CHICAGO, Ill.—Going into the season, we didn’t know who would be the number one netminder for the Chicago Blackhawks. Now with the summer signing of Cristobal Huet and the NHL ready Corey Crawford, the team went shopping around trying to get the best deal for Nikolai Khabibulin and his large salary. His agent even tried the Russian KHL but still there were no takers. So the result was to leave Crawford in Rockford of the AHL and alternate Huet and Khabibulin in net and the results have been tremendous for the team as they are deep in the playoff hunt.
As for Crawford, he shares the duties with Antti Niemi in Rockford and this tandem has helped the team battle it out in a close race in the West Division. Going into the second half, we can safely say that the Chicago Blackhawks are pretty deep in the goaltender position and only experience in the next level will benefit all those that are in the system.
Corey Crawford (AHL – Rockford IceHogs) Crawford has split his duties in Rockford with Antti Niemi as they have done with the two netminders in Chicago. Crawford by far has a better record at the halfway point winning over 52% of his games. Right before the All Star Game, the league name Crawford the AHL Player of the Week on January 12th. Crawford went 2-0-1, stopping 95 of 97 shots with a 0.67 goals-against average and a .979 save percentage. Just the week before, he earned his 100th professional win with a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Wolves.
Antti Niemi (AHL – Rockford IceHogs) Niemi has only been playing .500 hockey winning under half of the games that he is in. Niemi’s time in goal has just been cut as Crawford has assumed the number one role on the team heading into the break.
Joe Fallon (ECHL – Gwinnett Gladiators) Fallon has taken the ECHL by storm from coast to coast. He started the season in Fresno compiling an 8-4-1 record pacing the team to first place. But the team folded due to financial reasons leaving the players and Blackhawks prospects up in the air on where they will go. The Blackhawks signed an agreement with Gwinnett to supply some players to their roster. Ironically the Gladiators are affiliated with the Atlanta Thrashers and the Chicago Wolves. Now with Gwinnett, Fallon is continuing his winning ways going 3-1 in his first four games with the team. Fallon was named to the ECHL All-Star Game but suffered the loss as the American Conference beat the National 11-5.
Josh Unice (OHL – Windsor Spitfires) After playing the last two seasons with the Kitchener Rangers, Unice was traded to the Windsor Spitfires in a multi-player deal. So far this year, Unice hasn’t reached the level that he did last year in winning 30 games of the 42 that he was in. With the Ranger’s this year he only won 4 of his 16 games that he was in. But things might have turned around for him. Unice played the final placement game in the World Junior Championships and place the United Stated five overall in the Tournament. As the trade happened right after the games Unice has gone undefeated in his next three games.
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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