Are you not entertained? CTA
You play to win the game: Trib
All quiet on the western front:LGH/ESPN
Not exactly surprised: TSN
Going 4-21-2 will do that: CBC
Just left of murder: SN
Tag: Chicago Blackhawks
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The Empire Strikes Back: Wings at Hawks Preview/Pregame Thread/Tauntaun Training
vs. 
FACEOFF: 6:30pm Central (The Wings bitched so much about their starting times they’re even changing ours now)
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio 720
CRACK HOUSE DAILY: Winging It In Motown
Now that these only happen twice a year, and once in each city, they’ve become some sort of weird family reunion. They’re certainly an event, a chance to remember how much bile you had for the other side and how quickly it went away once Seabrook’s OT winner dented twine and the Wings were packed off to the East. Though it probably won’t take much more than one Wings fan in your section who won’t shut up to angry up the blood again.
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No Longer A Finishing Move?
I always try and keep in mind how it might sound to fans of other teams when you start complaining about the Hawks’ problems. Like, for instance, this current mini-drama where the Hawks have a four-time 30-goal scorer currently on their third line and what it might mean. Most teams would probably love to have that problem.
But the Hawks’ expectations and their goals, (or their, y’know, ONE GOAL that they keep waving in my face like a frat boy’s wang) are higher than most, so these kinds of things bother us.
Patrick Sharp moved to accommodate the return of Kris Versteeg. What was odd about it was just how quickly that came about. It was about the 2nd period of Versteeg’s first game back against Vancouver. This after missing a month and clearly rusty. But Q was in such a hurry to reunited The Conjuring (Versteeg-Richards-Kane) that he barely waited 20 minutes. And it’s not like Sharp was pulling that line down.
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Morning 2/17/15
As to be expected:CT
Way to go morons: Chicagoist
So lets keep talking:CBS
A smaller lot: LGH
That’s one way to get out of media engagements:TSN
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Bad Self Portaits: Penguins At Blackhawks – Preview/Pre-Game Thread/Teeth Cleaning
@ 
Game Time: Way too fucking early
TV/Radio: NBC/WGN720
Too Many Goddamn Bridges: PensBlogWell Toews and Crosby have already faced each other… so who the hell cares about this game anymore? The Hawks dismantled the Pens last year in very similar weather conditions in yet another outdoor game and then won in a shootout earlier this season. Therefore, Toews is clearly the better hockey player and nothing else matters, right? Right.
Ok, so maybe not. It’s still going to be a treat to watch two of the best centers in the league face each other. No doubt the broadcast crew is going to push some sort of rivalry between the two but when they only get to play each other two times a year at best, there’s really not that much there.
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The New Blood: Blackhawks 3 – Devils 1
Box Score
Event Summary
War On Ice
Natural Stat TrickIf this had been a different part of the year, we may have written this game up as “The Hawks goofed around for a while and seemed disinterested with the Devils before turning things on in the last 20 and putting them away”. With the seesaw that has been the Hawks recent adventures, we could write that the Hawks were being smothered in the first two periods but were able to just barely shake free in the third thanks to Marian Hossa who seems pretty damn content to just do it all his own damn self these past few games. The truth is likely somewhere in between those two narratives. The first two periods were dull dusty hockey. The third was a welcome sight.
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This Time With Feeling: Devils at Hawks Preview/Pregame Thread/Ribbon Cutting
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
MR. MEPHISTOPHELES, PLEASE: In Lou We Trust
Once again, the Hawks try and get on track on this homestand, although considering their coach conceded the division yesterday in the press and their six points behind St. Louis, one wonders if this is no longer a final stab at making a chase of it and merely a time where you don’t have to pack anything. Gee, no wondered the Hawks have kind of mailed in most of the past two games. They’ve basically concluded they’re not playing for much, other than home ice against St. Louis which is hardly something you’d want a medal for. Either way, tonight is yet another banker, or at least it should be against the faded and broken couch New Jersey Devils.
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Call The Understudy: Canucks 5 – Hawks 4 (OT)
I thought it was pretty cute when the Hawks pulled off two of their better wins this season last weekend against division opponents. I thought it was encouraging that they did it by stripping things down to basically their most elemental level, i.e. being defensively secure and concentrating on their breakouts and taking the chances when they showed themselves.
Little did I know the Hawks would go total fucking prog rock for the first two games of a homestand that could have spun the meaning of this season. It went from three chords and three minutes songs to everyone getting a fucking solo, which is why the Hawks have basically coughed up a hairball for at least 4.5 periods of the six on this homestand already.
