Chicago Hockey Blog

One of the advantages of  following minor leagues is that  players can be followed from age 17 until they make it to the big show, or the National Hockey league.  One such player that that has has been under the gaze of my camera lens has been 22 year old Chad Denny.  He first came to my attention at Traverse City at the Red Wing Rookie Tournament along with another big guy Boris Valabik.  Unlike Valibik who was of age and started immediately with the Wolves, Denny was 18 and returned to his Major Junior team the Lewiston Maineiacs for another year of seasoning. 

What sets this 6'3” Canadian apart from the heard is not his killer wrist shot it is his spirt.  He plays with the heart of a kid on a back yard pond, after bouncing around the East Coast Hockey League and  the American Hockey League  for two years he still plays with his heart on his sleeve. One can only hope he will never loose it to the hard knocks of the game.  This will be his last year of his rookie contract with Atlanta, so far he seems to have spent most of...more

For those of us desperately needing a hockey fix by September, grab your passports and cross the pond for Scotland's Gardiner Cup. In those long months since the end of the 08' season the Gardiner Cup offers an early and distinctive treat. The Edinburgh Capitals and the Belfast Giants will meet the Hamilton Bulldogs and Toronto Marlies in a tournament in Edinburgh on September 24th, 26th and 27th. Hockey in beautiful Edinburgh, kilts, haggis, bagpipes and single malt whiskey, what is not to love about that package?

The tournament is named for Charles “Chuck” Gardiner the first Scot named to the NHL Hall of Fame. It is expected that the series will be available by net feed and by audio link. It will be the first time an American Hockey League team has met head to head with a British Elite team. It looks to be an interesting match-up.

Although on opposite sides of the ocean, there is more contact between these leagues than one might think. Several familiar names have been part of the Belfast Giants roster over the years, starting with this year's addition of Sean McMorrow, last year's Player Coach...more

A couple of days ago this came across my desk courtesy of Craig Shillingday our contact in the British Elite League.  It appears we shall have Davey Philips, an upcoming British blueliner and a Belfast Giant walking amongst us at prospect camp next month.  The word from Ireland is that if he stays in Chicago it will be blow to Belfast's hopes to take the Elite League this season. However, they are looking forward to seeing how the local favorite stacks up to North American talent.

Linkage to the Belfast Giants site announcement below:


http://www.belfastgiants.com/archives/phillips-gets-the-call-from-chicago-blackhawks/

Last night while  the city enjoyed it's first night of summer the UIC Pavilion rocked with Ivy King Cup championship  featuring the Manic Attackers against the ladies in red and last years Ivy King  Cup winners the Hell's Bells.   It was a intense match as these old foes know each other well,however,  at the end of the bout  the Manic Attackers emerged the winners winning 137 to 115. 

Thus ends the regular season for Chicago roller derby. But derby addicts take heart for the travel season is about to begin,  The Windy City Rollers All Stars presently ranked second nationally in Womens Flat Track Derby Association will be meeting teams from other cities in the US.  There is a July bout scheduled please see http://windycityrollers.com site for scheduling and details.  Be there or be square!

As always here are images of the bout:

Amy No Namey and Mona Lott / By Boudica

Amy No Namey and Ruth Enasia look to block Megan Formor as they pick up speed at the curve. / By Boudica

Manic Attacker Wreck...more

"We are going to the playoffs, baby! " It was more of a primal scream than a acclimation , then she repeated the war cry and left the room. Yes, the Chicago Force are going to the Independent Womens Football League playoffs. Starting in two weeks after yesterdays commanding win over the Detroit Demolition 26:6. Chicago's ladies of the gridiron are, you could say very excited at the prospect of setting foot on the run to the big dance, the National Championship in Austin, Texas, July 25th.

Sometime tonight after weekend results are in  data will be analyzed, a complicated formula will be calculated . Early tomorrow Force team owners will find out if they will have home field advantage for the first round game scheduled for June 27th.   Or if they will have to pack their bags for a  away game and fight their way to Texas the hard way.

Yesterdays game started out with uneven play in the first half .  The Force just didn't seem to “click” there were poorly thrown balls, missed passes and incomplete blocks.  The coaches must have inspired the team at half time as they were on the money in the...more

Patrick Kane on the cover of the EA Sports NHL 2010. Can he avoid the EA Sports curse? / By EA Sports

I had no idea about the EA curse until a friend who I will identify here as Al from Walford County, during a discussion simply said "TRADE HIM NOW (THEN HANG UP THE PHONE)."

Investigating, here is an excellent link discussing the EA Sports curse (originally the John Madden curse), along with the covers for the EA NHL series.

It happened again watching the Detroit Red Wings take the Pittsburgh Penguins apart. It was like it was during the series between the Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks, witness to the devouring of an innocent by a skilled predator.

It was a very unpleasant game to watch as the Wings used the second period to devastate the Pens. I had to recall the second period game in the Hawks v Wings series in which the same thing had happened.

Here is how I see it happening on the ice. The second period, when there is a long change, the Wings get control of the puck in the offensive end of the ice. They use superior skill to move the puck around and, using one man changes, keep their line fresh. Meanwhile, the opposition, whether the Hawks or the Pens are unable to make the change needed to bring fresh legs to the defense.

Soon, the Wings have worn down the defenders and score. The opposition, which is almost always made up of younger players, wants to speed the game up, but the Wings...more

In the previous blog entry several players have been misidentified in photo  captions.  Corrections as follows:

Skater breaking through the pack is Ruth Enasia, not Malice with Chains./ By Boudica

The player in white is Sonya Mouthshut not Sargentina. / By Boudica

by Red Scribbler

I can't believe we spent Saturday afternoon watching roller derby, but there it is. The Jane (Boudy Cagh) and I headed down to the UIC Pavilion to see two matches in the Windy City Rollers League. Now the fact is that the most important decision is how to determine your roller derby name. NO ONE uses their street name inside the roller derby world. As Flash Hottie, a member of the Windy City Rollers Farm team, told me, your roller derby name is not just something you hide behind but that also reveals something about you. Sort of like an avatar on a discussion board?

Okay, I'll be Red Scribbler, your faithful scribe. Working diligently to describe modern roller derby. Most names are suggestive. They have double entendre value such as Anita Bier, After Bertha and Nina Millimeter.

Mention roller derby, at least to anyone over the age of 50 or so, and a memory of Rachel Welch (KC Bomber) in the Jerrold Freedman film “Kansas City Bomber” is sure to swim to the surface. The gritty film details the dying days of roller derby, when television...more

By Red Scribbler

Ya wanna be a derby girl? Honestly, that's what their recruitment flyer says. Girls. The Windy City Rollers is having tryouts for women over the age of 21. You can e-mail tryout@windycityrollers.com or join the Yahoo! Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wct_recruits/ for more information. The next tryout is June 6 in Palatine.

Any level of skill is welcome.

Well Kris, I wish I could say that the Chicago Wolves had a better season then the Rockford IceHogs, but I'd be living in a fantasy if I believed that. It was only the second time in franchise history that the Wolves were shutout of the post-season. I think, compared to the previous time this happened, that the team was trying, but was being poorly led.

Yep, I'm specifically laying the blame for the Wolves failure on the coach. Now granted the 2007-8 Wolves, who won the Calder Cup, lost a coaching staff to the Atlanta Thrashers and key players such as Jason Krog and Darren Haydar. Still, I felt that the team had the talent to get into the post-season but was unable to energize the guys enough to get it done.

Looking back at my posts, I had a serious loss of faith in this team in late winter, about the time that the team had to have all its cylinders firing in able to make it to the post-season. There was the usual late December/ early January loss of focus, which combined with the long road trips...more

by Kris Gray

The 2008-09 Rockford IceHogs season is brought to you by the letter S. Many words could be used to describe the Hogs 2ND full season in the AHL, but the word Streaky seems to fit the bill exactly. Inconsistency seemed to dog them throughout the scheduled 80 games in the regular season and their inexperience sealed the door on their post-season.

The team was not plagued with the multiple callups from their parent team, the Chicago Blackhawks, as last season. So that couldn't be used as an excuse for the streaky season. Personally, I'm just chalking it up to the youth and inexperience of this year's team. As we all know, there is no letter I in the word team. Yet, this team appeared to play more as individuals rather than a cohesive solid unit. Hopefully they will take these hard earned lessons to heart and put them to use when they return in the fall.

Rockford finished the season in 4th place in the Western Division, having been routed by first-seeded Milwaukee in the first round of post-season play. At the conclusion of the...more

So there we were,looking at a blue and white poster that simply read"Talk Derby to Me"  Yeah, that's right up our line, skates, speed, contact bring it on!  So we contacted the Windy City Rollers and found ourselves in track side "Suicide" seats with our guide, guardian angel and teacher of all things Roller Derby "Flash Hottie" last Saturday night. Yes, Hottie has a another name that she signs her checks with but in the derby world everyone has their roller derby name and that is how they wish to be known.

Hottie was assigned to us by the team to keep us safe and teach us about the intricacies of the game.  First we were were guided to our seats they would be in the "suicide" section. So named because skaters come around the bend in the oval track at 25 miles per hour and can take out the very rows of seats we were sitting on. However, these seats afford the best view of the game, would we like to move to higher ground? Nothing doing, suicides it would be!

One of the things that struck me about the bout is that everyone connected to the ...more

1st Frame: Cristobal Huet looks good in the first 20 minutes. Stops 19 Shots. I wanna see Chris Chelios' face smeared across the glass. Lots of hop by the Blackhawks.
2nd Frame: Oh my god that was 20 minutes of mind-blowing hockey. Huet has the glow. Take em' down guys. Saturday night hockey in Chicago.
3rd Frame: OT! Let's run these old guys into the ground. What a game!
OT: Well that is the end of the season. The last shift by the Detroit Red Wings was dominating the Blackhawks. The Hawks just couldn’t clear the puck. And that led to the final deflection into the goal for a Wings win. 2-1.

Someplace along the way they said it was the most shots on goal in a scoreless game in 47 years. The Wings win sets up a rematch in the Stanley Cup finals. That hasn't happened since 1984. What a great game. I’m totally pissed at the final result but feel good that the Hawks have a good young team that made it this far. And, the game was one of the best I’ve ever seen. This after walking away...more

I'm the one here to issue a correction, publicly.  This afternoon I misread a text message from our associate, Kris Gray that clearly read  "Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin are scratches" for tonight's game.  Instead I placed Huet's name instead of Havlat's as I forwarded the information on to Patrick Kissane.  He then wrote the previous piece on the basis of the erroneous information I gave him. I will be far more careful in the future with similar sounding names. 

For clarity, Martian Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin are scratches for tonight's game 5 against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Lewis Arena.  Cristobal Huet will be starting in goal with Corey Crawford manning the bench as back up.

I apologize to all our readers, now game on!