TheThirdManIn ~ Radio ~ SHOW ARCHIVE "Interview: STEVE LUDZIK"~ August 23, 2010 ~ *NEW AUDIO* Download Former Blackhawk (1981-89), IHL/NHL coach and author of "Been There Done That" buy @ Ludzy.com * You may need to update Flash & Shockwave apps to listen to shows on this web site. Get Flash Player at Adobe.com CLICK THE PLAYER BELOW TO LISTEN HERE.
TTMI has learned the Blackhawks have planned a news conference for 2pm on Thursday to formerly announce contract extensions for upcoming restricted free agents Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Since leaking the information to select news media back on November 17th, new contracts for Toews and Kane are expected to extend 5 years in length, while Keith's is rumored to be 13 years, which would theoretically make Keith a Blackhawk for the remainder of his career.
Keeping with team policy, the Blackhawks will not announce figures for the new contracts, but we should have those soon after the league processes the requisite documents.
UPDATE: TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting Toews and Kane's new contracts will be worth a total of $31.5M each. Keith's new 13-year deal comes in at $71.5M. So, under terms of the current collective bargaining agreement, Toews and Kane will bring a salary cap hit of $6.3M a piece beginning next season while Keith's hit will be $5.5M. Under the current CBA.
Keith's deal is obviously the largest in team history, both in length and dollars. He'll also become the team's single-season highest paid player very shortly. Stan Mikita - Bobby Hull - Duncan Keith.
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Back in the United Center for the first time in six games and taking on division foe the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first of six match ups this season, the Blackhawks were pushed to the limit and a bit further, finally putting the Jacks away in round 11 of a marathon shootout. The win was the eighth consecutive at the United Center for the Blackhawks and the 500th career win for head coachJoel Quenneville.
The first goal of the game was scored by Kris Versteeg on the penalty kill. Streaking into the Columbus zone from the right wing, Versteeg did not one, but two toe drag moves as he skated across the goal mouth before beating Columbus goalie Steve Mason. The goal was as sweet as the Blackhawks' jerseys, an updated version of the jerseys the Blackhawks wore in last season's Winter Classic they wore for the first time on Tuesday. The shorthanded goal was Versteeg's second and the sixth of the season for the Blackhawks, both figures are best in the league.
Columbus answered in the second period when a Kris Russellshot was mishandled by Huet. Traffic in front of the net eventually led to Antoine Vermette's eighth goal of the season, assisted by RJ Umberger.
Later in the second former Blackhawk Sami Pahlsson scored from the top of the left wing circle, putting a wrist shot over the glove hand of Huet. The forechecking Pahlsson found the puck wide open in the Blackhawks' zone when a clearing puck bounced of a glass partition and out into the middle of the ice.
Three minutes later the Blackhawks connected on a powerplay to tie the score. Patrick Kane, working the half boards, found a backdoor Patrick Sharp with a cross-ice pass. Mishandling the feed, Sharp adjusted and was somehow able to elevate the puck over an outstretched Mason. The puck was knocked on by Marian Hossa in front of the net, he was credited with his first assist as a Blackhawk on the play.
Kris Russell struck in the opening minute of the third periodfor Columbus. Entering the Chicago zone Umberger made a dump pass to the Blue Jackets' defenseman and Russell ripped a slap shot past Huet of a 3-2 lead. The secondary assist was credited to Vermette, marking the second time in the game the trifecta of Umberger, Vermette and Russell scored.
The Blackhawks had an entire period to answer, but only needed four minutes and three seconds. On the power play Duncan Keith fired a slap shot from the deep slot that was deflected several times in front of the net, ultimately by the skate of Jonathan Toews. The inadvertent blade direction was enough to fool Mason and the game remained tied until the end of regulation.
When four on four hockey bore no fruit the teams headed to the shootout. In the shootout Marian Hossa scored in the second round, but Jakub Voracek followed with a score in a make-or-go-home situation for Columbus. No player could beat either Huet or Mason until round 11 of the shootout when defenseman Brent Seabrook showed soft hands with a nifty forehand backhand move flicked over a sprawled Mason for the win.
Feathers in the Headdress
Third Star: Cristobal Huet
Huet only made 20 saves in regulation and the overtime period but was nearly unbeatable in the recess session following the game, making 10 saves and earning the Blackhawks the extra point, regardless of the merit. Even if Huet did give a point to the Blue Jackets, the Blackhawks came out with their two points because of Huet's one-on-one performance.
Second Star: Kris Versteeg
The goal was dirty enough to earn Versteeg the rest of the day off of work. Two toe drags in one goal = a early favorite for Blackhawks' goal of the year.
First Star: Brent Seabrook
Seabrook is clutch. With two game-winning overtime goals and now a marathon shootout winner Seabrook is the go-to guy when you need results in a bind. Seabrook also had five hits in the game and five blocked shots in the game.
I was a guest on last night's HockeeNight PuckCast. Thanks to the inimitable and gruffy "Forklift" and CT as always for having me on. James O'Brien from Cycle Like The Sedins also joined us for an hour and a half of internet radio. Listen with your headphones plugged in or in the privacy of your own home. NSFW and Parental Advisory in effect as always when "Forklift" is involved.
The following is Forklift's preview of last night's show:
"This week's PuckCast features James O'Brien from Cycle Like The Sedins and our old pal Chris Block from The Third Man In. It runs past the 1:30 mark, but the discussion is lively, ranging from Block's misadventures with Bloguin and fantasy hockey to Versus' mishandling of the NHL, the salary cap, promotion of the game, overexpansion, and Fork's attempt to nickname Colin Fraser "Fist Magnet." Enjoy."
And if you're out at the UC tonight, be on the look out for CT, Forklift and myself (if they can find me) as odds are we'll be doing a reenactment of this week's PuckCast.
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Tim Sassone today points out how the Hawks' two-week circus act didn't do much for them in the standings. The flip-side of that however is the Hawks are now facing eight of their next ten opponents at the United Center. Four of those are against divisional opponents (Columbus tomorrow night, Nashville on Friday, St. Louis on Wednesday the 16th and Detroit on Sunday the 20th) and they wrap up the impending ten-game stretch against the San Jose Sharks. By the time December 22nd roles around, Chicago-San Jose should be a legitimate battle for first overall in the conference. The Hawks will need a strong December as the tables will turn in January with the team playing 11 of 15 on the road. Joel Quenneville's bunch went 6-0-0 at the United Center in December of '08 and 10-1-1 overall. Both of those losses - at Joe Louis Arena. The Hawks visit the Wings on Dec 23rd, the back-end of a home-and-home as far as Detroit's concerned.
-- I will be a guest on this week's HockeeNight PuckCast, which we'll tape tonight. You can listen to the show live or check it out on their site or ITunes starting early Tuesday morning.
-- We have a new TTMI Facebook fan page if that's something you're into. This site's RSS feed ties into that so you'll be notified of new updates via the Facebook newsfeed.
-- This week's TTMI~Radio, which was originally pushed back to Wednesday because of tomorrow's Hawks-Columbus game at the UC, has been post-poned yet another day. My men's league schedule came out over the weekend and we start this Wednesday night instead of Thursday so I won't be able to do a show then. It's possible we may not do a show at all this week at all due to an event I may be attending Thursday, or we'll tape a show some other time and post it on the site. We'll keep you posted but for now we've re-scheduled this week's show for Thursday night at 8pm over at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
Our upcoming radio schedule looks like this:
Thu Dec 03 - 8pm (Live) *Tentative Tue Dec 08 - 8pm (Live) Tue Dec 15 - 8pm (Live) Mon Dec 21 - 8pm (Live) *Which should be interesting because I will probably be drunk~! Tue Dec 29 - 9:30pm (Live Post-Game following Hawks @ Dallas Stars)
HockeeNight has some December shopping suggestions for Stan Bowman. Only Seidenberg, Cullen and possibly Weight make any sense whatsoever. And even so, you'd be moving better assets for expiring contracts. But that's the spot John McDonough has put his GM in. Dennis Seidenberg, 28, is a damn fine defenseman (his +4 ranking bests all Panthers' defenseman) who played an important role in Carolina's playoff magic and upset of the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference-Semi's last spring. He plays bigger than his 6-1, 215 frame and he'd be an excellent third-pairing guy who'd easily transition into either second or first pairing minutes if necessary. Another key component in hopes of reaching the ultimate goal. He's not great, just solid all-around. Seidenberg will be a member of Germany's Olympic team in Vancouver. Matt Cullen, a current Carolina Hurricane, just turned 33 and has 6 goals and 14 points in 26 games so far this season, centering the second line on the NHL's worst team. A good face-off man, Cullen would give the Hawks three aces in that category come playoff time, though none (Toews, Madden and potentially Cullen) right-handed, which is a slight concern. As a reasonably-priced legitimate two-way forward, will be one of the most sought-after trade deadline targets should Carolina choose to hold onto him much longer. Cullen had 4 goals and 18 points in the Canes' 2006 Cup-winning postseason. For the reasons listed above, Seidenberg and Cullen are atop Stan Bowman's wish list. Slava Kozlov even at his advanced age still can bring it, but his contract is too much for the Hawks to take on, unless it means exchanging one as Forklift suggests, which would be asinine. Joe Corvo is a first-class idiot both on and off the ice. Andy Sutton, Matt Stajan and Paul Mara don't bring with them anything which can make the team even marginally better on their best days, so those would be acquisitions for the sake of acquisitions. That was the norm on the West Side five years ago. This front office is supposed to be more refined and should avoid such putrid decisions.
-- In case you missed it, Andrew Ebbett's first NHL shootout attempt was successful on Saturday night, clinching Minnesota's 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Colorado. Since Josh Harding thwarted the Avs first two shooters Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski, and Mikko Koivu scored first for the Wild, Koivu gets credit for the shootout winner. Ebbett's shootout conversion was somewhat humorous as he lost control of the puck as he approached Craig Anderson, but it through Anderson's rythym off just enough that Ebbett was able to poke the puck forward just enought and have it slide right under Anderson. Ebbett played 10:29 in the game, skating on Minnesota's fourth line with Derek Boogaard and Chicago-native Robbie Earl.
-- Minnesota placed Martin Havlat on IR over the weekend. They did the same with defenseman Brent Burns (concussion). Havlat is still bothered by the hamstring that's apparently hampered him most of the season. Havlat has just two goals (same number now as Marian Hossa) and 8 points in 19 games so far with his new club. Havlat is not expected to miss more than a game or two.
-- Results of our most recent poll: "At season's end, who will lead the 'Hawks in Goals Scored?"
32.3% - Patrick Kane 25.8% - Jonathan Toews 16.1% - Marian Hossa 12.9% - Patrick Sharp 06.5% - Kris Versteeg 03.2% - Troy Brouwer 03.2% - Dustin Byfuglien
-- First 10,000 fans at tomorrow night's Hawks-Blue Jackets game receive a Blackhawks "knit hat" courtesy of AT&T. Take note of the early start time (7pm) tomorrow to accomodate the VERSUS telecast.
The Third Man In ~ Radio Tuesday November 24, 2009 "In the 38th Hour"
[Per the request made by the creators of the Bloguin.com network, the ten minute segment in the final quarter hour of the show discussing the move from that network has been removed from the archived audio file.]
** Because of the Blackhawks-Blue Jackets game next Tuesday night at the United Center, next week's edition of TTMI ~ Radio will go live on Wednesday December 2nd at 8pm over at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
Also, be on the lookout for an all-Email bag show this coming weekend. Most likely Friday but that's still to be determined.
We're back live tonight at 8pm central for another sterling edition of The Third Man In ~ Radio. Join me and tonight's co-host "The Wad" for another hour-plus of informative, opinionated, passionate, assuredly wacky and occasionally offensive Internet radio.
On tonight's show.....
- Reviewing the Hawks thrashing of the entire province of Alberta - Antti Niemi and a terrifically entertaining 1-0 game late Sunday night in B.C. - Previewing tomorrow night's Match of the Year in San Jose - How good are the Blackhawks? - Marian Hossa's expected debut. Immediate impact. - Who should Hossa skate with? "If We Were Q" what our lines would be. - Did Bickell get the shaft? - More on rumored extensions for 19, 88 & 2. The ramifications and aftermath. - Potential problems these extensions could and likely will cause - Trade rumors. What makes sense? What's total b.s.? - Why Cam Barker must go? - NHL "experts" and their embarrassing lack of mathematical aptitude - If you listened to Thursday's show live, why you knew the real holdup on these extensions before TSN and CBC reporters had figured it out. - John McDonough's influence on hockey decisions - [continued] Who suffers? - Is Stan Bowman merely McD's lapdog? - Why some in the NHL community sympathize with Stan, why some are laughing? - "McDonough Mania" - His 2-year anniversary as team president and media parade he threw himself - McDonough's peculiar attitude towards Bobby Hull - What's up with Pat Foley? - Getting drunk with hockey "bloggers" - Final word on the "Bloguin Era." What's ahead? - Digging to the bottom of the email bag - Block digs into his "apology bag" - Wishing Ill upon a member of the Calgary Flames and making it come to fruition.
-- Working on getting some things around here up to date. Our Depth Chart, Roster Page and Blackhawks Organizational Salary Chart have been updated.
-- For those who've been with us previously at Bloguin, you will need to re-register to participate in the Forums and for the TTMI ~ Newsletter as all user info was tied into their systems and were deleted before I initiated the switch to the new host. The newsletter will be published and distributed this coming Monday, November 30th. The TTMI ~ Newsletter typically will be published Monday or Tuesdays depending on the Hawks' schedule and be anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 words in length. We'll have more on Monday's issue in the coming days.
-- It's Tuesday, so it means live radio tonight at 8pm central at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn. A preview of tonight's show will probably be up on the site by the time you read this.
-- The Blackhawks went 2-1-1 vs. San Jose last season. Cristobal Huet was in net for both meetings last November (11/16 at the UC and 11/26/08 in San Jose), losing 6-5 and 3-2 (in OT) respectively.
-- All on the verge of returning to the Sharks' lineup, Rob Blake (upper body), Devin Setoguchi (leg) (or David Setoguchi as recent Hawks' TV play-by-play announcer Dan Kelly used to call him) and tough guy Jody Shelley("body soreness") will all miss tomorrow night's game. Center Torrey Mitchell (tendinitis, left knee), just back from a conditioning assignment in Worcester, will be evaluated today and tomorrow and is questionable. Setoguchi was injured in, but finished the Nov. 16 game against the Hawks at the UC.
-- If the Hawks had their way, another GM would take the Brent Sopel contract off their hands while he's playing his best hockey as a Hawk. Brian Burke is a lot of things but stupid is not one of them. The interest right now is concentrated on Cam Barker and Carolina is just one of those teams. Last week's impending contract information leak is certainly doing Stan Bowman, more importantly the entire Hawks' organization no favors right now.
More video: Cooking at Meier with Brent Seabrook Blackhawks.tv - Seabrook learns many different ways to use ground beef, but confesses most nights he eats out.
-- We have a new poll up on the right side of our front page, asking who you believe will lead the Blackhawks in overall goals at season's end. Results of our most recent poll are as follows:
Of the following, which player would you most prefer the Hawks NOT trade? 48.1% - Patrick Sharp 37.0% - Kris Versteeg 7.4% - Cam Barker 3.7% - Brent Sopel 3.7% - Dustin Byfuglien
-- Former Hawks' defenseman Christian Laflamme (1997-99) celebrates his 33rd birthday today..... Darin Kimble (1993-95) turned 41 this past Sunday. Legendary Blackhawks' defenseman HarryDick (1946-47) would've been 87 on Sunday..... Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald while live television cameras rolled 46 years ago today and Ireland voted for its independence from Britain 61 years ago today....
-- Erin from Hockey and Red High Heels was the guest on last night's HockeeNight PuckCast. Erin is a Pittsburgh native living in Chicago and thus she writes a combination Hawks/Penguins blog.
-- A reminder, I'll be a guest on the PuckCast next Monday night. You can listen to the show and interact live at TalkShoe.com beginning at 9pm on Nov. 30th. If you can't listen live, the show will be available on their site and also here Tuesday morning.
-- Jake Dowell is without a goal in his last 17 games with Rockford..... Joe Fallon has taken the IceHogs' no. 1 starting job from Corey Crawford. Fallon is 3-2-1 with a 1.97 GAA and .934 save percentage in the month of November. The Hogs have averaged 2.29 goals per game with Fallon in net this month. On the season, Rockford is averaging 2.55 goals per outing. Their 9-10-3 record currently seats them in 5th place in the AHL's Western Conference's West division. The IceHogs host the Manitoba Moose tomorrow night at MetroCentre.... Akim Aliu has 5 goals and 1 assist in 18 games and has yet to earn himself a fighting major this season.... Caught Rockford's 3-1 home loss to the Texas Stars last Wednesday. Jack Skille was all over the place and is fun to watch at the AHL level, but his 6% season shooting percentage is no fluke....
The Third Man In ~ Radio [Pre-game edition] Thursday November 19, 2009 - 7:30pm [original air] "THE NEW DEAL"
For a breakdown of what was discussed on this week's lone program, click here for the show rundown as we stuck to the format going in for the most part. Of course, you also get the usual blend of sarcasm, unfortunate humor, unnecessary vulgarity and the occasional disturbing visual you've come to expect from Chris Block and The Third Man In ~ Radio!
We'll return next week in our usual Tuesday night time slot, 8pm central, November 24th at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn for those who would like to listen live.
The last time the Blackhawks took on the Flames they had to come back from a 5-0 deficit. Six unanswered goals later, the Blackhawks won in overtime. In the second matchup of the season between these two teams, the Flames wanted to extract revenge against the Blackhawks in front of their Albertan fans.
The Blackhawks would not give them the satisfaction.
The Hawks opened the floodgates on the Flames in the second period, scoring five unanswered goals after the Flames tied the game 1-1 early in the middle frame. The Hawks finished the period with two powerplay goals in 36 seconds and a 6-1 lead; the Flames would be booed off the ice by the hometown fans and goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff would not return for the third period. The Hawks would go on to win the game 7-1.
The first Blackhawk goal was scored by Troy Brouweron the powerplay. After a point shot by Duncan Keithwas saved by Kiprusoff, Brouwer fought off his check in front of the net and was able to elevate it over Kiprusoff's extended leg pads. The goal was Brouwer's fourth powerplay goal this season, his sixth goal overall. Of Brouwer's nine points, five have come with the man-advantage. [My formula of Brouwer = Powerplay success is very much a truism]
A carry over powerplay for Calgary between the first and second periods would not last long, as Jerome Iginla and Olli Jokinenbroke out after the opening faceoff of the second period. Iginla, taking the puck into the zone from the right wing made a simple pass to the centerman Jokinen, who fired a tight wristshot past Cristobal Huet to tie the game.
- Rumored contract extensions for Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith - Why the Hawks leaked the news when they had no intention of announcing these deals this week. - When you can expect an official word. - The real story behind the Keith deal. Is it a good move? - What the Hawks want you to think and why they really can't make a Keith deal happen right now. - What role, if any, Stan Bowman played in making these deals happen. - Why the Hawks aren't out of the woods yet - What these deals mean going forward and why the Hawks are further crippling themselves with these contracts. - What will the 2010-11 Blackhawks look like? - Huge site news - Bloguin or to not Bloguin - A Blackhawks-Flames primer - Who's more underappreciated? Dion Phaneuf or Brent Sopel - And much, much more....
So join us live if you will starting at 7:30 tonight. We welcome your thoughts as always and you can call-in to the listener hotline listed on the show page player to do so.
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