This was it. Week 28 in the AHL schedule. The IceHogs had 2 games left in their schedule and they needed all 4 points to keep their playoff hopes alive. They weren’t in complete control of their own destiny though—they needed the Milwaukee Admirals to lose just one, measly game in order for Rockford to make their first playoff appearance since 2009-10. Only half of the plan worked.
Sorry these are late, end of the season banquet last night followed by the staff hitting a bar. Did you know gambling is legal pretty much everywhere in N. Dakota? There’s a blackjack table in every bar… for a degenerate like me that’s dangerous.
Why are these games always harder than they should be? Blackhawks
Rooks that rock: ESPN
Its like they don’t want Chicago to like them: CSN Chicago
Ummmm: PHT
Way to go boys, way to go: PD
Worst game of the year: Comcast Chicago, Chicago Tribune,FOX 32
Yes…That’ll happen: Cheer the Anthem
So Duncan Keith is a jerk but probably not a sexist: Suntimes , PuckDaddy
Growing up before our eyes:Blackhawks
Hawks top final power rankings: ESPN
So this is absolutely terrible:PuckDaddy
This is absolutely weird:Globe and Mail
Keenan will not coach in a town that I can’t pronounce:Sportsnet
This is about why the Leafs have sucked, but there is awesome pic of Belfour:Toronto Sun
This was the wrap I didn’t want to write but kind of suspected I would. There was this feeling that the Hawks just wouldn’t be up for this one and that the Nucks might because it was at home and dick-measuring contests are always their thing. So I’m going to do what I think Fifth Feather would do and point to history.
March 2009, the Hawks and Canucks engage in what at the time was a very important game. At the time, it felt like they were grappling for the 4th seed (the Flames would go on to collapse and surrender the division to Vancouver and drop to 5th). And the Canucks walked all over the Hawks at the UC that night, and was famous for Burrows’s hair-pulling antics. The whole thing that year ended with a Patrick Kane hat trick and Luongo in tears.
I think it was February 2010, and was our first ever official roadwatch at Whirlaway. The Canucks put up 7 on the Hawks that night. That May ended with Byfuglien laughing at the entire Rogers Arena crowd. In fact, it was GM Place then.
You can’t take my will away, my dreams will never say die.
Forget your thoughts, forget your will. Tell that voice inside to just keep still.
Follow me, I’ll take you there. You needn’t think, you needn’t care.
at 
Game Time: 9:00 PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NHLN (US), WIND-AM 560
The House That Heaven Built: Nucks Misconduct
It seems odd that a game this late in the season between these two foes would have so little riding on it, but yet that’s the case tonight as the Hawks visit Riot City to kick off the final week of the regular season. And because there isn’t much at stake, keeping all the requisite bile associated with the Orca and their trash flinging constituency should at least be attempted to be compartmentalized for at least one evening. But that’s easier said than done.
I have to admit to getting a real joy out of the no-context hockey of the past two nights. There are things I could try and make something out of. But I can’t convince myself that they really matter. Yeah, another attacked-by-bees effort from Crawford. A second night in a row a team with all the offensive punch of a possum on anti-depressants was able to muster a mountain of 3rd period shots. Some very sloppy play from the Hawks all over.
But it just feels more like a common cold to be shirked than a stronger disease sinking in. I guess we’ll find out more tomorrow night, where it’s probably not possible to treat any game against Vancouver as just another one to be ticked off the schedule.
But hey, you come for bullets.
