Chicago Blackhawks: Toews and Kane looking to get paid

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Former UND Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are looking to a big payday. The question, will the Hawks pay these two All-Stars that much money?

TNS.CA -- Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane appear to have made their initial ask to the Chicago Blackhawks on a contract extension and are hoping to join the NHL's highest paid players.

According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, it's believed that Kane and Toews have both asked for salaries of about $12 million per year.

McKenzie notes that both players will likely end up with a lower salary than their initial ask, but could still see $10 million per year averages.

WASHINGTON POST: Capitals hosting Blackhawks in 2015 Winter Classic

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Today we find out that the Winter Classic is going to be the Washington captials and the Chicago Blackhawks. Yep, I am underwhelmed as well. Now I get the Blackhawks, I do. But outside of Alex Ovechkin, who really stands out on the Captials for you? This doesn't smack as much a much see game.

Alex Prewitt, Washington Post -- The Washington Capitals will host the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Winter Classic on New Year’s Day at a yet-to-be-announced location, an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed Friday morning.

The Capitals will be playing in their second Winter Classic after visiting Pittsburgh in 2011, but will be hosting for the first time. The site has not yet been named, though sources indicated that Nationals Park remains the odds-on favorite, with only paperwork left to be finalized before the news is released.

Washington and Chicago met twice in 2013-14, in the regular-season opener and the penultimate game for both sides. The Blackhawks won at home, 6-4, on Oct. 1; the Capitals posted a 4-0 shutout at Verizon Center on April 11. The sides have split eight regular-season meetings over the past four seasons. Last season, the Blackhawks reached the Western Conference finals before losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles in seven games. The Capitals, meanwhile, missed the postseason for the first time since 2006-07 and parted ways with their head coach (Adam Oates) and general manager (George McPhee).

L.A Kings Justin Williams game winning goal.

L.A Kings forward Justin Williams scores the game winning goal in game one against the New York Rangers.

L.A. Kings: Interesting Stat alert

Now that's an interesting stat. The L.A. Kings are the first team to win three game sevens on the road in one post season.

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is on fire

Right now, Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is on fire. He's smoking hot. Kane has (2g-6a—8pts) in the last three games. Incidentally, Kane came into game five with a single point during the third round. Since then, he has gone a tear the last two games. Scoring (2g-5a—7pts). For the playoffs, Kane has scored (8g-10a—18pts) in 18 games.  

(Video) Chicago Blackhawks: Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane ice the Kings - game six

Think about this for a minute, in the last two games, Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has scored (2g-5a—7pts) and been an absolute beast against the L.A. Kings. Coming into game five, Kane had scored 1 assist, in the other four games of the series. This has been a very good hockey series and it's only fitting that this series is going to a game seven.

11:34 CHI Duncan Keith (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Patrick Kane (10), Andrew Shaw (5) 3 - 3 Tie
16:15 CHI Patrick Kane (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Brandon Saad (9) 4 - 3 CHI

(Video) Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez score 2:06 apart to take the lead - game 6

The Kings would take the lead back from the Chicago Blackhawks as Kings Defensemen Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez score 2:06 apart. That lead would evaporate quickly as the Blackhawks would get two goals in just under five minutes to take the lead.

05:32 LAK Drew Doughty (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Dustin Brown (6), Mike Richards (6) 2 - 2 Tie
07:38 LAK PPG - Alec Martinez (3) Wrist shot - ASST: Drew Doughty (12) 3 - 2 LAK

(Video) Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Quick mix it up, Crawford and Quick butt heads

Exciting end of the second period of game six. First, it looks like Andrew Shaw is helped into L.A. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. It was obvious that Quick was still fuming from that incident, butts heads with Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford on the way off of the ice. Checking the box score, there were no penalty assessed.

(Video) Chicago Blackhawks score two goals in 1:37 - game 6

The Chicago Blackhawks scored two quick goals 1:37 minutes apart in the opening minutes of the second period to take a 2-1 lead in game six.

Kane is smoking hot, and in the last two games has scored (1g-4a-5pts).

01:12CHI PPG - Patrick Kane (7) Wrist shot - ASST: Jonathan Toews (8), Brent Seabrook (10) 1 - 1 Tie
02:49 CHI Ben Smith (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Patrick Sharp (5), Brent Seabrook (11) 2 - 1 CHI

(Video) Chicago Blackhawks: Michal Handzus scores the game-winning goal - game 5

That's the first ever overtime game-winning goal that Chicago Blackhawks forward Michal Handzus has scored and I guess he picked a good time to score it. Patrick Kane assisted on four-of-five Blackhawks goals. So, we will have hockey on Friday night in L.A.. I still think that the KIngs will this series. Nonetheless, this was a great hockey game.

Well that was one amazing hockey game. #LAKings return home to finish this up Friday night.
— LA Kings (@LAKings) May 29, 2014

(Video) Peter Regin goes into the net but puck stays out, no goal

It was very close, but close doesn't count on the score board. Blackhawks forward Peter Regin is cross-checked into the goal by L.A. Kings defenseman Willie Mitchel. As the puck is headed towards the goal line the puck is batted out of the net by L.A. Kings forward Tyler Toffoli.

Peter Regin goes into the net but the puck stays out. #blackhawks #lakings pic.twitter.com/ndffkwDJwf
— Shnarped Hockey (@shnarped) May 22, 2014

Kane with a backhand that goes up in the air and around the line. Does the puck go ALL THE WAY in? That's the question. #Blackhawks
— Tracey Myers (@TramyersCSN) May 22, 2014

Doesn't look like it crossed the line. #Blackhawks are going to get a power play anyway; Mitchell in the box again.
— Tracey Myers (@TramyersCSN) May 22, 2014

(Video) Chicago Blackhawks goal that was disallowed (Goalie Interference)

Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews thought he had scored Chicago's second goal of the game. The play was ruled goalie interference. Was this the right call or not? Should the goal have counted?  Rule 69.1 states that you can't review goalie interference with the aid of video replay.

So, here's my question, how do we know when the refs didn't didn't use video replay when they called up stairs to make the decision? We don't. This might be one of those plays where the  refs "should" be able to review video to help them make a decision.

Minnesota Wild: Erik Haula scores a sweet goal in game six (Video)

Minnesota Wild forward Erik Haula scored a beautiful goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in game six of the Western Conference Semifinals. The Blackhawks would win the game and series in overtime with a goal from Patrick Kane.

During the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Haula gave us a glimpse of things to come and tells us that the future is very bright for the Minnesota Wild hockey team.

02:29 MIN Erik Haula (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Matt Cooke (3), Clayton Stoner (2)

Wild's Ballard not impressed with Bollig's dirty hit or his text

Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Ballard is returning to the lineup tonight and weighed in on Brandon Bollig's dirty hit. Classic stuff.

Ballard: "Too much gets made of the whole, ‘Did he text you?’ I don’t give a shit. I honestly don’t. It’s fine. That’s what happens."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) May 13, 2014

Two Ex-UND Hockey Players in Top-10 for Playoff Scoring

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Former UND hockey players Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise are still in the top-10 for scoring during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

2013-14 NHL Playoff Leaders Points
1.	Anze Kopitar	15
2.	Zach Parise	14
3.	Ryan Getzlaf	13
	Evgeni Malkin	13
5.	P.K. Subban	12
6.	Marian Hossa	11
7.	Marian Gaborik	10
	Nathan MacKinnon	10
	Corey Perry	10
	Brent Seabrook	10
	Paul Stastny	10
	Jonathan Toews	10

Full 2013-14 Leaders

Chicago's Brandon Bollig will have a hearing with Department of Player Safety

Looks like Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Bollig's has a date with the NHL's Department of Players Safety. The Chicago forward has a hearing for his dirty, and dangerous hit on Wild defenseman Keith Ballard. After the hit, Ballard was face down on the ice for a period of time before he got up, and skated to the Wild bench. Ballard didn't return.

(@NHLPlayerSafety) tweeted at 12:57pm - 10 May 14: Chicago's Brandon Bollig will have a hearing today for boarding/checking from behind on Minnesota's Keith Ballard.

Minnesota Wild: Putting it all into perspective

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Good morning… I was looking at my favorite new statistics site [hockeyreference.com] and perusing the Minnesota Wild’s playoff stats. I am sure that like many of your, I was surprised to find out that the much maligned Wild forward Dany Heatley has scored (1g-5a—6pts) and is a +7 in nine playoff games. Seriously, a (+7). That’s not a misprint or a typo. Heater was a (-18) during the regular season. Since returning to the lineup, the former Wisconsin Badger has played decent, and hasn't been the usual turnover factory that he was during the regular season. My guess is that Heatley is trying to impress future suitors when July 5th free agent signing period comes around.

Last night, Matt Cooke returned from his league imposed seven-game suspension for his dirty leg check on Tyson Barrie and immediately gave the Wild another dynamic that they lacked while he was gone. Cooke created havoc in the Blackhawks end and assisted on Justin Fontaine’s first period goal.

Justin Fontaine's goal in the first period of last night's game was a thing of beauty. Coming into the season, there were a lot of Fontaine doubters that said the former UMD Bulldog would never get much more than a cup of coffee at the NHL level. Well, I think he's surpassed those expectations. Well, through 66 regular season games and seven Stanley Cup Playoff games, the former Bulldog has scored (14g-9a—23pts). I would think that 73 games would classify as more than a cup of coffee.

Last night, I said on twitter, “When you get past all of the extra bravo sierra Matt Cooke is a really good hockey player.” I thought Cooke’s was a game changer last night, and just proved that when he plays hockey, and doesn’t attempt to decapitate people, he’s a very important asset on the ice. It’s obvious that the Wild missed his play.  As a fan, you just hope that he can behave himself the rest of the playoffs and stay out of suspension trouble.

One of the things that I saw pop up on Twitter last night was that the Wild had six skaters on the ice to open the third period. It's actually pretty obvious that the Wild have way too many on the ice, however, the play went undetected by the on-ice officials. [Here's the link to the video.]

Last night, Wild forward Zach Parise blasted Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane with a stiff, hard, legal check.  I told someone this morning, that I thought that Parise had an extra gear last night.

Brandon Bollig Boards Keith Ballard

Chicago Blackhawks forward Brandon Bollig absolutely destroyed Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Ballard with a very dangerous, and unnecessary hit. You can't hit a guy in the numbers, not like that. I think that Bollig should have been tossed from the game for this hit and given a five minute major and a game misconduct. Ballard would leave the game with what appears to be a concussion.

Yeo gave no update on Ballard. More tomorrow
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) May 10, 2014

Mike Haviland named head coach of C.C. Tigers

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It's an interesting selection, Mike Haviland has been hired as the 14th head coach of the Colorado College Tigers hockey team. Haviland played collegiately at Elmira College a Division III school. Also, it looks to be a good hire, Haviland has coached in the American Hockey League and the National Hockey league as an assistant.

Colorado College Tigers --- Mike Haviland has agreed to become Colorado College's next head ice hockey coach. The highly regarded veteran coach with experience at the NCAA, ECHL, AHL and NHL levels will take over as the 14th coach of the Tigers later this month.

Haviland, most recently head coach for the Hershey Bears, the oldest franchise in the AHL, owns an impressive record. He earned a Stanley Cup as assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL in 2010. He was honored with the AHL's Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Coach of the Year Award for the 2006-07 season while serving as head coach of the Norfolk Admirals. He won ECHL championships as head coach of Trenton Titans in 2004-05 and the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies in 2002-03. From 1996-1998 as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Elmira College, Haviland helped guide that team to two ECAC championships.

Haviland has more than 20 years of hockey coaching experience, and became head coach of the Hershey Bears in 2013. Prior to arriving at Hershey, he served as associate head coach at Norfolk. From 2008-2012 he served as an assistant coach for the Blackhawks. Haviland got his start in the Blackhawk organization by serving as head coach of Rockford in 2007-2008. He also served as head coach for Norfolk in 2005-2007; of Trenton in the ECHL from 2004-2005; and Atlantic City of the ECHL from 2001-2004. Prior to 2001 Haviland served as assistant coach for several organizations.

(Video) Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise scores against the Blackhawks (Game 3)

Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise scores his fourth goal of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks. With the win, the Blackhawks lead the series 2-1.