Everyone is on lockdown, as they should be, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring you…well, whatever this is. John, Sam, and I discuss what’s to be done with the season going forward, and whatever else to try to keep ourselves sane. Audio after the jump.
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Schedule: G1 Thursday, G2 Saturday, G3 April 16th, G4 April 18th
After a serious push and some back and forth from the Bruins in the Flortheast division, ultimately the division and the top record in the east were held by the favored, well-rounded, and supple Tampa Bay Lightning, doing what they were supposed to do during the regular season. Their opponent, however, is somewhat unexpected in the New Jersey Devils, who managed to fall ass backwards into a playoff spot after a hot streak that saw them leading the Metro division even around Christmas time even in the middle of a supposed rebuild.
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Game Time: 6:30PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
Haunting, Haunted, Haunts: Raw Charge
While the Hawks might be in cruise control with at home ice in the first round only two points away from being clinched and being seven up in the conference for home ice in the West, this week is could certainly make things interesting by playing 5 straight games in the east, with every one of them with at least something on paper to play for. Saturday night already saw the Hawks get bitten in the dick by the Cats, and tonight they stay in Florida to face a Lightning team hanging by a thread.
As we were recording, there were actual trades going on in the NHL, and Cieslak was somewhere over the Atlantic, as he is being extradited to The Hague for his various war crimes. Sam has escaped from the maw of the Internet Monster to actually be able to engage in the conversation. Of course, by the time this posts, half of what we discussed could be irrelevant, but isn’t that always the case anyway? And the title is interpreted at the reader’s discretion. Audio after the jump.
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Game Time: 7:30PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Cliché Guevara: Raw Charge
As this stretch of the schedule lurches ever forward like a herd of Fifth Feather John’s beloved zombies, the Hawks welcome a team that is basically walking dead to the United Center for the penultimate game before the All Star break in the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning.
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Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBC, CBC, TVA, WGN-AM 720
Black Me Out: Raw Charge
Since opening in 1994, the Stanley Cup has never been in the United Center with a series on the line even in the renaissance era of the Blackhawks. It was 23 years ago when it was last in Chicago, June 1st 1992 when the Penguins complete a sweep of the Hawks at the old barn. The last time the Hawks had the ability to claim the chalice themselves was May 18th, 1971 in Game 7 against the Canadiens. A game that those who remember will never be able to fully forget. The last time the Hawks actually won at home was April 12th 1938, and even then, the Cup wasn’t awarded to them that night after the final horn. No, the last time the Hawks actually hoisted the Holy Grail on home ice was all the way back to April 10th of 1934, 81 years ago. That’s so long ago that the Cup itself doesn’t even look as it does now. But all of these counts can revert back to zero with a win over the Lightning in Game 6 tonight.
Despite seven years of evidence to the contrary, not to mention numerous recent examples, in the wake of last night’s loss to the Lightning to go down 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final there has been a rush to pronounce the Hawks’ season and run as perennial contenders both dead. And nothing could be further from the truth.
For twenty years now, George Rebelo has provided the precise yet powerful percussion backbone to one of modern punk rock’s most stalwart acts, Hot Water Music. And that balance of precision and power can just as equally be found in his jet black beard.
Hot Water Music has always toured relentlessly throughout the years, their with their live shows being truly energetic affairs. So when the band found itself on hiatus due to co-frontman Chuck Ragan’s desire to be with his family and sow his acoustic oats, Rebelo was enlisted to help out a fellow Gainseville, Florida act, none other than Against Me!. Rebelo contributed his skills to 2010’s White Crosses, and toured with the band intermittently. Hot Water Music themselves have since reformed, released new material for the first time in seven years in 2012 with Exister, and most recently pressed a limited edition quadruple-LP vinyl compilation to commemorate their 20th anniversary. And where ever the band may find itself next, it can be assured that the bearded Rebelo will be providing the drumming for it.
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Game Time: 8:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Downtown Cowtown: Flames Nation, Matchsticks and Gasoline
And so it begins, the annual rite of passage known as the Circus Trip. This year, the Hawks kick off the six game roadie in Calgary, to face a numbers-defying Calgary Flames team who already took a bonus point away from the Hawks last month on United Center ice.
