Tag Archives: Brandon Saad

Lindbloom’s View: Introducing Flex Seal

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Rich Lindbloom| Leave a comment
Lindbloom_PhilSwift_2013Feb06“What he did was criminal.” Joel Quenneville on Razor’s performance vs. Calgary

By Rich Lindbloom

If you spend any time watching the NHL Network, you’re probably quite familiar with the man sitting in the boat with the screen door bottom. “Hawker” extraordinaire, Phil Swift, exuberantly promotes this new miracle product, finishing his pitch with the classic, “Buy one can, and we’ll send you another one for free –“but you must order now!” Uncle Rico and his sailing-ship-in-a-bottle offer got nothing on this guy. Just how good at sealing leaks is this supernatural product? Well, you get a little idea when you see Phil with a can standing on the Hoover Dam. I’m pretty sure even Blues fans could put 2 + 2 together on that image. Read more »

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Brandon Saad nets first NHL goal in Blackhawks 5-3 victory in San Jose

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jon Fromi| 3 Comments

By Jon Fromi

The Chicago Blackhawks broke a four-game losing streak at the HP Pavilion, rallying from an early two-goal deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 Tuesday night. The ‘Hawks remained unbeaten in regulation this season in a game that saw rookie Brandon Saad log his first NHL goal in a wild first period.

The Sharks were physical right from the start of the contest and it paid off in the form of a pair of early goals. San Jose laid some hard hits on Andrew Shaw along the boards and Duncan Keith behind the ‘Hawks net. Keith avoided big contact, but landed hard on his back.

With Keith temporarily on the bench, Joe Pavelski knocked in a bouncing puck created by Marc Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the point at the 2:53 mark of the first.

Minutes later, Tommy Wingles got the puck entering the Chicago zone and fired a lazer over the glove of Corey Crawford to make it 2-0 San Jose just 5:18 into the game. At this point, coach Joel Quenneville used his time out in an attempt to settle his team. It did just that as Chicago struck twine three times in the span of 89 seconds. Read more »

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Leddy, Blackhawks edge Red Wings 2-1 in Overtime; Chicago off to best start in franchise history

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment

By Brad Gardner

The Chicago Blackhawks set a new franchise record by getting off to a 6-0 start to the 2013 season with a win on Sunday at the United Center over the rival Detroit Red Wings.

Corey Crawford stopped 29 shots and Nick Leddy was the overtime hero by beating Jimmy Howard off the rush to extend the Hawks excellent run to open the season.

Both teams wanted a good start in the first period. The Red Wings, who only practiced Saturday after winning 5-3 over the Wild on Friday, had been inconsistent in the first period in the early going this season, while the Blackhawks were coming off a first-period pummeling at the hands of the Blue Jackets in their game Saturday. Read more »

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Lindbloom: I Can’t Feel My Toes

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Rich Lindbloom| Leave a comment

Lindbloom_CantFeelMyToes

“Hockey captures the essence of the Canadian experience in the New World.
In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the dance of life, and
An affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive.” – Bruce Kidd

By Rich Lindbloom

Admittedly, two robust victories on the road can have an inordinate impact on one’s enthusiasm. Yet, after almost four months of saying I don’t care if they play or not, it’s truly great to see that the boys are back in town. (“Remember that chick that slapped Kaner’s face? Man… we fell about the place-if that chick don’t want to go forget her.”) Actually, it seems all the stars are lining up at the moment for Chicago hockey fans. Hockey and single digit temperatures go together like soup and sandwiches. There’s even a smidgeon of that white stuff on the ground. Hopefully Sam Fels and his street urchins will not develop frostbite while peddling ‘The Indian’ tonight. That lamppost doesn’t offer much protection from a bitter Northwest wind. Dig a little deeper and tip them tonight bucko’s! Read more »

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Hossa, 2nd line again ignite Blackhawks offense; trip to desert yields 6-4 victory

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Brad Vandenberk| 1 Comment

By Brad Vandenberk

The Blackhawks continued their back-to-back opening weekend road trip on Sunday night in Phoenix.  A dually important matchup to Chicago, as these were the same Coyotes that put them out in the first round of the playoffs last season.

After a convincing 5-2 win in LA on Saturday, the Hawks were looking to keep the momentum and emotions high to start the season.  With only two home games in the next four weeks, it was important to get the wins on the road when they could.  Read more »

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Rockford hosting Peoria tonight; IceHogs PIM woes continue, Ted Dent considering benching players for bad penalties

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Chris Block| Leave a comment

By Chris Block

Rockford IceHogs (19-17-1-1) are hosting the Peoria Rivermen (17-17-2-2) tonight at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

It’ll be the fourth of twelve meetings between the two clubs this season.  The Rivermen have been victorious twice.  Rockford defeated Peoria 5-4 in a seesaw affair when the teams last met on November 21st in Rockford.  The IceHogs got off to a quick start when Adam Clendening scored his 3rd goal on the campaign 56 seconds in.  Rockford went up 2-0 eleven minutes later when Brandon Saad scored an unassisted short-handed goal.  Peoria though responded by notching three unanswered even-strength tallies in just under six minutes and led 3-2 heading into the first intermission.  Between periods Ted Dent changed some lines around and altered his top two defense pairings, pairing Nick Leddy with Clendening and Ryan Stanton with Klas Dahlbeck.  The rest of the game was controlled by Rockford.  Martin St. Pierre tied the game late in the second period and two power play goals from Jeremy Morin sealed the victory. Read more »

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Quick video highlight package of Rockford’s 2-1 Overtime win in Milwaukee on Saturday, Brandon Saad’s GWG

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Chris Block| 2 Comments

Video highlights from Rockford’s 2-1 Overtime victory in Milwaukee on Saturday night.  Video runs 1:15.

See the great individual effort by Brandon Saad to win the game in overtime, as well as the feed Jeremy Morin received from Adam Clendening to tie the game with 3:28 remaining in regulation.  It was Morin’s 13th goal and that was also assisted by Saad.  In two games on the weekend, Brandon Saad posted two goals and four assists, besting his point total in the previous fifteen games (1g 4a) by one.

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Update on Ben Smith injury; Saad’s Huge Weekend, New Montador concussion could open door for a prospect

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Chris Block| 3 Comments

By Chris Block

In a true case of unfortunate timing, Blackhawks prospect Ben Smith was injured while playing for the IceHogs in Rockford on Friday night.  The team’s leading goal scorer injured his hand and missed Saturday night’s game in Milwaukee due to the injury.

It is not known at this point how long Smith will be out of action.

Over his last 25 games, Smith has posted 12 goals, 12 assists to go with a plus-5 rating.  His season total of 15 goals are one better than that of Martin St. Pierre, the IceHogs overall leading scorer.

To follow up on a Twitter post I put out on early Saturday evening, at this point it now appears Ben Smith will not need surgery on his injured hand.

Smith was injured during Friday night’s 5-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford.

A source with knowledge of the injury had learned on Saturday that Smith’s injury may require surgery.

However, late Saturday night a separate person close to the situation indicated that Smith’s hand won’t require surgery.

Smith was involved in a fight late in the second period Friday night with Griffins’ defenseman Brennan Evans.  Read more »

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Ted Dent says some supposed NHL guys not pulling their weight; Blackhawks brass forcing more lineup changes; Tonight’s game preview

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Chris Block| 1 Comment

By Chris Block

Riding a four game losing streak (0-3-1-0), the Rockford IceHogs drive 93 miles northeast tonight where they’ll visit the BMO Harris Bradley Center to face off with the Milwaukee Admirals for the second time in six days.

The lone point Rockford has picked up in those four contests came in a 4-3 overtime loss in Milwaukee this past Friday.  Rockford trailed the Admirals 3-1 midway through that game until goals by Brandon Pirri and captain Martin St. Pierre forced an overtime session.  However, a breakdown in the IceHogs end resulted in Kevin Henderson surprising Carter Hutton with the game-winning shot a minute and forty-five seconds in to send the IceHogs back to Rockford with only the one consolation standings point.

Although the IceHogs (13-12-1-1) have lost both of their games since dropping first-place to the Griffins in Grand Rapids on December 9th, that one point earned in Milwaukee has been enough force Rockford back into a tie with Grand Rapids for the top spot in the Midwest Division.  The Griffins has also lost their past two games since moving into first in the division.  Grand Rapids hosts the Rochester Americans tonight at Van Andel Arena.

The Midwest division race is as tight as it could possibly be, now a third of the way through the 76 game American Hockey League season.  One point separates last-place Milwaukee (12-11-2-1, 27 points) from Grand Rapids and Rockford in the top spot. Read more »

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Chris Block joins the Hockeenight Puckcast for a special Holiday podcast

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Chris Block| Leave a comment

On Sunday night I had the pleasure of joining CT and the “Forklift” on their groundbreaking, award-winning HockeeNight PuckCast.

As always when Hockeenight and TTMI join together, we ran the usual gamut of topics.  We review the NHL’s class action complaint filed against the NHLPA in a New York court on Friday and the damning quotes from Jonathan Toews and Troy Brouwer cited in the motion.

We discuss all the latest on Blackhawks prospects including Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, Ben Smith and Fork’s favorite, Jeremy Morin.  Also, we broach the Blackhawks directive to IceHogs coach Ted Dent to move Andrew Shaw back to center, and what may have gone into that decision – the Jeremy Roenick autobiography, “torpedoing” Jimmy Hayes, Malort~!, Gary Bettman’s standing in the face of his third work stoppage, how the 5% variance would effect teams should it be realized, George “the Animal” Steele and some professional wrestling history.

You can Right-Click to Download the MP3 file here

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