For hockey fans, Labor Day is typically the turning point from summer into the anticipation of the impending hockey season. It seems like it all just ended and here it is upon us once again. And that's a good thing. The greatest sport in the world, some of us would say, and you can never get too much of that. At least I can't.
-- I contributed a quick synopsis on the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks for Greg Wyshinski's Blackhawks' preview Monday at Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy blog. You can see it here.
-- Wanted to thank all those who sent in notes after seeing this week's Hockey News (currently on newsstands with John Tavares on cover). I preferred 'dawdling' to 'dwindling' when referring to Cristobal Huet's reflexes, but I can be accused of getting a bit too wordy at times.
-- We're back on the air tonight at 8pm over at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn for another edition of The Third Man In ~ Radio. You can stream with us live and we'll be taking your calls over the course of the hour-plus. Remember, 'Email from a dope' on tonight's show, as well as some great ones from some of our intelligent listeners, which is the vast majority. However, the occasional 'dope' manages to slip one in there every now and then. Lots of Blackhawks discussion on tonight's show for those of you into that kind of thing. On next week's show Sam Fels, editor of The Committed Indian and one of our friends and writers over at SecondCityHockey.com.
-- To the unaware, NHL Network is re-airing the 2009 Western Conference Finals series, Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks, Monday through Friday this week withfirst-run showings at 6pm central, then again at 9pm and midnight. The games air in two hour, truncated form with intermissions omitted.
-- The only ComcastSportsNet-Chicago pre season broadcast will be of the first exhibition game, Saturday September 19th when the Washington Capitals visit the United Center at 7:30pm. That game will replay on the 21st at 1pm for anyone stuck on a couch or bar stool at that time of the the day on a Monday. Which according to Yahoo! is eleven percent of you.
-- Comcast locally will be replaying the following '09 Blackhawks playoff games on successive Sunday evenings this month:
Sept 13 - Gm 6 - Hawks at Calgary (4/27/09) - 7:30pm Sept 20 - Gm 4 - Hawks at Vancouver (5/4/09) - 7:30pm Sept 27 - Gm 6 - Vancouver at Blackhawks (5/11/09) - 7:30pm * Game six of the Canucks series in no way was one of the greatest games in Blackhawks history, but it was entertaining as hell and worth clearing a Sunday night for one more viewing for sure.
-- Speaking of Comcast, they apparently blocked their reporter Josh Mora from doing a Q&A with the SecondCityHockey.com readers late last week. We live in a strange world.
-- Rockford IceHogs single-game tickets go on sale this Wednesday, 10am at MetroCentre.com. I joke about Rockford here from time to time but the MetroCentre isn't a bad place to watch a game as I've done numerous times now over the past two seasons. If you're heading out from Chicago on a weekday late afternoon however, leave yourself two hours before whenever you'd like to be in your seat.
-- Sunday was the 18th anniversary of the trade that ended Doug Wilson's Blackhawks career. Should've never postponed that off season surgery to play golf for two months. Blackhawks sent Wilson to the Sharks as San Jose prepared for its inagural NHL season in exchange for no-talented tough guy Kerry Toporowski and the Sharks' second-round pick in the 1992 NHL draft. Ironically, that pick turned into future Blackhawk defenseman Boris Mironov, but it was Winnipeg who drafted him as the Hawks would trade that pick to the Jets. (Mironov, unfortunately, became a Blackhawk in 1999) Here's how that went down. At the draft table on June 20, 1992, head coach/general manager Mike Keenan swapped his '92 first and second round picks (#17 and #27) with Winnipeg for the Jets' first and second, picks #12 and #36. Keenan used the Jets' original selections to make Sergei Krivokrasov and Jeff Shantz (of the Regina Pats) Blackhawks. Winnipeg chose Sergei Bautin with the 17th and Mironov the 27th. Some felt Krivokrasov was an underachieving playmaking/scoring winger over the course of his six-year Chicago career but a more accurate portrayal was he was simply an overrated Russian who emerged at a time when virtually every team was looking to strike gold with the next Russian sensation. Shantz was seen as the eventual successor to Brent Sutter, and for a time he was on that track, but he never contributed offensively with any sort of consistency and was traded to Calgary early in the 98-99 season after six in an Indian head. If it is your want to over-analyze every Blackhawks draft (hey, what else are we supposed to do on Sept 8th?) in choosing Krivokrasov (I'd give anything to hear Harvey Wittenberg attempt to announce that name over the p.a. one more time) and Shantz with the 12 and 36 picks, Mike Keenan passed over defenseman Sergei Gonchar (14th to Washington) and center Michael Peca (40th to Vancouver). Yeah, the Hawks might have been a little better in the late 90's had they drafted those two instead.
-- Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else but Sunday was also the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Blackhawks choosing not to invite Tony Esposito to their 1984 training camp and Esposito subsequently retired. Murray Bannerman had already succeeded Esposito as the number one goalie playing 56 games in '83-84 to Esposito's 18 (4.82 gaa, 5-10-3 W-L-T record). Warren Skorodenski (5'8 - 165lbs) became the back up at that point and appeared in 27 games, posting a 3.22 goals against average in '84-85. Esposito would quickly join the Pittsburgh organization under Eddie Johnston as director of hockey operations and eventually replaced Johnston as GM for roughly a season and a half (88- Dec 89) when Craig Patrick took over. A job Patrick held, amazingly for 17 years. While Penguins' GM, Esposito was elected and joined the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and had his number 35 retired and raised to the Chicago Stadium rafters in a joint ceremony alongside Glenn Hall on November 20, 1988. That night the Hawks played Vancouver and lost 7-4.
-- Dale Tallon left the radio/television broadcast booth to become Hawks' Director of Player Personnel eleven years ago yesterday, September 7, 1998. Dale briefly returned to the booth alongside Pat Foley for the 2002-03 season and two months of the following season after a dispute with then general manager Mike Smith. When Smith was axed, Tallon immediately left the broadcast team (sucks to be Billy Gardner) and returned to hockey operations where he was being groomed to be the next GM while Bob Pulford finished pruning the team in preparations for the 2004 summer labor negotiations and new collective bargaining agreement Bill Wirtz was convinced (or assured - take your pick) would include a salary cap. Wirtz was correct, even though it robbed fans of an entire season of NHL hockey, and Tallon was named the 8th General Manager in the organization's history on June 21, 2005, thirty-one days before the lockout officially ended.
-- On this day in 1986, the Blackhawks sent Ken Yaremchuk, Jerome Dupont and a 4th round pick in the 1987 draft (Leafs used to take Massachusetts HS winger Joe Sacco) to Toronto as compensation for signing defenseman Gary Nylund in free agency a few weeks prior.
Some details on this Saturday's second-annual Blackhawks Training Camp Festival.
Is the NHL still a Beer League? Doug Fischer, Ottawa Citizen - The tragic 10 - Derek Sanderson is one of the game's greatest characters but can you imagine someone like him in the NHL nowadays? Totally different era. Nowadays hockey fans tend to eat their own and anyone who betrays the standard, simple Canadian farm boy image. See Ray Emery in 2008 and Sean Avery every day. Makes one wonder how Patrick Kane can plead guilty to assaulting (defined as disorderly conduct in Buffalo) a 62 year old man and fans, at least locally, are bending over backwards to make excuses for the boyishly handsome ice hockey phenom. It'll be interesting to see how long that holds up both here and nationally. Anyhow, these two links are required reading. And Patrick Kane, and I'm positive I'm not the only person drilling this into his head these days, must alter his around-the-town extra ciriculars right away. Kane's lifestyle rumored to change drastically since moving out of Stan Bowman's northwest side basement and into a Trump Tower abode after his rookie campaign. Now that he's put himself under the microscope after his unfortunate night out-on-the-town in his hometown on August 8th, everyone will be keeping an eye out for him and his behavior, and that behavior, whether fair or not, will get out in some form somewhere. Not here, but in some places for sure.
** A word on our upcoming TTMI Fantasy Hockey League. Anyone interested in joining our league, you'll need to send me an email at
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or
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so I can forward you the invitation link. We have some spots left and if the demand is there, I'd be willing to post a second league and play in that one as well. And don't forget about our draft get together on Saturday night, September 26th at All-Stars Bar & Grill in Chicago. Even if you're not participating in our fantasy league, you're welcome to come down and have some beverages if you wish. Notre Dame is playing Purdue that night so that'll be on the teley. Our draft gets underway at 7:30 (for both those who'll be doing it live on location or wherever you are scattered across the country, 7:30 central though) but we'll be at All-Stars from 6-9:30 most likely. And who knows after that~?
** I'm looking to hear from anyone, as well as those who've shown interest in the past, who'd be willing to become contributors here on our site. It appears, at least as of this writing, I should be able to resume regular posting here on my end from this point forward and the newsletter should finally be up and running and out to you regularly at some point this week. So, if I'm concentrating on news updates and the occasional rants and historical pieces, I'd be interested in involving anyone who'd like to contribute game stories and opinion pieces. I can already see the demand for the radio show will expand that schedule from one to two or three shows per week, not to mention breaking news audio reaction in the event of major stories or happenings. The reality is I simply can't handle this entire load, keep a job and have somewhat of a social life concurrently without the site nearing dormancy at times. Which is why I'm asking for interested parties to contact me at
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to further discuss a potential involvement. As I detailed on the show a couple of weeks ago, the only other option would be to merge with another blog, and at some point that may be the best thing for both or more parties (as well as 'blog' readers) considering the anticipated surge of new Blackhawks blogs over the course of the next few months.
On Saturday, new Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman engaged in his first documented act in his new role as head of hockey operations, trading one of his team's three second-round picks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for picks the Leafs own in the second and third round of the 2011 draft.
The Hawks part with the pick they obtained when Dale Tallon dealt Robert Lang to Montreal last September when salary cap concerns forced the departure of the four million dollar center, who in 2007-08 posted 21 goals and 54 points in 76 games as a second-line center and power-play producer.
The following is a list of Blackhawks draft picks, as they stand today, for the 2010 and 2011 drafts:
2010
Rnd
Pick
Orig Owned
Notes
1
tbd
Blackhawks
2
tbd
Blackhawks
2
tbd
Calgary
obtained in 7/1/08 trade (Rene Bourque)
3
tbd
Blackhawks
4
tbd
Blackhawks
6
tbd
Blackhawks
7
tbd
Blackhawks
7
tbd
Dallas
obtained in 10/8/08 trade (Doug Janik)
* The missing fifth round pick was traded to Atlanta at this past draft, the Hawks picking up an extra 6th round choice in the 2009 draft and choosing David Pacan, the six-foot three center out of Canadian junior A (league below major junior) Cumberland Grads in the Central Junior A Hockey League (CJHL). Pacan is attending the University of Vermont on a full-ride this fall.
2011
Rnd
Pick
Orig Owned
Notes
1
tbd
Blackhawks
2
tbd
Blackhawks
2
tbd
Toronto
obtained in 9/5/09 trade (2010 2nd rd pk - Montreal)
3
tbd
Blackhawks
3
tbd
Toronto
obtained in 9/5/09 trade (2010 2nd rd pk - Montreal)
Tuesday September 1, 2009 edition of The Third Man In ~ Radio "Too Drunk To Taste Chicken"
It's the one thing we manage to do regularly and on time around here currently. Enjoy. A summary will follow at some point. It's not like I don't know what was discussed on the show, I was there, even hosted it, I'm just too exhausted to recall it all and would rather fall asleep watching Poker After Dark. Thanks to Tim for the additional opening audio. Well, I'm not exactly thrilled with his creation since it is, in fact, a complete burial of me, but even I must admit it's funny and well worth the listen on its own.
A reminder; the show is now up and available free of charge in the ITunes store by searching podcasts for "The Third Man In" or by simply clicking here where you can subscribe to our show and have it downloaded to your ITunes automatically.
Last week's show will remain available for the next few days in the player on the right side of our front page. The shows go well together for those who have an extra couple hours to waste. We'll be back on live next Tuesday night, September 8 at 8pm on BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
On next week's show, if our plans for a special guest don't pan out, we will discuss the Blackhawks, delve deep into the email bag and open the show with our brand new feature, "Email From a Dope." On September 15, Sam Fels, editor of The Committed Indian and contributor to SecondCityHockey.com.
We streamed an hour later than normal tonight because of a poorly-timed power failure in my house. Because its August 25th and there's a lull in Blackhawks news, we hit the email bag hard (
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) or
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and a smorgasbord of topics. From some frankly honest views about the direction of Blackhawks blogs, TTMI Radio content, future guests, answering criticism to my criticism of Patrick Kane, Kyle Beach and the past, present and future of PuckChatter.net.
There's a whole bunch else, but I leave you to discover it. But you do hear the story of how my computer started on fire, how the newsletter crashed our site and we cap it all off with a bit of TTMI ~ Karaoke.
And a special extension of gratitude goes to the boys over at HockeeNight.com and the PuckCast for sponsoring tonight's show and the tape and read they sent over for their spot. It's our first 'official' commercial spot. So thanks again to CT and "Forklift."
* The show is now available - for free - in the ITunes Store. Just search for The Third Man In, Chris Block or The Third Man In Radio and you'll find it and then you can subscribe and have it downloaded to your ITunes automatically. Or you can simply click that link~!
At approximately 10:20 last evening a cloud of black smoke blasted out the backside of my computer and apparently my pc has now given up on life. Not a good scene. Perhaps it was Blackhawks Nation sending viruses through my gateway as retribution for daring to speak ill of Pat Kane on a 'Blackhawks blog'? Whatever the case, my computer's f'd. I could operate from my laptop, but that's a Dell Inspiron and that's a piece of shit too (hope Dell doesn't advertise on here - if so I'll take it back - if they send me a new one). I should be up and running soon but its the data retrieval that may take a couple days. Being so, since the newsletter is almost entirely on that pc, I'll have to push the first issue off until Monday. For sure, you'll have it Monday, even if it means re-writing what was nearly finished work.
It's been one of those days and now I'm in one of those moods. Do I pull down the blinds, lock myself in a dark room and listen to After the Goldrush all day? Or should I put on my best Thursday afternoon drinking clothes, go down to the pub and get loaded? At the right venue I could do both.
For those who'd like to jump on the email list, the "TTMI Weekly" module on the left side of this page is where you can make that happen. Each Monday (sometimes Tuesday depending on the Hawks schedule) you'll receive a six to eight page newsletter (Monday's inagural issue could be much longer) devoted entirely to the Blackhawks, their affiliates, prospects and anything related to during the week that was. All-exclusive content and eventually some special features. This week we'll discuss the Patrick Kane saga in more depth than you could ever wish for complete with personal commentary and analysis. Also, some thoughts on the Theo Fleury comeback, the Jeremy Roenick retirement and Chris Chelios's future. In addition to that we'll have every piece of news Blackhawks and IceHogs related as we get ready for the 2009-10 hockey season.
Tonight's show is now available for listening in the embedded player below.
We discussed the latest news surrounding the Patrick Kane case, his first public appearance and statement and what was most-shocking about it on Monday. We also talk about what Kane needs to address, warning signs and what a potential plea and personal apology to Jan Radecki could mean. Also, we talked about the possibility of seeing Chris Chelios on the Chicago Wolves, if it would be fun, depressing or if "it's enough now." At some point we get into Jeremy Roenick's recent self-aggrandizing in playing for this Blackhawks number twenty-seven to be raised to the United Center rafters and our final resolutions on the matter. Debate the hypothetical if the Hawks had won the Cup in '92 would J.R.'s number retirement be an automatic? Other topics broached include the new "Madhouse on Madison", the 300 Level as a "destination experience," Everybody Loves Raymond, who "the biggest, laziest piece of garbage" in the NHL, the desolate roads that constitute our forums, and finally - contemplating the beating of a waiter over $5 change on a bucket of Miller Lite.
You can listen to this show as you can all of our TTMI ~ Radio programs in the show archive we're keeping on a dedicated page here.
TheThirdManIn~Radio airs every Tuesday night at 8pm central. Be sure to join us next week when we discuss all the latest Chicago Blackhawks news, rumors and controversies as always. We're now less than a month from the opening of training camp and with anticipation heating up, we'll be delving into the 2009-10 campaign with an in-depth look at not only the Blackhawks but their Central Division rivals, the Western Conference and league in general with analysis and preseason predictions. And next week, if we get around to it, we'll set aside some time to ask listeners the question "What on television is wider than Sarah Kustok's mouth?"
Find and click the radio player after the jump....
A Buffalo law enforcement official sourced in the story stated a plea agreement between the plaintiff, 62-year old Buffalo taxi driver Jan Radecki, and cousins Patrick Kane and James Kane is expected to be finalized by the end of the week.
"I think everything is going to be wrapped up by the end of the week. All parties are working in that direction," cited the official.
The Buffalo News speculates a plea would most-likely involve the Kanes "either pleading guilty to a violation - maybe harassment or disorderly conduct - or being granted an adjournement that could have the charges later dropped."
What that likely will result in is the Kanes admitting to a misdemeanor conduct or harassment charge, paying Radecki what will be an undisclosed sum of money and serving community service to go along with the 62-year old cab driver's request for a public apology from the riotous duo.
Andrew LoTempio, attorney for Radecki, told the Buffalo News his client is looking for a public apology from the Kanes.
"My client is looking for a direct public apology to him, not much more," said Andrew C. LoTempio, Radecki's attorney.
"He does not want [the Kanes] to have a criminal record," LoTempio said. "He does not want them to have any jail time. And he does not want to ruin Patrick Kane's career."
I'd presume he wants a more specific apology than the one Kane gave the hockey nation on Monday.
- In fairness, an hat-tip goes to Mike Kiley over at ChicagoNow Blackhawks Confidential, who had the story first thing this morning and I first came upon it when making my morning 'net rounds. Mike and Mark Kiley have been doing a bang-up job and their site is a must-stop daily for fans seeking Blackhawks analysis and commentary. Mike seems to believe Patrick Kane's side to the story should paint him in a brighter light, but also has his doubts whether Kane will ever, or should, have an audience for his version.
The execution of a plea, if this is the end to which this episode will come, is not a plain admission of guilt. We should make this clear. However, it will largely be seen as such in the higher courts of public opinion. Rightly or wrongly, Patrick Kane still has no one to blame but himself. Nor should he be perceived as a sympathetic figure, rather a young man with a lot of work to do in rebuilding his reputation and restoring his hockey-hero aura.
-- A reminder to join us live Tuesday night for another edition of TheThirdManIn~Radio. We'll stream live from 8 to 9 o'clock central time on our page on the BlogTalkRadio site. If you can't join us live, the show will be archive and available for downloading both at our BTR page and here on our site within an hour after we go off the air. You should be able to subscribe to the show in your ITunes store by tomorrow night. (I finally cured that issue, I think.) We may or may not have a special guest, and if not we'll be digging into some fresh email bag questions and there's plenty of Blackhawk topics to touch on as well. We'll further our Patrick Kane discussion from last week and debate Jeremy Roenick's self-aggrandizing campaign to have his Blackhawks' sweater number 27 retired.
-- For those awaiting the TTMI Newsletter, I'm more than a little behind. You should see it in your mailbox in the next couple of days. Some things have arouse in the past few days that have diverted my attention and I realized on Saturday just how far behind I am in catching up on all the news, online and print media of the past few weeks. For me, the season is now officially here, so this will change effective immediately. The good news, if this is 'good' news, is I've decided to expedite the publishing schedule from a bi-weekly (as it was to be until the first week of preseason games) to a weekly newsletter immediately. Which means you'll get the first issue by Thursday morning at the very latest, and then the second issue on Monday. For those who want to receive the newsletter, you must subscribe to the email list in the module on the left side of our front page that reads "TTMI in Print." Your email addresses are kept confidential and won't be sold or lent out to spammers. All content will be original, exclusive and spread out over six to eight pages of Blackhawks and IceHogs related news, rumors, analysis and opinions. Or something like that. It's another experiment in a summer of experiments. Some people spent their summer sabotaging their general manager; some took part in the beating of an elderly taxi driver; I started an internet hockey radio show, now a weekly newsletter and committed myself to a mis-guided and poorly planned web site transfer. We're all having a rough summer. And I sincerely would like to apologize as well.
As McClure today over at SecondCityHockey pointed out, it didn't take long for Kane to inject-foot-into-mouth. He linked to Puck Daddy (Greg Wyshinski's) blog post on Yahoo! Monday which covered the first wave media round-up of Kane's pre and post-Monday U.S. Olympic practice session at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in west suburban Chicago. Kane came off like just another jaded professional athlete when expressing his immediate concerns in wake of the pending charges in Buffalo and hit to his public profile with this gem of a quote:
Even though it was explicitly stated Kane would make no further comments regarding his impending legal case in Buffalo after his 52 second prepared statement this morning, Kane was prodded by reporters and expounded on his situation later in the day after his on-ice session on the opening day of a three-day 2010 U.S. Olympic hockey orientation camp.
"I was watching ESPN the other day and I'm watching Michael Vick give his speech and after that you heard people saying, 'he's not really sorry' and things like that," Kane said. "But going through something, obviously not as bad as that but something similar, you could tell he was sorry and that you really realize how privileged you are at times like this.
"It was actually fun for me to watch and see kind of how sorry he was and how happy he was to be back in the game of football. There are going to be ups and down in life and things like this are going to happen but you never want it to happen again."
Kane also told Kuc:
"I haven't really told anyone my side of the story to be honest with you," Kane said. "The only one who really knows is my lawyer and my family. That's about as far as it goes. [I want to] move on and try to get over this. It's been very supportive from a lot of people. It's times like these maybe you can live and learn and find out who your true friends are at an early age."
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