IlliniKrush

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 09:33 PM) I did a search for this via google, but it was an epic fail. Anywho, I assume this has been done before, but if not, anyone up for posting a link to their myspace/facebook page? If Critic happens to read this, please save the "the lack of friends" jokes for another time! You know how I know you're gay?

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 12:27 PM) Certain posters on this board have (or had -- as of a few years ago) never heard of the word "finna". I was 'lambasted' (okay, that's too strong, but I'm gonna go with it) for it the whole weekend because I was the lone person who had heard of it. Let's review: White kid About 12 years old at the time Yeah, you deserved it.

That was an absolutely wildly entertaining game.

Also if you haven't seen this, this would be a 10+ in this thing. GD filthy.

The slam dunk esque contest was pretty interesting. I like seeing guys try some crazy stuff to try to score. I also like mixing it up with the obstacle course, get some new things in there. And as you've said, go back to the old fastest skater competition. The way it is now it's a who's the best at accelerating competition, not really who's the fastest for a longer period of time. 3 on 3 was fun to watch, it'd be retarded if they did that in a real game, but for the youngstars it was nice entertainment. Kane with the sweet 2 goals. Also, breakaways don't equal cherrypicking, if you look at how the breakaways started. They all started in the defensive zone.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/722251.html

Bad play by Buff to start it, but Kane's lazy ass should have had no problem winning that loose puck battle, as he had an easy two strides on him. That's on Pat. Pathetic effort by Kane for one of the first times all year and it really killed them. Barker seriously needs to stop chasing hits in the neutral zone when stopping the rush and in the offensive zone when trying to keep the puck in. He puts himself out of position way too often and as a result it's either a bit of an odd man break or you have a forward taking the rush as the other defensive partner. Skille seems to be improving every game and his cycling work is getting there. 5 on 5 the Hawks were pretty solid. Nabby played well at the other end. Special teams killed. Lalime didn't play bad, but Habby throws up that exact same game and you'd have people calling for his head. The first goal wasn't very strong, so there's the softy everyone loves to wine about. He can start either one Thursday, you will probably get a very similar result, but if Lalime isn't dead tired, I'd go with him again. It's on the rest of the team to take one here. It'd be nice if they could do something on the power play - it's getting stale again. They aren't having trouble on gaining the zone, but getting chances has been an issue. They've tried to go cross-crease a lot and it hasn't been clicking. And when they get it to Buff he can't find the net with a compass right now. Oh for a Williams back there. BTW, Koharski sucks, but most people already knew that. Some odd calls and no calls and Sharp should have had a penalty shot in any league on the planet, he just flat out missed that one, and I think any SJ fan would admit that. I don't see how this game can make or break the season, way too much emphasis on it just because the all-star break is up next. It's as important as tonight's game and no more important than the colorado game next wed.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jan 20, 2008 -> 09:58 PM) When I eat a meal, I eat one thing at a time, in reverse order of how much I'm looking forward to eating it. I have always been given a hard time about eating things one at a time, but I really have never told anyone I'm eating with that there definitely is an order. Holy s***, I do the exact same thing. I always get crap about it. Another one off the top of my head is that the volume on the tv or radio has to be on an even number.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 20, 2008 -> 12:38 AM) HNIC is stating that DT is shopping Habby to pretty much anyone who will listen. Old news I know but it seems to be getting around he is really trying to deal him. With his poor play and huge contract I have a hard time seeing too many teams being interested. Of course he is. I don't see how any decent GM bites, obviously, but who the hell knows. I've seen worse moves happen. If the CBA allowed you to eat money I'd say there was a pretty decent shot of actually moving him, but the way it is currently structured, I'd say it's damn near impossible. I'm not finding too many underproducing skaters making 5+ mil that GMs want to throw at us.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 20, 2008 -> 01:15 AM) Krush I don't the first comment. Who makes you hate IU more and why? There are only four or five of us on here. What do I do to make you hate IU more? From my personal experience, I would not even think of throwing anything in an Illini fan's face until I got onto these message boards and had to listen to the Illini gaggle. Even you admit that some of the stuff thrown out here is a bunch of crap. And if you didn't think there was going to be a lot of venom after the whole Eric Gordon thing then you'd be nuts. But that doesn't make UI our biggest rival. It may temporarily make them our most hated, but I'd submit that is because of the way Illini fans reacted to the whole Gordon saga. Now I am not saying that Illini faithful should have liked it, but the high road certainly was not taken. I know full well there are idiots from all fan bases. And if there were more IU fans on here maybe the level of idiotic comments would be more even. But they aren't so I find it hard to figure how IU fans on here make you hate IU more. Should we not defend ourselves at all? I guess after thinking about it again, it's the 'random' IU posters that piss me off. A guy like...is it witesoxfan? will come in here and say how much Illinois sucks and how IU is winning the title this year, etc. Aboz isn't really a random, and I know he's better than this, but whenever he does pop in here, it's a dig at Illinois, usually in 10 words or less (he seems obsessed with writing about Weber and Illinois). You nor the regulars are bad, so I guess I should clarify. However, reading your posts for the first time tonight had me upset because it's hard to realize that it's not really directed at me, per se. Does that make sense? I guess whenever someone says Illinois, I feel like whatever comes next is directed to me, when I guess that's not the case, and I should realize that. So that's another reason I said IU fans on this board make me hate IU more, etc. And I was with CWSGuy on the whole 'holier than thou' line of thinking when I was reading your initial posts, to be honest. It was like IU doesn't think jacks*** of Illinois, like we're Penn St, and only Illinois fans make a big deal out of any IU/Illinois game. You clarified later, I see, but initially, it was odd. But again, sometimes it's hard for all of us to separate what's really aimed at you and what isn't. And yes, there is a lot of Illinois crap thrown around here (well there is for a lot of teams on this entire subforum). I don't think we are your biggest rival just due to our history, for one. We haven't been an almost elite program until recently, and you haven't come down from your ncaa title years until somewhat recently. Now that both teams are pretty much a notch below the elite of the elite programs and are on a very similar level the last few years/perhaps in coming years (at least in my opinion), I think it's at least a pretty good rivalry. Throw on the Gordon stuff and the location, and I think it's a rivalry that is here to stay. I'm pretty sure I'll want to beat IU in bball really badly even when Sampson, Gordon, Weber, etc are gone. I still read here and am still pissed off by every loss and the direction (albeit short term, it seems) of the program, I just don't post as much because what is there to say after half these losses? It's the same routine every game and it's hard to add much to the discussion. Make a f***ing free throw once in a while and you might win a game, among other things. /end rant.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 19, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) You are reading it exactly right. Purdue and Kentucky are Indiana's rivalries. Michigan State at times is a bigger game than Illinois. Whether Illini fans like it or not - it is not our fault they don't have a real rivalry of their own - the Illini just aren't that important to the Hoosiers. If they want to fight for #3 status on our rivalry board and feel important about that, go right ahead. Beyond that, they are just another Big Ten team, albeit with a lound and annoying fan base. Well if it's any consolation, the IU fans on this board make me hate IU even more. I also call BS, as every IU fan now goes out of their way to throw anything in an Illini's fan's face (not that they've had much of a chance to do that in recent years whatsoever). There sure was a lot of venom at Assembly Hall last game (and the last few). Pretty sure Greasy has the pulse of the campus measured correctly.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Jan 19, 2008 -> 10:00 AM) I still give the slight edge to Toews, just because the goalie screwed up the pokecheck on Nash's goal. Both spectacular goals, though. See I think that's another reason Nash's goal is so impressive. The puck was indeed poke checked and he was able to stay composed and find the bouncing puck off his skate and hammer it in the net.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jan 18, 2008 -> 07:15 PM) Of course there's more to a hockey game than goaltending. Jesus H Christ, you refute time and time again that Lalime isn't a guy who can lead a team, that he can't play enough games to be the regular starter (a point refuted with actual statistics). I have not once used wins as a way to gauge good goaltending. I've played hockey my entire life; I know a thing or two about the sport. The Blackhawks have played equally in front of Nik and Lalime, and Khabibulin and Lalime have produced about equally (Nik: 2.82, .898/ Pat 2.69 / .900). I'd feel confident with him as the #1 as we work Crawford into the regular rotation next year... all I've said, is if you can get a bag of pucks for Nik, do it ASAP, bc he will never be around when this team really has a shot, and he's already showing that his best days are well past him. When he came over in that FA deal, I really thought we'd see what we saw in a Tampa, a guy who single-handedly was stealing games. We've seen that maybe 5 times in 3 seasons. What we are seeing now is that Lalime and Khabibulin are putting up about the same production... guess what, that's not worth the $6.5 mill per that Khabibulin is taking out of a rather small salary cap. At his best, Nik was a game changer, but he's a long way away from that... he's stopping under 90% of shots against him for crying out loud. If you think holding onto Nik is in the Blackhawks' best interest, then it is you who know nothing about hockey. Remember when he started for a while in St. Louis in 05-06? 3.64 GAA, .881%. Though it was a bad team, he was 4-18. Habby had a bad year, but his stats were still better, and for as bad a team really. Last year in limited action, 3.07, .896%. Both seasons he has spent time in the minors. Might be a reason he hasn't started since 03-04. Also, I may or may not have been playing hockey my entire life, so great point there. I'm astounded you actually have played that long because your posts usually have very little analysis in them that would show an understanding of the game. And wait, the Hawks have played equally in front of Nik and Lalime? f*** that's a bad blanket statement if I've ever heard one. Habby has played basically this entire stretch of injured/bad Hawks hockey and has suffered because of it. He's also been overworked as Savvy has rode him into the ground as he gets hot instead of popping in a day off. I wouldn't feel confident in Lalime as a #1 next year...and if you think it's a point that can be argued with statistics, I'd like to see them - because limited action really doesn't show anything, and he's given up plenty of his own soft goals over the past 2 years. If you think you can just float those statistics over 65 games, I disagree. There's way too many people around here and everywhere else in Chicago that see a Hawks loss, maybe one s*** goal from Habby, and think that Habby sucks and throw the loss on him. That's when I chime in. They'll lose a game 3-2, 2-1, 3-1 or some s*** and people are all over the goaltender. Again...Grossman style. And wait, how much does Habby make again? Is he worth it? I guess we should just make some team take him from us, because that seems easy to do. As of now, we're arguing who should play the majority next year, and that's an argument that has NOTHING to do with how much they are making. I don't care if he's making a billion dollars, you play the better goalie, not who you think is a better value. You can pay me 10 bucks to play net, and that'd be a f***load of value compared to either of them, no? And as far as stopping under 90% of his shots...A) look at the defense in front of him and the goals scored on him, and B] Lalime is stopping 90% exactly. OMG I GUESS I GOT OWNED...or not, considering the games (and number of) he's played in and what his save percentage has been the last few seasons. f***, if we could trade Habby for a good player and get rid of that salary there isn't a person around that wouldn't do it. But it seems like a pipe dream, does it not? I'm sure Dale has never thought about how he's paying a goalie almost 7 mil to not live up to Cup standards. He tried in that offseason to shore up the goaltending for once and it didn't quite work out how he wanted. You can complain all you want about the salary, but it's not going away unless some GM is retarded/we take back some other worthless s*** with a high salary. It's a pretty irrelevant topic. The bigger problem is after Habby is gone next year and this team is really in its prime, who the hell is in net? Lalime (if around) nor Crawford don't appear to be ready to take this team deep into the playoffs. This could easily be Dale's biggest problem sooner than later.

OK there's that commercial where people are doing little things for each other, someone sees it, and does something nice for someone else. I'm spacing on the company. Anyways, a lot of the little stuff is nice and they make sense. However, the commercial begins and ends with a guy carrying what I think is a pizza, with his head down, and he almost walks right into traffic. The lady standing there does a "little thing" and grabs him. Who the f*** walks with their head down into an intersection, completely ignoring signals and/or cars? That guy deserved to get blasted by a car. Plus, the other little things don't fit in with that lady literally saving that guy's life. Stupid example.

BTW, this sucks - Williams surgery, out at least 6 weeks. I'm no doctor...but why couldn't this surgery have happened earlier? Maybe there's a reason, but this seems a bit odd. http://blackhawks.nhl.com/team/app/?servic...rticleid=350454

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jan 18, 2008 -> 06:52 PM) Yeah, I do have a clue. I was replying to his point that the Hawks scored 6 goals for Lalime, even though he only gave up one goal so that really had no merit. Why don't you take a chill pill, sorry to argue with your best friend about something. It's simple, as of right now, Patrick Lalime is the better goaltender than Nikolai Khabibulin. Krush has backed 'Bulin time and time again, so why don't you "get a f***ing clue?" Seriously, take some anti-cramping pills or something. It's indeed relevant. They haven't scored 4 or more goals for Habby since what, Dec 26? Like I've said before, it'd be nice if Habby didn't have to only allow 0, 1, or 2 goals to MAYBE get a win. Had The Hawks won, say, 6-4, I highly doubt you would have changed your "look who was in net" tune. Your lack of understanding is astounding. I don't really defend Bulin until people come on here and chime in on how he sucks regardless of the team's play in front of him or the analysis of each goal. Like I said, it's simple, it's lazy, and it's like blaming Grossman. I've always said there's way more problems than that (someone try to argue otherwise...) and when Habby is THE problem around here, then we can really jump on him. Plus, how many times do we have to hear "he's not worth nearly 7 million. We should trade him!" No, really? I had no idea he wasn't a top 3 goaltender in the league. We know, you'd like him to be traded. I'm sure they'd do it if they easily could. Doesn't really seem to be an option with that salary and the way the CBA is set up. Plus, I will stand by my stance that Lalime wouldn't cut it whatsoever as a starter playing 65ish games a year. However, I would love to see what people would have said had the Hawks not went out and tried to get a superstar goalie to get this team back on the map. They've had s*** since Belfour left, for the most part. Furthermore, I'd like to see how many people were upset with the contract at the time. Probably no one. I'm all for the Hawks winning, but there's more to a hockey game than just goaltending.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jan 18, 2008 -> 11:58 AM) Dude, say what you will, he still only gave up 1 goal and has looked far better than Khabibulin this year. We get it, you think Bulin is still the man and remember him leading Tampa to the Cup all those years ago. What's the difference between Lalime and Khabibulin next year other than like 4 million in salary? Not much. Lalime is the better goaltender right now and though I doubt they'll find a taker, getting rid of Bulin would be great regardless of return. QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 18, 2008 -> 01:15 PM) Do you honestly have a f***ing clue? Cripes, it's always the same lack of reading comprehension with you -- same ole, same ole provocative bulls***. Krush never said that Khabibulin is an awesome goalie -- he's said that ( a ) the losing streak wasn't completely on him, despite everyone wanting to do that and ( b ) Lalime ain't going to get us anywhere. He's not touting him as Roberto Luongo, just saying that there was a LOT of blame to go around. It wouldn't surprise me if Lalime puts up very good numbers over the next couple games, but I'd bet that has more to do with this team starting to get healthy (namely Sopel and Wizniewski -- I'd say 95% of the goalies in this league would suck with Seabrook, Keith, Byfuglien, Barker, Zyuzin and Richmond playing in front of them) than Lalime himself. That takes nothing away from Lalime, BTW -- he's played well and every one of us hopes that he can run off a ten game streak where he only allows 15 goals. Well, I guess that about covers it.

When you wear uniforms that ugly, you deserve to lose

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Jan 17, 2008 -> 08:41 AM) I knew I shouldn't have benched Kane in favor of Havlat in my fantasy league! Good to see the pucks hitting the back of the net again. Two in a row, and you'll notice who was between the pipes. My boy Lalime. Let's start him next year! Hey look at that, the Hawks scored 6 goals for him, too.

07:37 PPG - Sergei Samsonov, Assists: Erik Cole and Rod Brind'Amour 13:00 Erik Cole, Assists: Glen Wesley and Sergei Samsonov 19:51 Rod Brind'Amour, Assists: Ray Whitney and Sergei Samsonov LOL what a pud

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 15, 2008 -> 04:25 PM) Easiest. Semester. Ever. Good, that'll give you plenty of time to follow SIU's deep tourney run

There's just no way that's plugged in.

Well here's the answer on Buff: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=113415&src=149 Huge shame on the media for not asking about Buff on Sunday night. That's terrible coverage. Also, I'm glad he's going back to wing, I cannot trust the guy defensively, he's brutal. Now the question is does Susan dress or is a move made before Wed? If it's Tarnstrom, blech.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 11:39 AM) Tell me about Campbell -- I honestly don't know a whole helluva lot about him. Top pairing guy? Anybody you could compare him to (preferably a guy on the Hawks, as my range of players outside of the Hawks is rather limited). A better version of Duncan Keith (and I like Duncan Keith a lot, always have). He's great with the puck, tons of offensive ability, good on the power play, more physical than Duncan but not overly physical as he isn't that big, real good in his own zone. Maybe not quite as fast as Duncan but very mobile. Top pairing guy without a shadow of a doubt. If he's seriously talking to him about a contract extension, give him the money, he's 28 and worth every penny and it fills a huge role on our team for the next X years.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Jan 13, 2008 -> 09:31 PM) Buff hasn't played since the middle of the 2nd period. Benched to protect against an injury because they've agreed to a trade? I did not see any injury this game, and this is way too long to just be shortening the bench, nor do I see where he was god awful tonight. And we all know Savvy loves him. ??? OK so not much talk here about this tonight, but I have a feeling this will be the talk today when a trade is announced. Savvy had zero comment about Buff after the game from what I see and no one wrote about this...he's gone. Has to be. There's no other explanation. I'm hoping it's Campbell from Buffalo after Dale signed him to an extension...which is why this is taking so long...and I have zero problem getting rid of Buff, especially for this. I'm thinking the Hawks would have to throw in a pick or someone like Bolland to pull it off, but that's fine by me. Please be Campbell, let's do this Dale. I've never been so excited about an "almost deal" in my life.