This was the hockey equivalent of getting your prostate checked by Captain Hook.

After the nut punch in Philadelphia yesterday, Dame Misfortune apparently thought there was a nut left unpunched, so the Chicago Blackhawks had their giveaway day, where 10,000 lucky fans were given baseball caps, and the Washington Capitals were given two points, a 4-3 overtime win over the Hawks in the United Center in a game where the Hawks took a 3-0 lead into the third period, and the Caps were without Alexander Ovechkin.

Ovechkin got a game misconduct for driving Brian Campbell into the boards from behind. While his skates weren't moving, he drove with his upper body and arms. The only people who thought it was a bad call were Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau, Caps fans, and Pierre McGuire. So congratulations to Bruce and the Caps fans. You're moving in some pretty fast company.

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Fuck this shit. This recap will be abbreviated because Quickblogcast ate the fucking thing when I hit save. Now I have to relive the events of today's game for a 3rd time.<< MORE >>

Adam Burish played in his first game of the season on Wednesday. << MORE >>

Once again, we at HOCKEENIGHT welcome the musings of former Blackhawks farmhand Pierre Duguay, holder of the Central Hockey League record for hooking penalties in a game, with 9. Take it away, Pierre!

Les salutations et le Jour de Canada Heureux aux lecteurs de Nuit d'Hockee de Longueuil !

It has been far to long since I've been able to contribute to this fine publication. However, the Québécois Provincial Courts move, as Forque might say, ralentir comme chier.... << MORE >>

And so here we are, the official kickoff of Antti Niemi's campaign to take control of the No. 1 goaltending position. Again. Let's hope it lasts longer than 4 games this time, otherwise we're going to have to switch back to Huet. Or maybe the Hawks should go to a platoon system. One guy plays the first and third periods, while the other plays in the 2nd. Maybe that will solve whatever mental block the team seems to have on the 2nd frame.<< MORE >>

By Dave Morris, exclusive to Hockee Night!

Elmer “Moose” Vasko was born December 11^th 1935, in Duparquet, a small town in the province of Quebec. In the 2006 census, Duparquet had a population of 650 people. In a sense, Vasko is emblematic of the Canadian who comes from the hinterland to gain glory in the sporting world. Vasko was also one of the few players of Slovak descent back when Slovakia was not even acknowledged as a country.

As a member of the last Blackhawks team to win the Stanley Cup, Moose Vasko embodied the qualities of his nickname. He partnered the slick, smooth-skating Pierre Pilote on a defense pair that gave the Hawks both a robust and rapid presence on the blueline.

If that sounds uncannily like the pairing of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, it is because for those of us who watched them play together back in the day, Vasko was to Pilote what Seabrook is to Keith.

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Tonight, after some technical difficulties, we were able to welcome Andrew from Blackhawks Down Low.

We discuss the Hawks' goaltending, compare Jesse Rogers to Dwight Schrute, and CT tells us about going to a Bulls game on acid.

Enjoy.

        

"They are who we thought they were", said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews after today's game. But who are the Hawks?

They played their Jeckyl-and-Hyde act to the utmost extreme today, completely dominating play in the first and third periods against the Detroit Red Wings today, scoring two goals goals and allowing none in each frame. However, their abysmal play in the second period allowed the Red Wings to score 5 unanswered goals, en route to a 5-4 loss to the Red Wings at the United Center in front of 22,309 fans and a National TV audience.

There was something for everyone today. For those who feel that Cristobal Huet can't goaltend the Blackhawks to any type of playoff success, there were the four goals allowed by Huet in the Second. For those who feel the Hawks' goaltending is fine as long as the team defense holds up, there was the first and third periods. Also, while Huet certainly didn't help out the Blackhawks in the second period, the Hawks didn't help Huet either. They also left replacement Antti Niemi all alone on a Pavel Datsyuk breakaway in the closing seconds of the second period for what turned out to be the deciding goal.

Lost in the debacle was the best game of the year for the Hawks' third line, highlighted by Andrew Ladd's first NHL hat trick. John Madden had been banged up before the Olympic break (possible causes include beatings with frying pans and rolling pins), and he hadn't performed to the level he had earlier in the season. But today, the line of Madden/Ladd/Versteeg was the Hawks' best line.

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This was one of the most enjoyable wins in recent memory. With the Hawks apparently having lost the Stanley Cup this week when they failed to make a trade at the deadline, all that we needed was for the hated Canucks to come in and embarrass our reeling heroes. Instead, Chicago exploded for 5 goals in a wild first period that included plenty of rough stuff, each team killing off a long 5 on 3 penalty and Roberto Luongo probably weeping in the dressing room again. Then nervous Hawks fans bitched and moaned about how Cristobal Huet was going to blow the game for the last 40 minutes before going home mildly satisfied.<< MORE >>

I remember when there was talk on the radio about the new World Hockey Association, and they announced that Chicago was getting a team. My dad followed the conventional wisdom, which was that with the NHL expanding to double its size from 6 to 12 for the 1967-68 season, then adding 2 more teams for the 1970-71 season, there wasn't going to be any good players for the new league. He figured, as everyone did, that it would really be nothing more than a glorified semi-pro league.

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