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The Chicago Blackhawks fall to the Florida Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions, 5-1 despite Tyler Bertuzzi scoring his 25th goal of the season. Chicago competes throughout the game but ultimately comes up short against Florida’s depth and experience. Jay Zawaski, Mario Tirabassi, and Greg Boysen break down the loss, key moments against the Panthers, and what Jeff Blashill has to say postgame. Catch the full reaction and analysis on the CHGO Blackhawks Podcast.
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Everybody, thanks for being with us.
Hawks lose 5-1 to the Florida Panthers at the UC.
I'm Jay Zewoski.
That's Greg Boyson.
Chloe Thiel is back producing the show tonight.
We'll hear from Mario and a little bit here after he hears
from Jeff Flashall and several Blackhawks.
You know, 1-1 going into the third period.
And things just sort of fell apart from there.
And there's a lot of specifics we can get into.
But I will say, as bad as a 5-1 loss is,
probably not as bad as the score looked.
No, not as bad as the score looked.
I mean, even when it was 2-1, the first two Panther goals
were weird and barely got over the line.
You know, you're always going to remember
where you were to buy us Bjornfoot.
Bjornfoot?
But had to put some cream on my Bjornfoot,
and now it's all cured.
But now it's just a regular foot.
It's not a Bjornfoot anymore.
But he did what I want the Blackhawks to do.
He took the puck around on that and tried to wrap around,
not trying to pass it back to the point away from the net.
Go to the net, good things happen.
And then the second goal, you know,
snuck in between the body and the armors,
pants or night, you know, the Panthers
aren't an impressive team.
They, this is the third straight team.
You, you could argue that the Blackhawks just played
the three best coach teams in the NHL on consecutive games.
Yeah, you can make that argument for sure.
Teams that just veteran, and even when they have to cycle
in some young guys, they just, they go with it.
They, these are three teams in the Hurricanes of Lightning
and the Panthers that just play their game.
They don't care what you do.
They don't care if they get 15 high danger
chances in the first period and don't score a goal.
They just stick with it.
They keep coming.
The Panthers are the same way.
That's how you win back the back Stanley Cup championships.
You, you get your structure.
You play within your structure.
You don't break your structure.
It doesn't matter if Barcaf is out and Seth Jones is out
and Kulikoff is out and all these guys are out.
They just got to chuck back.
They just got my shot back.
But it wasn't those guys that did any of the damage tonight.
No, it was their depth that beat you.
Bjornfoot had two goals.
Skaevich had a goal.
Their backup goalie was in that.
It wasn't the stars that beat you tonight.
It was their depth scoring.
And that's what championship teams do.
Second night of a back-to-back.
This is a game that could have very easily taken off
after a crazy overtime game in Minnesota
where it was two really good teams playing against others.
You could easily just put it on cruise control
against the Black Hawks, but Black Hawks
couldn't get anything going off.
No, again, in your third straight game.
I think you're seeing a combination of a couple things too.
What you're talking about is absolutely correct.
The structure of the Panthers is very, very sound.
Incredibly well-coached.
I heard, I don't know if it was Rick Ballard
Darren Payne talking about it,
but they are just, there are rules within their system
and they are not broken.
It doesn't matter if you're,
to buy his beer and foot or Matthew Kachuk,
you play in the system.
There's no individuals trying to do individual things.
And I think this is something we have seen
from the Hawks here a little bit.
And when offense is drying up,
as it has been for the Black Hawks lately,
where they've not been able to score a lot of goals at all,
everybody is trying to just do it themselves.
We're sitting, do you like to do it yourself?
We're seeing it from Bedard.
We're seeing it a little bit from Fray Nezar.
Art and left shot, I've tried to do it today
and it almost worked.
They're pressing because they're not scoring.
Guys are pressing Jeff Flashall said as much.
The power play is over its last 17.
The power play is pressing.
So there's reasons for it,
but the way out is to do what you were doing
before Kanabadard came back,
is just keep it simple.
And the Florida Panthers who cried me if I'm wrong,
not a hockey expert.
They won the last two Stanley Cups.
I believe that's true.
And the one before that, they were in a Stanley Cup final.
I believe that's true.
Okay, so they seem to have some success.
I'm going to get up on Wikipedia today.
Yeah, they seem to have some success
in the simplicity of the game.
And you mentioned this all time, Greg,
that playoff hockey does not look like individuals
flying around the zone,
trying to stick handle through two guys.
And there's a few,
I think there's a few players that deserve spotlighting today
to the positive,
a few more to the negative.
Kanabadard, since his return from injury,
has looked like rookie and sophomore year Kanabadard,
where he is trying to do it all,
trying to, you know, pull away,
trying to stay, he doesn't go,
he hasn't been going to the middle.
And maybe a little bit of that
is a lack of confidence in that shoulder.
Fine, that's great.
But if you're not capable of doing that,
and then look, like we say this all the time,
no one's 100% right now.
But if going to the front of the net,
it's not an option, get it to the front of the net.
And too often, Kanabadard is getting the puck
to the neutral zone,
because he's turning the puck over.
Yeah, I think a little bit of that has to do with the,
he's clearly not 100%.
But, you know, nobody on the ice at this point
on the NHL season is 100%.
So I think there's a little bit to that.
And who on his line is getting to the front of the net.
It's not Andre Berkowski, who needs to be off that line.
I don't, maybe sit and have him popcorn with us
in a press box for a game or two.
I don't, I don't know what he's doing.
He's been, he's been a, a detriment out there
in a few games.
Well, and look, I said this to you during the game
and I want to be clear here.
And he was so good to start the year,
but he's another guy.
He got that concussion.
And since coming back, he's not been the same player.
And I don't mean this in a stark way.
This is a true observation.
As someone who has limited peripheral vision,
I had a detach right now when I was younger.
So my left side, I can't see perfectly.
I get right now I can't see Greg at all.
Like now I can.
Are there, does he have like a peripheral vision issue?
Because there's so many times where I see
Andre Berkowski caught off guard
by a puck that's coming to him or at his feet.
And it's, I saw it in three or four different instances
in this game of him just not being aware
that the puck is coming his way.
And I believe it was the, was it the verhagir
to Samus Kevich Cole?
Well, let me see.
It was the, okay, so it was the Samus Kevich Cole
where he, where he left, it gives it to him softly
as Berkowski's leading his own.
He's just like, I'm not.
Doesn't even make an effort in happening.
Yeah, he was, he moves to the ball, the ice,
after the puck has passed him.
It wasn't a great pass.
It wasn't taped to tape.
No, but he made no effort to, like you didn't even see
the puck until it was already passed.
It's love shop making an area play
when they've been pinned deep a little bit on a shift
and trying to get it looking for his veteran forward
to bail him out for puck support, right?
Which is again, when they had the success
during the Bajard injury, every play was puck supported.
Every play, when I say that it's if a guy's on the boards,
there's someone there to take the pass.
Should he, should he knock a loose in the board battle
or if someone's exiting the zone?
No one is leaving until the puck is securely
on its way out of the defensive zone.
We're seeing too much and it's not just the kids.
We're seeing the veterans in this too
where these habits are getting sloppy.
They're getting loose.
And I think part of this is you haven't had
a ton of opportunities to practice
because of the Compress Olympic schedule,
but guess what, that's every team in the league.
That's every team in the league.
So I'm not part of it as you have a young team, yes, of course,
but that was hardly the problem tonight
because I think the guys that did stand out positively
were mostly young players and Tyler Bertuzzi.
Yeah.
We've heard a lot about from Jeff Blaschial this season
about, you know, you've got to earn the top line minutes.
You've got to earn power play minutes.
What's Berkowski doing to earn playing
on Counter-Bardard's line these last three weeks?
I don't answer.
I don't.
So, you know, if that's what you're telling the kids,
but it doesn't apply to the veterans fine, then say that.
But if that applies to Oliver Moore,
it should apply to everybody else.
Right.
You know, Colton Doc has missed the last two games
because obviously there's not, he's not giving enough.
He hasn't done enough to earn being in the lineup.
Fine.
I don't disagree with that.
That's fine.
Yeah, situation.
That's to apply to everybody though.
Right.
So what's Andre Berkowski, what's his, I want to say punishment,
but what's the consequences for not playing good hockey?
It shouldn't be playing at all.
In the 18 minutes with Counter-Bardard.
And we're not, look, in sure, maybe a game off fine, you know,
I don't even know if it needs to come to that.
Yeah, I think, but some kind of message needs to be sent.
Put them down on the table and say, you're playing on the,
yeah, you're playing a third line.
You're off the top power play.
You're off the power play as a whole.
Like we just need to see, it's what, again,
a lot of the stuff we talked about starting the show,
like the Bidard mistakes.
And some of the mistakes we saw at Nicola Artus make tonight
where he's just trying to make something happen
and maybe overskates a puck that he's got, right?
Just kind of the buddy, the Elf excitement of being a young player,
like looking at an opportunity and saying,
I forgot the obvious thing.
And he was like, Linus, what I was blanking out there
with no.
But those are, those are young player mistakes of effort
is trying to do too much means you really, really care
and you're really, really trying to make things happen.
I'm not seeing it from 28.
I'm not, and look, you and I have both been,
for the most part, pretty pleased with this season.
He had been good until the concussion.
And again, baby being born, all these qualifiers are there,
but he is not the only guy in the world
or in a league with off-ice stuff happening in his life.
So if it's too much, and if he needs a game off
or if he's banged up or he's still as woozy
for the concussion, say something
because he is starting to hurt the team.
It's one thing if you're just not scoring,
but you're getting chances, you're creating offense,
you're carrying a puck in his own, he's doing nothing
yet he's still on the first line
and he's still on the first power play.
He's a liability at this point.
And, you know, there was a play that we both
in Unison shook our heads in the first period.
Was it on the power play?
No, it was worried.
For me, when I took my glasses off,
like the tenderness, he was on the near wall
and the puck sat there and like stick on it,
waited for two defenders to come to home.
So you had a different one than me.
And then tried to pass the puck out of there.
Mine was where the play was obviously offside.
And he touched it anyway.
And while guys noticed it was offside
and started heading back to get back onside
and said he was like, I'm just going to touch it.
Where a game ago, we saw a barely 21 year old
over more be fully aware of if I touched this puck,
it's going to be offside and didn't touch it.
So that's what I'm talking about.
These veteran players have to set the example
for these young guys.
And again, I'm not saying trade them.
I'm not even saying scratch them,
but you cannot keep playing Andrej Burakowski
on the top line and top power play.
If you're going to preach consequence, consequence, consequence, you played 1550.
He was a minus three.
I'm not good.
I'm sorry.
Not good enough as Joe Quinville used to say.
We need to see more out of him.
Maybe it certainly sounds like table-tare
of iron in his near return.
He was at Morning Skate and on contact Jersey.
Today, Jeff Blackshell said that they're going to get him in practice tomorrow.
So if he's back maybe Tuesday, but probably Thursday, for sure,
maybe he comes back and there's your excuse
to move Burakowski down on the line up.
He's got Tara Vineet back.
But Tara Vineet out there would more and be dark.
That wouldn't be bad.
I'm up for anything right now.
Right.
And we're starting to see if we can get into this.
It's amazing, by the way, how table,
who was Burakowski before Burakowski this year?
He was public enemy number one.
Well, number two, to have to chat.
Now it's like he's the savior.
Table's going to come back and be the same dude.
Right, past first, past second, past third.
That's fine.
When he's past first, I'll line with guys who want to shoot the puck.
Yeah, sure.
But at least he's going to make the right play.
And he's going to, you know,
table would have put his stick out and tried to crowd that pass
from Lev Shinoff tonight.
He will make defensive plays for him.
Things you barely notice.
We'll see what happens when that comes, you know,
when Tara Vineet's back.
Someone's going to have to come out of this line up.
You know, this landing slagger, go back to Rockford.
I'll bet you a pizza.
It's not Burakowski.
Well, he's not coming out of line up,
but he needs to go down in the lineup.
I'll be shocked if it happens.
I mean, because I don't know how it hasn't yet.
Well, I mean, help him wrong.
I hope you're wrong too.
And it shouldn't be when the head coach is talking about
accountability and things need to be earned.
OK, show me.
If we have, if there's practice tomorrow,
when I would imagine there's going to be,
I'm going to bring it up and just say like, I'll say it to him.
Because I want to know, I want to hear directly.
Yo, bro, what are Burakowski guys?
Well, like, what am I missing?
Right. It seems to be that there's a lot of turnovers
and misplays by Burakowski and other veterans feel
and it feels like the counterquences aren't the same.
Well, early in the year, he had said,
Blaschial had said that Burakowski is on that line
because he's so good getting the puck
through the neutral zone and, you know,
getting the puck to bedart.
And he was very good at that for a while,
but that's just not there now.
The Black Cocks power play can barely get the puck
in the zone these days.
Yeah, they don't win the face off.
Power play is nothing.
If they don't win the face off, they can't.
And they're, are we going to talk about it after the break?
I know we've got to take the break.
Yeah, a little bit like, you know,
the line combination stuff is a little weird
all of a sudden too.
Yeah, all right.
We got to get to our game puck nominees real quick,
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I will give you this floor first, my friend.
Who would you like to nominate?
Who's your game puck nominee?
Well, I mean, it's got to be Tyler Bertuzzi, right?
I mean, he was kind of good.
He had the goal.
That third line was the only line
that really had any kind of sustained offensive pressure.
It's always funny how in some of these games
at Dickinson, McKayev and whoever their third winger is,
is out there to be your best defensive line
and they turn out being your best offensive line
because they placed it defensively.
Pay attention, kids, that's how you,
that's what bless you.
It's talking about Bertuzzi was awesome today.
I think I would took me into like three or four shifts
into the game where I said Bertuzzi is scoring in this game.
He is just for whatever reason.
Well, I'm playing like a man possess.
I'm sure playing against the team like the Panthers
and being out there on the ice against
a line that includes Matthew Kachuk.
If that doesn't get you going and get you, you know,
skating like a madman to the front of the net, nothing will.
Yeah, by the way, Bertuzzi, a goal,
five shots on goal, seven shot attempts.
He is the, let's see, Bidard had three.
Everybody else had two or less on a team in terms of shots.
I'm going to go with Wyatt Kaiser,
who despite being a minus two was making dynamite plays
time after time, made the most important play
on the goal tonight that was scored by Tower of Bertuzzi.
We're going to do a little,
not a video, a little,
boop, boop, boop,
slide breakdown of that one later in the show.
So those are our two.
I don't have one from Mario.
I can't imagine there's another nominee.
So we're just going to go with those two tonight.
It's going to be Kaiser and Bertuzzi.
Get your votes in.
We'll reveal the winner at the end of the show.
All right, break some time.
Hit that like button back in two minutes.
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All right, we are back on CHGO blackhawks.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks for reading that light button.
I know it's a loss, but we don't have 100 likes yet.
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That's, that's wild.
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Here's hunkered down.
You're not out shoveling.
Hit that light button for us.
Hey, why don't we hear from blackhawks kept in Nick Flino?
Always insightful.
Mario apparently on a ladder here for this interview.
It's because the guy that propelled down the six
to stick on the scoreboard holding the camera.
All right, here's Nick Flino.
Yeah, yeah, which is disappointing
because I think our thirds have actually
been on memory periods, and especially against the team,
that just played a tough schedule.
I think I'm in real late, you know, all the excuses.
I was just going to have to get that job done.
That's the hard part of it.
Tonight was one of those ones where you feel
like you beat yourself.
Just the goals of it, we gave up.
We're just breaking things in there.
The way we normally know how to play
and really hasn't been in the cases for a while here.
So it's disappointing, it's this time of year,
that's just the reality of trying to win this.
You've got to grind it out.
You don't have to be in there more details than the other team.
You have to be willing to do the hard things.
We just want to be able to do that.
Did you feel like I was going to beat you?
Yeah, I mean, that's a huge goal in the end of the period, too,
right at a lot of times, it's a momentum goal.
To come back, and the next one, it kind of not
really have the answer that we were most disappointed,
but I think that's what stinks, because it's just a game
where it really is who's going to stick to it a little more.
They obviously did.
All right, that was nick flito audio audio.
Obviously not great on that.
So we bailed out early.
I'm sure the hawks will post that on all the social.
So make sure you check it out there.
As we were saying before the break,
let's do worse and positive here.
So let's talk about them.
I thought I thought why Kaiser was outstanding.
I loved everything about his game today.
He is playing with such confidence.
With the puck in the defensive zone.
And to also kind of be on like babysitting duty too.
I just want to I want to see him get.
Like why don't I give him some power play time?
I don't know, he moves the puck, he shoots the puck.
Yeah, like I know you got Grizzlyk and that's fine,
but you kind of know what you have here.
And if you if you watched, we'll talk about this
a little bit later too, but Frank Sarvali was on the pregame show.
And basically said like the hawks are going to trade people
at the deadline.
Like it's not they know they know who they are.
They're not going to try to stay in like,
they're not going to keep Dickinson and Murphy
just to get smoked by the avalanche in the first round.
Right, I mean, if they're where they are now
in that five to seven point out of the wild card
and have to jump over four teams,
you you you take some calls and you move some guys for trades
that makes sense.
You don't just trade guys just to trade them.
Right.
I think it's something you want back.
That makes 100%.
Now, if you're one point out of the wild card,
say you go on a hot streak here right before the Olympic break,
I'm holding my breath based on how they've played recently,
but you know, maybe it's kind of hard to sell the fan base
of hey, we're one point out of the wild card spot,
but we're going to trade some guys.
Now, you know, Dickinson, Murphy,
I don't think too many people are going to riot.
Yeah, I think what you're, yeah, you're
playing Anton Frontel instead,
but that kind of sends a message to the guys in the room,
though, like hey, we're one point away from this and you're trading
away two of our veteran leaders.
I don't know.
It's five points out right now.
Right.
And they got to jump over four teams, I believe four, five teams.
Uh, one, two, three, there's three teams.
Yeah, they had to jump to shark.
So four jump to shark like the fans.
Yeah.
Look it up, kids.
And by the way, the teams have to jump national Seattle LA.
And San Jose, the national and Seattle have a game in hand.
LA and San Jose have two games in hand in the hawk.
So an even Utah has played one fewer game.
And I believe the hawk still have three games against the sharks
this season.
That would help, including one right before the last game of the
finale.
And the finale this season, take over here.
So, um, yeah, yeah.
That's the right move with the, uh, anyway, to trade guys.
Yeah, we got the railed.
I was talking to my wife,izer.
Yeah, Kaiser was, was excellent tonight.
The best play I think he made tonight besides the, the keep on the goal.
And we had talked about the other game where like he gets the puck at the
blue line and then uses his feet to create some room to find the passing
lane to get it to Mikaev, who makes the great past to be choosy.
Um, and, uh, I believe it was pointed out on the broadcast, uh, by a 20
Grenado in the studio that he was able to make that play because Jason Dickinson
was right there to support him at the blue lines.
We knew he can, you know, he can be aggressive in that situation.
And that's, that's kind of the stuff that, you know, we need to see more of up
and down the lineup is that a situational awareness to where, oh, okay,
I see the defenseman's got, you know, got the puck here going to probably make
an aggressive play towards the net.
I'm right here to back him up so he knows he can go to avoid what we saw with
Adam Levchenoff a couple games ago where he went in and left
kind of dartback, right?
So, but my best play he made was, uh, first period or second period
power play for the Panthers.
And they had a wide open, forward, ready, team up the one timer, pass across
the slot and Kaiser Dove and got his stick on it.
It's, it prevented a goal.
I mean, the cage is wide open.
I was going to be an easy goal.
Uh, that was the best play he made on night, um, you know, but we're seeing
more of that offensive game come to him.
We already knew he was solid defensively.
He's so good at because he's not the biggest guy, but he's so good at using
his body to shield pucks and using getting low and using his hips and his
leverage to get guys off of him and get pucks out of tight situations.
That's such a skill.
Just to know the, what you're saying?
Like the angle to take and he's got a good, you know, you'd see it in like
football.
He got like a pursuit angle where a guy doesn't run right at the running back.
That's our chase again.
He kind of predicts where he's going to be.
Kaiser is excellent at that.
Yes, he gets to, he wins a lot of races to the spot.
He identifies where he needs to be and he gets there first.
Um, he's been really good at that.
Um, and we're seeing the offense join that defensive part of his game.
So, um, you know, good to see him and, you know, him and Lev Shinoff have been a
pretty good pairing.
You know, you've got the responsible Kaiser who can normally be ready to, you
know, get back and help out.
If we, you know, Lev Shinoff gets a little too aggressive.
Um, and Lev Shinoff has that speed to correct his mistakes, too.
We've seen it this year.
Yeah, you know, he almost had a play early in the game.
There was that the first second period where he passed it to himself around
Niko Mikola and one on one with the goat.
Now, if he buried that shot, that would have been on his highlight.
Real, that would have been shown on the scoreboard for those pregame highlights.
Yeah.
Get high just that would have been on there for decades.
It shows you what's there.
I'm sure in Colorado, they still show in those little flash, uh,
uh, highlight package.
They still show Kayle McCar destroying, uh, Kirby Doc's groin.
Yes.
And over time, a few years back and watching Kirby Doc's jockstrap flying in the
wrap, do they show, um, Jonathan Taves ripped through all five Colorado defenders?
You score probably not.
Do they shows, uh, dumbass Colorado thing getting in the head by a puck?
What you want to see?
Sullivan.
That's, uh, glad you mentioned that because that, that famous night turns 25 tomorrow.
Do you know this moment, Chloe?
I remember I was a, uh, did you, did you, did you ever sit on the glass at a Colorado
Avalanche game, circa 2001?
I don't know.
That they have a scar right here.
No, so there was a, there's a game in Colorado 2001 before you were born.
No, that was your eye was born.
Oh, okay.
My bad, um, not too.
Nope.
So Sullivan, Steve Sullivan, former Black Hawk, uh, now the, he just took a new job.
Someone beefs assistance.
Uh, no, uh, head coach, you're the Marley, no, no, he got promoted.
Yeah, right.
Anyway, um, he takes a high stick to the nose and kind of gets cut.
And there was a abs fan in front and it was kind of like pointing laughing at him.
And he was like, what the, what the F man?
Well, later in the game, that same dude got hit in the head with a puck.
It was bleeding and Sullivan walked up to the glass and like,
trip to, yeah, you know,
we're even like, yeah, it's so good.
I also think he had a, did he have a head trick?
No, he scored a game winner.
He's, no, they lost the Black Hawk's last five to this all going to be in my morning
church car, by the way, so looking for that blackhookup.com.
Shameless plug.
He scored two shorthand of goals in 51 seconds.
The franchise record for the fastest two shorties by the same player.
Uh, and then I'll fell apart and I lost five now, but we don't care about it.
It was that era.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's, uh, why don't we hear from why Kaiser before he hit the break zone?
We were just talking about him.
This is much better audio.
I'm told.
You guys, a lot of the share will, it's not happening in this round today.
Just, I think just little details were missing.
If that's come back in the zone, maybe supporting a little bit,
it's kind of a need to support through the neutral zone.
Just trying to get a little clean up, just a lot of little things added up.
And if it really gets less.
What do you see on the, on the goal and keep them in the way of that?
Yeah.
I mean, I was just trying to keep it quite kind of close tight gap.
The blue one knows the exits and, uh, I just popped out through it down kind of got it on my forehand.
So I got you to the wall a little bit.
So slip metal and then just making you open up.
So just threw it over there.
Click, um, and happened to click when things are kind of gone wrong in that third period.
I guess what's the best way you guys can kind of regain confidence in the game?
Honestly, I think when something goes wrong, it's still like understanding.
We have to keep making plays.
You keep playing our game.
It's, I think it's sometimes the mindset of like, hey, like we made a mistake.
We have to immediately just like simplify.
I mean, there's a fine line between them being very simple and also having plays with the
puck clean breakouts, amazing plays through the neutral zone, when it dumps it.
And so I think it's just finding that balance to be honest, but still having confidence in our game.
That's what we goes on.
All right, there's why Kaiser after the game.
We're going to hit the break zone one final time, only two breaks today.
Make sure you hit that like button back with Mario Trabassi in two minutes.
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All right, we're back on CHCO black oxen with that.
We're going to bring in Mario to your bossy from the United Center.
He was there for the open locker room and Jeff Flashles post game comments.
Mario, before we get to the post game audio, just give you the floor for your thoughts
for a few minutes.
Yeah, I mean, it's a game that's a bit disappointing, knowing that the Panthers were
on the second night of back-to-backs with travel.
They played an overtime game in the last night.
So you would have hoped that the momentum you get from Tyler Bertuzzi's late second period
goal gives you some juice going into the third period and they just had nothing coming
out of that second-intermission.
And it's tough because you were feeling pretty good about yourselves having just come
off a back-to-back themselves where they got a win and a shootout loss.
So you get a couple points in the stand-ins.
But then tonight, it just feels like a missed opportunity to try and capitalize on a team
that, yes, it's still the Panthers.
Yes, they're still the defending cup champs and a very talented team.
But you had an opportunity to kind of maybe steal one from them.
But obviously fall short.
I think what stood out to me was the unforced errors.
There were a lot of self-inflicted wounds for the Hawks and this one just unforced
turnovers or just being unaware of the pucks at your feet.
Several times, Henry Burikowski, just a lot of what are we doing?
What's what's happening?
Because you know, the Panthers don't give much.
So if you give it to them, you're kind of screwed and they caught up with them.
Yeah, I think you have to be crisp against these teams that we've seen in the last few games,
Hurricanes, Lightning, Panthers.
And they've gotten away with being good enough in some of those games.
But this wasn't one where they had it for the entire stretch of the game.
They had a better start to this game than they did in recent games.
But you weren't able to string together the hockey that we've seen this team be able to do,
haven't been able to do it consistently.
And yeah, when you're shooting yourself in the foot, you can't do that against most teams in this league,
but especially not the Panthers.
So it's tough for them to try and not only have to overcome the team that's in front of them,
but also have to overcome themselves.
They're just not at that point right now with their skill,
their talent and their maturity in their game, where they're able to do that.
Well, we've talked about this a lot on this show that when you are a team that is not as skilled as
the upper echelon teams and despite their not traditional season for the Panthers,
there's still an elite team, special teams can be the equalizer.
And the Hawks are over 17 on our last 17 power plays and it looks pretty hapless and pretty
lifeless unless they win the face off, which doesn't happen nearly enough.
Yeah, Jeff Blash will address the power play after the game.
The issues that they've had here's what he had to say.
We're going to have to probably tweak it with some players or something like that.
Also, we've got to bring the puck in that area when we're loose puck encounters.
Tweak it with some players.
Weird, weird concept.
Interesting, interesting, because we spent most of the first half of our Mario talking about
Andre Burikowski's lack of effectiveness and lack of consequences for his lack of effectiveness.
Yeah, I think we've talked about Jeff Blash's consistency with the majority of the lineup
and definitely the power play units have been pretty much consistent, a couple of tweaks here and
there. But one of the guys that really has not moved in the regular lineup or the power play
pretty much at all this year has been Andre Burikowski.
And I think, I mean, I don't think that there's any reason that he needs to be locked in or
solidified into any position in the lineup. No one really is other than I would say
counterpart based off of skill set alone. But I think you don't want to over
mess with the lines and the line-ups because we've
kind of darted specifically, has experienced that before where he had 60 some different line
combinations he played with last season and just didn't find any consistency. But I think at
this point you need to kind of shake things up and really look at the merit-based ice time
and opportunities that you're given to some guys. And I know Burikowski's one of the top producers
on the team this season, but just in recent weeks really, the consistency hasn't been there.
As you guys were talking about on-forced errors, it seems like too many for a player of his
caliber and his status in the league are happening coming off of his sticks. So yeah, I mean,
I'm completely open if there's needs to be some tweaks on the power play.
Personally wise, I'm open with that. It doesn't sound like they're going to change things
schematically. They're just, as Blaschal said, like they need to be better in their execution of
what they're trying to accomplish. If there's different guys that are going to execute better,
then they need to get the opportunities. By the way, lack of effectiveness is my favorite
bad religion out. It's pretty good. It's a good one. It's one of their best for sure.
I mean, look, it is not just Burikowski. Never heard of them, have you?
Okay. Good. All right. Good. It's not just Burikowski. We talked about kind of
radar too and just has not looked the same since coming back from injury. Kind of
got to the consensus that he's just trying to do too much, which is very similar to what we
saw from him the first two years of trying to force things that aren't there, trying to make
10 out of 10 play when maybe the five out of, you know, the five out of 10 play is safer
and could result in a chance. I just think the risk calculation for Bidard has been rough since
he's gotten back. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's still, you know, he's clearly not 100%,
but he's playing healthy enough to his standards. But I'd imagine with how much he means to
his team that they're not throwing him out. They're still battling through or trying to,
you know, nurse the shoulder. I would think that he'd be as healthy as possible. But he hasn't
looked like the guy that we saw before the injury to consistently since he's come back.
And Jeff Lashel kind of talked about, you know, what they may or may not need to do
with the Dard to get him going against this is what he had to say regarding Conor after the game.
Yeah, I mean, I think he'd, you know, be the first to tell you, you know, since he's been back,
I think there's been moments where he's going good and moments where he hasn't. And, you know,
I think that's the oven flow of reality at times in the year. That's what happens with guys some
times. And you're on a long time, man, and you know, it's hard to get your module back sometimes.
And, you know, he's just working his module back. And, you know, we've kind of played the line.
Maybe that's hurt. I'm not having consistency there. You know, sometimes you're trying to help.
Spark guys and you end up hurting them by making changes. So, but, you know, again, he's,
he can't fault the work ethic. He can't fault the care. It just hasn't, but, you know, it just hasn't
gone the way that it had prior to him getting hurt.
It's kind of interesting to watch this line management from him because it's the second time Flash
I was mentioned it just in the two cuts we played. But remember one of the things he said, like the big
takeaway, he took a, he took from his time in Detroit was don't overreact to a small sample size.
Don't try to reinvent the wheel just because you have a bad week or a bad stretch or a line has a
bad game. You don't have to completely hit the line blender every time something goes wrong.
I'm interested to see how he's going to handle this because despite the results you had
against Tampa and against Carolina, you were still getting pretty much curb stop for 60 minutes
and just having to come away with three points. So there is something that needs adjustment here.
And I don't think he should completely just throw caution on when to pick names out of a hat or
anything, but I think, I think counterpart looked his best playing with tower Bertuzzi.
I think tower Bertuzzi is showing the ability to play fine with whoever he's with.
So maybe that's the very easy fix you can make.
I mean, Bertuzzi's played good with Bidard and Bertuzzi played good with Nazar. You need
somebody on Bidard's line to take face. House Frank Nazar, Tyler Bertuzzi, counterpart. Boom, done.
Think a bit more and largest back together with Ryan Green that looked, they know that should be fine.
And then, you know, you put Barakowski down with jikensin and mkf, maybe playing with those guys
where he doesn't have to do a lot of heavy lifting can help or whatever, but
the line combination is a little weird tonight. Like they would just, you know,
it felt like desperation. We haven't seen that from him yet this season.
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, he was he was clearly trying something new and I think also trying to
maybe give Oliver Moore a little bit of a, you know, pat on the back and an opportunity to do
a little bit more in the line up, give him some extra responsibilities for the way that he's
been playing recently. So you give him that top line opportunity, play with Bidard and
Barakowski up there and, you know, on paper, green Nazar and largest that all kind of fits
together. But I, yeah, I'm even in the game tonight. He was kind of mixing up the lines and
yeah, I just I just wonder what tomorrow is going to look like. Is it going to be, you know,
keep things the same and try it one more time or is it going to be, you know, like you said,
like we might just see a change of names out of a hat and see how it flows and kind of tweak
with things here because I don't think we've seen too many crazy line ups this year without
having injuries play a factor. So I just I don't know if Jeff Flash was going to go that far
with some lineup changes, but it definitely feels like what we saw tonight is I don't think it's
what we're going to see in the next game. I think there will be some tweaks to what we see with
the five on five group and probably the power play as well. And I just I just hope that it comes
off as, you know, it's it's it's merit-based. You give the guys that you feel like are going
night after night that are reliable, that are consistent. You're giving them the minutes and the
opportunities that that they should deserve. And we saw it tonight, like a guy like Ryan Denado
was down on the fourth line. And he hasn't really had the game that we expected, maybe a little
bit from him this year. I know if he thought he was going to be another 30 goals core, that's
over an overestimation of him, but he really hasn't had it quote unquote this year. And you know,
he hasn't been getting the opportunities that he was last year. So I think there has been some
merit-based decisions on the lineup. It's just some of them I think still yet to are yet to come.
But last year was a big believer in the pairings. Like the third alliance should be, you know,
you find two guys that work together and interchange that third guy. So get back to that, you know,
the largest and more is obviously a pair. Dickinson and McKev, there's another pair.
If Counter-Bardard can't take face-offs for the foreseeable future, then Counter-Bardard Frank
Nazar should be your top pair. And then you just interchange the wingers on those three lines
as it fits. You want to play particular matchups. You want to reward a guy for playing well and
put him up with those like just roll with those for until the Olympic break. And then you got three
weeks to figure it out. Well, it feels like he I feel like Blaschal thinks that that pair is
Bidarnabarikowski. It's not. It hasn't been. It was. It was a good pairing for a while, but for
the last few weeks, and especially since Bidarns come back, it's just it's not that pairing is not
generating much. And again, Blaschal is a big chances generated guy. He's always talking about
chances. He doesn't care about shots on goal. He cares about grade A chances. That line,
that duo is not generating enough grade A chances as it was earlier in the season, right?
Yeah, I just I think the idea of Nazar with Bidarn is a lot of fun. I think it would do
it be great to see those guys play together. I just think I get the sense that Blaschal likes
to have those two guys be able to try and generate through the middle and play that center position.
So I don't know if he would put the two of them together and have one pushed out to the wing,
and I don't know. I just I think scumat I agree. I think that I think that it could work. I just
don't know if that's like how Blaschal wants to play those guys. But we've seen we've seen him say
I'll ever more generates a lot in place while down the middle and then he's played on the wing too.
And I think more and more in green open up that opportunity for you. Those are your and by the way,
for Nazar one team high 69% of his face outs today. Ryan Green was over 60%. Those were the only
two over 50 and the entire team. But more gives you an option center. You were probably weren't expecting
greens there. So Bidarn's on taking face offs anyway. And I think the way that Nazar on Bidarn
play, if you give him some time together, they can probably figure each other out in terms of
hey, let me take the net front stuff because I'm a little even all my jaws mashed potatoes.
Your shoulders mashed potatoes and I'm more of a net front guy anyway. So let me do it.
Whoever gets to the zone first gets down low. Yeah. I mean, it can't work in the past. Yes.
It can't be that complicated. So we'll see. We're going to find out tomorrow in practice.
If indeed they practice, I believe they are. So we'll find out one thing I liked though,
which was a sign. I think a lot of Black Hawk fans have been waiting for for a long time is
five out of the six Black Hawk's top six tonight were 22 years or younger. The only
guy older than 22 was Andrea Berkowski. But you had like that more in Bidarn and then green,
Nazar, Lardus. We've been waiting for just let the kids play. How many times have we've heard that
on our social media accounts and in the in the YouTube chat, let the kids play. They're doing it.
He's blacials starting to turn that corner and say, okay, it's time for you guys to do the
heavy lifting and I like it. That's how it should be the rest of the way through.
When there's going to be even more of that as we get to end of February and March, there's going
to be more opportunities where line of spots are open for young guys to come in and
get opportunities and whether that's guys coming up from Rockford or if it's Anton Frontel,
once this season's over or any of the some of the CHL or college guys, there's going to be more
young guys getting into this lineup and the guys that are going to be part of this group moving
forward, be part of the team that's supposed to get the Hawks back up to contention. They're
going to start getting into the room, getting into the mix with the guys that are already here
and kind of getting that group and that core together and growing and maturing together.
So it should be exciting. How do you see the Jeff Blacel address, the third period collapse,
should we fire that up before we let you go? Sure, here's Jeff Blacel on the third period collapse.
Yeah, it wasn't going to be the third period for sure. There's been times we find really good
variants. We just, you know, we probably weren't generating enough offense throughout the game.
A lot, certainly, the Dickinson line was passing along a lot, you know, but the other than that,
we just weren't generating a ton, even prior, but we did, you know, I thought we still did a good job
checking. There wasn't much going on. I think the Great A's after two periods for us was two for us
and one for them. So not much had happened in the game. That's just the way these games are.
I mean, this is how it's going to be. If we want to be a good team, you're in a lot of these games
and you got to go on and stay with it. I think we make a little bit of a self-inflicted error,
it goes in our net, and it's two and one we're fine, and I just didn't like the way we played after
that, didn't make me play good enough when we gave up. Again, not a lot, but just goals that are
preventable. All right. I mean, that sums it up. And the Panthers were perfectly content with
playing a boring low event game. You pointed out earlier, 10 high danger chances combined at five
on five tonight, six for the Panthers, four for the Hawks, 10 in the game. I mean, the Panthers,
as you mentioned, Mario, when you first joined us, second night of backed backs traveled over time
last night, and they said, listen, we're just going to shut it down. We're going to muck it up,
and we're going to take advantage of our chances when we get them. And we're just going to do
what we do, and they use their depth tonight to win. They didn't rely on their top line. They
used those guys last night to win in Minnesota. Tonight, they use their depth to win because
they're good enough to do that. Yeah, I mean, you heard it from Nick Felino, like it's no secret that
the Panthers are a solid team that believes in themselves as individuals and believes in
themselves as a unit and plays that way constantly. And that's what propelled them to, you know,
three trips to the Stanley Cup finals and two cup wins in back to back years. Like, that's a team
even on second night of a back to back. And even on a travel day and even on, you know,
having played in over time last night, it still wasn't uphill. It was still going to be an
uphill battle for the Black Cocks tonight because how good the Panthers are both talent and in
their system. And that's how you got beat tonight. You got beat because the Panthers just bought
into how they needed to play to get a win and they executed. It's something that Spencer and I
talked about when he got here from Florida and just saying, like, it's just everyone's got the
same mindset. And I guess when you have sustained success and you see the results and you're a veteran
team, great, two cups in a row, three trips to the final in a row, we believe. Let's do it.
It's just going to take some time. Well, that's what Jeff Placio and his staff is trying to build
here. And we've seen small stretches where they have that mindset. We saw that those five
games right out of the holiday break without Conor Bernard playing a simple structured game and
they stuck with it. Those games and they got the success. They've gone away from it since.
But we've seen it in small stretches. We now just need to start to see that on a nightly basis.
And that's going to come with time and experience for for all these young guys.
Hi, Mario. Thanks, man. All right. See you guys tomorrow. We will see you at practice tomorrow.
All right. Before we get to our little breakdown of the Tyler Routuzi goal, time to name our game
puck winner from our friends at game day men's health with 60% of the vote. It went to Wyatt
Kaiser. He got the assist. So we're going to break down that play of his next better father,
better husband, better man. Go to game day men's health, visit gamedaychgeo.com to find the
locations closest to you. So congrats to Wyatt Kaiser. And that will take us to our
Xfinity big takeaway presented by Xfinity. Imagine that. And that is we're slogan.
But imagine that the Xfinity big takeaway is presented by Xfinity. That's good marketing.
That is good marketing. Are we ready? Are we all dialed up on the old iPad?
Well, wait, wait, somebody's. Oh, it's on. I'm looking at it.
Someone's still at the girl party.
Jay just likes to blame all his problems on me.
My iPad is plugged in already together. I don't know. I don't know what else to play.
We have to unplug it and plug it in again. Like we did before we show
we can plug it in again.
Anyway, we can do something else. Yes, absolutely. I see some frustration from people in the chat
about Jeff Lashall. And look, let's be real here. We got a zoom out. I know it is tough to zoom
out after a loss. You're four of a rebuild. As Greg pointed out, five of your top six was under 23
years old. Your best defensemen are Hull's Kaiser, 23, 23, 24 maybe. Yeah, well, yeah.
You're most reliable defensemen are 23 or under. You'd probably say there's going to be some
growing pains. There's going to be some days like this where the message does not get through
or the message gets forgotten. No, there's been a bit of a trend of that lately. And that needs to
certainly get better. They need to get a practice in here. They need to kind of. All right,
let's hit the reset button. We're all frustrated that the power play is not working. We're all
frustrated. The pucks are not going in for us. All those sort of things fine. But we've got to get
back to what got us here. And until we do, we're going to have the same result. So this is part of it.
And they've got 50 points on January 25th. You said it took them till what was the date? March.
It's come 71 games. So they're on. They're on pace to get about 79 80 points this season.
We would have told you. Yeah, before puck dropped the last time they played the Panthers on
open night, this team is going to finish with 80 points, especially without Bedard and A's
are for a month. You'd be like, yeah, okay, we'll take that because most of us were around 74, 75
points. So yeah, big picture. And this team is remember how frustrating these last few games have
been. And this stretch has been when it's post deadline. And we're watching, you know, hopefully
Anton Frendel here. And you know, some of these other guys here and these young kids are getting
better. Remember how much fun the last nine games of the season was last season when you had
when they got to 50 points when you when yeah, when you had when when when you know, some of the
veterans were gone. And you know, TJ Brody wasn't playing anymore. And Alex Martinez wasn't playing
more in San Lorenzo and Oliver Moore showed up. And Frank Nazar was having fun. That was
they're going to get back to that. After the Olympic break. And they're going to have, you know,
15 to 20 more points this year than last year. How hard that is to do in the NHL to improve that much
in one year. It's a big improvement. So yes, tonight frustrating to watch the last the stretch of
games against the three best coach teams in the NHL. The two teams who have been to the last six
Stanley Cup finals and back to back games, you know, two division leaders and back to back like
you play like this in back to back games against the Calgary Flames and Blues. Then okay,
you can be mad, but you're playing against top talent. And this is a good point to show how much
work they still have to do as fun as this team has been in in small sample sizes this year. And
and as hopeful and as optimistic as you should be, there's still a long way to go before they become
a Tampa Bay Lightning or Carolina Hurricanes. This is just a reminder that hey, they're taking a
really big step in the positive direction this season. But there's four or five or those big steps
that take before you can be one of these teams. And you have to take your lumps. And this stretch
against these teams, you got the Minnesota while coming up another really good team. This is a
really good learning lesson, you know, a good time for them to take away this these games and say,
look what these teams are doing. We're hanging with them, but they know what to do. They don't deviate.
They just keep coming at you. Keep coming at you. We need to start doing that. Yeah. All right,
we're going to go to overtime. That is definitely happening. So if you're watching us on your fast
channels, make sure you switch over to LCHGO.com to continue to the coverage. If you're on YouTube,
you will continue watching there as well. Now this is really actually the big takeaway presented
by Xfinity. Imagine that. So here is the eventual Tyler Bertuzzi goal. All right. So you see here,
I believe this is Tobias Bjornfoot right there, future hall of fame with the box. Along the
Hawks boards, he is going to move the puck this way. Here is why a Kaiser. And as you mentioned
earlier, here's Jason Dickinson. All right. This puck looks destined to leave the zone.
Why a Kaiser catches it in his hand. You can see his feet are off side, but the puck is here. So we
make sure that the puck stays on side by bending at the hips. And here's the puck support from
Dickinson. You mentioned right there. So he is there. If the puck should squirt past him,
Dickinson can go right behind Kaiser and bail him out. If the puck should fart out this way,
Dickinson's there. So it's a safe play. And you can see our left side of here monitoring the
situation as well. Okay. He's back at center ice. Next frame. Now Kaiser has the puck two four
to Panthers here. You could see Jason Dickinson behind again supporting the play. This is literally
a second later. Here is McCay of I believe heading to the net. Kaiser dances through sick handles,
fights through a check of a Panthers player right here. I don't almost call that a hook.
But they weren't calling very much day, including the every shift interference by the Florida Panthers.
A lot of pick plays. Yes. So here's McCay of here. He's going to take the pass from Kaiser.
He puts it through perfectly on the tape. When I like about this one here too, from Bertuzzi,
is McCay of a shooting. He one times this. Bertuzzi literally intercepts the puck. He's like, nope.
That's not strong enough to go in the net. I'm just going to take it. He pulls to the forehand
right here. And he scores the goal and the Hawks tie the game with 30 seconds left to go.
In the second period, and like we said, you've got an opportunity. It's one one in the third period.
You're right there with one of the best teams in hockey. And it just slips away from you.
It's amazing watching those stills how neither Florida defenseman saw Tyler Bertuzzi.
How he disappears beyond me like Tyler Bertuzzi only scores from three feet or less in front of the net.
And there he goes. Completely uncontested. Can you go back to a real record? Everybody's looking the
other way. You see that they caught the three forwards leaving the zone. There's a semi-circle.
I mean, but even the slide before that, if you go to the one before that, you just see
like nobody sees him. You've got the three forwards caught up high. So you got below them.
And then the two defenseman, just the one guy that's going to go to the front of that on this team,
you let go to the front of the net. Well, again, that's what what makes this play from Kaiser so
great is because all these Florida Panthers think the puck is leaving his own. So they all start
heading out early. So when Kaiser makes that play and then walks through two Panthers, everyone's like
crap, we got to get back. And by the time they do, it's way too late. And the puck's in the back of
the net. So there was a defensive breakdown for the Florida Panthers, too, because they got caught
cheating. They underestimated why Kaiser's ability to keep the puck in. And there he had nice to see
the black hawks on the good end of forwards being caught cheating, leaving the zone because that
has happened way too many times to the black hawks, where the forwards are trying to get out of the
zone too early and not helping their defenseman and leaving them on an island. Um, but I just,
it's that made me giggle just to see how completely uncontested Tyler, but Tuesday was as if there's
a prayer circle happening around Tyler, but Tuesday. I mean, did he have like, did he borrow Harry Potter's
invisibility cloak and just take it off right? Well, I've been here all along. How does that guy hide?
He is the least least inconspicuous. He is the most conspicuous person ever. Uh, I don't know,
whatever 25 goals for Tyler, but Tuesday, I'll tell you man, that's he's been terrific this year.
All right. That was the big takeaway presented by Xfinity. Imagine that before we wrap up, we want
to acknowledge today was hockey fights cancer day at the United Center and, uh, man, it is such a
unreal year after year. Uh, I don't even know what the word is. Like touching doesn't feel like
enough. Heartwarming doesn't feel like enough. It just pulls it every emotion you have. And if
you missed it during the anthem, that six pediatric cancer patients on the ice with the black hawks,
forward to that. And they had another kid, uh, ring the bell who had just been determined cancer
free. A kid is a big hawks fan. They had Frank Nazar's billet mom and billet grandma who both
are breast cancer survivors dropped the face off, the opening face off today, uh, with Aaron
Eckblad and Frank Nazar. It's just a night full of emotion. And I think all of us, uh, especially
those of us of a certain age artists really think about Troy Murray right now because, um, you know
if it's keeping Troy Murray away from hockey, it is a hell of a disease. And he's going through
a massive fight right now. And I remember a conversation I had with Troy a couple of years ago,
maybe about a year after his diagnosis. And I said, Hey, you look great. Like you're doing,
he's like, I said, how are you doing? He's like, it's terminal. It's just no, that was, it's
just a matter of time. It's like the first day of training camp. I remember, I was with you,
and so that yeah. And he just said it's, you know, it's just going to be how long I can manage it.
And he's still fighting. And there's no one I'm going to count, you know, I'm never going to count
Troy Murray out. So Troy, if you're watching, we're, we're thinking about you, the whole city's
thinking about you, big standing ovation for him today. So, uh, hockey fights cancer is just,
it is such a reset of a night of, wow, okay, we're all very amped up about this hockey game, but
there's so many things more important. Uh, and it touches everybody for sure. So yeah, we brought
our, uh, we brought our cards back today because we are not there for the third. And I know I'll,
I'll let you go first and I'm sure a lot of people are aware. Well, I, uh, I could have done what
you did. And but yeah, dozens of people on this card, uh, I lost my dad to cancer. My mom is a
cancer survivor. Uh, I've got aunts and uncles who are survivors and surviving and battling
right now. But since as hockey fight cancer night, I decided to go with a hockey person and
the best hockey person I've ever met since I've done this. So, uh, I'm going to shot out to Mark
Bernard, the, um, rockford ice hogs general manager who, uh, missed a bunch of the first part of
the season, uh, dealing with his own battle of cancer, but he's back with the team. Seriously,
one of the nicest guys I've ever met, period, um, a great guy. Uh, I, I've known him for years
since covering the ice hogs game. And he's always saying hello, telling your stories. Who do you
need? All that stuff? What can we do for you? Um, this is a guy that when we had to put, you know,
both of our dogs down in the last year and a half, he's a text message about, you know,
saying how sorry he is that we lost one of our dogs. Like, like, it just tells you the type of
person he is. So, uh, I'm definitely thinking of Bernie as he goes through his battle. And he
just got a new dog too. He texts me that. Uh, so, uh, you know, we're thinking about you, Mark,
and I can't wait to get back out to rockford and, uh, say hello in person again.
Uh, and Dragonette 35 in the chat says I'm fighting my own fight right now. So our thoughts are
with you two, Dragonette. And look, everybody, everybody watching has been touched in some way,
by cancer. So I have, uh, my, what do I have here? Uh, 11? Yeah, that's only because I have 11
names on my card this year. Uh, my mom, who is a breast cancer survivor, my dad who, uh,
survived, uh, prostate cancer twice. Um, my dear friend Terry Borers, who we just lost last week.
Um, actually, it was this weekend on it. Was it Friday? Friday? Yeah, it just happened. Um,
my wife's Aunt Andrea, I've got Troy Murray on there as well. My aunt Nancy, my Aunt Jeannie,
my Aunt Rita, my Uncle Fran, my Aunt Julie, and Joe down here. Uh, for those that don't know,
I am adopted. And I learned through 23 and me. I met my birth aunt and learned some information
about my birth father. I found out my birth father also passed away in 2025 of, uh, skin cancer.
So, uh, that's for Joe. That's who Joe is. So, um, you know, thanks for putting me up for adoption.
And it worked out great. I have a wonderful life because of that choice. Um,
and appreciate it very much and never got to meet them. But, uh, that will always be something
special for me. It always has been. So, everybody, I know Chloe's got one too.
You want to turn your camera on or? I think it's going to flip it. So, I'm not sure what this is
going to look like. Is it going to mirror it? No, there you go. Okay. Um, I wrote down. It's
both of my grandparents. Unfortunately, we lost my grandpa to bring cancer in May. Um,
and then my grandma right now is also going through cancer. So she's actively fighting. So,
yeah, it's been a big part of my family this year. So I really appreciate the community for doing
this. Yeah. The hockey fight cancer night is a very cathartic night. Um, it's very emotional
because there's not a single person in that arena on the ice in the stands in the press box,
in the concession work in the concession stand selling beer. There's not a single person
in that arena that has not been affected either personally or through other loved ones by
this horrible disease. So hopefully, you know, you got to keep the optimism and the hope that one
day, we don't have to deal with this anymore. Keep fighting for a cure and keep supporting those,
uh, who are going through it. Not only those who are, who are personally fighting cancer, but the
people, their support systems too, they need support as well. Yeah. The care as, uh, you know,
I didn't care for my, well, I guess I did. Um, I was a caregiver for a long time for my parents
before my dad passed and, uh, part of that was my mom going through a rushed cancer and it is,
it is very hard on the caregivers too. So I'm glad you mentioned that. If you want more information,
hockeyfightscancer.com, if you want to post about it, there's a hashtag,
hockeyfightscancer you can use as well. Lots of really great, uh,
merch available too, then the money goes to charities. So yeah, the black hawks, uh, store online,
and that the arena has a lot of hockeyfights cancer. Uh, they got some hoodies and t-shirts,
you can get pucks, uh, I believe they can even get a travel mug. All kinds of good stuff that
where the money goes towards the cause as well. All right. I think it's an appropriate time to end
the show. I think so. All right. We're going to be back, uh, tomorrow, three o'clock, uh,
probably do a mail bag show as we have a little production meeting on the year. We haven't done a
full mail bag show in quite a little bit and we'll also have the latest from black hawks practice. So
new lines guys scratched. We're going to find out in just a few hours. We'll touch you at three o'clock
on Monday on a CHCO black hawks podcast presented by bet 365.
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