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Moon Is Full Never Seems To Change: Wild 2 – Hawks 1

By 1211

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Ah, that old first home game after a trip bugaboo. It finally bit the Hawks, even though as McClure pointed out in the preview they’ve actually been pretty good in this situation over the years. Whatever the case, the Hawks’ legs/sense of give a shit/both weren’t quite where they needed to be and an inspired Wild team that was watching its season get awfully icky in a hurry was able to get a deserved win.

The tale for the Hawks is familiar to all by now, and you could write the next few sentences from memory. The Hawks only had a chance at points because of the same factors. Kane scores. The second line is the only consistently dangerous one. A couple moments of individual brilliance. The special teams come up big. Crawford holds them in for the stretch of game where they’re getting badly outplayed. Rinse. Repeat. But none of these are sustainable models for success, and it wasn’t tonight. It’s 25 games now, and the Hawks remain a one-line, one-pairing team. 25 games is bordering on not being a trend anymore.

Shall we go? Yes, let us go.

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Stuck In The Middle – Wild vs Hawks Preview, Tree Lighting

By 1292

wildthings vs evil empire

Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN (National), WGN-AM 720
Labour Issues In The Toy Department: Hockey Wilderness

As the broadcast will assuredly punish the listening audience with 7 million reminders of by puck drop, the first game back at home after a road trip is always a TRAP GAME. And it’s even moreso of one by some moronic logic because the Wild have lost 6 of 7 coming into tonight. Or it could just be that they’re just perpetually mediocre.

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High On The Hog: How The Hogs Continue To Roll

By 1803

Dang…I hate when Mom gives us all sweaters…

The Rockford IceHogs, the Blackhawks AHL affiliate, just finished up play for the month with a tough loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. The Hogs Central Division rival handed Rockford three losses in November. Three of the IceHogs top scorers were called up to Chicago this month and several more key players have succumbed to injury.

On paper, it reads like a month Rockford would like to forget. However, the Hogs finished November with a 7-2-1-1 mark and sit in third place in the division standings. How the heck did that happen?

Let’s take a look…

Everything Else

The Red Hot Chili Peppers Suck: Kings 3, Blackhawks 2 (Kings win Jarts)

By 1727

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Well, you can’t say they didn’t have it coming. All night long the Kings played with the Hawks like a cat plays with…I hate cats what do they play with? Rodent carcasses? The dead bodies of their owners?

If you asked me to sum up that game in four words it’d be “Kero on Toews’ wing” which is a real thing that happened after Seabrook’s gaffe allowed the Kings to tie the game late in the third. 

Everything Else

Recipe For Hate – Hawks at Kings Preview, Leftover Feast

By 1400

evil empire at king

Game Time: 9:30PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN Ch. 9, WGN-AM 720
Fountain and Fairfax: The Royal Half, Jewels From The Crown

Tonight the Hawks will conclude their annual November two-week displacement from the United Center at the hands of Sirs Barnum and Bailey on Figueroa against the Kings, who are taking a novel approach to their regular season by at least cultivating the image that they give a shit about it. But much like their visiting counterparts, they still do not give a shit about women or human decency. 

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Never Gonna Get Gonna Get It: Hawks 2 – Ducks 2 (Hawks win calf-roping)

By 1217

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

I made a TLC reference on Twitter earlier, so I figure I might as well throw En Vogue in now. I want to stay on message, after all.

It wasn’t vintage stuff from the Hawks. They were rolled in the 1st and didn’t even look all that threatening in most of the last two periods except for the odd shift from Kaner and The Sons Of Rasputin. What this afternoon did show is that the Ducks remain the Ducks, and no matter how good they might look for a stretch (and I’m sure some Ducks observers would say the first 50 minutes is about as good as they’ve looked all season), they’re still just good enough to fuck it up.

The Ducks had it under control, even with Crawford pulled. There was utterly no reason for Ryan “White Hats Are Still Cool To Me” Getzlaf to take that penalty against Shaw, other than he isn’t allowed to light his own farts on the ice. While the Ducks have the best kill in the league at the moment, you’re asking for it to give the Hawks a look on a two-man advantage to get back in the game. There’s no reason for it. And once the Hawks got it to 2-1, did you really doubt the Ducks would run around their own zone like a kindergarten game of football and the Hawks would find the equalizer? No, of course you didn’t.

You really couldn’t ask for a more clear illustration about the difference between these two teams. One will just find a way to insert thumb in its ass. The other still knows how to get it done when they need to.

TO THE BLUFFS!

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Back To The Scene Of The Crime: Hawks at Ducks Preview/Bears Celebration Continued

By 1344

250px-Ozymandias vs. donald-duck-dunn-620x413

PUCK DROP: 4pm Central

TV/RADIO: WGN, NBCSN, WGN Radio

DUCK TALES (Woohoo): Anaheim Calling

Ducks Stats

Ducks War On Ice

Some games you know that the opponent has had circled on the schedule, even if the Hawks know better than to make too much of a regular season game. Then again, the Ducks are so practiced at seeing teams that had beaten them in a Game 7 the previous year maybe they don’t make that much of a deal out of it anymore. Either way, the Hawks return to Anaheim for the first time since they got to partake in the annual giveaway of a playoff series in Orange County last spring.

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You’ve Got to Let the Wine Breathe: Blackhawks 5, Sharks 2

By 1146

Box Score

Event Summary

War on Ice

Natural Stat Trick

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving game against the Sharks always holds a special place in my heart, if only because of the game in 2009-2010 when Marian Hossa made his Blackhawks debut and the Hawks kicked the Sharks all over the ice to the tune of a 7-2 win. That was truly a beating.

This one looked like it may go down the same path. Unfortunately, Marian Hossa wasn’t as accurate in his shoosting and the Hawks were giving the Sharks plenty of opportunities to hang around by taking bad penalties.

Instead, the Hawks merely beat the Sharks all over the ice 5-on-5 with pretty much everyone on the roster contributing in some way. The perfect kind of win to wash out any lingering bitterness of the trip to Western Canada.

How did it happen?

Let’s go.

Everything Else

Turn It Up: Hawks at Sharks Preview/Avoiding Your Family

By 1160

250px-Ozymandias vs. shark

PUCK DROP: 9pm Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio

CAGE IN THE WATER: You know what… just follow @stace_ofbase on Twitter. I have no idea who’s writing Fear The Fin these days. 

The 2nd leg of the annual Circus Trip begins tonight, and the degree of difficulty goes up a bit for the Men of Four Feathers as they will face the hottest team in the league in San Jose, before doubling up in SoCal on the weekend with what might be the only legitimate teams in the Pacific (whatever the Ducks record might be). Considering the Hawks have only started this trip 1-1-1, it might look a little daunting.