-opening set in Finland, but the Blackhawks can't help but be concerned about having Cristobal Huet as their No. 1 goalie.

I power rank Harry Potter movies. Right now Goblet of Fire is holding strong at number 1 but could see a significant dip as Harry's emo haircut in the movie is not aging well. Biting at its heals in the #2 slot-- it's the Half Blooded Prince if only for Emma Watson being 18 in the movie. Whaaaa.

And lastly watched the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary by Peter Berg--King's Ransom. I must say it proves a few things. 1.) How crazy Canada is for hockey and 2.) How significant Gretzky was to the game he played. Until Jordan became a dominant force I don't think there was one athlete that represented a sport so universally than Gretzky. I really don't have much more analysis to give you. It is what it is. Good stuff. I'd recommend it for any sports fans.

Blackhawks: Quick hits

Not much going on at the moment. Just getting ready for the Detroit Red Wings.

A few Blackhawks spotted at the Chicago Premiere of Couples Retreat. Chicago sport's enthusiast Vince Vaughn was on hand--I wonder if co-star Kristen Bell was there in Chicago too. If she was that means it was the closest I'll ever be to Ms. Bell. *sigh* A love unrealized...

Chicago Blackhawks Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook, Adam Burish and Cam Barker walked the red carpet.

Technically didn't have to quote that but with the article being mostly about Cutler-- I did my best to give the Hawks the face time. Take that, establishment!

About a week ago, I posted how the Blackhawks were in a show-down with the University of North Dakota for best North American hockey jersey. Well folks we have a winner.

UND’s jersey was voted better than the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks in the semifinals and finals, winning both by considerable margins.

Technically, anything with a classy looking Native American on it was going to win. You have to give the folks at UND credit for beating Chicago in any sort of voting process. Granted they probably had all of campus stuff the ballot. Congrats, North Dakota--you out Chicago'd Chicago.

Also from the article, little tidbit on a Blackhawks former goalie.

Former UND goalie Ed Belfour went into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Belfour, the third winningest goalie in NHL history, led UND to the 1987 national championship. He then signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and posted nine 30-win seasons.

Too funny NOT to post

I know we aren't a baseball blog (or a blog-blog) by any means. But I found this just too hilarious to pass up.

Now the word on the street is that Cabrera made fun of some overweight 15-year-old kid back in August at the same hotel that he was drinking at on Friday, according to the Detroit Free Press. The 240-pound Cabrera apparently had to be escorted out of the hotel and a witness reportedly said that he "acted as if he was on some drug."

Before the millionaire got chucked from the hotel, he reportedly asked the kid's whole table if they wanted to go outside and fight. And he supposedly gave them the sense that he had a gun with him.

Classic. It's not secret Cabrera has gained significant weight while in the majors. Self hating? A bit. Projecting? Definitely. It's like when I make fun of people that don't have a successful, well-written and funny blog.

Hawks: Weekend Round-up, some Fire

Busy weekend for both the Blackhawks and myself. The Hawks received 3 out of a possible 4 points this weekend while I received a hang-over that lasted from Saturday till about 10 minutes ago.

Offensive onslaught.

Still, the Hawks scored seven goals in their first two games and put 88 shots on goal.

The play of rookie goaltender Antti Niemi(notes) in the second game of the season was encouraging. Thanks in part to great offensive and defense support, he earned his first NHL shutout and could emerge a worthy backup when starter Cristobal Huet(notes) needs a break.

And given Niemi's good play this weekend, there is still concerns around the blog-o-sphere concerning Huet.

If Huet's poor performance gave analysts and fans something to ask about, back-up Antti Niemi's performance on Saturday opened the conversation.

Niemi stopped all 23 shots he faced from Florida as the Hawks defeated the Panthers 4-0 in their second game of the season.

Beginner's luck? Time will tell. But I'm fine with Huet and it's good to know Niemi can hang.


Something that is more surprising is that Dustin Byfuglien has two goals already. I predict a great year for the big man.

Not a good start for former Hawks Netminder, Nikolai Khabibulin.

Calgary's Rene Bourque cleared the puck off the boards in his own end and down the ice, where Khabibulin came out to play it to his defence. Unfortunately for the Edmonton netminder, he mishit the puck, allowing Moss to intercept and knock it into an empty net.

Lastly, my favorite Hawks related tweet from this weekend.

After watching the way Kane has played these first 2 games, there's only 1 thing to say ... That cab driver had it coming.

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I believe something was going on with the Fire this weekend. I'll let Duckfart field this one when he gets a minute.

Blackhawks: Predictions, roster and twitter

Hockey Pundits pick division and conference champs. Blackhawks are selected to win the Conference by only two pundits, with the rest going to the Wings. As for the conference goes, predicted to finish fourth by nearly all--which I think is reasonable.

It came down to the Canucks and the Blackhawks for me, and Vancouver's the pick for two reasons: Goaltending and good karma. As in what the Canucks possess that the Blackhawks do not.

Guy brings up a good point (aside from Vancouver winning conference).


Final roster has been set.

Forwards: Troy Brouwer, Dustin Byfuglien, Dave Bolland, Ben Eager, Colin Fraser, Patrick Kane, Tomas Kopecky, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Patrick Sharp, Radek Smolenak, Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg

Defensemen: Cam Barker, Brian Campbell, Jordan Hendry, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Aaron Johnson, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Brent Sopel

Goalies: Corey Crawford, Cristobal Huet, Antti Niemi

Forward lines look solid. Defensive line is questionable. Barker had a break out year last year as did Hjalmarsson. Keith and Seabrook should be fine as for the other its a coin toss.


And finally during a Q&A tweet-session, good ole Marty had this to say:

Looking forward to any game in particular? Every game is important, going to be different playing against Chicago for sure.

Dude's going to come out with a major chip on his shoulder, rightly so.