If the Hawks and their fans have anything to look forward to in the teams’ 2005 1^st Round draft choice it’s that he doesn’t hesitate to shoot the puck.  In his fourth game as a pro, Jack Skille converted on two of his four official shots on goal putting his season total at three.  Skille’s play stood out on a night that the Norfolk team didn’t seem to be with it.

The Wisconsin Badger’s first of the night came 2:43 into the second frame, bringing the Admirals within one goal of the River Rats.  Skille made a nifty move past an Albany defender after receiving a pass and pumped a wrist shot over the Albany netminder’s shoulder.  The other, a thirty-foot wrist shot off a rush with 17 seconds left in the contest closed the scoring.  On the second, Skille picked up a feed from his center Dave Bolland inside the Admirals zone and quickly rushed up the far boards before putting the low wrister past Albany goalie Tyler Wieman.  Bolland assisted on both of Skille’s goals.

Martin St. Pierre got his 25^th of the season when he fired a puck through a Jack Skille screen past Wieman while on the power play at 6:36 of the second.  Dustin Byfuglien and Pierre Parenteau assisted on that goal.

Albany has won three straight games against Norfolk. 

Mike Brodeur was in net and stopped 21 shots.  Corey Crawford served in net on Friday in Philadelphia stopping 29 of 30 pucks.

Jake Dowell did not play.  Adam Burish also sat out after receiving a game misconduct Friday after a fight in which it was ruled that he did not tie his fight strap to his pants, thus giving him an unfair advantage in the confrontation.  The Admirals leading goal scorer Troy Brouwer(40) missed his second straight game.  David Koci dressed after returning from Chicago.

Norfolk next plays Wednesday, the first of two straight home games against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.  The two are the final regular season home games for Norfolk as the Chicago Blackhawks AHL affiliate.  The Penguins have 98 points and are in third place behind the Admirals with two games in hand.

Norfolk also lost out in the standings Saturday night.  The Hershey Bears, affiliate of the Washington Capitals, defeated Bridgeport Sound Tigers to put themselves past Norfolk into first place in the AHL East.  Hershey winger Chris Bourque, son of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, scored his 21, 22, & 23 goals of the season to go along with an assist on a power play tally.  Former Norfolk Admiral fan favorite and Blackhawks prospect Quintin Laing scored the game winner, his 15^th of the season.  Norfolk has six games remaining, including one at Hershey on April 7.

The River Rats are the Carolina Hurricane AHL affiliate.  They are currently in fourth place in Norfolk’s East Division.  The two teams could potentially meet in the first round of the AHL playoffs.  Their lineup included Shane Willis, Ryan Bayda, Anti Laaksonen, and Keith Aucoin.

The Chicago Wolves lost 2-1 during overtime in Grand Rapids before nearly 11,000 people on Saturday night.  With 92 points and five regular season games remaining the Wolves are in first place in the AHL West, 1 point ahead of the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights.

Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe turns 79 today.

Update on a story we posted on Thursday.  The New York Islanders signed former Hawks defenseman Todd Simpson and expected him to be in the lineup this weekend as the Isles continue their beleaguered drive for the final playoff spot in the East.  Well, Simpson won’t be playing for the Islanders after all; at least not yet.  The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has sent a request to the NHL that the league uphold the German Ice Hockey League’s indefinite suspension of Simpson.  Simpson will not be able to play for the Isles tonight when they host the Ottawa Senators.

Simpson was a member of the Hannover Scorpions.  His suspension was the result of an abuse of an official incident which took place in the Scorpions final playoff game.

The NHL has scheduled a hearing for Monday to review the details of the incident and determine Simpson’s NHL status.

Islanders’ GM Garth Snow has responded by signing another former Hawks d-man, Deron Quint.  Quint played for Chicago in the 2003-04 season, scoring 4 goals and 7 assists in 51 games.  He had also played in the German league this season with the Berlin Polar Bears.  According to hockeydb.com, he played in 52 games scoring 18 goals and 28 assists for 46 points on the season.  Quint had also played for the same team the previous season.  He must clear the 24 hour waiver period before being eligible to play for Ted Nolan’s team.

A good follow-up to the Blackhawks’ strategy of giving free tickets away on Ticketmaster.  I wasn’t aware of the Red Eye promotion.  According to the article, only 100 of 200 club level seats set aside for that deal were claimed.  Barry Melrose is interviewed in the story.  Great point made by a fan named Bob about Bill Wirtz.  “(Wirtz)’ not putting the home games on local TV because they want to protect the season ticket-holder and the value of my investment.  Now he’s giving away the tickets.”  Hawk fan Bob is also disgruntled about his season ticket holder gift.  Keep in mind that this gift is only sent to the person whose name is on the account.  Only one gift per account no matter how many seats are owned.  Free Hawks seats go begging; Eric Benderoff, Chicago Tribune

Ruutu searches for his 'A' game; Bob Foltman, Chicago Tribune

Pointed Hawks victory snaps six game slide; Len Ziehm, Sun-Times

Tallon getting jump on draft; Tim Sassone, Daily Herald

Hawks respond to Savard's challenge; Sassone, Daily Herald

What happened to the Oiler's; Edmonton Sun/Slam Sports

Our preview of Sunday afternoon’s home game with Edmonton will be up this evening.

General Manager Dale Tallon returned LW David Koci to the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL on Saturday.

In nine games with Chicago, Koci was held without a point.  Coach Denis Savard afforded Koci little ice time in the stretch.  Due to fulfilling the enforcer role and amassing 88 penalty minutes in those nine games, the winger had begun to develop a cult-like following amongst the fans that still care enough to follow the team.

Koci now returns to his minor league stats in which he has 212 penalty minutes and 3 assists in 39 games.

Savard was quoted in papers this past week that he’d like to see Koci work on his skating this off-season.

Press Release here

Havlat & Co. celebrate
Photo credit: Nam Y.Huh, AP/Yahoo Sports

Twenty-six seconds after Patrick Sharp opened the scoring Friday night at the United Center, netting his 19^th on the campaign, beleaguered Blackhawks winger Martin Havlat ended the longest scoring drought of his career scoring his 25^th of the season, stopping his personal streak at 13 games.

Havlat’s team also put an end to its six game losing streak, the last four being at the United Center. 

Martin Lapointe netted his 13^th of the season, a short-handed goal on a nice passing sequence between he and Denis Arkhipov.  Lapointe had 14 goals in 82 games last season for the Hawks.

Columbus spoiled Patrick Lalime’s bid at his second shutout of the season when Jason Chimera directed a Nikolai Zherdev pass behind the Chicago netminder at the 11:56 of the second while on the same power play the ‘Jackets had given up the prior short-handed goal.

The home team started slow, but picked up the physical pace following coach Denis Savard’s criticisms in the meeting at practice Thursday.

Lalime was the star of the first period, keeping the game scoreless after a couple of terrible Blackhawk’ defensive zone breakdowns.  One, Cam Barker unloaded a blistering body check that left him out of position and Lalime denied a Geoff Platt point-blank backhander 7:30 minutes in.  Lalime stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced but was not named one of the stars of the game.

Lalime’s counterpart, former Chicago backup Brian Boucher only stopped 15 of the 18 shots he faced.  Boucher was signed by the Hawks in training camp after Lalime was sidelined for three months with herniated disk.  Upon returning, Lalime edged out Boucher for the backup spot and Boucher was eventually put on waivers.  He was claimed after Columbus goaltender Pascal Leclaire was lost to injury for the year and Ty Conklin was traded to Buffalo after the Sabres traded Martin Biron to Philadelphia.

Brent Seabrook was named the first star of the game.  He assisted on all three Chicago goals and was a plus-3.  Number 7 was also credited with four hits.

The Hawks did not convert on only two minutes and fourteen seconds of power play time in the game.  On the other side, the Hawks penalty killing unit got a short-handed goal and killed off 5-6 man advantages.

David Koci, Jeff Hamilton, and Tony Salmelainen sat most of the third period.  Duncan Keith played 29:28, Seabrook 26:42, and Adrian Aucoin 20:25 to lead the Hawks in ice time.

Keith was awarded a penalty shot in the third when he was hooked on a breakaway chance.  His attempt was stopped by Boucher.  It was the first penalty shot awarded to a Blackhawks player since Steve Sullivan on February 25, 2003.  Sullivan did not convert either.  The last Hawk to score on a penalty shot was Alex Zhamnov.  The last time its happened at home was when Troy Murray did it in 1987.

The season series with Columbus finished tied with each team winning four of eight.  Technically, with the Blackhawks losing 1/16 in OT, Chicago earned more points in the series 9-8.

The Hawks finish their six game homestand on Sunday afternoon against Edmonton.  The Oilers are 1-14 since trading Ryan Smyth to the Islanders at the trade deadline.  They are in the midst of a three game losing streak, last losing in St. Louis on Thursday.  The Oilers played their final home game of the season on March 24.  Sunday will be the third game of a six game road trip, finishing the Edmonton season.

Jack Skille scored his first professional hockey goal for the Norfolk Admirals Friday night at the old Spectrum in Philadelphia.  In his third game with the Admirals, Skille scored an even strength goal to put Norfolk ahead of the Philadelphia Phantoms 5-0 at 14:58 of the second period.  The goal was assisted by Jonas Nordqvist and Dave Bolland.  Norfolk went on to win the game 5-1.

Adam Burish opened the scoring in the first with his tenth goal.  Dave Bolland, Carl Corazzini, and Pierre Parenteau followed with lamp-lighters in the second period.

The three stars of the game were all Admirals.  Dave Bolland was named first star, followed by Jack Skille and Jonas Nordqvist.

Norfolk is tops in the league with 103 points.  Their Eastern Division rival Hershey Bears have 102 points.  The Bears kept pace with Norfolk Friday night, shutting out Wilkes-Barre 3-0 on the road.  Hershey is hosting Bridgeport tonight.

The Admirals move on to Albany tonight to face the River Rats at 6pm central time.  We’ll have a report up tonight after that game is over.

Justice may have finally been served.  Instead of conducting a regular on-ice practice Thursday, coach Denis Savard cancelled the ice time and forced his team to watch Wednesday night’s 3-1 loss to Anaheim.  Hey, if we’ve gotta do it….  What effect will this have?  Who knows?  After all, we’re at game number 77 of 82 tonight.  I find it hard to believe that the team hasn’t watched a tape of themselves performing badly and having their mistakes pointed out in front of a roomful of teammates.  Denis Savard was always a showman.  I think he says things and reacts the way he believes people would expect him to at times.  I’m not saying Thursday’s meeting wasn’t warranted, but it was the day after the sixth loss in a row.  Why not after the 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th loss?

Savard to Blackhawks: You can't accept this!; Tim Sassone, Daily Herald

Ruutu nominated for Masterson trophy; Bob Foltman, Tribune

NHL matching NBA ratings; Globe and Mail

We mentioned the other day that the Norfolk Admirals would be aligning themselves with the Tampa Bay Lighting starting next year.  Here is the official announcement.

Norfolk travels to Philadelphia for the second of a home and home with the Phantoms.  Saturday, the Admirals travel to Albany.

With a little over a week remaining on the schedule, here’s how the playoff match-ups would align if the postseason were to begin tonight.

East:

#1 Buffalo (105 pts) vs. #8 Montreal (86 pts)

#2 Pittsburgh (100 pts) vs. #7 Tampa Bay (86 pts)

#3 Atlanta (91 pts) vs. #6 NY Rangers (87 pts)

#4 New Jersey (98 pts) vs. #5 Ottawa (98 pts)

Toronto (85), NY Islanders, Toronto (84)
West:

#1 Detroit (105 pts) vs. #8 Calgary (94 pts)

#2 Anaheim (104 pts) vs. #7 Minnesota (98 pts)

#3 Vancouver (101 pts) vs. #6 San Jose (98 pts)

#4 Nashville (105 pts) vs. #5 Dallas (98 pts)

Colorado (87)
The Red Wings beat Nashville 2-1 last night in Tennessee.  It was their final meeting in the regular season.

A Blue Jackets’ sponsor is about to turn internet dating on its’ ear.  FarmersOnly.com  Uh-huh, just for you hillbilly’s, rednecks, and tobacco snuffers, cuz “City folks just don’t get it.”  Their commercials run during Blue Jackets telecasts on FoxSportsOhio.

Manny Malhotra and Denis Arkhipov
photo credit: ChicagoBlackhawks.com

Tonight’s game

Home Game #39 – Friday, March 30 – 7:30pm

Columbus Blue Jackets 32-38-0-7, Overall (15-21-0-3, on Road) 4^th-Central, 11^th Conf.

at Chicago Blackhawks 27-40-0-9, Overall (14-20-0-4, at Home) 5^th-Central, 15^th Conf.

The eighth and final meeting of the season between the two bottom teams in the Central is tonight.  Columbus has won 4 of the seven, one being an overtime win on Versus in their last appearance at the United Center in January.  Jason Chimera ended that overtime session on a 3-1 chance after a Cam Barker turnover in the Hawks’ zone.  Nikolai Khabibulin allowed 5 goals on 18 shots that evening.  Chicago has been outscored 26-23 in the 7 matches.

Martin Havlat has enjoyed much success against Columbus as a Hawk with three goals and seven assists in six games.  Havlat’s scoring slump stands at 13 games.

Blue Jackets' goalie Fredrick Noreena has started the last six games in the season series.  He was pulled in three of those games; 2/11 in the first, 1/16 in the second, and 12/16 after the first period.  Noreena was in net and gave up four goals against on Thursday against Anaheim.  We’re likely to see ex-Blackhawk Brian Boucher face his former ‘mates tonight.  It’s almost certain that tonight’s game will feature a battle of this year’s Blackhawks backup goaltenders.

Columbus lost to the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 at Nationwide Arena Thursday night.  The Blue Jackets are 6-4 in their last ten outings and 8-5 this month.  Sergei Fedorov scored his 18^th of the season off a dish from Rick Nash.  Fredrick Modin has five goals in his last five games including two in the March 20^th, a 5-2 beating of the Hawks in Columbus.

Sergei Fedorov is still in the ‘Jackets lineup as a defenseman due to a shortage of healthy d-men.  The Hawks would like to due a better job of attacking Fedorov as he is surviving on skating ability and natural skill back there.  Fedorov likes to lead the rush and does get caught out of position.  In four on four situations, coach Ken Hitchcock is quick to put Fedorov’s pairing on the ice.  That can be dangerous at both ends of the rink.

• Four!:  When the Hawks score 4 four or more goals they’re 14-2-3.  If they only manage 3 or less, 13-38-6.
• Hawks all-time United Center record: 201-190-52-29 (or a -18 win or go home disappointed differential)
• Fight!:  In the series; Richmond vs. Manny Malhotra 3/20, Troy Brouwer vs. Malhotra 2/11, Lapointe vs. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen 12/31, Duncan Keith vs. Alexander Svitov 12/31
• Columbus usually gets off to a slow start.  They have allowed 16 more goals than they’ve scored in the first period this season.  The Hawks should be pushing for a quick start due to their own -42 second period goal differential in the second period.  Columbus gets better as the game goes on with just a -18 in the second, and a -4 in the third.  Denis Savard’s crew is +1 in the first and -13 in the third.
• The Hawks power play may get some practice tonight.  Only two teams in the NHL average more penalty minutes than Columbus.
• Fredrick Modin and Rick Nash each have 4 goals this season vs. Chicago.  Svitov, Vyborny, Fedorov, Malhotra, and Duvie Westcott all have 2 lamplighters.   Sixteen different Blue Jackets was goals vs. Chicago this season.
• On the Chicago side, Patrick Sharp has 4 goals vs. Columbus.  Smolinski also had four.  Havlat has three.  Lapointe, Hamilton, along with the departed Lasse Kukkonen have 2.  12 different Hawks have scored vs. Columbus.
• Hawks in the Shoot-Out:  Here are the shoot-out stats for players with three or more attempts.  Havlat is 2-6.  Ruutu is 2-4.  Vrbata is 1-5.  Hamilton is 4-8.
• Hawks vs. Columbus all-time:  17-14-2-3 in 36 games.  At home, Chicago is 10-5-1-1 in 17 games against the ‘Jackets.
• 06-07 Power-Plays:  Hawks are 5-29 for 17.2% vs. Columbus.  The’Jackets have converted on 10-37 for 27%.  In other words, stay out of the box Arkie.
• Denis Savard has said that Patrick Lalime would see more action in the final games and tonight would figure to one of those times.  Khabibulin has surrendered 25 goals in 6 appearance vs. Columbus this year.  His save percentage in those games is horrendous.  He’s stopped 134 of 159 shots for an 84.3% save percentage.
• Lastly. if you’re going to make the trek to the United Center before the final home game against Detroit next Thursday, it may as well be tonight.  After all, the April 5^th game against the Red Wings is being broadcast on Comcast.  Moreso than that, tonight you can get in free.  That’s right.  NHL hockey is free tonight.  The most clever idea our hockey club’s marketing and promotions department could think of, the ticket gimmick on ticketmaster is still in effect.  The password “FRIDAY” will get your lady frisked by off-duty Chicago cops upon entering the UC for a small ticketmaster service & entertainment tax charge.  Limit two per credit card please.  Cheers!

Tonight’s officials:

Referees: Don VanMassenhoven #21, Brian Pochmara #43

Linesman: Pat Dapuzzo #60, Lyle Seitz #61

The white guy is back for another attempt at singing the anthem

Brandon Bochenski has wasted no time making the most of the change of scenery bestowed upon him on February 3^rd.  That day Hawks General Manager Dale Tallon sent the player he acquired a year earlier for one-time Hawk hopeful Tyler Arnason to the Boston Bruins for minor league winger Kris Versteeg.

The player that Trent Yawney and Denis Savard couldn’t find a use for is thriving in Beantown.  In 26 games with the Briuns, Bochenski has scored 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points.  He is also boasts a plus-7 rating.  Kris Versteeg has played 22 games with the Hawks farm team Norfolk Admirals.  Versteeg has managed just 3 goals to go along with his 15 helpers.  He is one of only three Admirals with a minus rating.

On Thursday, playing on a line with rookie Phil Kessel and winger Petr Tenkrat, Bochenski figured in on both Boston markers against Pittsburgh.  Bochenski opened the scoring against the Penguins just 45 seconds into the game.  He then gave the puck to Phil Kessel who promptly tied the game at two a side ten minutes later.

Bryan Smolinski is hardly paying dividends for the Vancouver Canucks as of yet.  After scoring a power-play goal on Thursday in Los Angeles, in sixteen games, ‘Smokes’ has just three goals and three helpers.  Chicago will receive a 2^nd round draft pick in either 2007 or 2008 depending whether or not Vancouver resigns him.  Smolinski was acquired by the Canucks partly to be a right-handed shot on their second power play unit and has been replaced at times of late on that unit by Trevor Linden.

Lasse Kukkonen, sent to Philadelphia in the deal that temporarily brought Kyle Calder back to the Hawks before sending him to Detroit for Jason Williams, does not have a point in 14 games with the Flyers.  Kukkonen is even in the plus/minus category and averages around 18 minutes of ice time a night.

Karl Stewart, the diminutive Charley Hustle esque winger, was traded to Tampa Bay for Nikita Alexeev in one of the last deals approved at the deadline.  Stewart has appeared in only 5 games for Tampa and is pointless.  In those 5 appearances, he has just one shot on goal, 2 penalty minutes, and is a -1.  The 6’5” skill-full Alexeev, has similar stats in double the opportunities.  A healthy scratch of late, Alexeev has 1 goal on 11 shots and is a -5 in 10 games played.

Here is a list of some former Blackhawks active around the league.  Stats are updated through games ending Thursday, March 29, 2007.

Skaters