Blackhawks

Random NHL Randomness 12/02/13

Dec 2, 2013 • 12:42 pm

For all my Jewish friends as they celebrate Chanukah, a little Old Testament humour:

I’m here all night. Tip your waiter...

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With his teammates scoring only once on their first two attempts, Dallas rookie Alex Chaisson lost the puck on the third shoot out attempt, losing the game versus the Oilers who had scored on their first two (skip to 2:09 for the "shot"):

Not gonna beat a dead horse here with the habitual "Leafs getting outshot" front, but I will say this: it's mind blowing to me when I hear the players brush it off, discounting it as something they don't really think about (to paraphrase the gist of a recent player comment on the matter). Why does this bother me? Well, let’s answer that by asking another question: What's one of the first stock answers you'll get in response to a player/team commenting on their need to increase their scoring?

"We've/I've got to...":

A) Twerk more in warm-up B) Switch to decaf C) Finally switch last year's unwashed “good luck… skivvies D) Baba booey! Baba booey! Howard Stern's penis! E) SHOOT THE PUCK MORE

So if shooting more helps you score, being consistently outshot should be a bit of a concern, no? Don’t get me wrong. I don’t for one second think these are dumb guys. I tend to think they’re well aware of this mismatch, and are very likely addressing it behind closed doors and in practice. So what's the big deal with acknowledging it with a basic cookie cutter sound bite? Just saying...

(...and I wait for a message arguing quality shots versus perimeter ones, etc...)

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I'd be remiss if, after a month long absence, I didn't make some passing reference to the topic of discussion in Toronto, so here it is in hockey form:

I’m willing to bet anyone that if this guy ever gets arrested they’ll find 50 pounds of crack down the back of his pants when they search him...

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An interesting note I read in a recent column by the Toronto Star's Kevin McGrann: historically 12 to 13 of the teams in a playoff spot on American thanksgiving, which coincides with the approximate quarter mark of the season, will make the playoffs.

I for one am curious to see how this holds up! So let's get this list down and revisit from time to time to see. So the standings as of Friday were as follows:

Eastern Conference:

Boston Pittsburgh Tampa Bay Detroit Montreal Toronto Washington NY Rangers

Western Conference:

Chicago San Jose St. Louis Anaheim Colorado Los Angeles Phoenix Minnesota

Let’s revisit at the Olympic break, shall we?

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Shawn Gates

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