Blackhawks Win 4th Straight

It's early in the season, but the Chicago Blackhawks are looking like things are starting to come together. Their shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks last night is their fourth straight win. Despite not having many scoring opportunities, Chicago managed to prevail as Jonathon Toews, Patrick Sharp, and Patrick Kane all scored in the shootout against Roberto Luongo. Marty Turco gave up two goals in the shootout as well, but Mikael Samuelsson's shot went wide of the net, giving the Hawks the win.

Viktor Stalberg, who came over from Toronto for Kris Versteeg, scored his second goal of the season with 37 seconds remaining in the first, a beauty of a shot that sailed past Luongo. One of the motherfucking Sedin twins, Daniel, scored in the third for Vancouver to tie the game. Luongo stopped a brilliant Hossa shot in overtime to preserve the tie, but had some trouble with the shootout shots from Sharp and Kane. It appears that he sort of helped push Kane's shot over the goal line as he was sliding backward.

Marty Turco was a beast in this game, totally deserving of the Number One Star status he was awarded. Chicago heads to St. Louis on Friday to take on the Blues.

US-Candian Relations Fray

The Blackhawks sucked it up last night against the Vancouver Canucks. The 'hawks lost 4-0 and lost some of their composure in the 3rd in a series of silly fights that served to accomplish nothing. While I admire their fighting spirit, the fire didn't translate to anything useful on the ice as the Canucks easily shut out the home team. If the Blackhawks are going to make the playoffs, they need to play smarter and not let their frustration get the better of them. It's kind of pathetic when you have more men in the penalty box than are on the ice. It's one thing to fight to defend your teammates, but quite another to fight as a response to the embarassment being served up by the other team. The Blawkhawks did not look like a playoff caliber team last night. Hopefully, they can learn from this defeat and get their shit together.

Hockey, Eh

This is ostensibly a Cubs blog, but lately I've discovered, or rather, rediscovered a sporting passion. Namely, Blackhawks hockey. Now, I haven't been into the Hawks since Tony Amonte, Eric Daze, and Chris Chelios cruised the ice, but ever since the Winter Classic, I've found my interest in the fastest game on ice rekindled. With a mix of young talent, like Jonathon Toews, Kris Versteeg, and Patrick Kane, and wily veterans like Marty Havlat and Nicolai Khabibulan, the Blackhawks are very exciting to watch. At the very least, its been nice to have some distraction from the seemingly endless drought of the baseball offseason. I've been somewhat reluctant to post on the Hawks, simply because of a lack of comfort with the intricacies of the game. I'm much more familiar with baseball, the current players and the lore of the past. As far as hockey goes, I know the guys the Blackhawks have now, some of the guys from the time period I mentioned above, and almost no knowledge of the history of other teams. At least I know who Wayne Gretzky is. He coaches the Phoenix Coyotes, right? He must be fabulously endowed, otherwise why would they call him 'The Great One'?

Anyway, to make a long story short, you may see some Blackhawks posts start popping up here. Don't be alarmed. And if you know more about hockey then I do, feel free to snicker and laugh at the newbee. That's okay, I understand.

The Hawks won last night, 5-3 over the Tampa Bay Lightning. I wonder if Jonathon Toews can bat lefty.