2009-10 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks

It was a truly strange moment in hockey history.

For a span of two seconds, Patrick Kane was the only person in the world who knew the outcome of the Stanley Cup.

It seemed a harmless play. Kane took the puck from Brian Campbell, shook a defender and let go a delicate, bad angle shot that simply got caught up in Michael Leighton’s paraphernalia, deflecting to the top right corner of the net.

And Kane was the only one that knew it.



Not to be petty, but if you weren’t a Blackhawks or Flyers fan, and simply watching the game for the love of hockey, you felt a little cheated by the overtime winner. I don’t mean to take anything away from Chicago, but the ending was not befitting of the game itself. It was a hard-fought, well-played game the whole way through. And as you were getting prepped for overtime, you knew that something dramatic would await you, no matter who won the game.

And then Patrick Kane provided perhaps the most awkward Stanley Cup game-winning goal in history. There was no goal light, no referee signal, no high-pitched call from announcer Doc Emrick. For that moment, there was only confusion. No eruption from the fans or the benches. Just a puck that had cozied up in the embrace of a net, tucked comfortably away from view.

No matter how bizarre the final moments were, the end result is the same. A well-deserved team and city took home the most hallowed trophy in sports. Jonathan Toews will fly home with the Conn Smythe trophy in his lap (He should be sure to hand it off to Patrick Sharp and Nicklas Hjalmersson, both who were outstanding the past two months). The Hawks await what is sure to be a raucous return home, and a truly unforgettable summer.



Hossa Watch: 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champion. Don’t act like you didn’t crack a bit of a smile watching Hossa lift that cup.

Congratulations to the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks. Your defense begins now.

Oh, and before I go, be sure to thank Jeremy Roenick for providing a truly uncomfortable television moment:

Your Daily Sports Breakfast Buffet: the Return of Pig Ben, Benedict Hossa

For the first time since Goodell’s suspension, Ben Roethlisberger will rejoin his teammates at the South Side complex for OTA’s today. What will be interesting is whether or not Ben will talk to the media. He has been very silent since Goodell’s suspension, even asking Coach Tomlin to take over his football camp for children. Clearly, Ben has been very careful to stay out of the public eye, lying as low as humanly possible. Perhaps he has finally been humbled, perhaps he’s just trying to save his ass. Only Ben knows that at this point. This story has still got a long way to go.

Most Pens fans rejoiced as Chicago took a 2-0 series lead over Philadelphia, beating the Flyers 2-1. Given the ridiculous action of Game One, the puck must have looked like a deep-dish pizza to goalies Antti Niemi and Michael Leighton in Game 2. Last night was a “hockey purist” game, with few mistakes, good physical play and some solid goaltending. The scary part about all of this for the Flyers? They’re down 2-0 with nary a peep from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. If those two get hot, this series could be over very quickly.


Hossa Watch: 1 Goal, 0 Assists- still a tool.



The Pirates awoke from their week-long slumber to come back and beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1. Before Sunday’s game, GM Neal Huntington attempted to quell the rumors that a youthful infusion was on the way this month. He was quoted as saying pitcher Brad Lincoln was still “a ways away” from being called up. He also stated that Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez had work remaining in Indianapolis. However, for unknown reasons, Jose Tabata was not in the lineup for Indianapolis yesterday. Maybe he’s on a plane to Pittsburgh? We’ll find out soon enough.

The Pirates will play the Cubs at 7:05 tonight at PNC Park. Tonight marks the return of Jeff Karstens to the rotation. Does anyone know why on God’s green Earth Ryan Doumit continues to hit 6th? Here, John Russell, if you’re reading this, this should be your lineup tonight:

1. Andrew McCutchen
2. Neil Walker
3. Ryan Doumit
4. Garrett Jones
5. Delwyn Young (screw Ryan Church)
6. Andy LaRoche
7. Jeff Clement
8. Ronny Cedeno
9. Jeff Karstens

See? It’s easy!



Why are the hockey and football seasons so far away?

A Wonderful Memorial Day in Sports. Watch it.

In what would have been Pittsburgh Pirates news 2 years ago, it is now Memorial Day (wishing you and yours a happy one), and Jose Bautista is currently leading the majors in home runs.

No, I haven’t been drinking.



Bautista currently has 16 home runs. His previous career high? You guessed it, 16. At this pace, he’d hit 50 homers this year. And if that doesn’t make you want to blow your brains out, Pirates third baseman this year have hit a total of 4 home runs. Four big ones. That’s just sickening.

The Stanley Cup Final continues tonight with two teams that aren’t the Penguins. The summer of bummer continues. Should at least be an entertaining game, though. The Flyers will stick with Michael Leighton in net, and Antti Niemi will remain in goal for the Blackhawks.



Hossa watch: Game 1: 0 Goals, 2 Assists

Shutdown Corner over on Yahoo had a great story on Cincinnati Bengals star Chad Ochocinco. Chad had received a letter from a young, homeless fan who wrote about how Ochocinco was his favorite player, and his dream was to attend a football camp. Make the jump over to Shutdown Corner to read the rest and see the video. A kind gesture from what seems to be a good guy.

Happy Memorial Day, folks.

Black Hawk Down. The state of the 2010-11 Chicago Blackhawks

Marian Hossa is a major league screw-job. After losing in the Stanley Cup Finals in the past two season, Hossa is hoping the third time is a charm. Even if Hossa were to raise Lord Stanley this year, at what cost does it come to the Blackhawks, who gave Hossa a 12-year, $60+ million deal. I’m sure that Hossa’s whopping goal total this playoff run- which currently stands at two- was not what Chicago had in mind when Hossa laid his pen to paper.



The Hossa contract, coupled with the contracts they gave Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith (Raise your hand if you knew that Campbell and Keith had more lucrative deals than Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews), helps put the Blackhawks in one of the worst positions in relation to the salary cap that I have ever seen. The Hawks are nearly a million dollars OVER next years salary cap, and they still have to re-sign 6 guys! With a salary cap that is unlikely to drastically change next year, here is a list of Blackhawks that have over a $5 million cap hit for 2010-11:

Brian Campbell ($7.1 mil.) – who ranked 27th among defenseman in scoring. Woof.
Jonathan Toews ($6.3 mil.)
Patrick Kane ($6.3 mil.)
Cristobal Huet ($5.6 mil.)
Duncan Keith ($5.5 mil.)
Marian Hossa ($5.3 mil.)


An image of a Blackhawks fan come July.

Mind you, the current starting goaltender, Antti Niemi is NOT under contract for next year, not to mention the 3 forwards and two other D-men. And who knows whether any team will want backup goalie Cristobal Huet and his massive contract here in the off-season.

And people around here thought the Pens salary cap was in bad shape after last season.

If you’ve gotten down to this point in the post and are wondering “What the hell does this have to do with Pittsburgh?” Well…

At least we know who we WON’T be playing in the Cup finals next year.

To end, I will leave you all with my reaction to the Pirates getting shut out last night.

Nightmare Stanley Cup Final, Pirates do Nothing to Ease the Pain

Nights like last night make you wish you would have just stayed at the office.

We’ve got about the worst Stanley Cup (from a Pittsburgh perspective) that we could have asked for. The Flyers finished off the Habs last night, beating them 4-2. The Flyers just have that look. They’re getting hot at the right time, and at this point, it’s probably more about momentum than talent. And who do our most hated rivals play? One of our most hated former Penguins, Marian Hossa. To be fair, we all know how fun it can be to watch Hossa play, the guy is a Datsyuk-like defensive forward. But he still sucks.



So as Pens fans, our choices are to root for Chicago and Marian Hossa or the Flyers. Pens fans wouldn’t root for the Flyers if they were playing the Taliban. Honestly, the choice is easy. Though nobody wants to see Marian Hossa lift the Cup, nobody wants to see 26 Philadelphia Flyers lift it either. So we become Blackhawks fans this week, which in perspective, is not difficult to do. They’ve got a great core group that is a lot of fun to watch (Kane, Toews, Byfuglien, Keith, etc). If nothing else, it should at least be an entertaining Stanley Cup Final.

Alright, so one game last night didn’t go our way, that’s alright, we’ve still got the Pirates. Sweet Jesus, did I just write that sentence?

The Buccos jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a Ronny Cedeno home run, and Brian Burres was looking to be in control. Then, in the fourth, he decides to do his best Ryan Vogelsong impression; walk out to the mound, drop his drawers and just take a giant dump.



The look of utter defiance on his face makes it one of the greatest images ever.


Karstens comes in during the fourth to add his own creation to Burres’ pile.

The rest of the game consisted of the Pirates blue-balling their fans into thinking they could come back. False. Pittsburgh fans try to find something less painful to watch on tv, like The Hills.



Some notes:

-Delwyn Young was the best Pirate last night. He’s never really gotten consistent enough playing time to gain a lot of confidence, but the past two years, he’s shown flashes of brilliance.

-Aki Iwamura needs to be traded/deported. Don’t care which.

-Pirates are always going to have trouble winning a game when McCutchen and Garrett Jones combine to be 1 for 9.

-Should the Pirates trade Ryan Doumit? In a later post, I’ll tell you why it may not be the craziest thing.

-Bring on Pedro Alvarez.