Let’s have Christ our President
Let us have him for our king
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
That they call the Nazarene
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7pm
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
GIMME, GIMME, GIMME THE HONKEY TONK BLUES: The incomparable On The Forecheck
There’s only one storyline for the Hawks tonight, and obviously it’s KRS-23 suiting up in his first game back with the Hawks. If there was any danger of the Hawks either not taking this one fully seriously or getting caught looking ahead to the Sharks tomorrow night, there should be an extra jump in everyone’s step with Versteeg joining the ranks. As you know by now, Steeger will skate on the 3rd line with Bryan Bickell and Andrew Shaw. The combination of Chicken Hawk and VerStud might give the Hawks the yappiest line they’ve iced in… forever?
In baseball, sometimes basketball, it’s considered a show of confidence from your GM when he goes out and makes a trade early in the season after a healthy start. It’s not desperate thanks to the winning record, and it’s not scrambling at the deadline to get anything at all. It’s a show of faith that he thinks it’s not a mirage and you have genuine title aspirations, that even though there’s all the time in the world to adjust the roster, he’s making this move now because it’s there to be made.
I’m not sure it’s always felt like that in hockey, and Stan doesn’t need to prove to anybody that he has confidence in this team. And the whole heapin’ helpin’ of nostalgia on the Kris Versteeg trade last night makes it hard to keep in context. Steeger had a place in all our hearts as a member of the team that washed away a lifetime of misery. When players as well liked as Steeger are traded away you always hope that they may come back but you know in your heart they never will. So on the rare occasion when they do, you can’t help but be overwhelmed with surprise and glee.
But let’s try and remove the emotion out of it and see what the Hawks got and gave up.
Boxscore: Blackhawks
Advanced Metrics: Extra Skater
Local Rap musician returns: Comcast
Stan Bowman is not Dave Nonis: TSN
A Sault boy back home in Buffalo: Toronto Sun
This is important because it involves a Maple Leaf: PuckDaddy
Not surprising considering how he Values Colton Orr: Globe and Mail
Brownie Points to who says it first: NHL
For the first six minutes of this game, you couldn’t have asked for pretty much anything more from the Hawks. They controlled the play, every shift seemed to be rolling and the puck was planted in the Yotes’ zone… oh, and they were up two goals.
Then things went off the rails a bit. It started with a deflection off a Hawk that snuck past Corey. Then on a power play, a shot from the point bounced hard off the board and found it’s way to Shane Doan’s stick who snuck an unreal wrister to the far top corner. The Hawks would play pretty much the rest of the period on the kill thanks to Bollig and took the game into the second tied.
Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.
At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel,
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
vs.
FACEOFF: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN 720
NO REGRETS…: Five For Howling
Although Ralph was technically “Ralph Wolf,” he sure looked a lot like Wile E. Coyote. Anyway…
It doesn’t exactly feel like it, but tonight sees two of the NHL’s top five teams squaring off. That’s right. But the Coyotes don’t really generate that type of buzz, do they? There’s no feature on NHL.com about this one, or televised on NHL Network or something of a feed on Twitter about neutrals looking forward to watching two hockey powers go toe-to-toe. Maybe that will all be saved for Sunday’s tilt against the Sharks.
Tonight: Blackhawks
Rosi ok, Morin back in: Trib
Gary Gaetti is still hurt: ESPN Chicago
Hjalmersson finding some O: CSN Chicago
Giving the worst team is supposed to create parity, not parody: PHT
Shake up in Tatonka: SI
