head coach: Craig Hartsburg

roster: C - Alexei Zhamnov, Jeff Shantz, Steve Dubinsky, Brent Sutter, Greg Johnson, Todd White. LW - Bob Probert, Ethan Moreau, Eric Daze, Dan Cleary, James Black, Jean-Yves Leroux. RW - Tony Amonte, Sergei Krivokrasov, Jim Cummins, Martin Gendron, Kevin Miller. D - Chris Chelios, Gary Suter, Eric Weinrich, Keith Carney, Trent Yawney. G - Jefff Hackett, Chris Terreri Kirk Daubenspeck.

injuries: Jeff Hackett, g (sprained right ankle, day-to-day); Bob Probert, lw (knee surgery, 2-3 weeks); James Black, c (bruised hand, day-to- day); Greg Johnson, c (strained groin, day-to-day).

transactions: Recalled Kevin Miller, rw, and Todd White, c, from Indianapolis (IHL); Reassigned Craig Mills, rw, to Indianapolis; assigned Michal Sykora, d, to Indianapolis for conditioning purposes; acquired Greg Johnson, c, from Pittsburgh for Tuomas Grunman, d.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team       GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Detroit    15  11   2   2    24   56   33
St Louis   16  11   3   2    24   51   34
Dallas     16   9   5   2    20   50   40
Phoenix    13   6   5   2    14   41   36
Chicago    15   5  10   0    10   27   41
Toronto    12   3   7   2     8   25   39

game results:

10/22 at NY Rangers  W 1-0
10/24 Dallas         L 2-0
10/26 Carolina       L 3-2
10/27 at Montreal    L 4-2
10/29 Vancouver      W 3-0
10/31 San Jose       W 5-3
11/02 Pittsburgh     W 3-1

team news:

by Dan Glovier, Chicago Correspondent

* After starting off 0-7, the Hawks have gone 5-3, including a three-game winning streak. At home! Heck, they even pumped home 11 goals during the three-game winning streak. Considering that they scored two or fewer goals in 11 of their 12 games, that's an embarrassment of goals. Sure, it's not like they just beat up on the Islanders of the early 80s, but you can only play who's on your schedule, and you have to win those games.

This offensive outburst has come on the heals of some new line combinations Craig Hartsburg has put together. He has split up Tony Amonte and Alexei Zhamnov and found them new line mates. Tony has been playing the right wing with Sergei Krivokrasov and rookie Todd White, while Alexei has been centering for Ethan Moreau and Eric Daze. The lines have been skating hard AND producing scoring chances. Earlier in the year they were just skating hard (most of the time) and scoring chances were as hard to come by as finding a good Barbie Benton movie. I guess we know who got all the talent in that family.

Is this offensive outburst directly related to the new line combinations? Probably not, but to quote one of the great sports philosophers of all time, Kevin Costner (as Crash Davis), "You never mess around with a streak."

* Eric Daze has been playing well the last four or five games. He's been skating hard and shooting whenever he gets a chance. That's his game, and he seems to have figured it out (for the time being). Sergei Krivokrasov has had a good jump all year, and this may be the year where Hawks fans get to see what management has been hoping to see all these years: good offensive output for an entire year, and not just during overtime playoff games against Patrick Roy.

* Jeff Hackett should be ready for Thursday's home game against the Blues, but he may find himself having some more time off as Chris Terreri has established himself as a reliable number one goalie. He has a 2.19 goals against average, a .908 save percentage, along with two shutouts. With the way he's played during Hackett's absence, he has created a problem coaches love to have: which one of my good goalies do I play?

"It's a good problem to have, especially the way Terreri's been playing," Hartsburg said. "Obviously, Hack's going to get his chance. But I don't think anybody in the state of Illinois can question how well Chris Terreri's playing."

* Attendance for the last three home games: Vancouver (15,340), San Jose (14,949), and Pittsburgh (16,818). One thing the various team owners in Chicago should have learned is that it seems as though Chicago fans (with the exception of Cubs fans) will not support a loser anymore. This is a recent phenomenon that started with the White Sox the last few seasons. They had Albert Belle, Frank Thomas, and Robin Ventura in the lineup, and they didn't draw nearly as many fans as they should have.

You have to believe the owner of the Blackhawks (Bill Wirtz) is just looking at those empty seats and seeing nothing but lost parking and concession stand income.

* When Bob Probert went down, many folks were concerned about how the Hawks would handle the physical play. For those of you wondering: they're fine. They have a lot of team toughness and tons of heart. They won't get pushed around and they won't be intimidated. If they continue to score more than two goals a game remains to be seen....

* The Hawks are now 5-for-84 on the power (?) play this year. Whatever you're doing, try something else! Shoot when you want to pass and pass when you want to shoot. Have nothing but pork chops and applesauce for dinner ... quit watching re-runs of "Hello, Larry" before each game ... go to the net ... go away from the net ... anything!

* The rumors continue to swirl, and every week or so a new combination or new team is involved. The problem is, you can't deal when you're down. You don't get any value. The Hawks know this, and with this little streak they put together, maybe they now have just a bit of leverage. Either way, the latest word around town is that Florida may be interested in Gary Suter to help them out on the power play. I guess they're envious of the Hawks current lineup with the man advantage. Either way, the word is that Bill Lindsay would be coming back to the Hawks. The Eric Daze to Montreal rumors still persisted, except this time Thibault is not involved, but this time it's Martin Rucinsky and Valeri Bure. Everything else, especially the Brett Hull rumors, have died down altogether.

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