Captain A Little Less Serious: NHL
Sometimes it still feels like yesterday: ESPN Chicago
Reinforcements?: CSN
Not how it should end: PD
He’s a keeper: TSN
Chicago has been known as a puck possession team for quite a while now and rightly so. Over the last several seasons, they have proven to be one of the better and at times the best puck possession team in the league. Possession is important for obvious reasons. When you have the puck more, you have more chances to score. Possession metrics are also important for less obvious reasons. Shot suppression is very important to team success. I’ve used the graph below before, but it’s worth adding again here.
Chicago has been known as a puck possession team for quite a while now and rightly so. Over the last several seasons, they have proven to be one of the better and at times the best puck possession team in the league. Possession is important for obvious reasons. When you have the puck more, you have more chances to score. Possession metrics are also important for less obvious reasons. Shot suppression is very important to team success. I’ve used the graph below before, but it’s worth adding again here.
Does this count as HRR?: Blackhawks
Yes Spiegs he does workout: ESPN Chicago
A little r&r: CSN
Because of course: PD
Two Rockford IceHogs were selected to participate in the AHL All-Star Classic, which will be held in Utica January 25-26. T.J. Brennan and Joakim Nordstrom were selected to represent Rockford, who still maintain the lead in the AHL’s Midwest Division.
T.J. Brennan is on the Western Conference All-Stars for the second straight season. Brennan leads the Hogs with 29 points in 38 games. He’s also a plus-16 at this point.
Joakim Nordstrom, currently with the Blackhawks, also made the Western Conference team. Nordstrom, who is Rockford’s captain when he’s in town, has 13 points (8 G, 5 A) in the 17 games he has skated with the IceHogs.
You wouldn’t like the Hawks when they’re angry. At least not if you have to play them.
While the worry of a malaise setting in is still very much real, at least the Hawks care enough to respond to a truly dogshit effort, like the one they put up on Friday. Even on their third game in four nights, the Hawks came out looking to prove something, and basically had this one dead and buried by the end of the 1st. They could have been up four or five after 20 with a couple different bounces. The Red Wedding Line was on another planet. They were certainly playing a different sport than the Wild had ever seen. Kane’s line wasn’t that far behind, and Shaw-Teuvo-Sharp may have been better than both of those but didn’t scratch. Total team effort. And Oduya and Hjalmarsson only got scorched once!
Let’s get to it after the jump.
vs 
Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, TVA, WGN-AM 720
Computer Blue: Hockey Wilderness
If familiarity breeds contempt, then the Hawks and Wild should downright hate the sight of one another at this point after 11 playoff games in the last two seasons on top of the mandatory divisional contests. And even after this one there are still two more matchups in the season series. But a third straight playoff matchup is in doubt if the Wild cannot get themselves turned around in short order.
