Everything Else

I’m Miss World Cup, Watch Me Break Watch Me Burn – C.I.’s World Cup Preview: This Beer Fart Of A Team USA

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A day later than I had planned due to some planning snafus getting out of Montreal. Though I maintain Quebec is a weird vortex that just changes the date on your flight without you knowing so you can never leave (yes, I am Kat Stratford maintaining that boy kicked himself in the balls).

First off, let me say that I really wanted to like the World Cup. In my mind, it really did have a chance to be better than the Olympics, and if the league is willing to have it regularly for a while (correctly) it still could be with a built up reputation. This is for a couple reasons.

One, some of the reasons I am the hockey fan I am is the ’87 and ’91 Canada Cups. Ok, I barely remember ’87 but I do remember that even at six-years-old seeing Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line was a really cool thing. It was like seeing Jupiter and Saturn combine. I saw one of the of the warm-up games in ’91 at the Stadium between the US and Canada that featured a Roenick penalty shot on Belfour (saved) and the first sighting of the unholy monster that was Eric Lindros and Chris Chelios bouncing off of him like a superball. The US taking the first World Cup in ’96, with a completely loaded roster that is still kind of hard to fathom, is a cherished memory for a lot of us this age. This tournament, in whatever form, has certainly shone bright at points.

Everything Else

Playing Hardball And 51 Phantom

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Before we start to focus on what the Hawks might start to do on Friday in free agency, there’s been something I’ve wanted to address since the trade of Andrew Shaw. This marks the second straight summer that the Hawks waved the white flag on bringing back a player they really wanted to before the free agency period opened. Last summer it was Brandon Saad. Now, one was obviously a much bigger impact but the similarities are there. Both were headed to only restricted free agency, both were desperate to stay (at least they say so) and both were wanted by the Hawks (or at least their coach). And yet it didn’t work.

And it seems the Hawks have no interest in playing hardball with anyone.

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Fare Thee Well, Chicken Hawk And Other Drafty Day Musings

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It wasn’t hard to be immediately smitten by Andrew Shaw. Within his first couple shifts as a Blackhawk, he’d already scored and gotten into a fight (guess which one Q noticed more?). You watched him skate around that first game in Philadelphia and thought, “This kid is nuts!” Hockey is probably the one sport where watching a player makes you say that, and that’s a good thing (though Willson Contreras might be carrying this tradition into baseball, and a young Charles Tillman did it for the Bears SKY POINT). In his second playoff game he ran over Mike Smith, fulfilling the fantasy of most Hawks fans (and I assume players as well). Sure, it didn’t help the Hawks much but that didn’t mean we didn’t glean a perverse joy from it.

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One More Special Message To Go: Hawks at Jackets…. Preview? Maybe? I Guess?

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Hawk Wrestler vs. Chief_Blue_Meanie

PUCK DROP: 6pm 

TV/RADIO: WGN for both

WAITING TO DOT THE I: Jackets Cannon

Jackets Stats

Jackets War On Ice

As has been the case for the past three seasons, the Hawks last game of the season doesn’t amount to much more than a glorified scrimmage. There aren’t even individual milestones to grab. Hossa isn’t going to play, so 500 will have to wait until October (and none of us thought that would happen when this season started), Kane already has his 100 points. I guess they could go David Robinson here and try and get Kane six goals to get to 50. About the only thing worth watching is Corey Crawford getting one dress rehearsal before the playoffs. And considering the amount of players that the Predators are putting in suits, you can be pretty sure it’s going to be in St. Louis.

Everything Else

Never Had It So Bad, The Morning Saad: Jackets at Hawks Preview/Beef Stock Prep

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Chief_Blue_Meanie vs. 250px-Ozymandias

FACEOFF: 7:30pm

TV/RADIO For Sox Fans: WGN for both

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK: Jackets Cannon

Blue Jackets Stats Page

Blue Jackets War On Ice

Ah yes, the return of General Saad to the United Center after a distinguished three year… well, two and a half year stay in Chicago. No one does pomp like the Hawks. Even Dan Fucking Carcillo got one, so Saad can expect an over the top scoreboard treatment and ovation at the first TV timeout, while somewhere Brian Campbell, who was a Hawk just as long and his salute consisted of Pat Foley scoffing at him on air, wonders why he never got the same treatment. While there will be stories about what a shame it is that Saad is no longer a Hawk, essentially in the end everyone won in the summer. The Hawks made what very well might turn out to be a good hockey trade, getting two useful pieces for one, while Saad got very very rich. But never let that get in the way of emotions. The juxtaposition of a team hailing a player they were never quite sold on is certainly delicious.

Everything Else

Something In The Way – ’15-’16 Preview – Artemi Panarin

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Moving onto the forwards, Artemi Panarin is the biggest wild card of the recent influx of Russians to the Hawks, who have not had a Russian forward in nearly 8 years after Sergei Samsonov (remember him?) was dealt to Carolina. Panarin will undoubtedly be labeled an highly skilled, an enigma, a malcontent, lazy, or all of the above because that’s just the way it works with Russians in the NHL. But with Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad now gone, there’s a real opportunity for Panarin to make some noise on the left side.

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Every Time I Think I See

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As you’re probably aware by now, we spend a lot of time, probably more than anyone else because we’re sicker in the head than just about everyone else, piercing through what the Hawks’ front office is telling us and what we think is actually going on. Some take this to mean we think the front office is full of concrete-headed giblets, but that would be pretty moronic to think when they’re currently making their third banner in six years. But we do like to put our conspiracy theory hats on (without drunkenly yelling anti-semitic feelings at cops, though we do occasionally yell at cops [we have friends in blue]) from time to time. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about a couple things going on at the moment, and it’s probably mostly because I don’t have anything else to do. Take these with multiple grains of salt (which still isn’t really much salt if you like to try and stop your heart as much as I do with salt). Just things I think.

Everything Else

Let’s Compare The Destruction

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This is a post we might have to keep coming back to as the summer develops. But I thought it would prove useful to compare the sell-offs of the summers of ’10 and this one, and to compare how poised the Hawks are for their next Cup as they were with that one. It won’t make for pleasant reading, but so much of what we do doesn’t either so you’ll be used to that. No time like the present, let’s dive on in and not care if the water is shallow or not.

What Hawks Lost After ’10: It’s a pretty long list. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg (and it’s pretty funny that they simple CAN’T move him now), Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, John Madden, and Colin Fraser. In other terms, the Hawks lost 2/3rd of their third line (Versteeg and Ladd flanked Bolland most of that season), their 4th line center, a top six left winger (that’s where Byfuglien ended up anyway), a couple other components that rotated in on the 4th line in Eager and Burish, and their #5 d-man.

I should also add that Antti Niemi had to be left on the side of the road after his arbitration hearing.