This Week in Hawks History - Jan. 25-31

Reg, Max and Doug Bentley

• The Blackhawks played their first game at the United Center on January 25, 1995, a 5-1 victory over Edmonton. Joe Murphy registered the first goal at the new arena.
  


• Steve Sullivan set a team record for the fastest two shorthanded goals, tallying them 51 seconds apart at Colorado on January 26, 2001.
  


• On the same date in 1946, Hawks forward Alex Kaleta tallied four goals at Toronto.
  


• On January 27, 2008, Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith played in his first NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta.
  


• On January 28, 1943, Chicago's Bentley brothers set several team marks in a 10-1 walloping of the New York Rangers at the Stadium. Max Bentley scored four goals in the third period with his brother Doug assisting on each, setting team records for goals and assists in a period, respectively. Max also set team records for most points in a period (5 in the third period) and a game (7) during the contest. Max Bentley's third-period point total duplicated Les Cunningham's mark – set on the same date in 1940 - when Chicago blasted Montreal 8-1 at the Stadium.
  


• The Blackhawks' record for most goals and widest victory margin was set on January 30, 1969, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia when the visitors steamrolled the Flyers 12-0 with Jim Pappin netting a hat trick.
  


• Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull each scored a hat trick at the Boston Garden on January 31, 1963, as the Hawks crushed the Bruins 9-2.

From Harvey Wittenburg/Chicago Blackhawks

A joke for the All-Star Break

Got this joke in an e-mail from a member of my hockey team today ...

Dear Abby,

I have never written to you before, but I really need your advice.

I have suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me. The usual signs; the phone rings but if I answer, the caller hangs up. She has been going out with 'the girls' a lot recently although when I ask their names she always says "Just some friends from work, you don't know them."

I try to stay awake and look out for her when she comes home, but I usually fall asleep. Anyway, I have never broached the subject with her, I think deep down I just did not want to know the truth, but last night she went out again and I decided to finally check on her. Around midnight, I hid in the garage behind my hockey equipment so I could get a good view of the whole street when she arrived home from a night out with 'the girls.'

When she got out of the car she was buttoning up her blouse, and she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on. It was at that moment, crouching behind my hockey gear, that I noticed a hairline crack where the blade meets the graphite shaft on my new one piece Bauer XXXX hockey stick.

Is this something I can fix myself or should I take it back to the pro-shop where I bought it?

Please Advise,

Shafted

Player’s Death Revives Debate on Fighting in Hockey

Photo by Arantxa Cedillo for the New York Times
Article by New York Times writer Katie Thomas

WHITBY, Ontario — As a rookie defenseman for the Whitby Dunlops, a storied amateur hockey team in this Toronto suburb, Donald Sanderson impressed his teammates as a passionate and intense competitor.

Every time the puck dropped, the 21-year-old Sanderson shed his otherwise fun-loving demeanor and focused on the game. He was the type of guy, teammates said, who seemed to care more about the team than he did for himself.

“He was fierce,” said Matt Armstrong, an assistant coach. “He would do anything it took to win the game.”

At 6 feet 2 inches and 200 pounds, Sanderson understood that doing “anything it took” often meant plowing into an opposing player along the boards to protect his side of the ice. It also meant dropping his gloves and fighting when the other team was taking cheap shots at the Dunlops’ star players.

“We never asked him to do anything,” Armstrong said. “But he took it upon himself. If the momentum of the game needed to be changed, he recognized that.”

Sanderson died Jan. 2 of injuries he sustained when he hit his head after falling to the ice during a fight Dec. 12. He was in a coma for three weeks. It was his fourth fight in 11 games with the Dunlops, a highly competitive amateur team of players 21 and older. Although in many ways, the accident appeared to be a fluke — Sanderson’s helmet became dislodged during the scuffle and the players fell to the ice together — his death has led to headlines across Canada and revived a longstanding debate over what role, if any, fighting should play in hockey.

Read the whole story at the NYTimes.com.

Concussion summit seeks united stand

From the Toronto Star ...
Jan 16, 2009 09:39 AM

Randy Starkman
SPORTS REPORTER

As Dr. Paul Echlin contemplated organizing a conference on concussions, he turned to one of the leading experts in the field for advice.

"I was talking to Karen Johnston last spring and she said `Why don't you make up your wish list and just go for it?'" said Echlin. Johnson has treated many NHLers who have suffered concussions, including Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Van Ryn.

Echlino has worked with junior hockey teams the past eight years in addition to running a practice in London, Ont., specializing in sports and family medicine.

Well, he drew up his list – and most of the people on it are coming.

The London Hockey Concussion Summit this Saturday features one of the most impressive list of experts ever assembled, as well as an athletes panel with former NHLers Eric Lindros, Alyn McCauley, Jeff Beukeboom, Mark Moore and Olympian Jennifer Botterill, all of whom have been affected by head injuries.

It was Echlin's work with junior hockey teams, including a stint with the OHL's Plymouth Whalers, that motivated him to put together an event he hopes will spur more unity on the issue.

"I was tired of seeing kids suffer," Echlin said. "Even though most of them suffer silently about it. That's why I did this. There's a lot of people trying to do things about it, but nobody really getting everybody united and saying `Look, this is a problem. Let's stop fooling ourselves. We have to unite and start finding solutions for it.'"

The list of experts at the summit includes Dr. Robert Cantu, medical director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Dr. Charles Tator of Toronto, neurosurgeon and founder of the safety advocacy group Think First Foundation; Dr. David Mulder, president of the NHL Physicians Society and club physician for the Montreal Canadiens; Dr. Ruben Echemendia, director of the NHL's neuropsychological testing program; Dr. Mark Lovell, founding director of the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine Concussion Program, and Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, head of the sport concussion program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Echlin has put a lot of his own money into the event, which is expected to attract around 400 people to the Hilton Hotel in London, and is still on the lookout for sponsorship. Tickets are $20 (and available through 29sports.com)

"I exposed myself financially, professionally, everything else, because I felt that strong about the topic," he said.. "We need a uniformed voice on this topic. Otherwise, there won't be any change."

Pigeon - it tastes like chicken!

A pigeon takes a walk at center ice during the first period of the Predators/Hawks game Sunday night at the United Center.

"Curious" moment between Sabres & Senators

BUFFALO, NY - JANUARY 6: Andrew Peters #76 of the Buffalo Sabres reacts after allegedly being bitten by a Ottawa Senator Jarkko Ruutu at HSBC Arena January 6, 2009 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Yes, I too am asking "WHAT?" Notice the looks of concern pasted all over the players on the Ottawa bench. The game recap describes it like this:

The game had its chippy moments, the most curious coming late in the first period when Sabres enforcer Andrew Peters was rubbing his glove across the face of Jarkko Ruutu only to have the Senators forward bite the glove right off Peters’ hand. Peters doubled over in pain clutching his thumb and complained to the officials.

Peters was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for going after Ruutu behind the play, while Ruutu was not penalized.

Well, Peters will think twice about doing that again.

Gearing up for today's Winter Classic