11-9 Vs. Calgary
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$3 Playground Tactics, No Rabbit-In-A-Hat Tricks $3 The Committed Indian The REal Fan’s Program blackhawksblog.blogspot.com November 9th, 2008 [email protected] THAT LAST STEP IS A BERTUZZI Is the United Center becoming a shots, which are usually prime scoring chanc- around the defensive zone like John Daly at 2 fortress? Will teams fear coming to the West es. Credit goes to the goalies for gobbling up AM than happy with his offensive production. Side? A 5-0-2 record would indicate that shots, but also to the d-men and forwards for Rene Bourque has even become a prominent very well may be the case. The Hawks roll clearing anything that may be lying around. player for the Flames, skating on their second into tonight off of a 3rd period mauling of I Went Down, Down, Down, And line and seeing penalty-kill and power-play the currently-hapless Avalanche (if the Hawks The Flames Went Higher time. But as we all know, any team with Rene are eyeing last season’s playoff teams to see Bourque on its second line can’t be all that Tonight’s intruders are the Calgary whose spot they can take, our first nomination good. Flames, which means Mike Keenan is back in is Colorado-they’re a mess). Yes, one could town. In his second season, Keenan has been Ain’t It A Shame? To Be Shot Down make the point that Colorado was on the sec- given a team more to his liking, i.e. slobs In Flames ond of back-to-back games. But that’s easily over stars. The Flames are built to grind you Calgary always poses a struggle for countered by the fact that the Hawks were on into dust, and then win 2-1 or 3-1. Another the Hawks. They’re considerably bigger, and their third game in four nights, meaning their Keenan staple is well in effect, and that would are fast enough to not get out-skated by a legs couldn’t have been that much fresher. be playing his #1 goaltender until he vomits wide margin. The Flames will do their best to And yes, one could argue that the Hawks are a blood, a lung, and possibly a small organ- clog everything up, and keep the game along better team than Colorado, and beating them ism. Mikka Kiprusoff had played every minute the boards as much as they can -- where they is no great accomplishment. But we would for the Flames until last night. We weren’t will hold a big advantage over the smaller say that the way the Hawks so easily pimp- even sure this Curtis McElhinney -- the Hawks. However, despite the 7-goal outburst slapped the Avs aside in the last 20 minutes backup -- existed until he started last night vs. Nashville, the Flames are thin on scoring, are exactly what a good team does to inferior in Columbus. There may be signs that Kipper and if the Hawks can limit turnovers and mis- opposition. (What a lively debate, considering is already feeling fatigued, as he gave up 6 takes, they shouldn’t face too many chances we’re arguing with imaginary people!) to Nashville in a cartoon of a game Thursday created by Calgary. Though they currently Our favorite moment of Monday night. Hopefully, that’s the Kipper we’ll see rank 7th in scoring, the Flames don’t have night wasn’t any of the goals, but rather a tonight. that much offensive imagination. Another two-minute passage midway through the But that isn’t to say that the Flames Keenan staple is at work with the Flames, and 3rd, when Kane, Toews, and Havlat put on don’t come in…well…hot. (Ugh, we really that is, like Ron Jeremy, they can’t stay out of a Globetrotter-like display. Not only did didn’t want to write that) They’ve won 7 of the box. They’re 3rd worst in the league, and Colorado not come close to clearing the zone, 10, and are getting contributions from odd they took 12 penalties last night. They were they didn’t even come close to touching the sources. Douchebag/monster Todd Bertuzzi also extremely sloppy in their own zone. Let’s puck. Hawks fans responded with a minute- is second on the team with 7 goals. How- see that again. long standing ovation. (Which brings us to a ever, Flames fans are angrier at his wandering -The Merry Pranksters sidenote: Dear UC scoreboard operators, piss off with your “Let’s make some noise!” graph- ics. We know exactly when to get loud, when our team needs our support, and when our appreciation is deserved. We aren’t a bunch of Deerfield shitbags hoping to catch a t-shirt from an ugly-ass Luv-a-Bull. [Yes, we know, ugly-ass Luv-a-Bull is redundant] Give us some respect.) Our second favorite moment came after Hejduk scored to cut the Hawks lead to 3-2, the Hawks responded with their best hockey of the night. Last season--even earli- er this on-- we would have seen some jitters. Clearly this is a team playing with confidence, judging by their, “You’re not fucking winning this game,” attitude, and their prompt, pump- ing in of three more goals to prove the point. There’s one aspect of this year’s Hawks we found intriguing, and one of the reasons the Hawks are winning recently; Ac- cording to “On The Forecheck” (a Predators blog but also one that focuses on weird, un- known NHL stats), the Hawks are the 5th best team in the league when it comes to giving up rebound shots. Only 8% of saves made by Khabibulin and Huet are resulting in rebound Hockey Fans Can’t Be Trusted So, I’m a regular on the Blackhawks messageboard, of getting Madden for Khabibulin. Really? Yeah, the Devils but I suppose you could call me a snooper. Rarely do I post, need a goaltender. Yeah, Nik is playing well, but there’s about and mostly when I do, it’s not all that intelligent. Regardless, 6.75 million problems with that transaction for the Devils. it’s wonderful to read all the ridiculous trade garbage and sal- Come to think of it, we might as well go ahead and say that ary cap fixes sprung from a twelve pack of High Life the night for the rest of the league too. What happens when an unstop- before. To be honest, it was kind of surpris- pable force (Tallon and Bowman) meet and ing to find out that Ottawa was considering Tragically Hip Hockey immovable object (Khabi’s contract)? Um, trading Spezza, Chris Neil, and Gerber for well, NOTHING happens. Nik and Petri Kontiola. But, alas, it is true. Yeah, sure, I’ve played armchair GM Also, I didn’t know that along with Spezza, too. It’s tempting. But screamin, “Tallon’s we were also going to nab Sundin, and maybe head on a plate if we don’t score a 2nd line even Shannahan. center…,” is getting a little tedious. I know Look dudes, I’m as excited as you you likely majored in hockey operations are that people are considering Chicago a or payroll management at JJC, but shut the contender and a team to play for. I agree, fuck up and watch the game. I don’t care it’s nice to have rumors swirling this early in how many times you’ve been to the Edge to the year that don’t involve us losing our best Kevin Kujawa see them practice, or that you knew Denis players. But, people, can we temper this with was gone because you saw Marc Bergevin a little dose of…I don’t know…reality? Let’s set our sights on talking to DT outside by the Jordan statue. Your job is to a player the likes of Vermette or Mike Comrie and then when cheer when we score, not to pretend that you’re so gifted you we sign Craig Adams 2, the fall won’t be so harsh. Let’s not could run the team. Besides, Spezza’s kind of a pussy. set ourselves up for disappointment by ordering our Winter Classic jerseys with Spezza on the back just yet, o.k.? Kevin is the guitarist/singer for Mannequin Men, Chi- Cue Martin Brodeur. cago’s Most Dangerous Band. Great, now I’ll have to listen to all these bozos talk Erectile Dysfunction? The New Cure For The Phallic Burish Collision Blues...ROCKY! Insurance I erected a real organization from my dad’s scorched Earth, imagine what my pill can do for you! 1-800-NO-HANDS “I never learned to stop, why should you?” Reviving The Most Lifeless Objects Since 2006 NHL STANDINGS *late game not included Eastern Conference Western Conference ATLANTIC W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY CENTRAL W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY NY Rangers 11 5 1 23 45 37 7-3-0 4-2-1 Scum 9 2 2 20 47 40 3-1-1 6-1-1 Pittsburgh 8 4 2 18 41 36 4-2-1 4-2-1 Columbus 7 6 2 16 46 49 5-2-1 2-4-1 New Jersey 7 4 2 16 36 33 4-2-1 3-2-1 Chicago 6 3 3 15 42 34 5-0-2 1-3-1 Philadelphia 4 6 3 11 45 47 2-4-1 2-2-2 Nashville* 6 6 1 13 44 49 5-1-0 1-5-1 NY Islanders 4 8 2 10 37 49 2-5-1 2-3-1 St.