that was something. Hawks lose 8-3

do I want to talk about last night's Blackhawks game vs the Blue Jackets? no, not especially, but there's a few things worth sharing. just this game; I need to put together a whole "Hawks keep finding different and spectacular ways to lose post-Olympics" post. I actually wanted to go to this game because I had such a good time seeing the Hawks play in Columbus in January. Aubrey of Buckeyes are Deadly Nuts went to the game and The Mel of a fountain of useless information went from Chicago. I'd have been deaf from the cannon that goes off when the Jackets score if I had.

according to the NHL.com recap "The eight goals for the Blue Jackets set a mark for most scored at home and tied the franchise record for most in a game." it was bad when the Jackets scored 32 seconds in, bad when they took a 2-0 lead, bad when they got a 2-goal lead again in the second period with the game at 3-1 (by the end of the game I'd already forgotten it'd been 2-1 and not at all hopeless for a while). they got a goal on a penalty shot, they got their first power play goal in 20 attempts...and so forth. THE SCORE WAS 8-1 FOR A WHILE. 8-1. 5-1 and I still hoped for an epic comeback despite how badly the Hawks were playing. but by 8-1 I could only hope the Hawks wouldn't lose as badly as San Jose did to Dallas last week (8-2).

and they managed to get two more goals. Adam Burish got his first of the season. Jordan Hendry, the one goal-less Blackhawk, scored late in the year, but when Burish came back from injury we had a player with 0 goals again. no longer! oh, and he fought Derek Dorsett early in the first. Burish lost, but at least the fight got a higher-than-usual-for-the-Blackhawks rating on hockeyfights.com.

I'd have preferred the fight be when the Hawks were down, say, 4-1, and had a chance to turn it around, and got motivated... Blackhawks haven't allowed more than 5 goals against all this season (Minnesota won 6-5, but in a shootout). they hadn't lost by more than 4 goals (a 5-1 loss to Vancouver). needless to say, they'd never been down by 7 goals this year. Blackhawks could have hit 100 points (or 101) in this game; San Jose was first to hit that in the West in their game later last night. Hawks at least got the playoff spot clinched because Calgary lost their game.

do I want to talk goaltending, defense, motivation? NO, I want to gripe at what Second City Hockey did for their game preview thread:

okay...I am KofC on the SBN blogs (and nearly all places I comment; I'm kofchicago on some others and on Twitter). it's the short form of the nickname I got from my main Flickr account. not long after establishing myself as KofC I noticed that's what the Knights of Columbus use in their logo. I found a particularly great sign and used it as my icon there, and I make a point of looking for KofC signs in any city I visit--see the tagged photos here. (Cleveland; Elgin, IL; Hamtramck, MI; Quincy & Melrose, MA, among others. I didn't find one IN Columbus yet though!) pretty soon Flickr friends started posting KofC signs for me too. it's just a running joke; I don't endorse the Knights' politics or anything (but I did win a second-place spelling bee trophy from them as a kid). anyway, I know it was just a coincidence but I was weirded out, and having that logo/my screenname attached to the worst loss of the season? AAAAAAARRGHHH.

oh well. two other amusing things, from listening to the WGN 720 radio broadcast. so Cristobal Huet was pulled in the second (after 5 goals against) and Antti Niemi came in (one goal against him). Huet returned at the beginning of the third (2 more goals scored against), but the broadcasters didn't notice until a couple minutes from the end of the game! they referred to him as "Niemi" several times! then finally noticed, and apologized afterwards.

and Nick Boynton, who's played just a few games with the Blackhawks, was the post-game interview. he said "...and the game got a little chippy." now I think I need an "award" for any player or broadcaster who uses that phrase (look, I needed SOMETHING to cheer me up after that game.) perhaps my famous chocolate chip cookies made with bourbon? (in theory--there's no way for me to actually give them cookies).