Okay, Kane and the Blackhawks... Now I am Embarrassed

Patrick Kane was reportedly arrested early Sunday morning in Buffalo, NY on charges of theft of services, criminal mischief and robbery in the second degree. Kane and his cousin were taken into police custody at about 5 a.m ET after an incident with a cab driver, according to reports. Reports also say he acted this way after the driver did not have 20 cents change to give him.

This has definitely been a wild offseason for the Chicago Blackhawks. There have been demotions in the front office, a president getting booed at his own convention, and a prized free-agent acquisition that will be out for a few months with injury.

If all is true with this report of Patrick Kane getting arrested on theft charges, then I am embarrassed. The Chicago Blackhawks should be embarrassed. The NHL should be embarrassed. I have laughed off every other story, but this is no laughing matter.

The Blackhawks feature some of the top, new faces in the NHL that have started to bring the league some more popularity. Patrick Kane is one of the faces of the franchise, and along with names like Crosby, Malkin, and Ovechkin, he is also one of the faces of the league.

He has been known to be a mature 20-year-old athlete, but just as it is with many athletes these days, it is hard to get by without some issue surrounding the people you root for every day.

You can laugh off a front-office demotion or an injury to a free-agent signed for the next decade. There is no laughing off this, if it is true.

TBDS Late Night: Hawks' Hossa Injured,Offseason Roller Coaster Continues

Well, I make my debut to the late night edition. I think I can handle it, but I do not know if Chicago Blackhawks' fans can handle any more ups and downs in their team's roller coaster of a summer. Chicago did reach the conference finals this past year, right? It is hard to remember that with all the commotion the franchise has caused the last month.

The next episode in this soap opera?...finding out today that prized free-agent acquisition Marian Hossa may miss the start of the season. The Blackhawks also report that surgery has not been ruled out to repair a shoulder injury. They apparently knew this when they signed him, and when you have this guy signed for 12 seasons, it should not be a big deal on the ice. Yet, off the ice, it is a different story.

Who was mainly responsible for signing Hossa? It could have been a mix of people, from former GM Dale Tallon to new GM Stan Bowman to president John McDonough. Each person has had issues thrown at them based around the demotion of Tallon. All these people knowing that Hossa suffered an injury during the postseason does not look good on their record, especially with all the other problems this offseason.

Again, there are more Blackhawks fans now than there were in the 60's maybe. This also means there are more out there to be upset with what the team does. The fact that Hossa can be injury-prone is not what fans want to hear. Doesn't that remind you of the last main right wing for the Hawks? Martin Havlat had trouble staying on the ice as well.

Also, more fans may be upset that Hossa came from the Red Wings. At first, they were happy because we stole someone from the arch-rival, but an injured Hossa coming from Detroit is not what Chicagoans had in mind.

Well, he probably will not be hurt for 12 seasons, so I am sure Hossa will do enough on the ice to be liked. For now, though, there are more problems in this wild offseason. I bet more blogs will be coming about the Blackhawks because they sure are giving people a lot to talk about.

Are You Sure The Cubs Didn't Sign Marian Hossa?

Marian Hossa is expected to make his next start despite an apparent shoulder injury.

Marian Hossa has a lot more in common with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior than you might think. Let The Trib take it away:

"The Blackhawks confirmed Wednesday that winger Marian Hossa, who signed a 12-year, $62.8 million free-agent contract with the team July 1, is rehabilitating an injured shoulder that he sustained during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The extent of the injury and whether Hossa will have to undergo surgery to repair it are not yet known. Reportedly, the Hawks knew about the injury before they signed the 30-year-old."

In more breaking news, Hossa is expected to start Friday's game against Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds. How fitting?

Blackhawks' Hossa rehabbing shoulder [Chicago Tribune]

Hawks' Tallon Out as General Manager

It was reported late last night on Comcast Sports Net Chicago that the Blackhawks have fired general manager Dale Tallon. An official announcement is expected today to announce assistant GM Stan Bowman as his replacement. Yet ABC 7 Chicago also says Tallon will remain as a consultant/senior adviser.

Tallon did some quality things since being named GM in 2005. The Blackhawks have his draft picks and players that came over as free agents. It is apparent, though, that Bowman was critical in helping Tallon make these acquisitons. After all, Bowman knows hockey with his father Scotty being a long-time coach of the Red Wings and now in the Hawks' front office.

Stan Bowman has been with Chicago for the last decade, and when he is announced as the new head GM, the franchise should remain on the path to resurgence. For the most part, the Blackhawks have an entire new front office since John McDonough's arrival from the Cubs as president. Many faces remain, but their job titles are different.

As far as why Tallon was fired, the Hawks must feel, first off, that Bowman is the better fit to run the organization. It did take a while for Tallon to re-sign some of the players this offseason, and he did not even mail out the qualifying offers to some in time. Players like Kris Versteeg are still with the club, but Bowman may have been able to keep them here a little more efficiently.

Tallon remaining with the organization continues a pattern of adding these "senior advisers" or "consultants" to the club. The Hawks gave former greats Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull and former coach Denis Savard the same title. I remember Mikita saying at the time that he didn't know what that meant exactly, but he does enjoy being part of another winning Chicago hockey team. I am sure Tallon will be the same way, just like Savard was when he was fired by Tallon and the Hawks early in the past season.

All the changes, additions, and subtractions the team has made the last few years seem to work. Nobody complains when you keep bringing wins to the standings, and this should continue, except Tallon will not have his name in the newspaper as much.

Free Agent Highs and Lows

The Chicago Blackhawks epitomized life in a free-agent market on Wednesday. The Hawks signed all-star Marian Hossa to a twelve-year deal and also lost two popular veterans in Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Havlat.

Hossa will add leadership to a talented, young core. He also has the ability at right wing to put the puck in the net, having scored 40 goals for the Red Wings last season.

It has been an interesting ride for Hossa the last few seasons. He left Pittsburgh to join Detroit, the team that beat the Penguins in the 2008 Stanley Cup. Then, those same Penguins beat Hossa and Detroit for this year's title. The all-star will now come to a Hawks team that lost to Detroit this season in the conference finals, hoping that Chicago can win him a title.

Chicago will have to work for the championship without last year's number-one goaltender. Khabibulin was signed by the Edmonton Oilers, leaving the Blackhawks with Cristobal Huet as the likely starter in net next season.

Also, Havlat signed with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild lost Marian Gaborik and now have Havlat to replace him. The Hawks are essentially replacing Havlat with Hossa, which seems like a pretty good trade to me. Yet, it just goes to show the ups-and-downs of an offseason. You cannot keep everybody and general manager Dale Tallon hopes he pushed the right buttons again.

Tallon has made the Hawks into a contending franchise and one that people in Chicago care about again. The fans loved Khabi and Havlat, but they will come to love Hossa as well. They obviously didn't like him with Detroit, but moving over to the Windy City will make the United Center fans excited.

You can also say Chicago and Detroit made a two-sport trade. The Blackhawks get Hossa while the NBA's Chicago Bulls lose Ben Gordon to the Pistons. Free agency is fun, and it is also a roller coaster.

Welcome Marian Hossa, Goodbye Khabibulin

After such an amazing season last year that included a winter classic game at Wrigley Field, a conference-final appearance and an attendance record, you had to figure the Chicago Blackhawks' front-office had more up their sleeve during the offseason. As much of a revival as the season was for the Hawks, losing to the Detroit Red Wings in the conference finals was not going to sit well in their stomach.

So, what did general manager Dale Tallon do today? He signed Marian Hossa from the Red Wings, a four time all-star that scored 40 goals in the regular season this past year. Hossa plays the same position, right wing, that current Blackhawk and free agent Martin Havlat plays. Yes, that may mean Havlat could be out of Chicago, but maybe Tallon can sign him to a short-term deal as well.

We'll see what comes from that, but for now, the focus is on who the Blackhawks have for sure. They will have Hossa for a very long time as he signed a 12-year deal. Offense should not be an issue for the Hawks, who also have young stars Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and many more exciting players that can put the puck in the net.

The Blackhawks did lose goalie Nikolai Khabibulin today as well. Khabi signed with the Edmonton Oilers, which means most likely that Cristobal Huet will be in net for Chicago next season. Huet played in half the regular season games last year, but Khabibulin started all but one in the playoffs. That was due to injury, and in the game that Huet started, he kept the Hawks in it against Detroit before the Wings won in overtime to take the series.

He clearly was the backup, but now he will try and at least come close to the success that Khabi had last year. Khabi was released in the offseason, picked up again by the Hawks, and helped lead the team to the conference finals.

Reports had Tallon looking to trade Huet this week and re-sign Khabibulin. Well, the GM will probably have to keep Huet.

Maybe Huet will be motivated, like Khabi was last year, by the team wanting him to leave. I know one thing...any bit of goaltending will do, because with Hossa joining an already talented group of scorers, the Hawks will be lighting up the lamp a good amount next year.

Let The Talk Of The Marian Hossa Curse Begin Now: Pittsburgh Upsets Detroit

Not too long ago in a blogosphere far, far away, I used to do something known as TBDS Late Night in which I blogged about the news of the night. But because of my late night habits, those days are few and far between. Unless something big happens. And something BIG did indeed happen tonight.

Let's cut to the gravy.

Pittsburgh was given a slim-to-none chance to win the cup at the outset of the Stanley Cup Finals. Then, slim apparently left the building after Detroit picked up a quick 2-0 lead. The Penguins answered with a pair of home-ice wins to tie the series 2-2 before a 5-0 shutout at Joe Louis Arena gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead.

Then, Marc-Andre Fluery came up clutch with a win in Game 6 to force a Game 7 on the road that Detroit would certainly win. The Wings were crowned by experts everywhere despite losing Game 6. It was the way it was supposed to be. HockeyTown always comes up big in Game 7. Detroit won't let down at home.

And yet, like its pro football team, Rich Rod's college football team, the Michigan State basketball team and its auto industry, Detroit crumbled.

Talbot's 2 Goals Lift Penguins To Stanley Cup Title [Yahoo! Sports]

While You Weren't Caring: Pittsburgh Forces Game 7

It is almost a shame that a pretty good Stanley Cup Finals game had to go up against a damn good NBA Finals game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins skated past the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, forcing the series back to Deeeeeeeeetroit, Miiiiiiiiiiiichigan, for a decisive Game 7.

And if there is one truth in sports, it is this: Game 7 is must see T.V. no matter what sport.

Wait, the NHL isn't going to hide it on Versus, will it?

Penguins Beat Red Wings, 2-1, Head To Detroit For Showdown [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Hawkeytown Once Again?

When this site started, hockey was an afterthought. But thanks to a season that saw the Chicago Blackhawks go through two coaches, play a game at Wrigley Field and reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1995, it is OK to care about hockey again in the City of Wind.

Allow me to take you back to my childhood, if only for one moment.

I wasn't exposed to hockey when I was young. Ice skating was hard and it involved me being exposed to cold temperatures for long stretches of time. That didn't fly well with someone who spent his summer days and nights eating, sleeping, drinking and breathing baseball. My family didn't have cable access for some of the Blackhawks' glory years ... and when we did, their home games weren't on TV ... which was the only option for a family that just simply could not afford going to a hockey game at the UC ... one of the cities most expensive tickets.

So when I was young, I didn't care about hockey. The Hawks were mediocre at best and without proper coverage because of their mediocrity, they were put on the pay-no-mind list. Talented players, coaches and even the voice of the Hawks Pat Foley were shown the door under the Bill Wirtz Regime.

And Old Man Wirtz passed away and Rocky came into the picture, things started to change. It was sad to listen to Sports Talk Radio and hear people basically cheer the death of the team's owner. But everyone always said it would take death to Dollar Bill for change to happen.

I guess you can say those guys were prophetic, huh?

Games came to television. Foley returned to the radio. Some guys named Kane and Toews joined the team. So did marketing guru John McDonnough.

That's all I needed to get on board.

I watched from a distance as the Hawks grew together as a team this year. Unfortunately, as the Hawks skyrocketed, so did the know-it-all "die hards" who hated the bandwagon jumpers.

Yes, I'll call myself a bandwagon jumper. But in a sense, bandwagon jumpers can be a good thing.

You can either shun them as an outsider, or accept them as part of the family. But Blackhawks Bandwagoners seem different. They seem like they care enough about the sport and the team to learn and soak in as much history and information as possible. They want to put money into the franchise whether it be with ticket sales, advertising or jersey sales.

Ask any old time Chicagoan and they will tell you tall tales of how the Hawks were once bigger than both the Cubs and the Bears. Chicago was Hawkeytown, USA.

After a stellar season, here's hoping Chicago can have that once again.

Huet, Kane Give Hope but Red Wings still Champions

You could blame Cristobal Huet for the Game 4 disaster, but he really had no help in the Detroit Red Wings' 6-1 rout of the Blackhawks. Still, not many people were confident with Huet heading into Game 5. After all, he was the number-two goalie for a reason behind Nikolai Khabibulin. Yet with Khabi's injury, in came the big free agent aquisition. And man, did he show up.

His 21 saves in the first period set the tone and kept the game scoreless. He continued to make tough saves, all the way up to the end of the third, saving the season temporarily for the Hawks with an extended pad save on Johan Franzen with a little over 20 seconds remaining. In total, he stopped 44 of the Wings' 46 shots. Yet, it was still not enough to overcome the defending champions. Detroit is headed back to the Stanley Cup Finals with a 2-1 overtime win.

Patrick Kane finally lit the lamp, and it could not have come at a better time. He tied the game with a thrilling rush down the ice and a backhand past Chris Osgood. With Kane's goal and Huet's sparkling play, you saw some more of what could be an exciting future. There is a chance Khabi will not be back with the Hawks. This would make Huet the number-one goaltender for Chicago. Kane will continue to lead Chicago along with the rest of an exciting core of young talent.

This season could be described as a resurgence. Now that they have a fan support again, they will look to continue building the franchise. They reached the conference finals pretty quickly with this group, and the question is can they repeat, or even better, win their first title since 1961?

It will be hard, but some other Central Division team has made it look relatively easy. Detroit is the team to beat, and the Hawks and Wings will continue to see a lot of each other. For now, it is the Red Wings and Penguins in the Stanley Cup for the second straight year.

At some point, we may have a change of the guard atop the conference. Yet, for now, Detroit can celebrate again. We'll see what happens next year for the Chicago Blackhawks.

One Hit on Havlat May Have Dug the Hawks In

Controversial? Brutal? "Gutless" in the words of Brian Campbell?

However you describe Niklas Kronwall's hit on Martin Havlat in Game 3, it is safe to say that this was a turning point in the series. Yes, there was no Nikolai Khabibulin today, and that played a factor in Detroit's 6-1 rout of the hometown Hawks. Yet, it also looked like Chicago was out for revenge, ready to play a physical game against the NHL's best team; it clearly did not work.

The Blackhawks never got back in the game following a 2-nothing deficit after one period. Goalie Cristobal Huet looked rusty in his first start of the playoffs, and there was clearly more crowd noise during Jim Cornelison's national anthem than there was in the game itself. Chicago looked like a young team, taking dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Ben Eager received a pair of 10-minute misconducts and rookie Chris Versteeg received a game misconduct in the third period.

The Hawks played physical, but Detroit played smart. In the end, it was the defending champion Red Wings that controlled things, and they take a 3-1 series lead back to Detroit. It did not matter that defenseman Nikolas Lindstrom was out with injury, along with Kris Draper and Pavel Datsyuk.

The fans booed Kronwall each and every time he touched the puck. This is understandable, but for the players on the ice, going out of their way to hit people away from the play was not the way to go about things. You do not bully around the Detroit Red Wings, and this is a lesson learned for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Hawks are a young team, and the series is not over yet. Detroit still needs one more win, but you can sense some deflation in the eyes of the Hawks. It has been a great season, and nobody expected Chicago to reach the Western Conference Finals this year. They will not be happy with an exit in this round, but maybe, it is a step in the learning process before the team can really get over the hump.

We will see how they respond in Wednesday's Game 5. I know one thing...if they want to check people left and right, for no apparent reason other than revenge following Kronwall's hit, they will not respond well.

Hawks' Depth Will be Tested

The Chicago Blackhawks have been a deep team all season, and that depth will be needed the rest of the series against Detroit, or at least Game 4. There is a good chance winger Martin Havlat will not play for Chicago tomorrow afternoon. Also, goalie Nikolai Khabibulin will likely be out with an injury of his own.

You figure Havlat would not play after taking a harsh check along the boards from Niklas Kronwall in Game 3. Now, the Hawks number-one goalie has had an injury develop this past week. He missed practice between Games 2 and 3, and then he sat out the 3rd period and OT in the Hawks' victory on Friday.

Bring in Cristobal Huet. He was brought to Chicago in the offseason, and it looked like he was going to be the starting goalie for most of the season. The Blackhawks released Khabibulin, but seeing that no team wanted to pick him up, the Hawks decided to just stick with their guy. This turned gold for Chicago as Khabi played his heart out this season. His veteran leadership helped carry the Hawks through the year, and while he split time with Huet during the year, it was clear that Khabi was the top goalie for Coach Quenneville.

This means nothing now, as Huet will be needed in Game 4. The Hawks are down 2-1 in the series. They have another "must-win" game on Sunday. The goaltender is always a big focus in the postseason, and after not playing in the postseason until the thitd period yesterday, Huet will need to step up in a big way.

As for the loss of Havlat, well, this is tough as well. Yet, the Hawks have plenty of talent surrounding the veteran. Detroit lost scoring leader Pavel Datsyuk, and they still scored three goals in Game 3. You lose the leadership, but these young Hawks around Havlat have grown up in a heartbeat.

Injuries are a part of every sport. The other players just need to lace up the skates, and do their job. There will certainly be a big target on Mr. Huet.

Is this it for Mike Keenan?

Bye-Bye again.

A long time ago, well actually just the early-90's, Mike Keenan was the Blackhawks coach. He led Chicago to their last Stanley Cup appearance. Now, in this decade, he was the coach of the Calgary Flames for the past two seasons. Yet, after back-to-back first round exits in the postseason, Keenan was fired.

He has coached eight of the 30 NHL teams, and now after losing to one of those teams in the playoffs, Calgary has said good-bye. He is one of those veteran coaches, who despite not having a whole lot of success in the past 10-15 years, the guy will still probably find a job somewhere.

There are still 22 teams left that he has not coached. Why not have some time with all of them?!

"Chicago Blackhawks-One Goal"

The "Detroit Sucks" chants were loud and clear at the United Center during the first 30 minutes of play last night. Yet, when a team suddenly comes back from down 3-0, and ties the game going into the final period, that chant really has no meaning anymore. The Red Wings silenced the 22,000-plus fans during the last half of the second, and it seemed they were poised to go up 3-0 in the series.

Yet, as the slogan has been all year for this highly-marketable franchise, "one goal" changed everything in this series. There is still another must-win on Sunday, but for now, Patrick Sharp's overtime goal brought the Hawks back in the series. There is also something about this Chicago team in overtime that wants to get the games over in a heartbeat. This is their third overtime win at the United Center in the postseason, and all three have come within the first four minutes. Sharp's was at 1:52, and it let the Hawks fans breath a sigh of relief instead of waiting out one of those marathon overtime games in the playoffs.

This sets up another big one at the UC on Sunday. There are still many questions that need to be raised going into that game. Is Martin Havlat all right after taking a brutal hit from Detroit's Niklas Kronwall in the first period? I doubt he will play tomorrow after that check, but we will see. Either way, the Blackhawks will be pretty angry about what Kronwall did to Havlat, whether it was legal or not. The referees deemed it illegal, giving the Wings defenseman a 5-minute interference penalty and a game misconduct.

Another player question focuses on Nikolai Khabibulin, who was benched after the third period for backup goalie Christobal Huet. This substitiution was based on injury, not the fact that the Wings scored three in the third to tie the game. While Huet knows what he is doing, I am still more confident with Khabi in the net. We'll see how he feels tomorrow.

The other question revolves around the team, and that is what they will do about these Wings' rallies. For the third straight game, the Hawks jumped out on top. This was a three-goal lead, and they could not even hold that. Detroit just does not go away. Chicago still needs those early leads, but at some point, they need a complete effort to where they can keep the lead.

Either way, it is a 2-1 series now. Detroit is still in command, especially if they win on Sunday. It should be another wild one at the UC tomorrow, and the biggest question is whether the Hawks can win two straight "must-win" games against the defending champions.

Here Come the Hawks (maybe)

Well, we have reached the evening that every Blackhawks fan was waiting for. It is Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, which means the series with the Red Wings shifts to the Windy City. The Blackhawks are 5-1 at home during the postseason, have had the best attendance all season long, and have fed off the crowd's energy most of the time.

Detroit has been here before. They have won in all different types of environments in their numerous runs to the Stanley Cup over the years. They have veterans on this team that will not be affected by 22,000 crazy fans chanting "Detroit S---s" the entire game.

Chicago played well in Game 2, but their own mistakes and a tremendous effort from Wings goalie Chris Osgood gave the Hawks a 3-2 overtime loss. They are in a 0-2 hole in a series for the first time this postseason, and Chicago can only hope that the home crowd can get them going.

The Hawks have scored the first goal in the first two games, only to see their early leads vanish as the game went on. In the previous round against Vancouver, Chicago scored the first goal only once. They need to continue this newfound pattern of grabbing the lead. This will allow the crowd to continue to go crazy, and the Hawks can feed off the energy for the rest of the game. Yet, even if they do score early, Chicago knows Detroit will not be going away.

From the "Here Come the Hawks" song to Jim Corneilson's anthem to the "Chelsea Dagger" goal song, the atmosphere at the United Center has been crazy all season. It will need to be great again, but only the home team's play on the ice can control whether that it is the case.

Either way, it will not be easy. Detroit does not care how exciting the playoff atmosphere has been in Chicago. They have seen it before in numerous venues, so the crowd will not be enough. It is about the Hawks players, and if they keep making mistakes, this series will be over in a heartbeat.

Hawks in Uphill Climb

The Chicago Blackhawks have been challenged before in this postseason. Every game that they needed to win, Chicago has come through with the victory.

In Round 1 against Calgary, they faced a Game 5 with the series tied at two. In Round 2 against Vancouver, they faced the same situation and won on the road. They also were down 2-1 in the series and had a big comeback win at home in Game 4.

Now in the Western Conference Finals, the Blackhawks face the biggest test of them all. They are down two-nothing against the defending champion Red Wings, with the series headed back to Chicago. They need to hold serve at home because even being down 3-1 going back to Detroit does not sound very promising. Something that should annoy fans is that the Hawks have been right there with the Wings in the first two games. Yes, they lost 5-2 in Game 1, but that game was tied at two almost midway through the final period.

The issue is, out of the seven goals Detroit has scored (not counting the empty-netter), more than half of them have come off of Chicago turnovers. You cannot do that against a team as skilled as the Red Wings are. The turnovers have led to odd-man rushes, most noticably in the overtime period last night. A three-on-one break should not develop against you in overtime. There was another three-on-one in Game 1 of the Vancouver series that occurred in the final two minutes and was the game-winning goal for the Canucks.

The Blackhawks like to push the tempo and that is fine. Yet you have to be careful with the puck because the Wings will make you pay for a mistake. The other problem the first two games has been that so many Hawks have tried to make one-on-one plays, or sometimes, one-on-three. Most of the Hawks players are skilled offensively, but you have to move the puck around against Detroit. You cannot beat Nikolas Lindstrom and the Detroit "D" single-handedly.

Game 3 is Friday and Game 4 is Sunday. There are two days off right now to get better and come through with a pair of wins at home. Chicago has been right there with the Wings, but it is only the final score that matters in the end. The Blackhawks need to limit their mistakes and move the puck. If not, Detroit will be on their way to another Stanley Cup Final.

Blackhawks-Red Wings

When you say Blackhawks-Red Wings, you think old-time hockey. Any time these two teams meet in the regular season, it is a fantastic event that brings the best out of both teams and their fans. The Winter Classic was a great game, and now a meeting in the postseason for a shot at the Stanley Cup means a little more and adds another chapter to this storied rivalry.

National television audiences will be turned in, and you know Versus and NBC wanted these two teams to meet in the Western Conference Finals. The networks got their wish when Detroit held off the pesky Anaheim Ducks 4-3 tonight to win the series in seven. Ovechkin and Crosby may have been the ideal series, but Chicago and Detroit is pretty close. It is a match-up between two Original Six franchises, and it is arguably the greatest rivalry in hockey.

Chicago faces a tough test in this series. The Red Wings won four of the six regular season meetings between the teams, but two went to overtime and the final two games went to the Hawks in the final weekend of the season. The Hawks have a ton of confidence going into this weekend. There should be a whole lot of goals scored in this series, and if you're Chicago, stealing one of the first two games in Hockey Town would be a big lift.

Hockey fans from all around the nation will be geared up for this series. The Eastern Conference Finals will feature Crosby's Penguins against the never-say-die Hurricanes. This is a fun series as well, but the idea of Blackhawks and Red Wings sounds a little nicer to the ears of hockey fans along with NBC and Versus. It all begins sunday afternoon on NBC.

Game 7 Extravaganza

The Chicago Blackhawks may have finished their opponent off in Game 6, but for the three other teams with 3-2 series leads, it was not as easy.

Give credit to the higher seeds, Washington and Boston, who came through with big efforts on the road to send it to a Game 7 at their respective homes. Anaheim sent the series back to Detroit with a win as well. This makes some more sense, considering the Ducks were at home, but you still thought the defending champions could have closed it out on the road. Yet, Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller stepped up again and helped shut down the mighty Wings.

So, we have three Game 7's to watch and enjoy. If you're Chicago, does it really matter who you play? Probably not, but a conference final against the Detroit Red Wings does not sound too bad. Plus, even though they're the two-seed and Anaheim is the eight-seed, I still may rather play the Red Wings. Not only is it the rivalry, but if you look at the postseason, the Ducks are probably playing the better hockey.

Would you rather play a team that knocked off the number-one seed and has taken the two-seed to seven games?...or would you rather play a team that had to struggle through a series with the eight-seed. I take the latter because those pesky Ducks were also the hottest team going into the postseason, while the Red Wings have goalie problems and could be beaten by the Hawks. Yet, Chicago could beat Anaheim also, so just sit back and relax when watching Game 7 on Thursday.

As for the Eastern Conference, the Capitals and Penguins meet in Game 7 tonight in our nation's capital. Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Washington's Alexander Ovechkin have battled to make this a series for the ages, and what better than a Game 7 pitting these young stars against each other.

On Thursday, Boston and Carolina meet in what should be a Bruins' win. The Hurricanes had their chance, up 3 games to 1. They had Game 6 at home and could not take advantage. I give this series to the top-seeded Bruins.

It should be a whole lot of fun the next two days, and this is what playoff hockey is all about.

Another Pivotal Game 5-Familiar?

I do not know how I can follow up with all these thank-you notes from Luis, but I will try. I will also note that I am with Mr. Medina on his appreciation for the media servies staff!!! And now, time for my blog...

In the first series with Calgary, the Chicago Blackhawks faced an important Game 5 with the series knotted up at two. Now, we reach that same situation in the second round, but the Hawks have to play in Canada instead of the Windy City.

Yet, they should be confident in themselves somewhat, not because of how they played the first 57 minutes of Game 4, but because of the next six minutes including OT. Not much was going right for the Hawks offensively, but as Vancouver was playing a defensive-minded game, the Hawks finally exposed that defense. Vancouver had just 15 shots on the night, and eventually, a good offensive team like the Hawks are going to start pushing. They did and earned a 2-1 overtime win.

This got the fans going as well, and the same type of crowd for the other team should be expected in Vancouver. The Blackhawks surely need to get an early lead in this game, something that has not happened yet. Chicago keeps falling behind, and while they have the talent to come back and have showed that, they cannot keep digging themselves the early hole.

Coach Joel Quenneville should have the Hawks ready and so should Canucks coach Alain Vigneault. It will be a fight, and I guess it will not be as easy for Chicago as their 5-1 Game 5 win was in round one.

So, get ready for exciting playoff hockey, because also this weekend, the Red Wings and Ducks will meet for a game 5 in motown. There were also be more of the Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry in the Washington-Pittsburgh series and those pesky Hurricanes will look to knock off Eastern Conference Champion.

You have to love playoff hockey, and if you do, the name Eddie Olczyk will forever be in your mind. Not only he is the lead color analyst for the Hawks, but he does other games on NBC and Versus as well. The guy is a hockey guru, and he is one of the many reasons to like the postseason.

And the Blackhawks are right in the middle of it. It should be a fun weekend in the NHL.

Overtime Kings

57 minutes passed in Game 4 of the Blackhawks-Canucks series and it looked like the guys from Canada were about to take a two game lead in the series. The Hawks were getting outcoached, outplayed, and dominated on the offensive end as the Canucks showed off their fundamental defense. As a matter of fact, I was getting ready to write about how it became apparent to me that Joel Quenneville wasn't a good coach in the playoffs as he was not adjusting to what the Canucks were doing.

Then a funny thing happened.

A bounce finally went the way of the Blackhawks as Marty Havlat picked up the loose puck off the boards and flipped it into the net to tie the game at 1 with under three minutes to play in regulation, sending the capacity crowd at the United Center in a frenzy. With that one play, the Blackhawks saved their season and kept the dream alive. The bounce was ironic because a period earlier, the Canucks capitalized off of a breakaway stemmed from Roberto Luongo making two amazing saves on a Hawks scoring chance. The Canucks fourth liners contributed to the one and only goal on the night and for most of the night, it looked like that was going to be the deciding goal. Nikolai Khabibulin faced less than 20 shots as the Canucks seemed confident that one goal lead would hold but such is the beauty of hockey where one little bounce can make all of the difference in the world.

The referees missed an apparent high sticking and/or tripping call on Dave Bolland's breakaway opportunity with 15 seconds left in regulation, but Bolland had the last laugh in the game as it was his shot attempt on Roberto Luongo that won the game. Andrew Ladd came up with the rebound on the save by Luongo to put the puck in the net to give the Hawks their second overtime win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in just a little over three minutes of ice time in the extra session.

This is the type of game that could break the Canucks. They outplayed the Blackhawks for the duration of this game, yet ultimately they head back to British Columbia with the series knotted up at two games apiece. The Blackhawks have the momentum and once again, Game 5 is going to be the big deciding factor in the series. If the Hawks come out of the game with the intensity that they showed in Game 2 at Vancouver, this series will be their's. Scoring two goals in the final six minutes of the game has to give the Blackhawks some confidence heading into Saturday's tilt that they can pressure Vancouver's defense and their best player in Roberto Luongo.

I believe that whoever wins the game on Saturday will indeed win this series. Home ice advantage has been anything but in this series as the Blackhawks blew out the Canucks in Game 2 and they came back from a three goal deficit in Game 1 before losing late. All the Canucks did was nearly win both games in one of the most hostile environments to play in the NHL at the United Center. The Hawks hold the youngest team in the NHL, but they passed the test of winning a crucial road game in the playoffs in the first round when they beat the Flames to advance to the second round.

Playoff hockey is back in Chicago, and boy is it fun to watch.