Chicago Hockey Blog

Game seven between the Rockford IceHogs and the Chicago Wolves highlighted two different styles of play. That was clear by looking at the game sheets of the series. Although the Wolves were outshot almost throughout the series, and particularly in game seven, they won.

That goes against hockey sense. You put the puck on the net and good things happen. But, not for the IceHogs in this series. I used the term desperation hockey to describe the play of the Hogs. I meant it as a complement. It is another of the myths of hockey that to win a championship you need to play desperation hockey.

It was desperation hockey for the Hogs; they were on the wrong end of the score almost throughout the season at the Allstate Arena. And there is nothing to get you thinking about winning and losing quite like a game seven.

So the Hogs, they played hard. They finished their checks; they took every opportunity they had to shoot the puck at Ondrej Pavelec.

This was a great foe. And what made it even more intense was...more

The Falconer writes an Atlanta Thrashers blog, "Do the Thrashers Have Large Talons?" The Craig Custance article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution has stirred the pot, among Wolves fans and Thrashers fans, insinuating the alliance between Chicago Wolves and the Atlanta Thrashers is flawed.

The Falconer did extensive research on the development of American Hockey League players to the NHL since the Wolves first affiliated with the Thrashers. It is a damning indictment of the care that we believe professional journalist should have in preparing a story. "It seems clear to me that if you look at the entire time period of the Thrashers-Wolves affiliation that the Wolves have produced players who made the NHL. But the majority of those NHL players are on someone else's roster. Is that the Wolves fault?," he writes.

It seems clear to me that if you look at the entire time period of the Thrashers-Wolves affiliation that the Wolves have produced players who made the NHL. But the majority of those NHL players are on someone else's roster. Is that the Wolves fault?

Blogs from Kukala's Korner to Hockey Ape are reporting that Don Waddell either asked to step down or was asked to step aside, but still in management, at the Atlanta Thrashers. Kukala's quotes Scott Burnside of ESPN: "GM Don Waddell has been asked by the Atlanta Thrashers to give up his duties and accept another management position."

The assumption, according to ESPN, is that if the doesn't accept the new position, he will leave the Atlanta Spirit.

Schlegel Sports Inc. said the Des Moines area will soon have a new NHL affiliation, "There is going to be AHL hockey here next year and for a long time to come," Kirby Schlegel said.

The Des Moines Register said speculation on the affiliation centers on the Portland Pirates, affiliate of the Annaheim Ducks. The Ducks had been affiliated with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks several seasons ago. The Pirates are 3-1 in the Atlantic Division finals of the Calder Cup. An announcement by that club is not likely until the conclusion of the club's American Hockey League season.

The Iowa Stars team was affiliated with the Dallas Stars. Dallas announced, earlier this season, that it would be affiliating with a Texas city in the future.

Journal Star: Rivermen sold to Blues

The Peoria Journal Star reports that a co-owner of the Peoria Rivermen predicts the sale of the team to the owner of the St. Louis Blues will be announced within two weeks. "We have reached a verbal agreement," Bruce Saurs told the Journal Star.

"There's no doubt they intend to keep it in Peoria for a long time to come," Saurs is reported as saying. The Journal Star says the offer was about $3.5 million, including the share owned by Anne Griffith. The Rivermen have an agreement to stay in Peoria's Civic Center through the 2009-10 campaign with five year option to continue. Saurs, 81, is to remain in Peoria for the Blues fronting the organization.

The story, by Dave Eminian, says the process picked up speed when the Anaheim Ducks made an offer to purchase the team in March. However, Anaheim would have moved the team, according to Eminian.

Friday saw the elimination of the Providence Bruins from the American Hockey League finals by the Portland Pirates. The Bruins had 117 points in the regular season, winning the regular season championship.

Physical Crunch threaten upset win in North Div.

Zenon Konopka led the Syracuse Crunch to a key 5-4 OT come-from-behind win over the Toronto Marlies Wednesday. Konopka scored a goal and three assists in the game. His over time pass to Joakim Lindstrom was responsible for the game-winning goal. The Crunch now threatens to send the Marlies home for the year with a win in any game in the American Hockey league North Division Finals series.

Konopka is ranked 11^th among league scorers in the post-season. Ranked fourth among players with penalty minutes, the scorer has two Crunch line-up ahead of him among players with penalty minutes: Derek Dorsett, who was suspended for a widely reported instigator incident in a game earlier this week, and Tom Sestito.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution continues to stir the pot, saying the Atlanta Thrashers/ Chicago Wolves alliance was fatally flawed in a Craig Custance article, and now in a blog entry by Jeff Shultz, who follows the Atlanta Hawks. Both the Hawks and the Thrashers are owned by the Atlanta Spirit.

"It's difficult to make a convincing argument after you introduce yourself to the public as "an all-star team of owners, but then you can't stop suing each other," Schultz says in Hawksquawk here. http://www.hawksquawk.net/forums/showflat.php?Number=311976

"Waddell's latest bit of amusing scrambling came in Craig Custance's examination of the dysfunctional relationship between the Thrashers and their affiliate, the AHL's Chicago Wolves. At one point, Waddell suggested the Thrashers were in an advantageous position over the Detroit Red Wings because Atlanta's prospects were in the AHL playoffs and the Wings' prospects weren't. The problem: The Thrashers' prospects are in the playoffs every year and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the Thrashers' season. The Red Wings? They win Stanley Cups," the blog says.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Blackhawks are planning to raise prices significantly next season. According to the story, the average increase will be 16 percent, but some prices will increase 85 percent. The lowest priced tickets, $10 for a season ticket holder, will increase 50 percent, according to the story.

The highest priced ticket, a $275 day of game ticket, will increase to $285. Eric Rabbers, described as a season ticket holder in the 300 (nose bleed) level was quoted as empathizing with the move: "especially in my section, the prices we were paying were pretty cheap."

Yeah, for that money, maybe they could actually put together a team that could make the playoffs. Duh!

Look for more work on making Ondrej Pavelec going side-to-side in coming Rockford IceHogs games. In an interview in the Rockford Register Star Martin St. Pierre said the IceHogs had seen a weakness in Pavelec's side-to-side movement. He also said Pavelec tends to do down quickly so that the Hogs will be shooting more upstairs in coming games.

A Wolves source said the Wolves had seen four of their goals in the first two games were topside and he predicted more shots by the team on Corey Crawford above the pads.