With eight straight losses, the Blackhawks are on an epic slide and playoff hopes are disintegrating. more ›

The Blackhawks lost their eighth straight game, Loyola of Chicago beat Illinois Chicago, Northern Illinois fell to Akron, and Notre Dame defeated DePaul. more ›

In last night's games, the Blackhawks fell to the Flames and Loyola lost to Cleveland State. more ›

Yesterday the Blackhawks fell to the Nashville Predators, the Bulls eked out a victory against the Charlotte Bobcats, Butler topped Loyola of Chicago, and Ball State defeated Northern Illinois. more ›

They were a little rusty to start, but once the action got moving the Blackhawks showed the crowd they're prepared for another successful season. more ›

Former Blackhawks Alexander Karpovtsev and Igor Korolev, both 41, were assistant coaches for the Russian Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team that was wiped out in the crash. more ›

Though they finally called it quits a few years ago, there's no disputing that industrial metal gods Ministry ruled with a decibel-breaking iron fist with albums like Psalm 69 and The Land Of Rape And Honey during the late '80s and early '90s. more ›

While we're still a week away from dropping the puck on the 2010-2011 Blackhawks season and 9 days from the home opener and the dropping of that Stanley Cup Championship banner, the players have gotten their first taste of being defending champions. In a ceremony last night, everyone that was part of last year's championship team received their championship rings. And as you can see in the photos above, it's some pretty impressive bling. more ›

Cubs Trip Up Cards more ›

Funny that amongst the failure of both of the city's baseball teams and an uneven (yet, yes, undefeated) start from the Bears, the start of the Blackhawks' long road to title defense went almost unnoticed by, well, everyone except hardcore hockey fans as the NHL preseason got underway. Part of the reason that it may have flown under the radar: the game was played in Winnipeg where fans, as seen above, are still upset about losing their franchise to Phoenix years ago. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp netted a goal each for the Blackhawks but the Lightning still took the game 4-2. The Blackhawks have seven preseason games on the schedule before opening the 2010-2011 season on the road (which boggles our mind; shouldn't the defending champ at least have the reward of opening the following season at home?) in Colorado on October 7. Next up is a trip to Detroit to face the Red Wings tomorrow night (6 p.m., CSN). more ›

• Ald. Fioretti (2nd) suggested turning East McCormick Place into a temporary casino to help while the city looks for a permanent casino site.
• Some details are out about a pair of upcoming debates for U.S. Senate and Governor.
• The city got the go-ahead from the courts to relocate graves in the ongoing O'Hare Expansion Project.

Win a Stanley Cup, get your contract extended. Makes sense to us. The Blackhawks' Coach Joel Quenneville is getting a new contract extension, the details of which will be announced later today. Quenneville replaced fired coach Denis Savard just four games into the 2008-2009 season during which he led the team to the Western Conference Finals. And we all remember how last year turned out. Quenneville is 97-44-19 with the 'Hawks and has won 535 games in his 13-year NHL head coaching career which also includes stints in St. Louis and Colorado. more ›

• Cook County President Todd Stroger's troubled jobs training program lost $2,7 million and could lose even more.
• The Cook County Sheriff's latest partner in crime-fighting: garbage men.
• The attorney for Rod Blagojevich, brother and co-defendant of former governor Rob Blagojevich, admitted he regrets not calling U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. to the stand.

... and it is good. more ›

• The Sun-Times breaks it down on Metra Police OT pay.
• A police report on the party at which Calumet Township trustee Carlos Salgado drowned described the event as "raucous" including nudity and sex.
• Hef has made a bid on outstanding shares of Playboy but he's facing a counter-bid from rival Penthouse.

What has Chicago done for its sports icons and success stories lately? Built a statue of Michael Jordan that we dress up when we see fit? Made a Harry Caray statue that people hang dead goats on from time to time? Built a Champion's Plaza outside of the Cell? "Poppycock," says Manitoba. "We're so proud of our native son and Blackhawk champion Jonathan Toews that we're going to name a freaking lake for the guy." more ›

Former Blackhawk Bob Probert, remembered as one of the toughest enforcers of his era, died on Monday at the age of 45. Probert, who played for both Detroit and Chicago in a 16-year career, complained of chest pains while boating with his family on Lake St. Clair yesterday afternoon. Probert's father-in-law performed CPR until they could get Probert to Windsor Regional Hospital where further attempts to revive him failed. Probert had 384 points scored in 935 regular season games but he's most remembered for his role as enforcer on the ice, a role that led to 3,300 penalty minutes, still fifth most in NHL history. Probert dealt with substance abuse during his career. While with Detroit, he was charged several times with DUI and in 1989 arrested trying to transport cocaine from Canada to the U.S. And he missed the entire 1994-1995 season (already shortened by a lockout) due to a suspension stemming from a motorcycle accident in which police found both alcohol and traces of cocaine in his bloodstream. more ›

Last weekend's Pride Parade held special significance as two of the city's major-leaguers - both the Blackhawks and the Cubs - were represented with floats in the day of epic gayness. The Blackhawks, Stanley Cup in tow, brought along defenseman Brent Sopel to the gayla. The Cubs, meanwhile, enlisted "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks to head up their contingent alongside the Ricketts family. While the teams' decisions have been celebrated by many, not everyone was thrilled with the Cubs and Blackhawks' newfound pride. more ›

The salary cap clearing out continued for the Blackhawks this morning as they sent center Colin Fraser to the Edmonton Oilers for a sixth round draft pick. Fraser, acquired in 2004 from Philadelphia saw limited action for the 'Hawks from 2006 through 2008 but saw more action over the last two seasons and finished his 'Hawks career with 36 total points (13 goals, 23 assists). The 'Hawks now have a load of draft choices with 11 overall picks including five picks (24, 30, 43, 54 and 60) in the first two rounds. more ›

• The severe weather is rolling in just at the thick of rush hour. Be safe.
• Break up the Blackhawks, literally? Rumors are flying that Dustin Byfulgien, Brent Sopel, and Ben Eager could be part of a huge trade sending the trio to Atlanta.
• A big head carp has been found in Chicago's waterway beyond the electric barriers.

What, you thought hockey season was over? Just a few weeks after the Blackhawks brought home the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years, there's still plenty of news to report on the team. more ›

The Blackhawks haven't even finished drinking beer from Lord Stanley's Cup and already some thoughts are turning to the 2010-2011 preseason. The next time you'll be able to see the 'Hawks take the ice at the United Center? September 25 when they take on the rival Red Wings. The team will open the preseason on the road in glorious Canada - Winnipeg, to be exact - to take on Tampa Bay, which is just cruel to the people of Winnipeg, if you ask us. Sure, you once had the Jets but now we submit you to a team playing in Florida. The 2010-2011 regular season schedule will be announced next week. Poor Winninpeg aside, here's the preseason schedule. more ›

The Blackhawks' whirlwind tour of the city with the Stanley Cup in tow continues (we're still waiting for you to visit our office, guys). Last night, Colin Fraser, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Troy Brouwer, and Lord Stanley's Cup visited Ellen DeGeneres, taping a show at the Chicago Theater as part of the TBS Just For Laughs festival. No word yet on when Ellen's special will air on TBS; the Just For Laughs fest continues through Saturday night with plenty of awesome performances. more ›

The Blackhawks have been taking Lord Stanley's Cup on quite a bar crawl in the week since they won it and reports are coming in on a daily basis. While they might have been out in LA last night to walk on The Tonight Show, they've also been hitting up lots of watering holes and there's a way you can track where it's been and where it might be going. There's a nice Google Map mash-up (thanks, Natasha!) that's been tracking where the Cup has been spotted. But for a more real-time tracking option, there's the Where's The Cup Twitter account that tweets out reports from followers of locations of the Cup. So if you want to get your own glimpse of the Cup, start tracking and good luck. more ›

Ozzie Guillen claimed the Sox parade was bigger and better (but he's admittedly biased), WBEZ explores the booing of Mayor Daley at the rally, and Deadspin uncovered an example of jerkstores ruining it for everyone. Of course, we can't wrap up our coverage of the Blackhawks events (at least until they bring the Stanley Cup to our office or a happy hour) on such a sour note, so enjoy this pretty cool time-lapse of the entire parade. more ›

The first round of this year's Crosstown Classic series wrapped up in dramatic fashion last night at Wrigley Field as the Cubs edged the Sox 1-0 [Cubs recap, Sox recap] in a game that began with a tribute to the Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks and saw both teams' starters take no-hitters into the seventh inning. The Cubs broke through first in the bottom of the seventh as Alfonso Soriano hit a two-out double of the Sox' Gavin Floyd which was followed by a Chad Tracy single, scoring Soriano. As for the Sox, Ted Lilly kept them hitless into the ninth when pinch-hitter Juan Pierre singled to break up Lilly's no-no. Then things got interesting as Lilly was pulled in favor of Carlos Marmol. Marmol walked Jones and then balked, sending Pierre to third and Jones to second with no outs. But the Sox failed to take advantage: after striking out Alexi Ramirez, Marmol intentionally walked Alex Rios which paid off in the form of a force out at home on a Paul Konerko grounder. With the bases still loaded, Carlos Quentin flew out to center field. more ›

Oh, Versteeg. Grandmaster Flash you're not, but it's still pretty great. more ›

As the parade and victory rally continue, we thought we'd take another look back at more of Wednesday night's celebrations. [previously] more ›

The parade isn't to kick off for almost another hour, but based on some of theses photos, the crowd is already thick and getting thicker. And if you're like me - stuck in the office while the city celebrates (don't worry, I got a victory parade in earlier this year) - you can watch the parade streaming on a few sites, including ABC 7, WGN 9, CBS 2, Fox, and NBC 5. And if you ARE going, don't forget to share your photos here and we'll post some on the site later! more ›

The Blackhawks are Stanley Cup champions so, of course, there was plenty of celebrating to do, even if the team clinched the Cup on the road. Here are photos from a few places around town of people celebrating. All in all, it was a very polite celebration as far as major sports championships go with just 19 arrests being reported. Keep the photos coming in our Flickr Pool and we'll try to share more later. more ›