HOCKEE NIGHT - home of FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS and THE HOCKEENIGHT PUCKCAST

DUGUAY'S DUGOUT

PierreDuguay@hotmail.com (Pierre Duguay) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:14:00 GMT

Once again, we at HOCKEENIGHT welcome the musings of former Blackhawks farmhand Pierre Duguay, holder of the Central Hockey League record for hooking penalties in a game, with 9. Take it away, Pierre!

Les salutations et le Jour de Canada Heureux aux lecteurs de Nuit d'Hockee de Longueuil !

It has been far to long since I've been able to contribute to this fine publication. However, the Québécois Provincial Courts move, as Forque might say, ralentir comme chier. Still, it is nice to be back, fully acquitted, and reinstated in my dual role as chief maintenance engineer and hockey coach at the Fleur De Lis Reformatory for Girls here in beautiful Longueuil, Québéc.

For those who may have come here in my absence, I did play for the Dallas Black Hawks for the 1972-73 season, in the Central Hockey League. We competed for the Adams Trophy, and I was very proud to sit in the press box watching all my fellow Blackhawks play so hard. I also gained my fame that season, setting the CHL record for slashing penalties in a season with 197, thus earning me the nickname Coupe Longueuil, or "Cut Of Longueuil" In fact, I became so popular back here they actually started a hairstyle called Coupe Longueuil in my honor. Not even the great Jean Beliveau ever had a hairstyle named after him.

So there's been a great deal of news since I last posted, l'a non ?

This Wellwood fellow has managed to convince his team that he's in better shape when he's out of shape. Tabernak! Where was this thinking when my coach knocked the cigarette out of my hand, saying, "No smoking on the bench, câlice!"

Perhaps Monseiur Wellwood will be inspired to raise the Stanley Cup, now that's it's made of chocolate. His âne gros.will be the last player on his team to spend a day with the Cup, intentional or not.

After the jour de gloire when Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning goal in Vancouver, his equipment went missing, and Reebok offered a $10,000 reward. How do you split the reward among the millions who said, "Check the equipment bags?"

There's a poll for Most Annoying Fans in the NHL? How did Dallas get an NHL team after the way they treated me, always booing?

My bags are packed. Maybe it's time for Coupe Longueuil to make a comeback in Atlanta.

A young Minnesota player did what's known in Longueuil as "The Duguay".

Well, it's once again time for me to take my leave, as the young ladies here are getting ready for le battement du fait de baiser l'un de l'autre. so, until next time, au revoir des lecteurs Longueuil de Nuit d'Hockee!

Regicide: Hawks 3, Kings 2 (OT)

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (CT) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:10:00 GMT

And so here we are, the official kickoff of Antti Niemi's campaign to take control of the No. 1 goaltending position. Again. Let's hope it lasts longer than 4 games this time, otherwise we're going to have to switch back to Huet. Or maybe the Hawks should go to a platoon system. One guy plays the first and third periods, while the other plays in the 2nd. Maybe that will solve whatever mental block the team seems to have on the 2nd frame.

Regardless, the LA Kings came into the UC tonight, looking for all the world like the team we heard the St. Louis Blues were going to be. You know, young, fun, good on offense, in the playoffs. The Hawks were the Hawks of late: played well in the first and third periods, not so great in the second, poured shots on the opposing goaltender and watched him make some hellacious saves. As a bonus, since it was Dennis Savard Night, Patrick Kane nearly scored a spin-o-rama goal. Anyway, in the end, Patrick Sharp sent us all home happy in overtime. April can't come fast enough.

THE GOOD

Adam Burish - Welcome back. Adam Burish made his triumphant return to the ice, and made an immediate impact, centering the 4th line, and picking up an assist and a fight in the first 5 minutes of the game.

Patrick Sharp: Sharp's been quiet lately, so it was nice to see him bust out in a big way with 2 goals, including the game winner in overtime. I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised, Sharp has owned the Kings and has 13 goals in 15 career games against them.

Muckers and Grinders: Sharp had two goals for the Hawks, but the majority of their best scoring chances were generated by bottom six tonight, guys like Madden, Byfuglien, Ladd and Burish all turned in solid games, on both ends of the ice.

THE BAD

Dave Bolland: Was it just me, or did Bolland seem a bit off tonight. He was by no means brutal, but his timing wasn't very good, and on several occasions he attempted to occupy the same space as Marian Hossa.

Power Play: This thing was piss poor again tonight. Against the 22nd ranked killing unit in the NHL, the Hawks went 0 for 4 including a minute 5 on 3 advantage early in the first period. I thought I heard Foley or Edzo say that the Hawks had only one 5 on 3 goal this year, which absolutely sucks.

THE UGLY

Drew Doughty: When is a high stick to the face not a penalty? When the team committing the offense already has two men in the penalty box, apparently. Doughty got away with a stick to Byfuglien's face, along with seemingly a half dozen other slashes and hacks. He's a hell of a player, but if he keeps that up, Troy Brouwer's going to kick his ass like he did Dustin Brown's.

LOOKING BACK: Elmer "Moose" Vasko

gingrasmorris@gmail.com (Dave Morris) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:51:00 GMT

By Dave Morris, exclusive to Hockee Night!

Elmer “Moose” Vasko was born December 11^th 1935, in Duparquet, a small town in the province of Quebec. In the 2006 census, Duparquet had a population of 650 people. In a sense, Vasko is emblematic of the Canadian who comes from the hinterland to gain glory in the sporting world. Vasko was also one of the few players of Slovak descent back when Slovakia was not even acknowledged as a country.

As a member of the last Blackhawks team to win the Stanley Cup, Moose Vasko embodied the qualities of his nickname. He partnered the slick, smooth-skating Pierre Pilote on a defense pair that gave the Hawks both a robust and rapid presence on the blueline.

If that sounds uncannily like the pairing of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, it is because for those of us who watched them play together back in the day, Vasko was to Pilote what Seabrook is to Keith.

Like Seabrook, Vasko wasn’t flashy. Also like Seabrook, in contrast to his partner, the Moose quietly ensured that Pilote had the freedom to whirl, dash and drive the attack.

Moose never went looking for a scrap, but if you made him angry, he’d flatten you.

In an age where everything is DVR’d and YouTube’d to death, and every hockey fan can add his or her two cents to the collective bafflegab, it’s hard to imagine the effort that used to be required to actually follow NHL hockey.

It is also hard to imagine how hockey players like The Moose had a mythical quality. Today, his game would be picked apart by the self styled experts and amateur GMs who own the hockey universe.

But Elmer was what one would call an ‘honest player’, in a game that included just over a hundred men who toiled for just six teams.

If you were lucky enough to see the Black Hawks, as they were known, play on Hockey Night in Canada, the most watched television program in the country, then as now, you followed the flickering images on a tiny screen, on a set with rabbit ears and a broadcast interrupted more often than not by ‘snow’, and other forms of vertical and horizontal interference with the picture.

The frantic fiddling with the Bakelite dials in order to keep following the game was as much a part of the ritual as the family gathering around the set, the kids in their pajamas sprawled as close to the screen as possible, hoping to connect with our heroes.

The following day, we, the sprigs of Canadian youth, would be out on the frozen patches, re-enacting the matches we had seen the night before, skating from morning until night, when the old war veteran kept the cast iron stove in the wood shack stoked so we could warm our toes and go back out to pretend we were the players we watched.

Yes, for those of us brave enough to be non-conformists, and cheer the Black Hawks as the majority allied themselves with the Canadiens or the Maple Leafs, Moose Vasko was our hero.

At least, he was one of mine. I treasured the Shirriff’s Luscious Jelly Dessert Coin with his photo, along with my Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Ed Litzenberger, Reggie Fleming, Red Hay and Tod Sloan coins. I admired the way Moose held his chin up. His bull neck tested the seams of his jersey, the black collar with laces tied in a smart knot, and his blonde hair cut close to the skull.

I was six years old when Rudy Pilous and the Hawks captured the Cup. They were distant, mythical, hosted by a city in a country that seemed beyond reach. But to me, Moose Vasko was a friend.

Bobby Hull was Apollo. Stan Mikita was Mercury. Moose was the big brother, all six foot two and two hundred pounds, and not a mean chromosome in his makeup. Unless, like I said, you got him mad.

Like a moose.

The moose wanders through the forests, massive, baleful in his countenance; a gentle creature. Unless you make him mad.

The Moose was one of the reasons the Red Wings, humiliated in the triumph of 1961, and their followers have never recovered from their crushing defeat in the Olympia.

The psychotic bleating of the Red Guard, even fifty years on, cannot erase the scars.

They would like to be the Montreal Canadiens, but they will never match their pedigree, much less their elegant arrogance.

In the callow days of my childhood, Les Canadiens were the province of the hockey imperialists, and I hated them as much as I respected them.

These were the days of innocence, when hockey lived in the ether; what you imagined the game to be was as important as what it was. As we knew nothing about its brutal reality, it was as simple as it was symphonic.

I was sad when expansion came in 1967. It was the death of hockey as I knew it.

I resented the fact that Glenn Hall went to St. Louis, and Moose went to a team in green and gold called the Minnesota North Stars. I was, even at thirteen years of age, a vocal opponent of the dilution of our sacred sport. But, as Joe Mantegna said in that film based on a great play by David Mamet, “Things change.”

Elmer ‘Moose’ Vasko played ten years in Chicago, a decade which still lives as the Golden Age of the Chicago Black Hawks.

It is really not necessary to elaborate upon the achievements of Mr. Vasko. He was more than a hockey player. He was a humble man, a working man, the kind of man Studs Terkel would write about in glowing and flowing prose.

He died of cancer in 1998, and is buried in Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery, in Hillside, Cook County. His plot is in Section 27, Lot 6, Block 16.

If you consider yourself a true member of the Black Hawk tribe, pay a visit to Vasko.

The warrior is waiting, and he will thank you.

PUCKCAST: HOCKEENIGHT Meets BLACKHAWKS DOWN LOW

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Hockeenight) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:55:00 GMT

Tonight, after some technical difficulties, we were able to welcome Andrew from Blackhawks Down Low.

We discuss the Hawks' goaltending, compare Jesse Rogers to Dwight Schrute, and CT tells us about going to a Bulls game on acid.

Enjoy.

TRAINWRECK: Red Wings 5, Blackhawks 4

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

"They are who we thought they were", said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews after today's game. But who are the Hawks?

They played their Jeckyl-and-Hyde act to the utmost extreme today, completely dominating play in the first and third periods against the Detroit Red Wings today, scoring two goals goals and allowing none in each frame. However, their abysmal play in the second period allowed the Red Wings to score 5 unanswered goals, en route to a 5-4 loss to the Red Wings at the United Center in front of 22,309 fans and a National TV audience.

There was something for everyone today. For those who feel that Cristobal Huet can't goaltend the Blackhawks to any type of playoff success, there were the four goals allowed by Huet in the Second. For those who feel the Hawks' goaltending is fine as long as the team defense holds up, there was the first and third periods. Also, while Huet certainly didn't help out the Blackhawks in the second period, the Hawks didn't help Huet either. They also left replacement Antti Niemi all alone on a Pavel Datsyuk breakaway in the closing seconds of the second period for what turned out to be the deciding goal.

Lost in the debacle was the best game of the year for the Hawks' third line, highlighted by Andrew Ladd's first NHL hat trick. John Madden had been banged up before the Olympic break (possible causes include beatings with frying pans and rolling pins), and he hadn't performed to the level he had earlier in the season. But today, the line of Madden/Ladd/Kris Versteeg was the Hawks' best line.

Let's get to it...

THE GOOD:

The third line. After last game showcased the effectiveness of the second line, with Dave Bolland/Marian Hossa/Troy Brouwer all having outstanding games, this day belonged to another line that had neither Jonathan Toews nor Patrick Kane.

The Madhouse Burger in the United Center. If a cheeseburger with grilled onions and spicy mustard on a pretzel roll isn't awesome enough for you, they also put a Polish sausage on it for you. That's right...Polish...Sausage. An orgy of heart-stopping wonderfulness.

THE BAD:

The officiating. It's cliché to complain about officiating when you lose, but I'm sure Red Wings fans were feeling the same way. The officials had no interest in doing anything to decide the game, which is fine except for the fact that deciding is pretty much the entirety of their jobs. They missed calls going both ways, and it seems to be this way a lot lately. Whatever memo the NHL referees got, it's time they get a new one.

Brent Seabrook. On two of the Wings' goals, Seabrook was just standing there taking up space. He wasn't doing anything to take away passing lanes, or move guys right next to him away from the front of the net. Since the refs weren't calling anything anyway, he should have recognized this and taken advantage. QStache must have seen it as well, as Seabrook was 4th in minutes tonight among Hawks' defenseman.

Cristobal Huet. While there was a systemic failure by the entire team in the second period, there was a feeling that one big save could have snapped the Hawks out of their funk. Maybe if the goalie picked up the shit play of the 18 skaters, the tide could have been stemmed. Whatever glitch is in his game has to be rectified.

THE UGLY:

The Blackhawks' failure to sustain a 60 minute effort. If today was the start of the playoffs, who would the Hawks play, and where would the game be? Yep, the Red Wings in the United Center. And they'd be down 1 game to 0. As stated earlier, it is too easy and simple to blame this one entirely on Huet. There wasn't a single player on the Blackhawks in the middle twenty minutes who seemed willing to step it up against the team that has won the Western Conference Finals the past two years, the team that is still Best in the West until they're dethroned. Sure, they've still won 6 out of 8, but this was a statement game for both teams, and the Red Wings were the ones who made the statement.

The Hawks might be the team to do the dethroning, but if they play like this after 82 games, Summer will come too soon, and people will blame the goaltending, which is similar to blaming the sidewalk for someone dying after jumping out of a 20th floor window.

Next up for the Hawks is another potential Western Conference playoff foe, the red-hot Los Angeles Kings. Let's see if they remember to play 60 this time.

Bitchslapped!: Hawks 6, Canucks 3

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (CT) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

This was one of the most enjoyable wins in recent memory. With the Hawks apparently having lost the Stanley Cup this week when they failed to make a trade at the deadline, all that we needed was for the hated Canucks to come in and embarrass our reeling heroes. Instead, Chicago exploded for 5 goals in a wild first period that included plenty of rough stuff, each team killing off a long 5 on 3 penalty and Roberto Luongo probably weeping in the dressing room again. Then nervous Hawks fans bitched and moaned about how Cristobal Huet was going to blow the game for the last 40 minutes before going home mildly satisfied.

THE GOOD

Kris Versteeg: Good to see Steeger showing some life again. He had several good shifts and finally broke his scoreless streak with a big goal in the first period that came less than a minute after the Canucks had put a soft one past Cristobal Huet.

Andrew Ladd: The Canucks bring out the best in Ladd. He upped his physical game tonight, mixing it up with his old pal Ryan Kesler, scored the Hawks first goal and set a pick that took out two Canucks and sprung Kris Versteeg in alone to score his goal.

Jordan Hendry: Normally a 6th defenseman wants to stay out of the highlight reels, as they usually involve said d-man getting beat. But Hendry scored his 1st goal of the season on a nifty forehand backhand move after taking a sweet feed from Jonathan Toews.

THE BAD

Ben Eager: Eager just looked terrible out there. His play wasn't especially physical, and he got into one lackluster fight. Ben doesn't look like the guy who was the motor for the best 4th line in the league last year. If he doesn't step it up, he's going to be fighting Tomas Kopecky for the best seat in the press box when Adam Burish comes back.

Roberto Luongo: Turns out it's a lot easier to be a winning goalie when Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith are on your side. LOU was chased after giving up 5 goals in the first period.

Soft Goals: After making some excellent saves while the Hawks killed a 5 on 3, Cristobal Huet later surrendered a terrible goal to Ryan Kesler. Gotta shore that up, Cris.

THE UGLY

LOOKING BACK: The Chicago Cougars

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:54:00 GMT

I remember when there was talk on the radio about the new World Hockey Association, and they announced that Chicago was getting a team. My dad followed the conventional wisdom, which was that with the NHL expanding to double its size from 6 to 12 for the 1967-68 season, then adding 2 more teams for the 1970-71 season, there wasn't going to be any good players for the new league. He figured, as everyone did, that it would really be nothing more than a glorified semi-pro league.

That all changed one summer day in 1972. Every TV and radio station in Chicago, it seemed, was reporting that Bobby Hull was going to the new league. He showed up on TV, suddenly with a full head of hair, smiling and holding one of those oversized checks for a million dollars. The Blackhawks and the NHL tried slapping an injunction on Hull, the WHA, and the Winnipeg Jets, but in the end, Hull was in the new league.

Here in Chicago, the team name was announced to be the Cougars. They would begin playing their games in the International Ampitheatre, down on the South Side.

Now, if you're too young to have ever been there (which I'm guessing is everyone but me & Dave Morris), it was a real shithole. It was too small for hockey, and when the Cougars played there, the rink was undersized and there was wire fencing instead of glass above the boards. Also, even though the Union Stockyards, which were right next door, had just closed, the place still reeked of livestock and livestock by-products. Plus, it only held 9000. This place made Chicago Stadium look like the damn Taj Mahal.

The owners were two brothers, Walter and Jordon Kaiser. The Kaisers tried to put together a team that could draw. Their star attraction was Reggie Fleming. Reg was a beloved old Blackhawk, good with the puck and with the fists. Oh, the puck. The WHA actually tried using a blue puck the first year. They thought it would be easier to see on TV. Not that it mattered to us, since the Cougars were on Channel 44, and you had to have this dopey hoop antenna on the back of your TV in order to get the channel at all, and when you did, every game was the Winter Classic, because it always looked like they were playing in a blizzard.

And the Cougars were bad. I mean, they were shitty. The worst team in a cut-rate league. But the WHA had draws, and we got to go to more games than we ever could before. The Hawks were still a big draw, and went to the Stanley Cup Finals their first season without Hull. But you could see Hull with the Winnipeg Jets, and Gordie Howe came back to hockey with the Houston Aeros. There were other stars, like Derek Sanderson and Gary Cheevers, from the Bruins.

The next year, the Cougars poached more Blackhawks. One of my favorites, Eric Nesterenko, went to the Cougars. Pat Stapleton went over as well, seerving as player-coach. They managed to climb into fourth place, making the Avco Cup Playoffs. Yes, their trophy was the Avco Cup, named after a financial services company.

Anyway, they make the playoffs. The Cougars won the first round, and were ready for the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the Ampitheatre wasn't expecting the Cougars to still be playing, and had booked a production of Peter Pan (starring female gymnast Cathy Rigby as ol' Pete) for the dates of the next round.

Looking for a building, the Kaisers went to Arthur Wirtz. Wirtz would have been happy to take their money, but the Hawks had the building booked, as they were in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Desparate for any building with seats and a sheet of ice, they held their home playoff games at the rink at the Randhurst Mall in Mount prospect, in front of a couple hundred. They played the Finals there as well, losing to Gordie, Mark, and Marty Howe's Aeros.

By this point, the Kaisers had pretty much had it with the Cougars and the WHA. They had been trying to get a deal to build a new arena near O'Hare since the team's inception. They had the land, but couldn't get a deal for the arena. So they sold the land to the city of Rosemont, and eventually Allstate Arena (nee Rosemont Horizon) was built.

The Kaisers sold the team to three players - Stapleton, Ralph Backstrom, and Dave Dryden, brother of Montreal great Ken Dryden. But by this time, the Cougars still hadn't been embraced by the Chicago hockey fans, and the WHA was still viewed as an oddball league. They couldn't draw flies (which was remarkable, considering the smell), and the Cougars folded after the 1974-75 season.

Here's some great Cougars footage. Dig the music, the lively interviews, and Jacques Demers looking ready to join a Ron Jeremy lookalike contest...

Tap your stick on the ice for WHAHockeyTV.com for this great clip.

NO DEADLINE HEADLINES: Blackhawks 5, Oilers 2

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:42:00 GMT

Where there is panic, there is no room for logic. This leads to that buddy of yours staying with a girlfriend he can't stand, because he's afraid he'll be alone. It's what keeps people in jobs they hate, because they're afraid they won't get another one. It's how people get hosed buying a car or a house, because they're afraid they'll miss out if they don't agree to terms right now.

It's what makes otherwise sane people think the team with the second-best goals against average in the NHL can somehow improve with a retread like Dwayne Roloson or Marty Turco.

Seriously everyone...chill the fuck out.

The Chicago Blackhawks stood pat on trade deadline day, due either to the fact that they're happy with what they have, or there was no deal available to their liking. Then they drilled the Edmonton Oilers in the United Center, winning 5-2.

OK, let's get to it...

THE GOOD:

No Turco or Roloson. Neither of these guys are any better than what the Hawks have. Any change in net would have been done out of panic. The Hawks need to go back to what works, Cristobal Huet for three, Antti Niemi for one. The simple fact is, there is no team in the NHL that can beat the Blackhawks 4 out of 7 right now.

The Hawks' defense. This is a team sport, and the Hawks just smothered Edmonton all night. Huet was as good as he had to be, stopping 12 of 14 shots. He needed a win, especially in the United Center. For one night at least, he was able to silence the meatballs.

The line of Dave Bolland, Marian Hossa, and Troy Brouwer. After shuffling players around all season, QStache looks like he's finally gotten his second line assembled. Bolland assisted on Hossa's opening goal, and Hossa assisted on Bolland's.

Dustin Byfuglien. He showed a real mean streak tonight, and scored a goal for the second straight night. Now Roberto Luongo comes to town Friday night. If there's ever a time the Hawks needed Big Fugly to get hot, now is the time.

The Hawks' power play. Fugly's goal was on the PP, and it was not insignificant that Duncan Keith was on one point, and Brent Seabrook was on the other. Hopefully, this lunacy of putting forwards on the point for power plays is behind us.

THE BAD:

Tomas Kopecky and Ben Eager. Too many stupid penalties (2 for Kopecky, 3 for Eager), too much rockheaded play. Once John Madden and Adam Burish return in the next couple games, it won't take too much soul searching for QStache to decide who sits in the press box.

The officiating. They blew an obvious slash on Niklas Hjalmarsson that led to Edmonton's second goal, and missed a clear trip on Kris Versteeg.

THE UGLY:

Again, the panic. Look, with tonight's win, the Hawks moved into a tie for first place in the Western Conference. This is one helluva hockey team. And that's top to bottom. Now they're getting healthy, and they are going into the home stretch. Like the goaltending or hate the goaltending, but learn to love the goaltending, because this is what we've got until the last handshake like.

And if the Hawks get to the Promised Land, I hope we find out how "Kiss my ass" sounds in French and Finnish.

HAWKS STINK ON ICE: Islanders 5, Blackhawks 3

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:36:00 GMT

What the fuck?

The Chicago Blackhawks come off a two-week break, roll into the Nassau Coliseum to face an Islanders team that has 30 less points than they do.

They are fresh off stellar performances by all 6 Blackhawks who appeared in the Olympics, resulting in 3 gold and one silver medal. And the man of the night is...

Dwayne Roloson?

The Hawks had a classic letdown game tonight, firing on pure adrenaline in the first period, getting 2 goals on 22 shots, then collapsing in the second period, allowing 4 unanswered goals in the second period. Roloson had a couple big saves in the first. The Hawks could just as easily have had 4 or 5 goals in the first.

Let's get to this...

THE GOOD:

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Toews had 2 assists and was 67% (14-7) on faceoffs. Kane had a goal and 2 assists. After the Olympics, there is no longer any doubt as to whether these two are elite players. There will also be no question as to whether either player is on their Olympic squads in 2014.

THE BAD:

The second period. As bad as the goaltending was, this was a systemic breakdown. Sloppy play by defensemen, sleepwalking forwards. The Islanders never got challenged, and they took advantage.

THE UGLY:

The goaltending. Antti Niemi and Cristobal were the Suck Brothers tonight, after each Islanders goal Steve Konroyd was saying, "That's one he'd like to have back". So if they could have had every shitty goal back, they'd have a shutout. Granted, some of it can possibly be attributed to rink rust, as neither Hawks goalie has seen game action for 2 weeks. Still, Blake Comeau got a hat trick. Blake. Fucking. Comeau.

But considering how all the ledge hangers are bleating about the Hawks' goaltending, this won't quiet things any.

Tomorrow the Hawks return home to face the red-hot Edmonton Oilers on Jonathan Toews Bobblehead Night.

During the day though, our friends at Hockey Independent will have a live chat going on for the trade deadline.

FINGER BLASTING: More Trade Rumors

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:54:00 GMT

Sometimes, technology is our friend. Sometimes, not so much.

Earlier today, Jesse Rogers at ESPN Chicago reported that the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs were discussing a trade that would send Cristobal Huet to Toronto in exchange for Jeff Finger.

Once this report went out, Twitter lit up like a damn Christmas tree.

While the thought of riding Cristobal Huet out of town on a rail gets the meatball populace in this town all moist in the groinular region, the two-week layoff for the Olympics has apparently erased the memory of Antti Niemi playing well enough to not lose against some pretty bad teams - in fact, all the statistics the meatballs were using to prop Niemi up as a viable option over Huet came crashing back to Huet's level - meaning that if trending continues, he will have far worse numbers than Huet, given the same number of starts.

But, let's save the Huet/Niemi argument for another time. Let's deal with the principal components of this rumor:

Toronto gets Huet - Considering the Leafs just unloaded Vesa Toskala, and took on J.S. Giguere's $6MM hit for next season, and they have to re-sign Jonas Gustavsson after this season. Where does Huet's $5.65MM/per for the next two years fit in? Sure, Toronto could flip Giguere or Huet. But, considering the Ducks took garbage in return for Giguere, anyone else could have had him at the time he was dealt. As for Huet, why would anyone want to deal with Toronto, when Stan Bowman's number is listed? There's nobody in the Western Conference who is in playoff contention who needs Huet, so there should be no reason any team would need a go-between.

Chicago gets Finger - Finger is shitty. That's where we start. He is not good at hockey. He is has the job title of "defenseman", which the Blackhawks now have in plentiful supply. Again, he carries a cap hit for the next two years of $3.5MM/per. For a team that needs to sign Niklas Hjalmarsson after this season, and Brent Seabrook after next, this makes no sense.

Add in the fact that the two teams that are hardest-pressed against the cap are these two teams, and you see why it makes no sense, in fact, the trade as reported wouldn't pass the trade call, since Toronto wouldn't free enough cap space to take Huet's contract.

The Hawks have shown solid trade strategy so far. There's no reason anyone should ever believe they'd suddenly throw caution to the wind over a stiff like Jeff Finger.

PUCKCAST: HOCKEENIGHT Meets A LITTLE CHIPPY

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Hockeenight) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:33:00 GMT

This week, we welcome Katherine from A Little Chippy, and our topics include the Olympics, the hockey hotbed of Jamaica, the shitty minor leaguers the Hawks picked up, Canadian wrestlers, and LFork's issues with Catherine O'Hara.

And somewhere, that damn choir is still singing the Russian National Anthem.

Enjoy.

LOOKING BACK: Denis Savard

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Call him Savvy, call him Savoir Faire. It doesn't matter. Denis Savard was something else, the type of player the Hawks hadn't had in almost 40 years, since Max Bentley.

As a contemporary of Wayne Gretzky, he was an artist where Gretzky was a surgeon. There was an intrinsic beauty to watching Savard skate and stickhandle, this strange combination of fluid motion and dramatic twists and turns that was not the way anyone had been accustomed to seeing anyone on the Blackhawks play hockey.

Bobby Hull was power and speed, Stan Mikita was slippery and tactical. Savard was almost like a figure skater out there, Chicago's answer to Guy Lafleur. His on-ice artistry went far beyond what showed up on the stat sheet, and what showed up there was impressive.

Savard was born in Pointe Gatineau, Quebec, right outside Montreal. He first gained fame playing for the Montreal Juniors in the QMJHL. He became known for being the best stickhandler in a league that produced great ones. In one strange coincidence, he centered the "Trois Denis" line in 1978-79, playing with Denis Cyr and Denis Tremblay. The stange part was that they all were born on February 4, 1961.

The Blackhawks had the third pick in the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, and they selected Savard. He had an outstanding rookie season, racking up 75 points (28G 47A) in 76 games. He had the good fortune of having Al Secord out there watching his back. That's not to say Savard couldn't take care of himself, despite his small stature. While he never won any Art Ross Trophies, we was never in any danger of winning any Lady Byngs either. In fact, throughout his Hawks career, he usually hovered around the 100 mark in both points and penalty minutes.

Then another outstanding rookie came in. Steve Larmer joined the line with Savard and Secord for the 1982-83 season, and had a 90 point season to go along with Savard's 121 points and Secord's 86. The Hawks finished first in the Norris Division, and coach Orval Tessier won the Jack Adams Trophy.

The years that followed in Chicago saw Savard and Larmer score a lot of goals, and smoke a lot of cigarettes. They were perfectly complimentary players, with Savard having more flash, often displaying the "Savard Spin-O-Rama" move, and Larmer having a lunchpail approach. Both had exceptional results.

While Savard excelled, the Hawks were never able to get to the Stanley Cup Finals while he was there. The Hawks had the misfortune of playing in the same conference as the Edmonton Oilers, featuring Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, and the Hawks had to run up against them at some point or another.

In the 1990 Conference Finals, the Hawks held a 2 games to 1 lead over Edmonton, and they were playing Game 4 in Chicago, when Savard scored one of the most amazing goals anyone has ever seen. He dragged the puck through and around every player on the ice for Edmonton before finding the back of the net, in a breathtaking display of North South East West stickhandling. Still, in the end, the Oilers made yet another trip to the Finals.

Here, see for yourself:

Unfortunately, then-coach Mike Keenan never cared for Savard. The pattern of Keenan calling out a future Hall-of-Famer would be repeated in other stops along his coaching tour, including Brian Leetch in New York and Pavel Bure in Vancouver. Since they weren't able to coexist, the Hawks traded Savard to the Canadiens for Chris Chelios.

While it always seemed unnatural to see Savard in anything other than a Blackhawks sweater, it was gratifying to see him get his name on the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993. He returned to the Hawks for a little more than two more seasons, and retired a Blackhawk.

He then stayed with the organization, working as an assistant coach, before taking over from Trent Yawney as head coach. He developed such good relationships with his players that upon his dismissal early in the 2008-09 season, Hawks' star Patrick Kane was in tears.

If he had done nothing else as a head coach, the fact that in calling out his players he told them they had to "Commit to the Indian" was enough.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000.

LOOKING BACK: Ed Litzenberger

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

How do you measure success? There are individual records, and team achievements. For Ed Litzenberger, the line between the two groups got blurred. He wound up winning 6 Championships in a row with 3 different teams - 4 Stanley Cups and 2 Calder Cups.

When the Chicago Blackhawks won their last Cup in 1961, it was Litzenberger with the "C" on the front of his sweater, overcoming personal tragedy to lead the team to the Promised Land.

He came to the Hawks during his rookie season from the Canadiens. Montreal was ass-deep in forwards, so there was no way to get Litzenberger any ice time. Litzenberger finished that season (1954-55) by scoring 40 points in 44 games with the Hawks, and becoming one of only two players (Carl Voss being the other) to win the Calder Trophy while playing for two different teams in the season.

He was a damn fine center for the Hawks, manning the pivot for Bobby Hull and Lorne Ferguson, and having a 3-year run of 30 goals or more. He was a Second Team All-Star in 1957, and was named Captain of the Hawks before the 1958-59 season.

During the 1959-60 season, Litzenberger was involved in a tragic automobile accident. "We were coming home after a game in Chicago Stadium," Liztenberger said. "My wife was driving, and the road was slippery. We his a viaduct, and the next thing I know I was in the emergency room of the hospital." He was badly injured in the accident. "I had a couple cracked ribs, contusions of the liver, and a bad concussion. I was in shock for seven days and couldn't remember a thing."

Worse than that, his wife perished in the accident. Litzenberger said, "When I realized what had happened, my morale was shot. I wanted to quit hockey."

Litzenberger was not the same player on the ice after that. After putting up 12G 18A during that season, he only managed a 10G 22A season in the Cup-winning 1960-61 season.

After the Cup-winning season, Litzenberger remarried and was traded to the Red Wings, the team the Hawks beat for the Stanley Cup. "She's one of the big reasons I was able to get back to myself," Litzenberger said of Gale, his new wife. "That and the trade have made me a different man."

"For a while I wasn't happy about leaving Chicago, I had made so many friends there, " Litzenberger said. "Then we both realized that moving to Detroit was all for the best. New friends, new surroundings and new teammates, It's given me more of a chance to forget. It's like starting a new life."

He wasn't a Red Wing for long. During the 1961-62 season, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he was part of the team that won 3 straight Stanley Cups. However, his name was left off the Cup after the 1963-64 season, since he spent most of the season in the minors. After the 1963-64 season, he was sent to the Rochester Americans of the AHL. He was part of a team that won 2 consecutive Calder Cups. No other North American player ever won 6 professional championships in a row.

Litzenberger still lives in Ontario. This is a man who deserves a Heritage Night, at the very least.

LOOKING BACK: The Bentley Brothers

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

The NHL has always had a long list of brothers playing. Sometimes as teammates, sometimes as rivals. Current Blackhawks Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook all have brothers playing elsewhere. The Hawks have also had brothers as teammates, like the Hulls or Sutters.

But the Bentleys, Max and Doug over there on your left, were also linemates. In fact, the "Pony Line" of the Bentleys and Bill Mosienko were one of the truly great lines not only in Blackhawk History, but in NHL history as well.

The Bentleys grew up on a farm in Delisle, Saskatchewan. At one point, the Drumheller Miners in the Alberta Senior Hockey League had 5 Bentleys playing for them at the same time. Max and Doug, though, were something special.

Max was a magician with the puck, comparable to a Wayne Gretzky or Denis Savard for being a small (5'8, 155) player who would weave in & out of traffic while stickhandling - and the curved stick was still 20 years away. In fact, his skill earned him the nickname "Dipsy-Doodle Dandy from Delisle".

Doug was an elite scorer, and one of the best two-way forwards to ever play the game. He was able to use his exceptional speed for backchecking.

Max and Doug got a tryout with the Boston Bruins in 1938, and they were turned away for being too small. On their way back West, they swung through Montreal for a tryout with the Habs. There, Max was told he had a heart condition, and should not play hockey any more.

So Max went home, and Doug went to the Blackhawks. Max was miserable working on the farm while Doug was spending the 1939-40 season in the NHL. Finally, at the urging of friends and family, Max went to Chicago. Due to his lack of size, and the fact that he always looked like he was running a quart low on blood, the Hawks sent him to Kansas City for seasoning. That seasoning lasted 5 games, in which Max got 5 goals and 5 assists.

Max and Doug were immediately placed on the same line, and skated with Mush March. That year (1940-41), they had some success, with Doug getting 28 points in 47 games, and Max notching 17P in 37G.

The following year, the Bentleys took off. Bill Thoms was added to their line, and they started scoring. One night in December 1941, the Hawks crushed the Habs 9-2, and Doug got the hat trick with Max assisting on all three goals. Another night, in January '43, the Hawks beat the Rangers 10-1, with Doug (2G 4A), Max (4G 3A) and Thoms (5A) leading the way. Imagine what that night could have done for someone's fantasy team.

Having two elite players like this on the Hawks was exciting for fans. Doug led the league in scoring once (1942-43) and had 3 First Team All-Star selections to go along with 1 Second Team. Max led the league in scoring twice (1945-46 and 1946-47), had one each First Team and Second Team All-Star selections. He also won the Lady Byng in 1942-43 and the Hart Trophy in 1945-46. Once Bill Mosienko joined the team, they formed the "Pony Line", named for their small stature and large speed.

You would think that with this type of talent the Hawks would have been playoff mainstays. However, the Hawks were plagued with cheap ownership, even back then. In fact, Conn Smythe once said about Hawks' owner Bill Tobin, ""Tobin is so cheap that he wouldn't pay 10 cents to see the Statue of Liberty take a swan dive into New York Harbor." So, these great players never got close to the Cup in Chicago.

Shortly after the 1947-48 season started, Max was traded to Toronto for 6 players. The 6 players did nothing to help the Hawks, while Max got his name on the Stanley Cup 3 of the next 4 years.

They played together for 5 seasons. Max and his bad heart served in the Canadian military for two seasons(1943-44 and 1944-45) and for the 1944-45 season, when the Canadian Government wouldn't allow Doug to cross the border into the United States. Doug spent the season in Canada, playing for the Laura Tigers back home in Saskatchewan. Also, during the 1942-43 season, their older brother Reg joined them on the Hawks (and on their line) for 11 games.

Once Max got dealt, they didn't play together until the 1953-54 season, when they were reunited for one year on the New York Rangers.

Max was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966, and passed away in 1984. Doug was inducted in 1964 and passed away in 1972.

LOOKING BACK: Glenn Hall

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Goalies come and goalies go, but there will only be one "Mr. Goalie".

Hockey is an odd game of rituals. Wayne Gretzky always tucked his sweater in on one side. Some players skip over the blue line on their way out for the pre-game skate. Some guys have a certain meal they eat before every game. Glenn Hall had his ritual - he threw up before every game.

Hall once said, "I always felt I played better if I was physically sick before the game. If I wasn't sick, I felt I hadn't done everything I could to try to win." Hall did absolutely nothing to dispel the stereotype of goaltenders not being wrapped too tightly.

But damn, he was good. And durable. There may be no record in hockey that is as unbreakable as Hall's streak of 502 consecutive complete games, spanning 8 seasons - and that's just regular season games. Hell, the city could have given out the Hawks' backup goalie job to some alderman's cousin.

Hall wasn't just great, he was an innovator. He was the first NHL goalie to successfully implement the butterfly style of goaltending. Strangely, he never embraced wearing a mask, not wearing one while playing for the Hawks. In fact, he never wore one until his last season - while he was playing for the St. Louis Blues.

He started out as a Detroit Red Wing, giving them two strong seasons, even winning the Calder Trophy for the 1955-56 season. After the 1956-57 season, Detroit wanted to punish "Terrible" Ted Lindsay, who was one of the organizers of the NHLPA. What better way to punish Lindsay than by sending him to the Blackhawks, the worst team in the NHL? The trade expanded to include Hall going to the Hawks for Johnny Wilson, Forbes Kennedy and Hank Bassen.

While the Hawks were brutal before Hall got there, in the next couple years a core group of players, including Bobby Hull, Pierre Pilote and Stan Mikita showed up at Chicago Stadium. What had begun as Siberia for Lindsay became a pretty sweet setup for Hall & Co.

Hall went on to have a stellar career with the Hawks, backstopping them to the 1960-61 Stanley Cup, as well as winning three Vezina Trophies, in 1963-64, 1966-67 and his last one, 1968-69 was while he was with St. Louis. He also racked up 7 First Team All-Star honors, playing in an era with greats like Gump Worsley, Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante and Johnny Bower.

Hall had a very unorthodox style. He would jump up on high shots in order to block them with his chest. His butterfly style allowed him to go post-to-post more effectively than the traditional stand-up goalie who would have to lay on the ice and stack their pads.

He was quick too. Damn, his catching glove was where shots went to die. He also would sometimes even act as a third defenseman, skating the puck up to the blue line to initiate a rush.

Sadly, as great as his Hawks career was, he was left unprotected in the 1967 expansion draft, since the Hawks had their goalie of the future in young Tony Esposito. St. Louis snapped up Hall, and he led the Blues' to three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. Of course, back then, the expansion teams comprised one conference and the "Original Six" formed the other, thus guaranteeing an expansion team a trip to the Finals.

For two years, St. Louis even enjoyed an all Hall of Fame tandem in goal, as Hall and Plante shared the net.

After Hall retired, the Blackhawks retired his#1. His hometown of Humboldt, Saskatchewan honored him by building Glenn Hall Park, which is on Highway #5 - Glenn Hall Highway.

He still lives in Humboldt, and in 1998 was ranked #16 in The Hockey News' list of 100 greatest players of all time.

Puckcast: CT and The Fifth Feather Talk About Fork Behind His Back

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Hockeenight) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:10:00 GMT

With Fork on vacation and Mel Zetz unavailable to fill in, CT flies solo and welcomes John and Bob from The Fifth Feather to discuss all the important issues of the day, including:

Is Bob the source of the classic stereotype of the blogger who lives with his parents?

John's terrible breakup with Jaromir Jagr.

Barry Rozner's idiocy.

Who's responsible for bailing Fork out of Mexican prison?

Oh, and we talk about some big international tournament that's going on. It's been in all the papers.

LOOKING BACK: Charlie Gardiner

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Hockeenight) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

Chances are you've never heard the store of Charlie "Chuck" Gardiner before. This is a story that should never be forgotten.

Gardiner (also known as "The Roaming Scot" and "Smilin' Charlie") was the first true Chicago Blackhawks superstar. He came to the Hawks after their inaugural season, once the Hawks saw him playing for his hometown Winnipeg Maroons. He moved to Winnipeg as a young boy, having spent the first 7 years of his life in Edinburgh, Scotland.

His first year with the Hawks was a tough one. The Hawks were abysmal, staggering to a 7-34-3 record. Their goal differential that season was a brutal 68 goals for, with 134 against.

He managed to get 3 shutouts on the season, but the thought of another year of getting riddled with pucks made him ready to go back to Winnipeg. Only teammate Duke Keats was able to talk him out of it.

The next season didn't get any better for "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The 1928-29 season saw the goals-against number drop to 85, thanks in large part to Gardiner's outstanding play, as he racked up 5 more shutouts and finished with a GAA of 1.85. Unfortunately, the Hawks were known that season as the "Goalless Wonders", managing only 33 goals in 44 games. In fact, for the entire season, they only outscored Toronto star "Ace" Bailey by 11 goals. They were a special kind of bad, going 7-29-8, good for dead last in the 10-team NHL.

Things got progressively better for both Gardiner and the Blackhawks. After the "Goalless Wonders year, they managed to move up to second-place in the NHL American Division, and they also managed to score more goals than they allowed. Gardiner was outstanding again, averaging 2.42 goals against, while getting three more shutouts.

The following season (1930-31) saw both Gardiner and the Hawks start taking their place among the league's elite. Gardiner led the NHL with 12 shutouts, and the Hawks made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their still-young history before falling to the Montreal Canadiens. Gardiner was also second in the NHL with a goals-against average of 1.73, and was named First Team All-Star for the first time in his career. He was even better in the postseason, posting a 1.32 GAA.

The 1931-32 season would be one of Gardiner's best. He won the Vezina Trophy, which then was given to the goaltender with the lowest GAA in the league, which for Gardiner was 1.85. He was named First Team All-Star again, but the Hawks disappointed in the playoffs, getting eliminated in the first round.

The 1932-33 season was a return to the "Goalless Wonders" days, as Gardiner posted a respecable 2.03 GAA, good for third in the league, but the Hawks managed an average of less than 2 goals a game, only managing 88 goals in 48 games.

The 1933-34 season was triumphant for both Gardiner (who was also the Hawks' Captain, as goalies were permitted to hold the position back then) and the Hawks, as Gardiner won his second Vezina Trophy, posting a 1.63 GAA with a league-best 10 shutouts. Gardiner's play was even more impressive, given the fact that he suffered from infected tonsils. In fact, his infection got so bad during the season that during game breaks, or while the puck was at the other end, an exhausted Gardiner would sometimes slump over the crossbar for support.

Stll, the Hawks went into the playoffs, and were able to eliminate both Montreal teams - first the Canadiens, then the Maroons. The only thing between then and their first Stanley Cup was the Detroit Red Wings.

The Hawks held a 2 games to 1 lead in the best-of-five Finals, and Gardiner told his teammates they would only need to score one goal that night to win the Championship. Mush March got the goal, in the second overtime. After the game, an exhausted Gardiner collapsed in the clubhouse.

The celebration for the Hawks' first Cup included defenseman Roger Jenkins giving Gardiner a ride around Downtown Chicago in a wheelbarrow, as seen above.

That summer, as Gardiner, a baritone singer, was leaving for a singing lesson, he suffered a massive stroke, brought on by his tonsillar infection. He died on June 13, 1934. He was 29.

When the Hockey Hall of Fame opened in 1945, Charlie Gardiner was one of the original inductees. He also will live in history as one of the all-time great Chicago Blackhawks.

Looking Back: The Punch-up in Piestany

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (CT) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:54:00 GMT

Well, it's Olympic hockey time, and you know what that means: SPORTSMANSHIP! COMMUNISTS! JINGOISM! MIRACLES!

Granted, tonight's fight didn't take place during the Olympics but at the 1987 World Junior Championships. And while there was very little sportsmanship displayed and no miracles performed, there was plenty of jingoism (Don Cherry was in the announcers booth after all) and a shitload of Communists.

The now infamous Punch-up in Piestany was the final game of the round robin tournament. While the Soviets(2-3-1) had been eliminated from medal contention, a win would give the Canadians(4-1-1) the silver medal, and a victory by 5 goals or more would have given Canada the gold medal based on goal differential with Finland (5-1-1).

The game got off to a tense start. The players seemed to be taking full advantage of the inexperience of the officiating crew, in particular Norwegian referee Hans Ronning who had little international experience and received the job in part as a nod to Norway having been awarded the 1994 Winter Olympics. Players spent most of the game cross-checking and slashing each other with impunity, while the officials ignored the infractions. After scoring Canada's opening goal, the always classy Theo Fleury made matters worse by sliding across center ice on his knees, pretending his stick was a machine gun and "shooting" at the Soviet bench (eat your heart out, Kyle Beach).

Midway through the game, Canada led 4-2 and the only question seemed to be whether the Canadian team would be able to reach the 5 goal differential they needed to secure the gold medal. Unfortunately, we'd never find out, as another skirmish after a face-off turned into an all out line brawl and finally a bench clearing donny-brook that would live in infamy:

When the dust settled, both teams were disqualified from the tournament, all their records stricken from the books, and all but two players suspended for 18 months (later reduced to 6) from international competition. The two players who ducked punishment were Canadian backup goaltender Jimmy Waite and Pierre Turgeon, who was later vilified by his teammates for refusing to leave the bench during the fight.

Ultimately, the careers of the players were relatively unscathed. 7 of the Russian players went on to the NHL (5 would win Stanley Cups) and 19 of the 20 Canadians would also reach the NHL. Theo Fleury went on to become the first (known) Blackhawk to spend 3 days on a crack bender in a Chicago housing project.

And somewhere in an empty arena in Slovakia, Pierre Turgeon's sorry ass is probably still sitting on that bench.

LOOKING BACK: Bill Mosienko

Meatheads@hockeenight.com (Forklift) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMT

For those who have been reading us for a while, you know we have a certain fondness for Bill Mosienko, our original Banner Boy.

Mosienko was one of the all-time greats for the Chicago Blackhawks. He played 14 years in the NHL, amassing 258 goals and 282 assists. Every game he ever played in the NHL was in a Blackhawks sweater.

Of his 258 goals, however, there were three in 21 seconds that will live forever. Mosienko holds the NHL record for fastest hat trick, getting three past the Rangers' Lorne Anderson at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 1952.

While that was a great story, he acomplished much more in his NHL career. He skated on the "Pony Line", on the right wing with Max and Doug Bentley.

The Winnipeg native was a damn fine player, appearing in 5 All-Star games, and getting two Second Team All-Star Team selections. He also won the Lady Byng Trophy for the 1944-45 season.

Mosienko had the misfortune of being a damn good player on some damn bad teams. His only trip to the Stanley Cup Finals was in 1944, where Mosienko ran into a right winger he had no answer for, Maurice Richard. He did, however, have an impressive season that year, racking up 70 points in 50 games during the regular season, as well as another 4 during the playoffs.

That was to be his best season. He would generally hover around the 50 point area, and would play a solid game for a small (even for his day) player.

Mosienko came to the Blackhawks during World War II, and his first couple seasons were abbreviated, as Mosienko enlisted in the Canadian armed forces, spending his time in the service working in a shipyard in Quebec.

After Mosienko's Blackhawks career, he went back to Winnipeg, and played four seasons with the Winnpieg Warriors of the Western Hockey League. He then finished his career as coach of the Warriors. Winnipeg honored him by renaming the Keewatin Arena as the Bill Mosienko Arena.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965, and he passed away in 1994.

LOOKING BACK: The Blackhawk That Should Have Been, But Wasn’t - Frank ‘Big M’ Mahovlich

gingrasmorris@gmail.com (Dave Morris) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:28:00 GMT

By Dave Morris, exclusive to Hockeenight!

You can never have too much talent. Or can you?

Is it possible to measure the lust that swirled around the possibility that the Hawks might swoop in and snare Ilya Kovalchuk, the hockey equivalent of a cruise missile, before the March 2010 trade deadline? Probably not.

But that pales next to the frenzy created by the trade that was, and then wasn’t, for the Kovalchuk of the 1960’s...Frank Mahovlich, ‘The Big M’. At the time, Mahovlich was the only player who came close to matching Bobby Hull’s fifty goals in a single season.

When the Chicago Black Hawks won their last Stanley Cup in 1961, they boasted an array of superstars that may only be matched by the current line-up. Hull, Stan Mikita, Glenn Hall and Pierre Pilote were the core of that team. One might argue that their modern day equivalents could be Toews, Kane, Keith and Hossa; but none of those players match—at least not yet—the intrinsic greatness of those men.

After all, Hull and Mikita were no older than Toews and Kane when they captured the Cup.

Having secured the ultimate price following more than a quarter century, the hunger for another victory, and the respect it engenders, was as ardent then as that of the fans in Chicago today. None was hungrier than the owner of the Black Hawks, the mercurial, fast-living, hard-drinking Jimmy Norris, whose brother Bruce owned the hated Detroit Red Wings.

As the 1962-63 season approached, Jimmy was in the mood to make something big happen. He’d given his brother a smackdown in the spring of ’61 as the Hawks had crushed the Wings in the Olympia and stolen the mug.

But he needed another one. Because sibling rivalry is what it is.

When Jimmy Norris met Toronto Maple Leafs owner Stafford Smythe for dinner and drinks in the fall of 1962, a deal was struck. A deal that couldn’t be struck in today’s PC CBA world. A deal between two incredibly rich guys whose hockey teams were their stable of skating thoroughbreds.

According to reports, as the whiskey flowed, Norris listened to Smythe talk about how his super-scorer Frank Mahovlich was threatening to walk out on the team over a contract dispute. The story goes that Norris offered Smythe a cool million to take the moody superstar off his hands.

The men shook hands, the terms scribbled on a cocktail napkin. Norris pulled a grand, maybe two, or three, or more, out of his pocket as a cash deposit. A check would be delivered when dawn broke.

When Bruce Norris heard about this—and no one seems to know who spilled the beans—he made a phone call to Stafford’s dad, the Darth Vader of hockey—Conn Smythe.

The elder Smythe, whose ruthlessness had been instrumental in the NHL’s seizure of hockey in North America as the domain of a cabal of power brokers, ripped his wayward son a new one.

When Black Hawk GM Tommy Ivan arrived at Maple Leaf Gardens with the million dollar check in hand, he was rebuffed.

The Toronto Star’s Milt Dunnell, one of the senior hockey writers in Canada, describes the situation as follows: “During a reception between team executives in the days before the All-Star Game, Chicago Black Hawks owner James D. Norris offered the Leafs $1 million for Mahovlich. He believed he had an agreement with Leafs co-owner Harold Ballard and paid $1,000 as a deposit with the balance to be delivered by check the next morning. The next day, the Leafs gave Mahovlich the money he had been asking for, and told the Black Hawks that their apparent agreement the night before had been a misunderstanding. The Leafs returned the $1,000 deposit. The Black Hawks accused the Leafs of reneging on a deal. Conn Smythe, at this point a minority shareholder in the Leafs, was adamant that the deal should be rejected.”

Dunnell went into further detail in a 2008 Star feature “Conn Smythe nixed Norris deal”. The article is so juicy, it’s worth reading it in its entirety.

“Not more than three or four persons actually knew the real story of what happened between the Leafs and Jim Norris, the night he bought the Big M for more money than ever was paid for one athlete. Because the main participants had been into the grape, following a shinny dinner, it was logical to shrug off the whole affair as an alcoholic publicity stunt.

“It wasn't that. But for Conn Smythe, who built the Gardens and organized the Leafs, the Big M would have become a Black Hawk and the new Gardens group would have pocketed a million dollars.

“The deal was made by Harold Ballard, representing the Gardens, and Norris. Both had been fortified by the gargle. Conn Smythe first heard of it after midnight when he received a call at home from Bruce Norris, Jim's brother.

“Bruce was concerned on a couple of counts. One, he felt Jim was being taken; and two, as owner of the Detroit Red Wings, he didn't want to see the Black Hawks get Mahovlich to go along with Bobby Hull. That would have given Hawks more firepower on the left side than a battery of anti-tank guns.

“ ‘Find Stafford (Smythe) and have him call me,’ the elder Smythe instructed. An hour later, Bruce Norris called again. He hadn't been able to locate Smythe's son. Meanwhile, the story of the sale had gone out to every newspaper and radio station on the continent. The Chicago Tribune gave it front page, top headline billing.

“It was 3 a.m. when Staff Smythe finally contacted his father, who asked whether it was true that Mahovlich had been sold to the Hawks. Staff confirmed the deal – and proceeded to get a lecture from his old man. Conn Smythe, a long-time friend of Norris, made two shattering points: No player was worth a million dollars, so they had taken advantage of the whiskey to make a sale. If the Leafs were lucky enough to have a player for whom that kind of money was offered, he belonged in Toronto – not in Chicago.

“Stafford Smythe readily agreed with his father's arguments. He informed Ballard the deal would have to be washed out. Norris, meanwhile, had gone to bed, believing he had bought a hockey player.

“In the cold light of dawn, he might not have been as enthusiastic about it as he was during the previous night's conviviality. However, he was committed, coast-to-coast. He knew nothing of the intervention by Conn Smythe and Bruce Norris.

“So he made out his check for a millionbucks and sent his general manager, Tommy Ivan, to the Gardens with it. Stafford Smythe rejected the check, with the blunt explanation to one sports writer: ‘We never rolled a drunk yet and we don't have to start now.’

“Almost a week later, sportscaster Joe Morgan announced the deal would go through after all. Morgan had discovered that Gardens directors had asked Staff Smythe to determine whether Jim Norris still wanted to get rid of his million dollars.

“If he did, they were in favor of proceeding. It was pointed out that a million dollars was equal to almost a total season's take for hockey. After a respectable drying-out period, the alcoholic content of the negotiations was negligible.

“Morgan assumed Norris still would buy. That was the only respect in which he was mistaken. King Clancy, who was sent to Chicago to inquire whether the marketplace had been closed, returned with word that it was no dice. Norris was off the hook. He was in no mood to get on again.

“Conn Smythe came in for some mumbled criticisms from a few Gardens directors. Their beef was that the Little Pistol had received a good price for his Gardens stock. Having sold out, he shouldn't try to dictate Gardens policy. However, they agreed it was difficult to disagree with his logic.

“Mahovlich also received a frantic call from his father. The elder Mahovlich said: ‘You've been sold to Chicago for a million dollars. Make sure somebody pays for moving your furniture.’”

Obviously. Bruce Norris didn’t want his playboy brother owning the two best scorers in the game.

Mahovlich, already humiliated by his mistreatment in Toronto, was as cynical as one could expect. “I’m not getting any of the money,” he told Associated Press reporters. When asked if he had any objections to being sold, he said, “What’s wrong with Chicago? I don’t care where I play as long as I get my bucks.”

There’s more irony in this story. A few years later, Mahovlich was traded to the Wings in a blockbuster deal. Bruce Norris got what he wanted, though the Big M couldn’t help a Detroit team that was sinking into mediocrity in the Ned Harkness Era.

Mahovlich was packed off to Montreal where he played some of the best hockey of his career and won another Cup.

I remember all of this very well, though I was no more than a sprig at the time. The Big M was my favorite player, and the Hawks being my favorite team, the thought of Mahovlich and Bobby Hull together was too good to be true.

It was too good to be true.

So what does all of this have to do with the lust for Ilya? Just that knowing Hawkey karma dictated then, and dictates now, that there is such a thing as too much talent.