Ryan Hartman’s first career hat trick got me thinking about Blackhawks hat tricks last night. In over 90 years, the Chicago Blackhawks have had many hat tricks and you certainly cannot remember all of them. Some are historical, some are memorable and some are just fun to think about. Like these.
The First Hat Trick
It all started with a Blackhawks player, seriously. There are a few different accounts but this is the story that the Hockey Hall of Fame recognizes as the origin of the term, hat trick.
During the 1945-1946 season, Blackhawks forward Alex Kaleta entered a Toronto shop to buy a new hat but didn’t have enough money. The store owner, Sammy Taft, reached an agreement with Kaleta that if he scored 3 goals he would give him a free hat. On January 26, 1946 he scored four goals against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the term “hat trick” was born.
Ryan Pace is the 37 year-old general manager of the Chicago Bears and has been since getting hired back in January of 2015. In the last two seasons, Pace has made a flurry of moves to try and revitalize the Bears’ roster since Phil Emery’s departure…. some have been very good, others … not so much.
Known as “one of the best kept secrets” in football, Pace was hired out of New Orleans where he spent a lot of time in the scouting department, eventually moving all the way up to scouting director. Pace’s ability to judge talent, and presumably negotiate deals, is essentially why he was hired. He’s already shown that he’s willing to take a risk (Ray McDonald) and accept blame when things don’t go as expected (Ray McDonald) which is a key attribute of a successful GM.
Most NFL analysts know that the best way to rebuild a team is through the draft, and Pace has some good credit there with his picks of Jordan Howard, Leonard Floyd, Cody Whitehair and Nick Kwiatkoski. The future is looking bright for most of his low-round picks over the last two seasons.
Here’s a look at some of his best, and worst, moves in free agency / trade acquisitions.
The first thing you should notice, not all transactions are listed. For instance, signing Tracy Porter. That would be on the best side after 2015, however after 2016 it falls more into a gray area. The same goes for Danny Trevathan based on how much he was paid.
Based on the look of this, it may appear that Pace’s good and bad decisions weigh out evenly, but that’s not necessarily the case. Some of his good signings have GREAT futures ahead, where his bad signings are mostly already gone with little harm done. Most of Pace’s bad deals were accompanied by contract voids and other clauses to let the Bears easily escape the deals with problematic players (example: Ray McDonald again).
Many reports in Chicago have questioned if Pace is truly in charge at Halas Hall, or if John Fox’s voice has more influence than his. The recent press conference would indicate the two are working together as expected with the main goal being to develop players and create a culture in the locker room that is condusive to winning. That’s why, despite a 3-13 record, Fox will be brought back as the head coach of the Bears for a third season.
As Pace also enters his third off-season with Chicago, it is going to be the biggest yet. The rumored seperation with Jay Cutler will leave a huge hole at the quarterback position and it will be Pace’s job to fill it. With so many options out there ranging from Mitch Trubisky to Jimmy Garoppolo, it will be very interesting to see what he decides to do.
According to the Chicago Police Department, six people were slain and at least 49 others were wounded in shootings across the city over the New Year’s holiday weekend. Those are just the latest examples of the violence problem that continues to plague this otherwise great city. Bears legend Charles “Peanut” Tillman, who was born in Chicago and played 12 of his 13 NFL seasons with the Bears, spoke up about the violence on his Twitter account yesterday.
Tillman’s reflections on death and the legacy we leave behind brought his beloved city’s violence problem to the forefront of his mind. He urges his fellow Chicagoans to be more loving, peaceful, unified and respectful of one another. Tillman reminds us that our actions are all on record, and the impressionable youth of our city are watching.
Peanut’s legacy in Chicago is already firmly set. He stands out as one of the greatest through generations of a franchise rich with iconic defensive players. He is the all-time franchise leader in defensive touchdowns (9), interceptions returned for touchdowns (8) and interception return yards (675). Tillman also leads all Bears in history with 42 forced fumbles, thanks to his famous “peanut punch” technique. His 36 interceptions are second only to Gary Fencik (38) in franchise history.
Tillman had a resurgent 2015 season with the Carolina Panthers, but a torn ACL in their regular season finale marked the end of his playing career. On July 22 of last year, he signed a ceremonial one-day contract to officially retire as a Chicago Bear.
Let’s hope Chicago takes his message to heart. Change for the better takes time, but it isn’t impossible.
URLACHER JUBILATION/JIM THOMPSON/ JP4/ 10-30-99/ UNM's #44 Brian Urlacher celabrates the fumble recovery of teammate #69 LaMarcus Spillers during the first quarter of the game Sat.night against UNLV.
The Chicago Bears are in the midst of trying to reestablish their pipelines to college football ever since they seemed to run dry about eight years ago. Most of the prospects they’ve drafted in that span haven’t worked out well. Still, there is a tried and true method they could seek to employ that has worked for them plenty in the past.
Why not target players who were highly productive in college? Sure, it doesn’t always translate to the NFL but there are plenty of examples where talented athletes who excelled at the collegiate level carried it right over to the pros. In fact the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame class is the perfect example of this.
This is important to note because Bears fans will recognize one of the faces in this group almost immediately. (continue to next page from top)
The first round of the NFL draft is often where teams can be made or broken. Few teams know this better than the Chicago Bears. Since the year 2000 they have made 15 picks on day one of draft weekend. Just two of them managed to start five or more seasons with the team. Two. TWO! Out of 15. They were middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and defensive tackle Tommie Harris.
The rest are a mix of talent busts, damaged goods and misused studs who were shipped elsewhere. It’s no wonder this franchise hasn’t been able to keep up with the elites like Pittsburgh, New England, and Green Bay. Here’s their numbers by comparison.
Pittsburgh: 8 out of 17
New England: 8 out of 15
Green Bay: 7 out of 17
It’s a pretty straightforward lesson. If you don’t hit on the top picks, it’s hard to win in the NFL. There is no doubt the Bears need to get it right next year if they want any hope of no longer being the welcome mat of the league. How do they pull it off? By understanding sticking to what they’ve done best. (continue to next page from top)
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are two of hockey’s biggest competitors on the ice. It should come of no surprise that it doesn’t change when it comes to their native countries. The two Chicago Blackhawks superstars bet on the Canada vs Team USA final at the recent IIHF World Junior Championships and Canada lost. As a result Toews had to wear a Team USA Kane jersey.
Toews has been getting the best of Kane internationally since 2007 when he defeated Kane in the same tournament. In an epic seven round shootout, Toews netted three goals during the semi-final shootout win for Canada on his way to being named to the tournament all-star team.
Then, there was the 2010 Vancouver Olympics when Toews’ Canadian team defeated Kane and the United States for the gold medal. Toews was named the outstanding forward of the tournament as well as an all-star for his performance.
A post shared by Jonathan Toews (@jonathantoews) on
You know Patrick Kane has been waiting a long time for his comeuppance on Toews but that feeling may be bittersweet. You know Kane is looking for an opportunity to beat Toews in a meaningful international game himself.
Ryan Hartman’s first-career hat trick was arguably one of the most bizarre versions of the feat in recent NHL history.
All three of Hartman’s goals came in the third period. His first goal came in wacky fashion with just nine minutes left to play and had to be backed up by instant replay.
It certainly wasn’t the prettiest hat trick. But, a hatty is a hatty, right? Plus, it shows Hartman’s hard work in his first professional season is paying off. The 22-year-old winger now has 10 goals in his debut season and has helped Blackhawks fans forget about similarly scrappy winger, Andrew Shaw.
Sorry women of Chicago — Kris Bryant is officially off the market.
The NL MVP married longtime girlfriend Jessica Delp in their hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada yesterday in a ceremony which had some familiar faces in the crowd. Dexter Fowler, Anthony Rizzo, Jason Heyward, and John Lackey were just a few of Bryant’s teammates that helped him celebrate his big day at the beautiful JW Marriott in Las Vegas.
My only advice for Bryant as he enters marital bliss is to never, and I mean NEVER, forget your wife’s birthday or anniversary. Unfortunately, Bryant will never have an excuse to forget his wedding anniversary since it fell on 1-7-17.
Like his jersey number get it?
Photos from the celebration are slowly starting to hit social media and I’ll do my best to update this as more become available.
The Chicago Bears are in the midst of making some changes to their coaching staff at the assistant level. This can’t be considered a huge surprise. After all the team finished 3-13, the franchises’ worst ever record in a 16-game season. Head coach John Fox knows he should feel fortunate to still have a job. Something needed to change though.
Often the way to do this is by shaking up the positional coaching staff. Already the Bears have seen four different coaches either leave or get fired. Safeties coach Sam Garnes and offensive line coach Dave Magazu were both released. Running backs coach Stan Drayton departed for Texas while outside linebackers coach Clint Hurtt left to join the New York Jets.
Replacing these men is next on the agenda for Fox. Speculation has continued on who the Bears may or may not be looking at but thus far it’s been quiet in terms of who they actually might go after. That may have changed with the rise of a recent rumor. (continue to next page from top)
The Chicago Bears defense was an interesting, unusual, hopeful and disappointing watch all at the same time in 2016. It was overrun with mediocrity at many positions, riddled with injuries and yet showed constant flashes of just how good it could become. By the end of the season their coordinator Vic Fangio was beyond frustrated. Not because they were bad, but more because they weren’t “there” yet.
Losing is never fun, but it’s been especially difficult for Bears fans the past four years. Throughout most of their teams’ history, even the darker periods were at least tolerable because they knew at least Chicago would play some good defense. That has become part of the city’s football identity. So when that identity is suddenly and violently ripped away from them, it has a taxing psychological impact.
Over the past four seasons from 2013 through 2016, the Bears have allowed 1, 716 total points. That’s an average of 26.81 per game. It’s by far the worst stretch ever in franchise history and has many wondering what it will take to reclaim the good, old days. Turns out there is a definitive answer to that question. (continue to next page from top)
