Tony Esposito can teach you to play hockey (1972)

if you followed my series on the 1971 book The Brothers Esposito (missed it? it's conveniently located in the tag "The Brothers Esposito"), you can imagine how delighted I was to find that Phil and Tony collaborated on another book in the early 1970s, We Can Teach You to Play Hockey (with Kevin Walsh, Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972). I found this in a used bookstore in Cambridge on my Boston trip. all the chapters except the one on goaltending are by Phil, and the whole book has many fantastic practice photos illustrating basics of hockey (and a few game photos). the cover is great, too. of course I'll be posting much more from it (and like the other book, I've actually read the whole thing), but for now, some goalie stuff, in advance of Tony Esposito Heritage Night tonight at the United Center, when the Blackhawks face the Dallas Stars.

 

  

 

hockey cards, lots and lots of 1990s hockey cards

I had a great day and a half in St. Louis to see the Blackhawks this past weekend, and scores of photos to sort through. lots of fun, but one of the most exciting things was stopping in an amazing antique mall (amazing for the photos I took there, not necessarily for the stuff for sale) on the way back, and I made my first purchase of (older) hockey cards.

my first purchase of hockey cards was just 3 days earlier, at a dollar store in Chicago, thanks to a tip from the Buckeyes are Deadly Nuts blog (some 2008-09 cards, nothing that great). above is 3 bags I got for $2 each (I also bought a 12-card mix for $1). it wasn't till I opened the bags that I realized they're all from 1993-94. I grabbed these in part because I saw they had Whalers, Jets, and Nordiques cards (unfortunately the North Stars were gone by then). it was worth it for that...I haven't sorted these at all but I can tell there are recent Hall of Famers, some players that are still active, some retired ones I know of, and a hell of a lot of names I don't know. I'm going to have fun with this...

(clockwise from top left the cards showing are: Mike Lenarduzzi, Adam Oates, Jeff Beukeboom, Dave Christian, Chris Simon. I don't seem to be able to click on the image to view it larger)

lazy Super Bowl-related post

there is just so much going on--I got back this evening from a wonderful trip to St. Louis for my first hockey game there, with blogger friends (thanks!). while I was hanging out with people in real life and seeing a game in person, I missed quite a few NHL games I wouldn't have minding seeing online or on TV. many rather surprising and/or exciting wins...and 16 fights in 14 games Saturday, so I've got catching up to do. more "winning streak" news soon. and maybe even more about the Super Bowl.

I got back home for the second half. I would have been watching online anyway so I could follow along on Twitter at the same time, but I had to because the digital conversion "improvements" to U.S. television last June meant...I can no longer get CBS-2 Chicago on TV (unless I break down and pay for cable again). anyway, here's a lazy post. as a Chicagoan I had to root against the Colts, but mostly I was rooting for the Saints to win, and of course they did. an exciting game, even if I still can barely explain the basic rules and strategies of football, if anyone asked. okay, I knew this was a touchdown:

 

I don't know this person, I just...uh, well if I wasn't a wuss afraid of people unfollowing me for anything too opinionated, I'd have retweeted it because it made me laugh.

 

 

I hope you had fun either watching, or totally ignoring, the Super Bowl tonight!

sorry, another one about winning streaks

one more about the 17-game streak of attending Blackhawks wins, which ended this week: I posted a piece at Second City Hockey, my first fanpost there. if you're a SBNation member, feel free to comment/share winning/losing streak stories. I've got a few comments but no recs...by the way, it's very different from the piece I posted here the other day.

 

yeah, Capitals are at 13 in a row now. (what's with the guy in the Blackhawks jersey? I mean, cool to see it and all, but wearing a jersey of an NHL team not playing that night always seems a little silly.) I'm starting to get suspicious of all the NHL.com posts tracking winning streaks. it seems like their "will they make it to [#]?" stories, um...come true.

 

and with a shootout loss to the Coyotes at home tonight, the Blackhawks have now lost three in a row. they were the last team in the NHL not to have lost more than two consecutive games this season. (I know, it's a shootout loss so it's not quite the same as a regulation loss, but it's still a loss, right?)

this is a brief trivial post, but I heard tonight about the tragic death of Brian Burke's son Brendan, who was 21, and his friend Mark Reedy, 18, in a car crash earlier in the day in Indiana, due to snowstorm conditions. Brendan's story from a few months ago when he came out as gay and wanted to address homophobia in the sports world was inspirational to me around the time I was starting this blog, and I kept meaning to address it. and I definitely will, when I get back from a brief trip now to St. Louis with other hockey bloggers and fans. condolences to their family and friends...please be careful out there.

winning streaks

right now I have overwhelming, irrational hate for any NHL team with a long winning streak. all the active ones below were increased tonight, by the way. I'd thought Chicago had only made it to 7 this season, but it's 8, so at least the Hawks are tied for 3rd. admittedly it's just for bragging rights that don't really mean that much, but did you see my previous post? I like winning streaks...for the Blackhawks.

if forced, I had to pick the Senators over the Canucks in tonight's game, though, and they won. I lost the feed to the game more than once and missed the fights.
 

I know they have to get these headlines up fast, but damn, what's more hilarious than a team's name spelled wrong?

bonus from NHL.com: not a silly headline, but the blue highlighted part at the bottom? sheesh, if that'd been the headline it would have qualified for my silly headline series. I feel deprived!

I'm gonna say it: one part of sports I'm just not interested in (and thus don't cover here)? trade rumors. and cap space and all the relevant issues. I don't begrudge other people their interest in it...but other than keeping up with the major trade stories (about hockey--I'm not paying much attention to baseball; I'll just learn the teams' rosters when the season starts, okay?) and knowing the basics of the Blackhawks' situation...my eyes glaze over and I skim through ALL OF THIS. except, for some reason, on Twitter, where I kind of enjoy it. Kovalchuk was a friggin' WORLDWIDE trending topic today!

 

something I didn't think of when I first posted this--since Patrice Cormier was in the trade, he's now in the Atlanta Thrashers system, and therefore could end up playing for the Chicago Wolves. uh-oh. not that that'll happen anytime soon...

the greatest winning streak in sports is OVER

first, to the St. Louis Blues: hey, you took my advice in the last post about not starting a bunch of fights in last night's game. however, I didn't mean NO fights in the game. also, did not mean to imply you should beat the Blackhawks the other way--by, uh, winning the game.

second: Blackhawks. I did not address you in the prior post to say "please win this game." because I was going to be attending, and your winning the game was implied by my attendance. I THOUGHT WE HAD AN UNDERSTANDING.

everyone else: that's right. after a 13-month* stretch of attending 17 Blackhawks games, in four different cities**, I FINALLY SAW THEM LOSE A GAME. I'm in shock.

this seems like a good image to repost

obviously, I'm being snarky with all this, because I know longtime fans of the Blackhawks (and of virtually any sports team) are used to seeing losses. it's not seeing them lose that bothers me (though it was a sloppy, discouraging game), it's the end of "my" winning streak. SEVENTEEN CONSECUTIVE GAMES, folks. and to lose in game 18? well, actually I prefer it to making it to 19 wins and losing the 20th (I was starting to get invested in the idea of seeing 20 wins in a row).

I had a fine run here, pretending that I was a good-luck charm for the team (hence the "self-congratulatory nonsense" tag I put up when bragging about seeing another win. now I have to reserve that for say, this blog winning something, or someone saying I'm "hot". so...it was a nice tag while it lasted). also, I enjoyed the novelty of a sports blog written by someone who'd never actually seen their favorite team lose. it's a wonder I wasn't much more arrogant. the only upside? I no longer have to spend time in phone calls to my friend who took me to win #1 as he tries to calculate the odds of my attending 12, 13, 16... wins in a row.

this provides a good point to finally get around to writing the story of my first hockey game and the story of my first year as a fan. which I'll get to when the shock wears off. oh, and I'll be at the Blackhawks game IN St. Louis this weekend, hoping to start another winning streak.

*one game in January 2009, then a bunch starting in October 2009. I'll explain the gap sometime...
**one visit each to Pittsburgh, Boston, and Columbus; the rest at the United Center

a reminder to the St. Louis Blues

more from Hockey (1969), to preview the two Blackhawks-Blues games this week. yes, again with Penguins in the photos. oh well.

Blue Ray Fortin (19) and Noel Picard (4) are foiled by Penguins Binkley (30) and Price (right). In his frustration, Picard almost hooks Price.

so, I happened across an item that the St. Louis Blues' D.L. King, referred to as the team's enforcer, would be returning to play after being out since October with an injury. and my thoughts were approximately:

ADKLFHDSLFHDSFJDSJFHKJJKFDSJAK seriously OMG you mean this is what the Blues are like WITHOUT their enforcer? 

THIS IS WITHOUT THEIR ENFORCER?!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

really? the nasty game I saw at the United Center in December, and the infamous four-fights-including-Toews'-second-NHL-fight-ever game Jan. 2 in St. Louis? those were without their designated tough guy? (although Cam Janssen seems as much of an enforcer, maybe they have two?) they're in the top 5 teams for fighting majors in the NHL without King...oh boy.

yeah, so I admit I wasn't paying close attention to the Blues until soon before the Hawks finally played them this year, not till December, so I forgot who wasn't playing. well, whether King is in this week's games or not, I just want to remind the Blues, to adapt a phrase from the Cookie Monster:

Hockey fights are a sometimes treat

obviously I like them and so do the hockey fans I know. a game with a lot of tension and roughing and near-fights can be entertaining. a fight or two at the right moment--after a questionable hit, or to spark some energy in your team and its fans, or just to give your fans something to enjoy when the team is hopelessly behind (you certainly know what I mean)--is fine.

Blue Jimmie Roberts (6) fails to get past Penguin Noel Price.

but there's such a thing as too much, when the game just gets slowed down by all the fights, and you don't look good, you just look like you're covering up for your lack of skill, and that's what the January game was like. (to be fair, the Blues have been winning games recently after a lousy start with the new coach...)

so...resist the urge to constantly goon it up, okay? or if you must, just save it up for a bench-clearing brawl. I'm fine with one every once in a while...

big night for the blue & white

...no matter what this screenshot from NHL.com shows. so earlier in the season I made fun of a Maple Leafs game 3 Stars with Phil Kessel still in his Bruins uniform. well, this tops it, in a big way, although in this case it's understandable--all the NHL trades of the past 3 days happened so fast, there's barely time for new photos. I wonder if this has ever happened before--all 3 stars from one team, and all shown in their now-outdated uniforms.

as you may know, in their first game with the new goalie and new star defenseman (and Sjostrom), the Maple Leafs shut out the Devils 3-0 (Devils, by the way, were using the goalie who isn't Martin Brodeur). and:

 

note: that's the "official" Hartford Whalers Twitter. I was already going to mention it here...and today because I mentioned Whalers in a tweet, they started following me. I was elated. people with a public Twitter feed are used to getting spam followers based on words they use (I was telling someone about a tweet that got real estate spam--and got two more real estate spam followers because of that one), but I definitely don't mind this. 

anyway, besides the shutout, Phaneuf got into a fight about 6 minutes into the game, so he's got the "truculence" and all. this also ended a long winless streak for the Leafs. meanwhile, the Canucks' 7-game winning streak was snapped in a 3-2 loss (yay! even though it was by the Canadiens). and Boston...scored first against the Capitals, then went on to lose 4-1 (the last was an empty-netter--pffftt, I always think of those as half a goal at best). that's 8 losses in a row...and a record 11 wins in a row for the Caps. 

  

I think I forgot to point out that after the beating by the Flames Saturday, Edmonton finally won after 13 losses...against Carolina. and note that the Flames' first game after the player trades, they got shut out 3-0 by the Flyers.  tonight, I also watched an exciting Red Wings @ Sharks game (Detroit won 4-2 after Sharks blew their 2-0 lead), even though I didn't want either team to win. and I'm glad I caught the end of the Coyotes @ Predators--a scoreless game went to shootout, and the shootout went so long that I watched extra little boxes pop up on the screen to record attempts. after 10 rounds, Phoenix won.

something a little older, now. through Maple Leaf game threads, I'd heard there was a Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi edition, but never encountered it. the New York Times' hockey blog Slap Shot happened to post a fight in the Punjabi version recently, and through YouTube I found another: a decent Colton Orr vs Shawn Thornton bout (right off the faceoff, which is always absurd/entertaining) from Dec. 2009. I can only assume they're talking about "haymakers" and "heavyweights"...

vintage Blues

 

Face-off! Red Berenson, St. Louis, vs. Lou Angotti, Pittsburgh

Hockey (1969) has a lot of material on each of the then-12 teams in the NHL. perhaps I'll post the whole chapters on each team (and finally have a blog post with an "read more after the jump" in it). for now, a couple from the opening section of color photos. these are for the two games the Blackhawks are playing vs. St. Louis Blues this week--Wednesday's in Chicago, and Saturday's in St. Louis (the big Second City Hockey-organized Chicago fan/blogger trip). I'll be at both. no shots of Blues vs. Blackhawks in the book, unfortunately.

St. Louis goalie Jacques Plante splits to his left a split-second too late.

Hockey Day in Canada, in odd screenshots

I posted a nonsensical preview of Hock--excuse me, Tim Hortons Hockey Day in Canada a couple posts ago. here are the almost equally nonsensical screenshots of a day spent watching all 3 HDIC games (plus some others) online and following along on Twitter, which as of last week offers the glorious option to look at trending topics by country/US city. (Canada has had at least one, and as many as 8, of the 10 TT's be hockey-related virtually every time I've looked, and Tim Hortons has trended at least 3 times in the past week). but I did in fact go out for a couple hours that afternoon! so, not yet a total shut-in!

 

  

lots of quaint outdoorsy stuff. OMG a Nordiques jersey sweater!

  

HDIC is #1! first up was Canadiens @ Senators. I actually wanted Canadiens to win, because Sens were coming into this game on an 8-game winning streak, and 3 of those wins were against Boston & Chicago, and that just pissed me off...

  

 

 

Sens took the lead, but Habs eventually tied it and it went to overtime. Sens won (9-game streak) and the Habs' Cammalleri was injured and will be out for weeks.

  

 

 

yeah, uh...next up: Canucks @ Maple Leafs. this was...um. I wanted Leafs to win regardless, and I especially wanted them to beat the Canucks because of Chicago's loss in Vancouver, and just on general principle. Leafs were off to an amazing start--2 goals by Phil Kessel in the first few minutes. a fight about 4 1/2 minutes in. Leafs went into the second period 3-0, and Canucks pulled Luongo (always fun to see) for Andrew Raycroft, and--

  

Leafs lost the game 5-3. at home. 5 unanswered goals. I'm glad I was too busy commenting on the Blackhawks game online to follow along with the Leafs fans...

  

  

 

I have NO IDEA how Raycroft was a TT in the U.S., after a game involving two Canadian teams.

 

  

  

not Canada: a scene from the Wild @ Sharks game. Minnesota took the early lead, went on to lose 5-2.

 

late game: Oilers @ Flames. I heard this was some sort of record for losing-est teams facing each other--Oilers with 12 in a row, Flames at 9. one of them HAD to win, giving Alberta a grand total of two wins for January. I wanted it to be Oilers because I felt sorrier for them, and because if Flames lost then both teams would have hit double-digit losing streaks...

  

Flames won. boy, did they win. 6-1. Jarome Iginla got his 900th NHL point in this game. and, perhaps inspired by the recent NHL.com Gordie Howe hat trick story, got two goals, two assists, and one fight (against Sheldon Souray, who broke his hand. ouch) 

  

it also meant they swept the 6 games of the "Battle of Alberta" this season, first time ever. 

in other news: I never found an online feed of the Kings @ Bruins game. I would have seen a shootout loss if I had. at least Bruins got a point. and Mark Stuart had a very impressive hit on Anze Kopitar (except now he's out for 4 weeks due to an injury from a fight after the hit). I'm sorry I missed Jack Edwards confusing Johnny Bucyk and Johnny Boychuk during the game, as mentioned at Fire Wagon Hockey (now I'm wondering if Boychuk is of Ukrainian descent, by the way--could be).

oh, and the Blackhawks lost the last game of their 8-game road trip. to CAROLINA. oh well, Hurricanes have been on a winning streak, and a 4-2 loss isn't the worst (it was exciting to see Hawks tie it late in the game, 2-2, with a goal by former Hurricane Andrew Ladd. then Canes scored two more goals in like the next minute or so). for more on the game you can see the story of a Chicagoan who made the trip (braving a snowstorm in the Raleigh area) at Blackhawks Down Low, a new addition to the blogroll.

so...on Hockey Day in Canada all 3 Canada matchups turned out the opposite of what I wanted. and the two teams I follow (well, 3, you can sort of count Leafs) lost, all in games where they had a lead or were at least tied at some point. and I learned I do eventually get tired of listening to Canadians talk about hockey...

baseball cards found on the sidewalk in my neighborhood

probably won't be an "ongoing series" here, but who knows? I found this in the Humboldt Park neighborhood today while heading out to a Wicker Park coffeeshop in the late afternoon. (oops, looks like I need to rescan these)

in other sports card news: I learned from the Chicago website Gapers Block that Tim's Baseball Card Shop in Lincoln Square will be in a Super Bowl commercial for Miller High Life. I haven't been there (or to any sports card store or show), but I'll check it out (since that's one of my favorite areas of Chicago).
also, not news, but: visit the sports cards sites I've blogrolled, I really enjoy them but tend not to comment since I'm not a collector...

this is a bit of filler while I go through a lot of weekend hockey stuff...I'll be posting some actual WRITING this week, and previews (i.e. vintage photos!) for the TWO Blackhawks-Blues games I'll be attending.