$3 Where We Think Obama Is A Bad Mamma-Jamma! $3 The Committed Indian The REal Fan’s Program blackhawksblog.blogspot.com November 3rd, 2008 [email protected] OH LORD, STUCK IN BUDAJ AGAIN Eureka! The Hawks have won a down, up, and down again. Basically, they’ve game more from last season. However, that shoot-out! We still think they’re stupid, but been your girlfriend. (Don’t let her catch you number is deceiving. Colorado was ravaged two points is two points, and we’ll take them laughing at that.) On their current skid, Avs by injuries last season, with Stastny, Sakic, however we can get them. Especially when fans have made Tyler Arnason their whipping Smyth, and Leopold all missing big chunks of those points are on the second of a back-to- boy. Playing on their 3rd line, the general time. The year before that, under Q, the Avs back. feeling is that he’s not providing enough grit averaged more goals per game than they are The first of the weekend wins was or scoring to support the top two lines. Ah, this season. They aren’t blessed with a sur- a superlative effort against Dallas, where memories.... plus of scoring forwards, and a blue line corps they dictated play for most of the game. The The Avs have their own goaltending- that contains no player higher than a +1. Add second of those wins, however, was Mayor goofiness to deal with. GM Francois Giguere to that an unproven goalie that wouldn’t want Daley-level of larceny. The first 2 periods didn’t fall for Jose Theodore’s obvious con- to be shelled with shots every night, and you of Saturday night against Columbus will be tract push last season, and didn’t break the wonder do the Avs really want to up their a contender for Most Boring Hockey of the bank to bring him back. (Not that the Caps tempo. Year. (That’s a real treat Blue Jackets fans did either to bring him in, but they’re the ones Pouring On The Avalanche, Com- have. Not only have they never sniffed the saddled with Theodore’s .887 SV%, and we’re ing Down The Mountain the ones laughing at them.) So Colorado is playoffs, but they get to watch coma-inducing The Hawks match up pretty well going with a Peter Budaj-Andrew Raycroft hockey to boot. No one squeezes the fun with Colorado, evidenced by their 3-1 record tandem, and most of the league was skepti- out of the sport like that buffet-stopper, Ken against them last season. The Avs are cer- cal. Much like Huet, Budaj has always been Hitchcock.) Huet, for the first time, won his tainly not very big up front, and only have two solid when called upon, with career GAA and team a game. When you’re paying a guy $5.5 D-men you would consider sizeable, and one SV% of 2.71 and .902, which aren’t horrific. million, he should do that from time to time, of them is Adam Foote, who is in his 57th year But the jury’s out on how he’ll do as a full- and you should trust him to do so. (Trusting in the league. Hence, the Hawks shouldn’t get time starter. It may be too early to hand in a Frenchman? Has it really come to that?) out-muscled, and if the Avs are serious about a verdict on Raycroft either, but with the way Once again, the Hawks treated a being more free-wheeling, that should play he’s started, you can probably write down the trapping opponent like a Rubik’s Cube, rarely right into the Hawks hands. Even more so s-u-c in “sucks”. generating anything offensive, and were pretty that the Avs hosted the Sharks last night, with Avs fans were not sorry to see the much a Chinese Fire Drill in their own zone, Budaj in goal, which means the Hawks very back of Joel Quenneville. They thought he frequently failing on clearing attempts and well may get a look at the bleeding ulcer that was too defensive, didn’t use some of their committing turnovers galore. Of course, hav- is Andrew Raycroft. players well, and played goalie roulette too ing Kerry Frasier bringing his unique brand -The D.N.C often. Tony Granato has opened things up, of officiating to the table didn’t help. Do you think Frasier cries at night that he has to wear and the Avs are averaging half a goal per a helmet now, concealing his oh-so-perfect hair? We think so. Good thing Huet and a power play that is suddenly more potent than an Alaskan teenager were there to bail us out. Most Hawk fans’ dream scenario has been to have the two goalies play well for a long stretch, making them more attractive in the trade market. And more than a few fans have hoped that it would be Huet who moves along, lessening our cap burden next season. This will not happen, nor should it. It will look shoddy and amateurish to punt a prime free agent signing mere months after bringing him in, and don’t think other play- ers around the league wouldn’t notice. Who would want to sign here if you can’t guarantee them security? Even if they got past that, they would insist on no-trade clauses that hamper a team years down the line. (See: Mats Sundin and Toronto Maple Leafs.) No. 3: The ‘Lanche. The ‘Lanche. Invading tonight are the Colorado Avalanche, who this season started with three straight losses, then won five straight, and “I’m sorry Mrs. Tallon, we just couldn’t get your husband’s head out of his have now lost three straight. They’ve been rectum, so we thought this was the next best thing.” Shoot-outs Aren’t The Change We Need Shootouts are a lottery. It is merely a flip of a coin, knows that you can’t grow a sport without its core fans. They a rock-paper-scissors game, or Florida election results. It is are the base, the foundation from which you build. Why can’t totally random and arbitrary. You can complain all you want, the NHL come this far? and most of you have, about the Hawks’ lack of success in the The argument is that fans don’t know how to feel after shoot-out this season, but it basically comes a tie. They feel incomplete, without satisfac- down to luck. Last season, Patrick Kane From The Editor tion. What a load of shit. If the home team couldn’t miss in the tie-breaker. This season, scores in the last minute to salvage a point, it seems as if Kaner couldn’t hit a bull in the wouldn’t everyone go home excited and re- ass with a snow shovel. Meanwhile, Jonathan lieved that a loss was avoided, just like a win? Toews hasn’t missed in any attempt this sea- Or if the home team biffs a two-goal lead with son, whereas last season he was getting stuffed 5 minutes to go, costing themselves a point, more than a Hilton sister. Does this mean wouldn’t the fans leave frustrated and dejected, either of these two are a better or worse player just like a loss? than last season? Of course not. A small This may come as a shock to the people in the patch of choppy ice here, a shot a fraction off NHL office, but most hockey fans are adults. there, and it’s decided. We’d like to be treated as such. The NHL will never, ever be taken seriously by the masses if it continues to settle -Would it be too much to ask of Comcast and games, and playoff spots, this way. The Oilers nearly goofed WGN to bother to show us the lineups for each team at the their way into the playoffs on the back of 15 shoot-out wins. start of the game? We’d be thrilled what the Hawks’ and op- How is that fair? ponents’ lines are. We’re not surprised that WGN isn’t giving Even Major League Soccer has figured out that there’s much of an effort. But isn’t this what Comcast is supposed to nothing wrong with a tie. In fact, core fans of soccer prefer specialize in, sports coverage? Even a crawl under the bar on it. Thus, they scrapped first their shoot-out system, and then top of the screen would suffice. But then, this is the same sta- their overtime system, because true soccer fans hated it. MLS tion that thinks we need Mike North and Dan Jiggetts. 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 Eastern Conference Western Conference ATLANTIC W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY CENTRAL W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY NY Rangers 10 3 1 21 38 30 6-2-0 4-1-1 Scum 7 2 2 16 41 37 2-1-1 5-1-1 New Jersey 6 2 2 14 31 25 3-1-1 3-1-1 Nashville 6 4 1 13 38 38 5-1-0 1-3-1 Pittsburgh 6 4 2 14 32 29 3-2-1 3-2-1 HAWKS 5 3 3 13 36 32 4-0-2 1-3-1 Philadelphia 4 3 3 11 39 36 2-2-1 2-1-2 St Louis 5 5 0 10 32 30 4-4-0 1-1-0 NY Islanders 2 7 1 5 25 37 1-5-0 1-2-1 Columbus 4 6 1 9 31 37 2-2-1 2-4-0 NORTHEAST W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY NORTHWEST W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY Montreal 8 1 1 17 37 24 4-1-0 4-0-1 Minnesota 7 2 1 15 29 22 3-1-1 4-1-0 Buffalo 7 2 2 16 36 25 4-2-0 3-0-2 Calgary 7 4 1 15 36 34 4-1-1 3-3-0 Boston 6 3 3 15 34 31 2-1-1 4-2-2 Edmonton 6 4 1 13 26 31 2-0-1 4-4-0 Toronto 5 3 3 13 31 35 2-2-2 3-1-1 Vancouver 6 6 0 12 41 38 2-2-0 4-4-0 Ottawa 4 5 2 10 31 31 1-4-1 3-1-1 Colorado 5 6 0 10 35 36 3-3-0 2-3-0 SOUTHEAST W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY PACIFIC W L OTL PTS GF GA HOME AWAY Carolina 5 3 2 12 26 28 1-2-0 4-1-2 San Jose 10 2 0 20 42 28 6-0-0 4-2-0 Washington 5 4 1 11 32 34 3-0-1 2-4-0 Anaheim 7 5 1 15 43 44 3-3-1 4-2-0 Tampa Bay 4 3 3 11 22 24 2-2-3 2-1-0 Dallas 4 6 2 10 35 50 2-1-2 2-5-0 Florida 4 5 1 9 22 30 3-2-0 1-3-1 Phoenix 4 5 0 8 21 26 3-2-0 1-3-0 Atlanta 2 7 2 6 26 43 2-3-0 0-4-2 Los Angeles 3 6 1 7 27 30 2-4-1 1-2-0 TOP 10 LIST PUCK DROP Top 10 Things Tyler Arnason Loves Look-A-Likes About Denver 10.