Blackhawks win over the Detroit Red Wings 4-3.

Preseason record: 2-2-1

—

I should be in a better mood, since the Blackhawks won. Or maybe I should be indifferent, because it’s still preseason. But instead?

I. Am. LIVID.

Why? This happened.

This ended up being a Pyrrhic victory if there ever was one. Not only did the Blackhawks lose Ben Smith due to this hit, they also lost Viktor Stalberg to a “lower body injury.” I don’t know how to feel about this game right now.

At least Kane proved me wrong by winning 67% (8/12) of his faceoffs tonight. (Also, he’s on Twitter. Check him out at @88PKane. Yes, it’s for real.)

—

Box Score

1st Period
10:36 CHI PPG Patrick Kane (1) – Assists: J. Toews (1) & D. Keith (1)
15:35 DET PPG Fabian Brunnstrom (1) – Assists: G. Nyquist (1) & B. Smith (1)
19:26 DET Drew Miller (1) – Assists: C. Conner (1) & C. Emmerton (1)

2nd Period
08:08 DET Fabian Brunnstrom (2) – Assists: C. Emmerton (2) & B. Smith (2)
09:37 CHI PPG Brent Seabrook (1) – Assists: D. Keith (2)

3rd Period
01:29 CHI Ben Smith (1) – Assists: D. Keith (3) & N. Leddy (1)
08:58 CHI PPG Marian Hossa (1) – Assists: P. Kane (1) & J. Toews (1)

—

Captain Force of Nature Watch: A minus-1 on the night, but he did win 69% (11-16) of his faceoffs.

Duncan Keith plus/minus rating watch: +1. He had three assists on the night, too. I’ll wait for the regular season to start before I welcome him back, but it’s encouraging to see him making the effort in a game that doesn’t count.

Post-game quote from @ESPNChiHawks:

Coach Q: “Both referees said it’s a classic example …of the illegal hit. It was pretty black and white. I’m not happy about it.”

Post-game videos: Joel Quenneville, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane

Via USHL.com

Before I get into the recap of the Fall Classic, I would like to point everyone to this article about defenseman Christian Neumann balancing his high school studies with his play. And now I feel old again.

Onto the Fall Classic!

» Continue reading “Steel Monday: USHL Fall Classic Recap”

Blackhawks lose to the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout.

Preseason record: 1-2-1

—

Okay, so I didn’t watch the game. I was at the Bears-Packers game compliments of someone else, and it was probably one of the most frustrating sports experience of my entire life. But enough about the Bears’ offense. Let’s get to this meaningless game recap.

The story of the game on the Blackhawks’ side was Brandon Pirri, with two goals and three points on the night. Remember last year on Opening Night when he was brought in to sub for Sharp at the last minute, and how nervous he looked? Our little boy is growing up! Excuse me, I need some tissue to dab away my nostalgic tears…

Anyway, he obviously did well tonight. So did Jimmy Hayes, who scored the other goal for the Blackhawks. Even if these two get sent back down to Rockford, look for them to get called up more often this season.

Alexander Salak apparently did okay in his first full preseason game. From what I could gather from the tweets, he had some amazing saves… but some of those “amazing” saves came from not reading the puck until the very last second. Not so great, but hey — it only matters that you stop the puck, not how you do it, right? Tim Thomas would agree.

One person who hasn’t impressed this preseason is Marcus Kruger. This is unfortunate, because he was earmarked as the Blackhawks’ second-line center before preseason started. He’s impressed so little that Coach Q is considering experimenting with Kane in center. My initial reaction to this was uncontrolled laughter — but, hey, Kane’s said that he wants to step up his play this year. This could be his shot to prove that. I’m still going to laugh, though.

Another familiar name who has failed to impress this preseason? Our good buddy Kyle Beach, who was scratched only a couple of hours before game time. Expect him to be sent back down to Rockford by tomorrow.

Am I supposed to be upset at this game, though? This was the Blackhawks’ B-C team going against a lot of the Red Wings’ A team, and they managed to take them to a shootout. Not too shabby. I do have one complaint, though: could the Blackhawks learn how to score on a power play before the season starts? That’d be awesome.

—

Box Score:

1st Period
07:35 DET PPG Valtteri Filppula (1) – Assists: N. Lidstrom (1) & H. Zetterberg
19:13 DET Henrik Zetterberg (1) – Assists: J. Franzen (1) & V. Filppula (1)

2nd Period
07:32 CHI SHG Brandon Pirri (1) – unassisted
08:55 DET PPG Nicklas Lidstrom (1) –  Assists: I. White (1) & V. Filppula (2)
16:01 CHI Jimmy Hayes (1) – Assists: B. Smith (1) & B. Pirri (1)

3rd Period
09:33 CHI Brandon Pirri (2) – Assists: J. Hayes (1)

OT Period
NONE

Shootout
DET: Johan Franzen – SAVE
CHI: Brandon Pirri – GOAL
DET: Todd Bertuzzi – GOAL
CHI: Michael Frolik – SAVE
DET: Henrik Zetterberg – GOAL
CHI: Brandon Saad – SAVE

—

Post-game Video: Joel Quenneville, Alexander Salak, Jimmy Hayes, Brandon Pirri

September 25, 2011

5:00 PM ET/4:00 PM CT

NHL Network USA, WGN-TV, WGN Radio 720

—

Chicago Blackhawks

Preseason Record: 1-2-0

@

Detroit Red Wings

Preseason Record: 1-2-0

The Enemy’s Aerys Sports Site: Hockeytown Beat

—

Oh, goody, a game against the Red Wings presented by Amway. Joy and friggin’ rapture.

It’s still preseason, of course, which means I still can’t work up much in the way of feeling about this game — even if it is against the Red Wings. Let’s just hope that the Blackhawks can pull out another win, and that idiots can leave the bananas at home.

—

Previous Game

Chicago won against Washington 3-2 on Friday

Detroit lost against Philadelphia 3-1 on Friday

—

Roster

(From chicagoblackhawks.com)

See you in Rockford, boys! (Photos: Cheryl Adams, Bridget Samuels/flickr)

The Blackhawks have assigned forward Rob Flick, defenseman Brian Fahey, and goaltender Alec Richards to the Rockford IceHogs. None of these assignments were a surprise. You’ll be able to keep up with these guys right here on IceHogs Thursdays.

View the updated training camp roster here.

I can’t get too excited about preseason games. At the end of the day, they don’t really count, so I just shrug afterward. But I know some people would like to know how the Blackhawks are doing so far in these games, so here’s a roundup of the first three games of the preseason.

September 20, 2011
Blackhawks lose to the Edmonton Oilers 4-2.

This game wasn’t much to write home about. Probably the most exciting part of the entire game was that the Toews brothers played together on the same team for the first time since they were children. Rostislav Olesz and Jamal Mayers both scored for the Blackhawks. The three 2011 draft picks playing in this game — Phillip Danault, Mark McNeill, and Brandon Saad — showed a lot of grit and heart, which bodes well for the future of the Blackhawks. Ray Emery started the game, with Alexander Salak coming in halfway through. Both goalies impressed in their Blackhawks debuts, and the race for backup goalie was about even after this game.

» Continue reading “Weekend Preseason Roundup: Because None Of These Games Matter”

Along with 10 others, Andrew Shaw joins the roster at the IceHogs' training camp. (Photo: Cheryl Adams/flickr)

The IceHogs have boosted their Training Camp roster with the addition of the eleven players sent down from the Blackhawks. The players sent down were forwards Brandon Bollig, Chris DiDomenico, Byron Froese, David Gilbert, Andrew Shaw, David Toews and Paul Zanette; as well as defensemen Simon Danis-Pepin, Shawn Lalonde, Ryan Stanton, and Ben Youds. They will be joining Carter Hutton as the contracted players participating in the camp, which will begin this Sunday, September 25. Bollig, DiDomenico, and Gilbert all skated for the IceHogs last season, with Bollig spending 55 games with the club, DiDomenico with 25, and Gilbert with the last five of the season as he finished his juniors run with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

On the defensive side of things, Lalonde and Stanton both played 73 games with Rockford last season, with Stanton being chosen as the “Most Improved Player” on the IceHogs roster during 2010-2011. Danis-Pepin will be entering his third professional season, splitting the past two between Rockford (61 games) and Toledo (46 games). Danis-Pepin showed a lot of improvement at camp, so I am hoping to see him have his first full season with the IceHogs in 2011-2012. Finally, Shaw, Zanette, Fahey, and Youds are all new additions to the IceHogs roster this season, so camp will be their chance to show us what they’ve got and earn a spot to impress us during the rest of the season. Or so we hope.

September 22, 2011

7:00 PM ET/6:00 CT

NHL Network USA, WGN Radio 720

—

Chicago Blackhawks

Preseason Record: 0-1-0

@

Pittsburgh Penguins

Preseason Record: 1-0-0

The Enemy’s Aerys Sports Site: Black Tie Required

—

Okay, so… the first preseason game didn’t exactly go as planned. The Blackhawks did lose 4-2 to the Edmonton Oilers, but considering that the Blackhawks lose more preseason games than they win, I’m okay with this.

Yesterday, the Blackhawks sent Mark McNeill and Phillip Danault back to their junior teams, leaving Pittsburgh native Brandon Saad as the lone junior player still on the team. All three were impressive, but Saad did seem a bit stronger on the puck and gets another look tonight. With these three in the Blackhawks’ future, things are looking bright.

The other big story from yesterday is that Marian Hossa has rejoined the team after having to take time off to mourn his best friend Pavol Demitra’s death, as well as celebrate the birth of his first child, Mia. He won’t be joining the group in Pittsburgh, but don’t be surprised if you see him on the ice on Friday.

Alexander Salak will be starting in net for the Blackhawks, with Ray Emery coming in halfway through. There were good and bad things to say about both of their performances from the last game, but I think both need another turn in goal to really start assessing who looks better.

—

Previous Game

Chicago lost against Edmonton 4-2 on Tuesday

Pittsburgh won against Detroit 3-2 on Wednesday

—

Roster

(From chicagoblackhawks.com)

Photo: Cheryl Adams/flickr

If the Blackhawks Training Camp Festival left you wanting more,  you can get your fix from the IceHogs, starting on Sunday, September 25 at the BMO Harris Bank Center. As previously reported, the practices will be closed to the public, but you can still indulge in pre-season action and get to see some of the 13 camp invitees in action!  Out of these 13, 8 are forwards (cott Freeman, Kevin Harvey, Aaron Lewicki, Adam Miller, Evan Rankin, Harrison Reed, Brandon Svendsen, and Justin Taylor), 4 are defensemen (Darcy Campbell, Matt Krug, Drew Paris, and Elgin Reid), and the remaining one is a goalie (Adam Russo). Goaltender Carter Hutton will also be present at camp, as he is the only IceHog under contract for this season who is not attending Blackhawks Training Camp. The other six are forwards Rob Flick, Peter LeBlanc, Andrew Shaw, Paul Zanette, and defensemen Brian Fahey and Ben Youds.

The IceHogs also announced they’re teaming up with Cumulus Broadcasting for the 31st Annual Cumulus Chili Shoot-Out on Saturday, October 8 at Davis Park. The event will begin at noon and will run until 7PM, right before the 7:05PM puck drop for the IceHogs’ opening night against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Children five years or younger get in free, and the rest of us can get tickets for $7 or $5 with a non-perishable food item (which will go to the Rock River Valley Food Pantry). If you have a ticket to the Shoot-Out, you can save $2 on your IceHogs ticket and viceversa, so take advantage of this opportunity to spend some quality time in the area before the game! Admission will allow you to partake in some of the greatest chilies in the area, Budweiser products, and other food items while listening to live music from 2PM on.

That’s it for this installment of IceHogs Thursday. Tune in next week for some legit hockey coverage–and a very exciting change!

On Saturday, the Wolves announced a one-year affiliation with the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League (a CHL not to be confused with the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella for major junior hockey in Canada comprised by the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL). The Mavericks, who play in Independence, Missouri, were touted as the CHL’s Franchise of the Year during the 2010-2011 season, which was just their second in the league.

The Wolves have also recently released their charity calendar for this season, comprised of both fundraisers and drives. There’s several different options for fundraisers, so you can contribute to the Chicago Wolves Charities while partaking of an event that you will actually enjoy! The drives also detail who benefit from each one, so you get to do your part for the cause of your choice. Please take a moment to look through it and find something that you would like to contribute to.

Until next Wednesday!