Game 78: Hawks 4, Flames 1 - Mel regales you with tales of yore!

Congrats to your 2010 Central Division Champion Blackhawks! The above newspaper title is one I saved when the Hawks still played in the old Norris Division - which incidentally is what the division was still called when the Hawks last won in 1992-93. The newspaper clipping is actually from the 1989-90 season, but more about that later.

Clinching the division was anti-climatic as the Hawks clinched when the Dead Wings lost to the Flyers. I found out about it in the car whilst on the way to my parents for Easter. It makes me happy (especially since we've dethroned Detroit from their vice-grip on the division) but honestly, it doesn't mean anything without a successful post season. Sure, there'll be a shiny new banner at the UC, the first new one in the building I think. But winning a division in hockey (or even the NBA for that matter) is really not a big deal like in baseball where there's only one wild card per league. Still, it's home ice for most likely the first two rounds at least and that is a good thing. Even though I didn't even get close to getting tickets *cough*bullshit!*cough*

I won't really recap the game, as to be honest, I didn't pay attention that closely. I watched the game with my dad for the first time this season and was more interested in getting his thoughts on the team in addition to some stories of "old time hockey." Some highlights:

• He hasn't been watching the Hawks as much lately because they frustrate him. "They don't skate. They just wave their sticks around (he says this complete with arm motions - ha!) and they skate right by them." He has a tendency to do this with teams he has a vested interest with - it's the reason why he'll watch Sox games instead of the Cubs even though he's a through and through Cubs fan - I think it's too painful for him to watch anymore. I'll save his rant on the 1969 Cubs and why he hates Ron Santo for another time.
• He has Center Ice and watches it pretty religiously. He likes Doc Emrick, doesn't think Pierre McGuire is that bad (I'll have to work on him) and enjoys the TSN games he gets to see. He says he even gets the Canadiens games sometimes with the French broadcast team! He thinks Edzo is "the best colorman in the city" but despises Pat Foley. "No one could call a game like Lloyd Petit." I can't argue with him, as Petit was before my time, but I'll always have a soft spot for Foley as he's the announcer I grew up with. "He's terrible - he'll go off on a tangent and they'll score three goals during it. 'By the way, it's 3-0.'" He likes the radio team but said "I doubt more than three people in this city knows their names!" John Wiedemann and Troy Murray - I'm one!
• My parents had season tickets at the Chicago Stadium from 1969-1976 - in the second level "turn" slightly of to the side of the goal. That would have been from the first year of their marriage to the year I was born - I had no idea it was for that long! My mom went to the games up until she was eight months pregnant with me and could no longer get up the stairs. After I was born, they sold the tickets. My dad said my mother told him, "If I can't go,  you can't go!" We all had a good laugh over that one.
• My dad said he recently found a receipt for one of their seasons. Tickets were around $2/game. Shit! I implored him that if he saw it again to let me borrow it. If he does, I'll be sure to put an image of it on here!
• My parents were in Virginia (where my dad was stationed in the army) for the 1971 Cup Finals versus Montreal. They ended up giving their tickets to friends while they were out of the area - I think it was at least two years. In any case, my mom was really pissed they couldn't go, but perhaps it was a blessing as the Canadiens won the Cup in seven games - the Hawks actually had a 2-0 lead in the second period of game 7 before losing 3-2. My dad said they could get the call on the radio at night. I can only imagine what they were feeling being that far away listening and the mixed emotions as the Hawks choked it away.
• My dad says he sees a lot of Bobby Hull in Ovechkin. He calls AO "Baby Huey" because he's so big and strong and doesn't know how to control himself. I can see that, but now I'll forever think of this when I watch the Craps play: 

 Haha! If I feel ambitious, perhaps I'll photoshop a Caps jersey on him!

• My mom lamented the fact that the fighting aspect of the game is basically gone now. She thinks the powers-that-be don't understand that fighting and general chippiness is they way the players self police themselves. I wholeheartedly agree with her.

I know some other anecdotes were shared (including my dad's sadness on the local deli closing and the tales of his adventures of finding a suitable substitute for the turkey in his sandwiches he eats at work everyday) but I can't recall them all. I really enjoyed watching the game with him - even when he switched to golf or horse racing during commercials and I had to remind him to change the channel back. I guess I know where I get my TV ADD from. I hope in the near future perhaps I can catch a Hawks game with both my parents as we did when I was growing up. I hate that tickets are so expensive now (did I mention my dad hates John McDonough?) and that my mom doesn't get around that well anymore. My mom did say she would be interested in perhaps a Wolves game at some point so I'll have to find a way to make that happen!

So back to the newspaper clipping. I went digging through my stuff at my parents - at least the best I could as there's shit everywhere and I really just need to take an entire day to go through all my old stuff. In any case, that clipping is from my 1991-1992 Chandler (an assignment book) that I had in high school. It was popular to decorate said book with pictures and stuff. Mine is decorated with pictures/clippings of the Hawks, Twin Peaks and Metallica. Lord Jesus. Here's another clipping which I'm guessing was from the same newspaper:

That would be Al Secord (on of the last players on the Hawks not to wear a helmet) and a young Jeremy Roenick in his first full season in the NHL. In looking at this, I recalled I had gotten these clippings from a Hawks scrapbook I had kept around 1990 or so. I really hope I still have it somewhere because I think I practically cut out every Hawks article from the newspapers from almost a whole season. If I ever find it, I'll make sure to scan it! If I ever buy that damn scanner :P