He misses his buddy:ST
Its the only way:CSN
Normally I would make fun of this but I know one & love one named Bort:CB
IIHF rules afoot (Gruesome) PD
1.8 % chance:Grantland
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, NBCSN elsewhere, Sportsnet Up there, WGN 720
IF YOU KNOW THE NAME OF THE KING OR QUEEN BEING MURDERED: The Royal Half
Guess we’ll find out pretty quickly if last night was some sort of watershed point late in the season or a blip in an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory, Rents. The L.A. Kings saunter on in to the UC tonight, for their first and only visit this season and first since things went a tad pear-shaped last June 1st.
vs. 
FACEOFF: 6:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN, City (whatever that is) Up There, WGN Radio 720
JETSETTER MUSIC LETTER: Arctic Ice Hockey
We’re all a little weary of the Hawks embarking on a new dawn, or in need of a wakeup call, or promising that this time they mean it. It’s all coming out again this morning, but this time it’s real, right? It had better be, because the Hawks schedule combined with the fact they now sit in 4th in the division requires all systems to be operational. We’ll pardon you if you choose to watch Wrestlemania instead.
I’ll give you the normal intro to a wrap here, but it won’t be the normal wrap. And before I go any farther, I know there are some who think I’m always negative for the sake of it. That’s fine, I like to think I’m just realistic. And what I’m about to write I’ve only done so once in the seven years we’ve been doing this. It was also after a late-season loss at home to a Jackets team the Hawks had no business losing to. And they laughed that off and the prospect that they could miss the playoffs, except for Brian Campbell, until they did actually miss the playoffs in 2011 and had a Minnesota Wild team save them at the last possible moment. So don’t think I take it lightly.
The 2014-2015 Chicago Blackhawks are finished.
I’ll give you the normal intro to a wrap here, but it won’t be the normal wrap. And before I go any farther, I know there are some who think I’m always negative for the sake of it. That’s fine, I like to think I’m just realistic. And what I’m about to write I’ve only done so once in the seven years we’ve been doing this. It was also after a late-season loss at home to a Jackets team the Hawks had no business losing to. And they laughed that off and the prospect that they could miss the playoffs, except for Brian Campbell, until they did actually miss the playoffs in 2011 and had a Minnesota Wild team save them at the last possible moment. So don’t think I take it lightly.
The 2014-2015 Chicago Blackhawks are finished.
Lately I’ve been expressing concern over Jonathan Toews, and as I normally do I ripped it off one of my blogmates because they’re smarter (and handsomer!). Fifth Feather was the first to raise a question about Toews’s condition, noticing that he was misplacing passes and losing board battles more often than we are accustomed to seeing (basically, at all). I thought I’d dig a little deeper.
I guess the most concerning number bouncing out at me is that over the past four games Toews only has four shots. That’s his lowest stretch of that length all season. If it wasn’t for Michal Neuvirth pretty much gifting him two goals against the Islanders, he wouldn’t have scored for nine games. His only points in the last four were the result of a blocked shot leading to Shaw’s empty-netter against Carolina.
I guess we should just give up on the idea that the Hawks will ever win a regular season game in Philadelphia. They haven’t done so since the Clinton administration (I guess I’m legally obligated to indicate “THE FIRST Clinton administration now). We all would make the trade of that for the one win they got there in June ’10, but really could have used this one as it was one of the games in hand the Hawks had on everyone they’re competing with in the division (and that green and red blob in the rearview isn’t going away). But thanks to another first period where they couldn’t have looked less bothered and a couple nifty tips in the 2nd, it wasn’t to be.
