Bust A Move Adam / Photo by: the_mel

As most of you know by now, a selection of former and current Blackhawks, in addition to players from around the “World”, played a charity hockey game on Friday night at the Allstate Arena. The good news is over $300K was raised for the Ronald McDonald House near Lurie Children’s Hospital. The bad (or perhaps best) news was that the game was so beyond ridiculous that you had to laugh. And cry. It was better than “Cats.”

The World Team beat the team of assorted Blackhawks 16-15 in a shootout. Because we take journalism so seriously here at Runs On Duncan, I humbly present to you a summary of this game, courtesy of the most awful, silly and absurd photos I took while in the third row.

Warning – extremely photo-heavy post after the jump. If you still own a Blackberry, I’d hate for it to burst into flames if you try to view this.

» Continue reading “Champs For Charity – A Photojournal Of Epic Ridiculousness”

December 18, 2011

6:00 PM CT

SNET-CGY (HD), WGN

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 20-8-4

Points: 44

Western Conference Standing: 2nd

Central Division Standing: 1st

vs

Calgary Flames
Record: 14-14-4

Points: 32

Western Conference Standing: 10th

Northwest Division Standing: 3rd

The enemy’s Aerys site: None

—

No little tidbit from me today…I am looking forward to a fast paced hockey game that I will be keeping tabs on from me phone tonight. Yup, late work night with no t.v. to watch hockey on. Booo » Continue reading “Put Out The Fire: Chicago vs. Calgary”

I was trying to watch this during my Legal Terminology class this evening and in-between learning about fun legalesque things, I got this:

-Boss Hoss with a wonderful goal in the 1st period during the power play. This is Hossa’s 400th goal. I tip my hat to you, sir.

-Sharpie put up 2 points, including the gamewinner in OT. The smile I wore on my face definitely made my professor suspicious.

-Crawford wasn’t in net tonight and wasn’t even sitting on the bench. Boooo.

-Emery did well tonight. That second point by Islander’s Grabner was a result of Seabsy screening Emery, so with really only 1 goal scored that he could see, high fives for you.

-Carcillo standing up for Jonny in the third period (even if it did result in a penalty with 3:34 left in regulation). The ice against Carbomb might be cracking a little bit.

I wasn’t expecting anything big to happen and nothing really did. It was a close game nonetheless and I’m glad the Hawks were able to get away with the win tonight. It made my 4 hour Legal Terms class a little more bearable and there’s nothing better than that. Well, maybe this video, that brings a smile onto my face:

» Continue reading “Squeaked By: Blackhawks 3, Islanders 2″

Here’s all the news I’ve been meaning to update you on — but instead, I’ve been mostly curled up in the fetal position, praying that hockey season would just start already:

Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr

The Ongoing Saga of Patrick Kane’s Wrist:

So Stan Bowman was all “Psh, Kaner is totally on schedule to start training camp,” but then Kaner talked to some dudes in Toronto and was all “Uh, I don’t know if I’ll be ready for training camp.” But then his doctor was all “Eh, maybe you’ll be ready for training camp?”

Will Kaner be ready for training camp? Guess we’ll find out in a couple weeks. The important thing is that he’s ready for the start of the season.

Meanwhile, as always, Hockey Syrup has the best take on this situation.

» Continue reading “Your Daily Cup: Hockey Withdrawal”

Their entire relationship summed up in one screenshot.

NBC Chicago sat down with Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith during this year’s Blackhawks Convention to discuss their, uh, unique friendship. If the NBC Chicago video player is giving you issues (which would not be surprising, since it’s pretty terrible), check it out below.

After the jump, check out what Hossa’s been doing over the summer…

» Continue reading “Your Daily Cup: Well, They Are Pretty Odd”

Turn-on or no? (Hint: No.) (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Daniel Carcillo and Andrew Brunette both made their debuts in Blackhawks uniforms on Monday, but Carcillo got the lion’s share of media attention — mostly because of comments like these:

Yes, Carcillo called out the Canucks and named names… even though a couple of those names are no longer on the team. But, of course, it’s the spirit of the rant that got Blackhawks fans fired up and started winning over people who might have looked upon this signing warily (such as myself). He only made more fans in Chicago when he said that he would match Dave Kaplan’s $2 donation to Autism Speaks for every penalty minute he accrues this year (see this video).

I can’t say that I’m completely won over by Carcillo yet, but he’s grown on me. Whether that’s because he’s a fungus is left to be seen.

Meanwhile, Brunette has made it clear that his One Goal (see what I did there?) for the season is to finally win the Stanley Cup. I love him already, but I always have a soft spot for the older dudes.

» Continue reading “Your Daily Cup: Carcillo’s Dad Would Be So Proud”

Photos: NVJ, Bridget Samuels/flickr

Andrew Brunette and Daniel Carcillo will do their first press conference as Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, August 8 at 11am CT. You’ll be able to check it out on chicagoblackhawks.com or on the official Blackhawks iPhone or Android applications.

In other news, catch up with what Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg have been doing this summer. Without looking, I’m going to guess that Bickell has been fishing this summer — oh, wow, I was right. Let me pretend to be surprised by this information!

Speaking of unsurprising news, NBC Sports Group announced that Versus will be rebranded as the NBC Sports Network starting January 2, 2012. Good riddance to a stupid name.

One of these players is not like the others... (Photos: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Chris Campoli and Viktor Stalberg were amongst the 23 players across the league who elected for salary arbitration today, according to the NHLPA website. Michael Frolik is not eligible for arbitration. No hearing date has been set for either of them, but all hearings will take place in Toronto between July 20 and August 4.

They can avoid arbitration if they are re-signed before their hearing date. The Sun-Times quotes Bowman as feeling “confident” that all three of the Blackhawks’ restricted free agents will be re-signed to the team in “short order.”

After the jump, find out what numbers the newest Blackhawks will be wearing this season.

» Continue reading “Your Daily Cup: The Numbers Game(s)”

I had my article all written up.

I was going to talk about how the Blackhawks did well in their first Free Agent Frenzy since getting rid of the albatross around the collective neck of the franchise that was the Brian Campbell contract.

And then, well, this happened.

Yeah, this guy. (Photo: Dinur Blum/flickr)

Despite the fact that they have Dan Carcillo making things ugly for the team next year (literally — his face is one only a mother could love), the front office did do a pretty good job in getting together a decent group of veteran guys for next year.

The Blackhawks went to work early this year, bringing in forwards Jamal Mayers (from the San Jose Sharks) and Andrew Brunette (from the Minnesota Wild), as well as defenseman Sean O’Donnell (from the Philadelphia Flyers). They also signed Brett McLean to a two-way deal, which means I expect to see him in Rockford this year.

The first thing you may notice about most of these guys is their age — Mayers is 36, Brunette is 37, and O’Donnell will be 40(!) this year. I joke about them being old guys, but I’m hoping that they bring a veteran presence to a team that sorely lacked such guidance last year. They’re solid and dependable, and also known as sandpaper guys; they can bring a bit of grit to the team.

The second thing you might notice? They all came cheaply, including Carcillo. Brunette was the most expensive signing at $2 million. O’Donnell signed for $850,000, Carcillo signed for $750,000, and Mayers got $550,000. The Blackhawks still have about $7 million in cap space — enough to re-sign a few RFAs, flip a couple of guys for draft picks, and have some breathing room left over. (Thanks, CapGeek!) This is a new and wonderful feeling!

The third thing you will probably notice? They’re all signed to one-year deals. This is definitely a stopgap year for the Blackhawks; signing these guys to short deals gives some of the kids on the IceHogs another year to develop. Here’s to hoping that the Blackhawks won’t have to rush any of them up to the big club like they had to do with Leddy last year.