As a minority working in hockey I couldn’t agree with Sam and Mooney more.
No shinpads tonight: Blackhawks
Don’t bring the Wild ones home: ESPN Chicago
Yet 52 will probably dress in 2 games: CSN
Ha: PHT
Trotz and Ovie?: PD
Why is this a thing now: TSN
If you haven’t read Harrison Mooney’s piece on Puck Daddy today about P.K Subban and hockey’s continuing problems with race and undertones, you really should.
Mooney mentions it himself, alluding to how Subban got into trouble for a celebration after an OT goal in Ottawa, yet Patrick Kane can yell “Showtime!” after a highlight reel goal and we all think it’s pretty cute.
Subban is watched so closely, and his every move scrutinized, whereas Kane is watched with a sense of awe and wonder and appreciation.
I love both players. They’re two of the most entertaining players in the league, if not the top two. Subban’s move on his breakaway in Game 3 against Boston literally brought me off the couch to my feet. Most felt the same about Kane’s in Game 1 against Minnesota.
But after reading this I had to wonder: What if Kane was black and Subban white?
Born as Ian Bavitz, he is now known better under his stage name Aesop Rock, complete with scraggly beard. He was born outside NYC and would frequently visit there as a youth and he quickly became obsessed with the growing hip-hop culture as he was exposed to groups like Run DMC, Public Enemy and KMD. Through his older brother, he was also exposed to punk and hardcore groups like Dead Kennedys and Fugazi.
While attending college, Aesop would being to release albums self-financed albums that he would largely sell through his own website. It wouldn’t be until 1999’s Appleseed EP that he would begin to draw the attention of others in the underground hip-hop scene. This would lead to his first record deal with Mush and his first real studio album, Float. From there, Aesop would jump to Def Jux where he would stay as a solo artist until the label was put on hiatus. He continued to be a featured artist on others records and is an active producer until 2012’s release Skelethon on his new label Rhymesayers based out of Minneapolis (founded by members of Atmosphere, among others).
Aesop’s lyrics are known for being abstract, dense and quite hard to follow. In fact, his lyrics can be so complex that a recent study showed that he literally uses a wider vocabulary than any other popular artist – and it’s not even close. Like many other artists, it may take a while to decipher the meanings behind his songs but that process is half the fun.
Jonathan Bryan Toews: Chicago Tribune
I just spent 5 minutes trying to come up with a caption: Hockee Night
Either way the city of Montreal will be in flames: Montreal Gazette
I don’t like narrative…I love this narrative:ESPN New York
Not so fast….Sportsnet.Ca
The Wild were never going to let it be pretty. While they’ve varied their approach in the first four games, from period to period even, a pivotal Game 5 on the road saw them fall back into the trap that gave the Hawks headaches in Game 3. But after a jittery opening 5-10 minutes, the Hawks started to come to grips with what they saw. And despite conceding the opener as a direct result of a pick play that Stockton and Malone would have been proud of that opened up space for Terror From Hell Erik Haula, the Hawks began to get a tighter and tighter grip on this one.
It was far from perfect. While the Hawks support was better, they were more willing to try the middle of the ice to get out of the zone, to chip and chase, the execution was off. Every time Oduya tried to field a pass or puck along the boards, my eyeballs rolled back in my head. Keith was trying far too much dip-trip-rip-fantasia behind his goal line and at Minny’s blue line. Nick Leddy looks terrified to make a mistake (wonder why that may be). Because what the Hawks have to do when a team pinches down on them along the boards in their zone has to be so precise, when it doesn’t work it can get urpy.
But they slowly got better, got their goal to tie it, worked to get their second and then squeezed the rest out. They had to get through some chances but it didn’t feel like Crawford had to drink the blood of virgins to get through the final 10 minutes.
All that adds up to a series lead.
Let’s do it.
You’re a rich girl and you’ve gone to far
Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
You can rely on the old man’s money
You can rely on the old man’s money
It’s a bitch girl and it’s gone too far
Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
High and dry, out of the rain
It’s so easy to hurt others when you can’t feel pain
And don’t you know that a love can’t grow
Cause there’s too much to give, cause you’d rather live
For the thrill of it all.
Don’t you know, don’t you know
That it’s wrong to take what is given you
So far gone, on your own
You can get along if you try to be strong
But you’ll never be strong
@ 
Game Time: 8:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CNBC, TSN (Anglo), RDS2 (Franco)/WGN720
Terms of Psychic Warfare: Hockey Wilderness
After two disappointing games, the series now shifts back to the UC as the Hawks attempt to take back the series lead. I don’t know how many times we’ve said it, or how many times you’ve heard it, but we all know the phrase “It’s not a series until the home-team loses”. That hardly feels like the case though when the first two games were decided by breakout third periods for the Hawks who very easily could have lost either game. On the trip to MN, the Hawks clearly looked like the slower and more beatable team. They simply weren’t close contests, even in Game 4 when at least the score wasn’t too off.
It’s hard to make a case that the sky is falling for the Hawks. On paper, they’re clearly the better team. By just about any way of looking at it, they shouldn’t have a problem with this Wild, even as improved as they are from last year. But that’s hardly the case among the Hawks fans right now. They just got punched in the face pretty squarely in the last two games and it’s hard to not think the Wild may come through as the underdogs. That can easily swing the other way today though. One good period is all it really takes for this Hawks team to pull away from the Wild. If we could not wait til the third, that’d be great.
@
Game Time: 8:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CNBC, TSN (Anglo), RDS2 (Franco)/WGN720
Terms of Psychic Warfare: Hockey Wilderness
After two disappointing games, the series now shifts back to the UC as the Hawks attempt to take back the series lead. I don’t know how many times we’ve said it, or how many times you’ve heard it, but we all know the phrase “It’s not a series until the home-team loses”. That hardly feels like the case though when the first two games were decided by breakout third periods for the Hawks who very easily could have lost either game. On the trip to MN, the Hawks clearly looked like the slower and more beatable team. They simply weren’t close contests, even in Game 4 when at least the score wasn’t too off.
It’s hard to make a case that the sky is falling for the Hawks. On paper, they’re clearly the better team. By just about any way of looking at it, they shouldn’t have a problem with this Wild, even as improved as they are from last year. But that’s hardly the case among the Hawks fans right now. They just got punched in the face pretty squarely in the last two games and it’s hard to not think the Wild may come through as the underdogs. That can easily swing the other way today though. One good period is all it really takes for this Hawks team to pull away from the Wild. If we could not wait til the third, that’d be great.
