9 November 2009

Chicago 4– Los Angeles 1

Vs game – feels like every Monday game is a Vs game
Both Toews and Eager back in the lineup!

On to the game…

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First Period:

Not shockingly…  Toews looks tentative — a lot of pucks in his skates
Line switches to start – Versteeg with Kane
Late offsides calls…  Strange.  Multiple times!
Crap match call with Eager and Brown.  Eager was on his feet and dragged down by Brown…

Second Period:

Madden – 3 on 2 – backhand from deep in – five hole
Tip and then clean up off a double screen point shot – swept in stick side – Kopitar
Ebbett with break set by Kane inexplicably goes backhand
Sharp break – jumps through two defensemen…  Draws penalty.

Third Period:

PP – Sharp wrist pass redirect on post by Brouwer – stick side
PP – Toews working hard from the corner strings in front and pots it low stick side on the backhand
Huet gets totally run – no penalty?
Ebbett – weird body carem off a circle wrister from Soupy – first goal – Kane grabs the puck!
29-18 in shots – I think only 2 for LA in the third…

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Overall… Jon Quick (the LA goalie) is a LOT better than the score would indicate…  Eager was not himself all night — looked lost a lot of the time.  Fraser really picked up his game for this one…

30 October 2009

Chicago 3– Montreal 2

Price in net for the Habs
Halloween night at da UC!  I personally liked the Gumby with the Hawks jersey…

On to the game…

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First Period:

Great pressure to start…
Ladd with a bone crushing head blow (looked high, but the crushee also ducked – could be a suspension) – fight at the Habs bench – game misconduct for Ladd
Killed a 3 min net penalty from the Ladd 5/game penalty
Versteeg – from behind the net! – tapper off the back off Price’s pad – stick side
Lotsa penalties

Second Period:

Early PP
Huet with a series of great saves around the 11 min mark – finally iced – followed by a TO
PP – Barker slapper from mid circle – Kopecky screen
Screened pinball – Cammileri camping glove side for the easy wrister
Horizontal over line – barely – right at end of period

Third Period:

Lackluster PP
Second sick tip by Ebbett of the game without a goal
Sharp mid slot bang wrister on sick pass from Kane
Totally weak icing but Habs take two anyway
Toews and Burish – dressed up as the guys from Dumb and Dumber!!  Awesome!

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Overall… Ebbett and Kane – both had great nights! 36-22 shots for the Hawks!

26 October 2009

Chicago 3– Minnesota 1

Dad in the house!
Havlat in the house!  (mix of cheers and boos)
White jerseys – old skool!

On to the game…

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First Period:

Bolland to Ladd – Bolland with a moving rebound five hole
Huet with a sweet high glve save off a low circle wrister
Dowell and Hnidy scrap to a draw
PP – Brouwer cleans up in close – great tie up by Kopecky

Second Period:

Slashng on Bakstrom – ouch
PP ineffective, but…
PK = awesome
Clutterbuck!  Heh.

Third Period:

PK – ping pong down low lobbed in by Brunette on the glove side post
Good fourth meal pressure
Kane razzle dazzle coming round back of net turn around wrister – impossible high stick crner
MN = super stick chippy
Madden rings the post on a 3 on 2 (while on PK)

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Overall… TOTALLY AWESOME to see a game with my Dad!!  Havlat was a virtual non-factor…  I get to say Clutterbuck for a few days!

24 October 2009

Chicago 2– Nashville 0

Hockey Fights Cancer night – kid drops puck and gets Kane’s stick
Toews and Seabrook out
My birthday!! 

On to the game…

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First Period:

Sopel gets hit and gets his stick broken in half
Keith with a spin-a-rama!
Comedy of errors – errant passes, checking each other ….

Second Period:

Buff on a second effort flips it home – pass from Kane on the half wall
Ladd!  In front off a rebound – Barker shot
Hammer – WOW hit at the line
Madden stoned backhand on a PK breakaway

Third Period:

Dumont getting some serious icetime
Huet with some great stops – especially on PK
Lotsa in close on Huet – very physical

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Overall… A win on my birthday!!  Woot!

21 October 2009

Chicago 2– Vancouver 3

Niemi in net.  Canucks still trying to get their act together — especially without two healthy Sedins.  At home.  Rested.  This should all be good news, right?

On to the game…

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First Period:

Very weak early PP
Some nice Niemi stops — felt like stops that Huet would not have made
Keith – point shot – center – redirected by a Canuck
Buff takes a roughing penalty on a scrum – while battling Canucks 1 on 3

Second Period:

Bernier puts home a close in rebound after a nice Niemi stop – PK
Kesler lucky hendry did not put him thru post
No look Kane feed to Keith from corner – slapper from line wide – redirect by Brouwer on stick side post – textbook

Third Period:

Down in shots – 20-14
Niemi with nice screened glove save
Nice luongo save off Versteeg redirect on PP
5 on 3 – Vancouver takes timeout
Luongo with superman save!
Toews gets blindsided by Mitchell out of the box – ouch!  Tough time getting up — straight to the room…
Versteeg goes after Mitchell – gets an extra two
Harsh – after so many good saves – stick side circle wrister – PK – Grabner
Another penalty!
29-18 in shots – Vancouver
Kane giveaway and poor Soupy coverage = left circle wrister mid glove – Samuelsson

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Overall…  Yet another tough loss.  At home.  Against a team we should be beating.  Third Period penalties were killer — it was over half the period on the PK…  Niemi looked great for most of the game, but the two wrister goals from the same part of the circle are worrisome.  Is there a book on Niemi already?  Fluke?  In other news…  The bar that opened next to our seats now sells Labatt’s!

17 October 2009

Chicago 3– Dallas 4

These are the games you are supposed to win — against a team that is coming off a home loss the night before, against a team that traveled overnight, against a team playing with their backup goalie…

On to the game…

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First Period:

Auld is in – no Turco tonight
Chances are outside and/or long
Hawks not taking advantage of tired stars
Glass with mike pushed out in Stars zone
PP – nothing happening….
14-5 in shots

Second Period:

Pressure to start
In close pinball – no cover by Huet- backhand by Morrow
Backfoot slapper – screened – Ribiero tip
Brouwer – wrister from circle – top stick side
Boards top circle slapper – high glove – Petersen
Auld gets tripped up behind net – Toews – wrister from low circle on an empty net

Third Period:

Killed an early 5 on 3
No penalty on Hawks rush takedown however…
One called immediately the other way?
Off a shoot in – off boards carem – off Huet and in – Robidas – ugh
Hjarmallson – center blue line slapper – screened by buff – high glove
Chances late – no dice

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Overall… Tough loss.  Tough not to lay some of that on Huet.  I am still scratching my head trying to figure out why Q messed with the line combos when it was 0-0 and the Hawks had a 13-4 shot advantage.

14 October 2009

Chicago 4– Edmonton 3

Third game in five nights.  Playing against Khabi.  (who got lots of cheers from the UC crowd)  Niemi in net.  We spent a bit of time at WestEnd before the game — nice place, TONS of Hawks fans and the most efficient bar staff I have ever seen!

On to the game…

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First Period:

Ladd to Toews to Sharp – wrister stick side – less than 2 min in
Skille breaks glass on icing
2 on 1 – high stick side on nice saucer pass – Cogliano
Skille picking up rebound glove side

Second Period:

Versteeg bangs home short range on Soupy feed stick side
Sharp penalty shot! – nope (wrister stick side)
30-10 in shots

Third Period:

Versteeg on the short break backhand stick side – nope
Tight Oilers goal under review – good – off a skate
PP – Barker slapper screened – high stick – Khabi never saw it

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Overall… Certainly a bit more dramatic than it needed to be…  The Hawks need to be able to lock down leads — especially with the weak goaltending to start the season.

12 October 2009

Chicago 6– Calgary 5 (OT)

A bit of a weird feeling going into a game against one of last season’s playoff opponents.  Would the Hawks be able to bring the kind of pressure they did during the playoffs?

On to the game…

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First Period:

Giveaway behind net floats to center slot – ripped stick side by Boyd all alone
Slider short wristed across the crease from glove to stick by Nystrom
After faceoff – breakaway ripped five hole by Iginla
Niemi replaces Huet
Brouwer breaks the glass with a Flames face!
Direct from faceoff pull – high glove wrister – Bourque
Weak knuckle wrister from the blue line by Jokinen
Five to zip.  Not even half way through the period!
Madden – kick to stick in close dropping it in behind stick side post

Second Period:

Coming out hard
Double pinch at all times
Kane walks the line and drops a screened wrister stick side
Everything in Flames zone
2 on 1 – Kane to Buff with the backhand slips it five hole
Bolland with four chances stuffs stick side
Brouwer v iginla – Iginla drops him with quick punches
Chances and pressure — all over the place — possessed!
27-16 shots in favour of Hawks

Third Period:

Sharp tips off a Keith point shot
Tied!
Pressure everywhere – continued….
Lotsa posts and crossbars…

Overtime:

26 sec in – Seabrook with a top circle wrister!

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Overall… Biggest comeback in Hawks history!  Tied for biggest comeback ever in the NHL!  Insane to watch.  Felt sorry for all the fans that left after the first… 

10 October 2009

Chicago 4– Colorado 3 (SO)

Home opener in Chicago!  Woot!  Well, it was the “Chicago” home opener — technically, one of the games in Helsinki was a Chicago “home” game.  Great energy at the UC!

Savard, Hull, Esposito and Mikita all came out on skates and in full (period) uniforms!  The UC went nutso!  That has to be one of the coolest things I have seen at a hockey arena!

On to the game…

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First Period:

Tucker – not shockingly – will not shut up
Tucker gets post slammed in the Hawks zone – ouch!
PP – Barker slapper – Kopecky providing a great screen in front

Second Period:

Hendricks picks up the trash – backhand glove side – fail by huet to cover
Fraser – wraparound to glove side – video review says NOPE – ugh
Wolski – sitting on the stick side post takes a one time redirect from the mid point
Madden – mid slot wrister off a rebound – double screen
Great fourth meal shifts – on fire!
5 on 3 after stupid elbow from Foote – just no reason for it – how can you be the captain and lead like that?
PK – tic tac goal – stick side post AGAIN – 5 on 3 – Hejduk
Short handed – Keith to a wide open net on a SICK no look feed from Versteeg

Third Period:

Lotsa rough stuff to start – both ways
Kane with a total line up hit puts him in the box
Agreession level toned down in last 7 minutes
Versteeg just misses one timer at end of regulation

Overtime:

Some chances / a lot of push to the outside – and a bunch of tired players

Shoot Out:

Wolski – lotsa moves nothing
Toews – had him down early – top shelf backhand
Hejduk – down early and in
Versteeg – same as Toews
Avalanche – high stick side wrister
Kane – glove side backhand – nope
Avalanche – Never got a shot off!
Sharp – same as Toews… and missed
Stastny – low glove – nope
Bolland – low glove stuff attempt – nope
Avalanche – Stop move – nope
Buff – wrister five hole – nope
Avalanche – Mid glove wrister – nope
Brouwer – backhand stick – nope
Tucker – five hole – ack!
Kopecky – wrister five hole
Avalanche – Player went in the net!
Ladd – wrister wins it!

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Overall… Two words:  Ladd Scores!

I’m a nerd.

I am publishing — if you want to call it that — an import file for Outlook with the entire 2009-2010 regular season for the Chicago Blackhawks.

I know that you can get the schedule from a zillion locations. What’s different about mine? I added the location for each game in the format “Arena Name (City, State/Province – Country)”. I also set the “Private” flag and added a category of “blackhawks hockey”.

Chicago Blackhawks / 2009-2010 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Central timezone
[download id="6" display="both"]

– Destructions for Importing into Outlook –

1. Click on the link for the schedule you wish to download and “Save target as”/”Save file” to your computer. Remember where you saved the file to!
2. In Outlook, click on “File -> Import and Export” from the toolbar
3. Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”
4. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”
5. Browse to where you saved the download file, highlight it and click “OK”. Make sure the path to that file is correct in the “File to import:” area
6. Do not change anything under “Options”
7. Highlight “Calendar” under “Select destination folder:” and click “Next”
8. Make sure there is a check in the box in “The following actions will be performed:” to the left of “Import…”
9. Click on “Finish”
10. Do a happy dance.