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...more

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...more

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...more

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.

Geoffrey Clark, who says he is a Wolves fan, discusses the passion for the Chicago Wolves v. Rockford IceHogs match-up at the Bleacher Report: "It is a battle between a Chicago team and a Chicago affiliate. The IceHogs are affiliated with the Blackhawks, so an area- hockey fan that knows little to nothing about the Wolves might root for the team from Rockford. Of course, those who love to see winning hockey or those who have been long fed up with Bill Wirtz's mismanagement of the Hawks when he was alive will most certainly root...more