Everything Else

It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City – Predators vs Hawks Preview, Radiator Flushing

By 1331

predator vs evil empire

Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN Plus, SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
All The Young Dudes: On The Forecheck

Tonight with the visiting Predators on the frigid near west side, the Hawks will close out a four game homestand before a swing through the two self-appointed capitals of the hockey universe in Toronto and Montreal, and close out January playing 6 of its final 8 games on the road. And the team the Preds ice tonight is drastically different than the one they brought about a month ago, and not necessarily for the better.

Everything Else

Preds Q&A With OnTheForecheck and J.R. Lind

By 1384

We have Kristopher Martel from OnTheForecheck.com (@kmartel_sports) and JRLind from NashvillePost.com (@JRLind) to answer our questions about the Preds before tonight’s game.

Easy enough to know where we’ll start. Your feelings on Johansen-Jones? We know the Preds have never had a #1 center and Johansen is very good, but Jones looked to be a future Norris winner and it seems at least a little steep.

JR: Obviously Seth Jones is already amazing and is going to be amazing for years to come. What this trade tells us is A) David Poile is comfortable with Ellis and Ekholm long-term and B) Shea Weber isn’t for sale. The trade upset me for a lot of non-hockey reasons – Seth was great with kids, good in the community, really committed to growing the game and really easy to deal with – but from a hockey standpoint, the Preds obviously felt like Jones was going to get in a traffic jam and the franchise has needed a center for 18 years now. With Johansen at 23, under contract for a couple of years and headed into another RFA period, it’s a good deal to make.

Martel: Plenty of folks weren’t bothered at all that Nashville gave up Jones for Johansen, however I may be one of the few that felt as if the price was steep, but necessary, for a player of Johansen’s caliber. Johansen has already shown Nashville what he’s capable of and how dynamic of a center he is, but was it worth giving up Jones? Right now, it’s impossible to tell. Jones had a definitive ceiling with Nashville in the name of Shea Weber — as long as he was around, Jones would never see his true potential realized with the Predators. Now with Columbus, he’ll be able to play those top minutes. Ultimately, I think Nashville wins the trade now, but it could even out as time goes on.

Everything Else

Hockey Tonk Women Give Me The Hockey Tonk Blues

By 1325

This is something we’re hopefully going to do regularly, but our friend Cyndi B drops in to update all on what’s going on with the NWHL and CWL. This is from yesterday’s C.I. program. 

NWHL

BUF 4 – BOS 3 (OT)

Boston dug in early in this one with a 2-0 lead, but Buffalo’s Hailey Browne tied it up with a goal in the middle of the first and another early in the second. Browne also assisted on Devon Skeats’s go-ahead goal in the third, but with five minutes to go Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker tied it up again. Buffalo went into overtime riding a 4-on-3 advantage, Megan Bozek got the power play goal, and that was the end of that.

Many years ago, in October 2015, I went to Buffalo to watch these two teams open their inaugural seasons against each other. Back then, it was an easy and common assumption that the Pride were going to be the juggernauts steamrolling the rest of the league; not only was their roster heavy on USWNT players, many had hopped leagues from the CWHL’s Boston Blades and had history together in pro hockey as well. In any brand-new league, it was inevitable that the one team of women who already knew each other would have an advantage. As an event it was a great place to be live; as a hockey game…well, there was a very visible difference in level of play.

This weekend looked nothing like that. This was a matchup between two professional, alarmingly good teams, and no one watching should have doubted that.

From the viewers’ end, an advantage to a new league with only four teams is that it’s easy to follow as teams grow into themselves. (This was the fifth of six games between the Pride and Beauts this season.) Buffalo may have stumbled out of the gate–they’re still only 2-7-2–but the quality of their game is grinding upwards with impressive consistency. They started out getting creamed, and then losing by narrow margins or sheer bad luck, and then scattering some wins in there. If ever there was a team winning or near-winning games by sheer force of will, it’s probably the Beauts right now, and I would be surprised if their record in the second half of the season looks much like their first half.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: The Not Quite Midseason Review

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The IceHogs of Rockford are approaching midseason. Well, not quite. The farmer boys will reach that milestone following this week’s home slate. However, the Hogs had a whole week off from game action and that gave me time to think.

As the Hogs only action this week was a victory in DesMoines Sunday, this is as good a time as any to offer some midseason thoughts on the team. The Blackhawks AHL affiliate, despite injuries and some pretty frequent roster movement, have remained near the top of the Western Conference.

Ready or not, here’s how the winds have blown down Rockford way.

Everything Else

I Hate Everything About You: Blackhawks 6, Avalanche 3

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Box Score

Event Summary

War on Ice 

Natural Stat Trick

It’s been a couple years since the Hawks chased Semyon Varlamov from a game at the United Center. The last time it was because the Avalanche didn’t arrive in Chicago until a few hours before the game. The Hawks put up a giant crooked number and Valarmov didn’t make it out of the first period.

This time, he made it half way through the second.

Everything Else

What’s The Most Annoying Sound In The World?: Avs at Hawks Preview/Driveway Salting

By 1141

Avalanche Snowman Christmas vs. 250px-Ozymandias

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV/RADIO: WGN for both

ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY: Mile High Hockey

Avs Stats

Avs War On Ice

Our Avs Q&A

It’s the sound of the Avalanche coming to the United Center. Because they’ve won five of the last six here, even though by any measure the Hawks should be painting the walls of their new dressing room with the brains and innards of the Avs. But they don’t seem to here. Certainly not last time, when Semyon “Kiss With A Fist Is Better Than None” Varlamov walked out with his 73rd shutout of the Hawks, or at least that’s how it feels.

Everything Else

Avs Q&A With Anthrax Jones And MileHighHockey’s Ryan Murphy

By 1517

Yes, we made the mistake of letting Anthrax out of his cage. It happens from time to time. Ryan was kind enough to share a space with Thrax, which is more than 99% of the populace is willing to do. From tomorrow night’s program:

Since the Avs shutout the Hawks here last time, they’ve gone 5-2-1 which means they’re 10-4-1 since December 1st. Is this real or just a spike of good fortune?

Murphy: This is real. Despite their defensive shortcomings (especially with Erik Johnson out a couple of weeks), the Avalanche were never as bad as they were in November when they were trying to integrate a big chunk of new players onto the roster and losing an improbable amount of close games. Carl Soderberg, Blake Comeau, Francois Beauchemin, and Andreas Martinsen are now making important contributions on a nightly basis and have added a supplementary presence the core group badly needed. What we’ve seen since December is a market correction. Many of us predicted a borderline playoff team at the beginning of the year, and that’s right where they are now 41 games in.

Anthrax: When I was in high school, I got a puppy. Cutest little guy in the world, sweet face, big brown eyes. Problem with this dog was, he was impossible to train. Deuces dropped all over the house, pissing in the corner of the living room, it was awful. Then, finally, one day, it’s like something clicked! The dog is waiting by the door to go outside, I let him out, he goes out and drops corona-corona in the yard, like a Good Boy. I was thrilled! The next day, I woke up, and I couldn’t find my car keys. Do you see where this is going? The dog ate my car keys. Surgery for the dog, the dumbass.

Are the Avs gonna eat my car keys? Probably. I’m gullible though, so I have hope.

Everything Else

Don’t Play With Your Food: Sabres 1 – Hawks 3

By 1374

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

The Hawks moved to their sixth win in a row with a simple adjustment after 20 minutes, or at least a tightening of their usual plan. But even though the Hawks basically kept the Sabres under their thumb (it’s down to me) from the start of the second, they let them hang around and hang around. And as the Hawks should know by now, they can’t let any team hang around that has Ryan O’Reilly on it, because he will score against them. Luckily, a few minutes later Rasmus Ristolainen let Phillip Danault have far too much space entering the zone, and Danault was only too happy to gobble it up and bury the winner short-side. Throw in another Toews empty-netter to throw the mainstream off his scent of struggles, and you have yet another Hawks win.

Everything Else

Know My Name – Sabres vs Hawks Preview, Criminal Investigation

By 1326

image-sabre_medium vs evil empire

Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NHL-US, WGN-AM 720
Don Beebe’s House Of Speed: Die By The Blade

Last month when the Hawks visited Buffalo for a Saturday matinee, surprisingly their hometown hero, the Prodigal Son, received less than a warm ovation, receiving boos every time he touched the puck. Since then, the Sabres’ own Kane, Evander, is now the subject of a rape investigation of his own, and it would stand to reason that those in attendance tonight would feel turnabout is fair play to return the favor because no one even tangentially affiliated with the Blackhawks has had any degree of self awareness for months. Fans on both sides of this equation who feel the need to do such things while not realizing the bigger issues would be well served just to stay home if not walk into oncoming traffic on the Eisenhower.