Buff Talks USA Hockey

Team USA Hockey held an orientation camp at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, IL during the week of August 17th. After the first practice, cameras caught up with star Blackhawks forward Dustin Byfuglien.

Roenick Talks with Chelios During Retirement Announcement

A great moment during the Jeremy Roenick retirement press conference, when he talked with longtime Chicago teammate/friend Chris Chelios. For those growing up during the 90's watching Blackhawks hockey, JR and Cheli were fun to watch, and brought many exciting moments to Chicago (sound familiar...cough Toews, Kane cough)

Hawks Win to take 2-0 Series Lead over Flames

The prettiest goal of the night!

DG Quickie: The Fight- 'Nucks v Hawks

Quote: "Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith is still rather stunned that Alex Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks pulled his hair last night like they were fighting over Bret Michaels on the Rock of Love Bus: "That's not something I've ever had happen to me ... My little sister never even pulled my hair when I was a kid. It's kind of comical when you have a grown man trying to pull your hair on the ice." Adam Burish, meanwhile, lamented the fact that no player should have to endure that, "especially a nice haircut like Duncan has." [Chicago Tribune] -per Yahoo! Sports Puck Daddy Blog

Two subtle highlights of the fight: One, I loved the fact that the United Center sound guy played U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," amidst the ruckus. Also, when the camera was showing Burish exiting the ice on his way to the locker room, Coach Quenneville could be seen yelling at the opposing bench/head coach and appearing to say "You started it!"

Pictures:

The aftermath (right) after the fighting subsided, while the above--no, that's not the bench, that's the penalty box (it should be pointed out that Havlat and Kane were serving the penalties of their unavailable teammates).

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ9nVbp_0U0

Hawks Add Top Talent as NHL Free Agency Begins

At noon eastern time Tuesday, the NHL Free Agency signing period officially began; and signifying a commitment to winning in the new era of Chicago Blackhawks hockey, GM Dale Tallon set off on a spree of signing two of the best available players.  In shoring up two areas of need, the Hawks acquired defenseman Brian Campbell and goaltender Cristobal Huet.  Campbell, who was traded to San Jose from Buffalo at last year's trade deadline, signed for an astounding 8 years/$56.8 million.  He is self-described as a complete player, but is known for contributing on the offensive side.  He will add a perfect dimension in quarterbacking the Blackhawks power-play attack (which was weak last year), as well as adding depth to a young, defensive core on Chicago's blueline.  Huet, meanwhile, signed for 4 years at just over $5 million/year.  He was one of the league's top goaltenders last year for both Montreal and Washington, to whom he was traded at the deadline.  Had had 32 wins last season, including 9 straight wins to help the Capitals make the playoffs.  Hawks GM Dale Tallon stated that his intention right now is to have Huet split time with current Blackhawk netminder Nikolai Khabibulin (who is being paid over $6 million in the last year of his deal).  In regards to the day's events, Dale Tallon had this to say:

"Habby and Cristobal give us great goaltending to go with a really good defense.  We scored goals last year.  We were in the top 10 despite injuries.  But our goals against was too high and our power play was not very good, so shoring up our defense and goaltending will help get us to where we want to go...There's only so much money that goes around.  We paid a lot of money for the services of these players.  We have to be careful now and give our young players an ability to come in and play some of those other positions."

Now, the Hawks are $3 million over the salary cap for the coming season and seemingly have some good talent going into this season, but some big names still remain for the taking in the NHL Free Agency pool.  Among them are Marian Hossa, Brendan Shannahan, and Jaromir Jagr.  I believe that it would be an outstanding move if the Hawks could somehow sign one of these players to add to the top offensive lines, and give them another lock they could count on to produce big numbers.  Another signing I'd like to see by the Hawks: Pens-UFA enforcer Georges Laraque.  He's done a nice job protecting Sid the Kid and the rest of Pittsburgh's young talent, I believe he'd be a good addition to do the same in Chicago with Kane/Towes and the rest of this young roster.  The Hawks could be looking for an enforcer-type now that David Koci signed with Tampa Bay.  One player in the system, however, who could fill this role (and much more) sooner, rather than later, is recent 1st round draft choice Kyle Beach.  Beach is not only a tough guy, but also was rated as the top 2 or 3 forward in this year's draft with great offensive talent.

Here's some links to articles about today's Blackhawk signings, as well as some overall NHL rumor/news sites:

Chicago Blackhawk's Official Site-Campbell Says Yes to Hawks

ESPN-Hawks add D Campbell after agreeing with G Huet

HockeyBuzz.com

TheFourthPeriod.com

SecondCityHockey.com

In some other, marquee news from today's NHL signings, a goalie-shuffle transpired as Jose Theodore signed with the Capitals, pushing Olaf Kolzig to sign with Tampa Bay, and Andrew Raycroft replaced Theodore in Colorado.  Minnesota sniper Brian Rolston signed a deal with the Devils, and D Wade Redden signed with the Rangers.  We now keep an eye out in the coming days to see where superstars Jagr, Shannahan, Hossa, and Sundin end up!

Here Come the Hawks!...and there go the Hawks :(

What's up with those Blackhawks? I know teams go through tough times, and the core of this team looks nice for years to come, but come on. A couple of weeks ago people were talking about a revival, and they looked like one of the elite teams early in the year, but with the 5-2 loss tonight to the Minnesota Wild they have lost eight in a row and with 42 points are last in the Central and 7 pts out of a playoff spot in the West. Now there still is time, Towes hopefully will be back in a week or two, and this team should learn how to play better with each loss. But for now, there are a couple of things that I don't understand.

Let's start with the current lines that have been going out there the last week and a half:

1st line: LW Kane - C Lang - RW Havlat
2nd line: LW Versteeg - C Sharp - RW Ruutu
3rd line: LW Bourque - C Perreault - RW Skille
4th line: LW Burish - C Dowell - RW Lapointe

Defenseive Pairings
Keith/Seabrook
Hendry/Sopel
Barker/Byfuglien

Khabibulin between the pipes

Now with this lineup on the ice, this team should be playing awesome. There is a huge core of young, fresh talent that should be playing with enthusiasm, energy, and the amazing skill that they were drafted so highly for. Over the losing streak, granted, no one has been playing well at all. All the key parts that made this team win earlier in the year haven't been working...Byfuglien's scoring, Kane's assists (which might be due to the absence of Towes), Langer and Sharpie's goals, and solid, consistent contribution all around. However, looking at how some of the younger names have performed this year is perhaps most puzzling. Ruutu, Bourque, Skille, and Barker have all been highly-touted youngsters in the Hawks organization (all of them high first round picks except Bourque). Even with Towes out, these guys should be playing almost as good as Towes and Kane.  With the talent they have shown in the past, they should all have 20 goals and 40 pts right now.  Ruutu was drafted 9th overall in the 1st rd. of the 2001 draft and he only has 6G/11 A on the year.  He was supposed to be the leader of this young team with his years of success in the past.  And Bourque had set scoring records wherever he'd been in the past and played great in the 05-06 campaign with 34 pts, yet he hasn't looked the same this year after recovering from injuries.  And then we of course arrive at Skille and Barker.  Barker was drafted 3rd overall in the 2004 draft, he's had a couple years to develop now and has excelled at the minor league level.  However,  in 10 games played so far this year he's accrued only 2 pts and a minus 5 rating.  Skille was drafted 7th overall, again in the 1st round!  In 7 games this year, he's had 2 points.

Now I hope that during the past 8 games of losing, this team has grown and learned on the ice.  As I previously mentioned, there is a lot of talent right now in the locker room that should start to translate into great play on the ice with some more time.  I think that hopefully Towes will come back, and the rebuilding process can continue this year.  If they make it to the playoffs this year that would be great, but at least we know that this team should be fine for years to come.  Just listen to the names that are still so young and will be growing together as a core for the future:  Kane, Towes, Skille, Barker, Byfuglien, Seabrook, Rutuu, Sharp...they all have so much potential and have shown flashes of brilliance, so let's see where they go this year.

Blackhawks Defeat Second Canadian Team in Two Days

For the second night in a row, the Blackhawks beat a Canadian team in amazing fashion.  Coming off a 4-3 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators, the Hawks sent the Edmonton Oilers home packing in front of about 20,000 fans at the United Center.  The Hawks got out to an early lead with a goal by Brent Seabrook, but fell behind 2-1 by the end of the first period.  In the second, the Hawks tied the game at two on a beautiful pass from Patrick Kane from behind the net to teammate Patrick Sharp who punched it in for the goal.  In the third period, Brent Seabrook took off and rocketed a shot that got past Oiler goalie Mathieu Garon for the goal to put the Hawks ahead with a 3-2 lead.  The Hawks would hold onto that lead for good, however there was some excitement with 2:00 to play in the third.  Blackhawk defensemen Brent Sopel received a 2 minute minor for delay of game, which put the Oilers on the power-play for the remainder of the game.  The Hawks, led by goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, proceeded to close the win out at the UC with several stellar saves by the Bulin Wall.  After the win, the Hawks then came back out on the ice for a skate around to salute the 20,151 in attendance and show appreciation for thier fanhood.  Said the game's first star, "It's Christmastime and our fans have been so great this year.  They've supported us through thick and thin."

Minor notes from the game:

• SOG: Hawks-34----Oilers-27
• Blackhawks RW Martin Havlat was out with a groin injury; it is not known how long he'll be out
• Khabibulin stopped 25 of 27 shots
• Seabrook, Byfuglien, and Towes had 6 shots on goal a piece