This offseason has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Blackhawks fans. Woohoo! The Hawks have signed Marian Hossa! Nooooo! Hossa’s gonna miss months after shoulder surgery for a pre-existing injury. Woohoo! The Hawks have found a way to re-sign all their valuable free agents! Nooooo! The Hawks overpaid for their players because of an administrative error. Woohoo! Patrick Kane is likely to be among the stars of the US Olympic Orientation Camp! Nooooo! Kaner (aka Twenty Cent) is a little too aware of the value of a dollar.

When the 2009-10 season begins on Oct. 2, most Hawks fans will feel like they’ve just stepped off 20 consecutive rides on the Gravitron. (Which is, in my estimation, the most terrifying ride ever invented.) Stumbling off a bad ride, that sick-to-your-stomach, world-spinning-around-you haze is simply the worst. It’s like that feeling you get in your gut when a bad case of food poisoning is just kicking in. It’s a feeling the fine people of Detroit may be getting more and more accustomed to.

See, times have been tough in Detroit — even tougher there than for the rest of the country. And when the economy is bad, unemployment is at a high and people are struggling to put food on the table, the quality of that food just isn’t as important anymore. Enter, The Coon Man.

Charlie LeDuff of The Detroit News and Glemie Beasley, a.k.a. The Coon Man, have the secret to helping Detroit natives survive the ups and downs of deindustrialization: coon meat.

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I didn’t watch any of the Hawks game last night because it was on Versus, and I don’t get Versus because I have RCN. I only ever got RCN because it had the Big Ten Network. But now Comcast has the Big Ten Network, and is reportedly getting the NFL Network and ESPNU. I think it’s time to switch, but I’m far to lazy to pull the trigger on such a move.

Anyway, all you need to know is this: Brian Campbell, blue line, 3-on-1 goal in overtime for the loss. You make a mistake against a team as good as the Wings, they make you pay.

Highlights:

Yesterday, David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune wrote about the allegiances in the Chelios’ Westmont household. They’re obviously rooting for their son (and thus the Red Wings), but they still feel connected to the Blackhawks. His mom is wearing one of those hybrid sweaters during the series: half Blackhawks, half Red Wings. Their home is adorned with Blackhawks stuff.

It’s clear their hearts are still with Chicago. And their son’s used to be too. Here’s Chelios on one of Mike North’s old shows from the 90’s “Overtime with Mike North” saying ‘I’d never play there” and “I’d never play for Detroit, that’s how much I hate them.”

Take a gander:

Fast-forward a few years later, and Chelios waved his no-trade clause in 1999 to be traded to the Wings. He’s re-signed with them four times since. Now, no reason to rake the guy over the coals here. We all change our minds and situations change on a dime.

But, you know, just pointing it out.

(Thanks to Brian for the tip.)

Besides the loss, here’s one of the scarier moments from yesterday afternoon’s Hawks game:

I’ve seen this a few times now, and it still makes me cringe. Thankfully, Burish just got a little bloody and didn’t suffer anything more serious.

It could have been much, much worse. Just ask Richard Zednik.

Despite Adam Burish’s sneaky goal in the first period to put the Hawks up 1-0 and their ability to keep it close through two, the Wings closed out the game with three straight goals in the third — one an empty netter — and the Hawks fell 5-2.

Some quick reaction from around the Web:

Second City Hockey:

Then, apparently, someone broke in the Hawks dressing room and informed them they were now the ‘85 Oilers, and could do as they pleased in the neutral zone. DEATH. You can’t do that against this team.  Just because they’re not playing a trap doesn’t mean they don’t work their ass off backchecking, and if it’s not there you HAVE to get pucks in deep and go get them. Especially considering how giving the Wings were in the first when being forechecked, and especially considering that the ice at the Joe looked like a cubist representation of anarchy. Simple simple simple, and the Hawks failure to be so led to the game being turned on them.

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From my incredibly unscientific surveying, it seems more Hawks fans wanted the Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals than the Ducks. This made little sense. Even though the Ducks played the Wings to the wire, they are the Wings. They are the No. 2 seed. They are the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They get home-ice advantage. They are kinda terrifying.

But you know what? It also makes plenty of sense. Sure the Ducks were the No. 8 seed and have a goalie with little playoff experience, but they made quick work of the No. 1-seeded Sharks, and they went to a Game 7 with the Wings. Neither team was going to be easy.

And, of course, they are the Red Wings, fellow members of the Original Six and rivals of the Hawks. Above all, this was the real reason fans wanted the Wings. It makes it more fun.

So yeah: The Hawks will have a tough go of it. They went 2-4 against the Wings this season, but those two wins came at the very end of the year. So does that mean the Hawks have figured out the Wings, a team that can put goals in the net in a hurry? Or does it mean the odds caught up with the Wings after beating the Hawks four consecutive games? And will the Hawks extra rest time help them out the gate? Are you noticing I’m pretending to know about hockey?

We’ll have our answers by the end of this series.

One nice perk for the Blackhawks? After finishing their series with Vancouver in six games, they get some extra time to rest, relax and watch really thrilling hockey like the rest of us. To wit:

Yes, those are the two prospective opponents for the Blackhawks, the Ducks and the Red Wings, and regardless of who the Hawks get, it has to be at least some sort of small advantage that these two teams are beating each other up — both literally and figuratively — like this. Or maybe I’m just rationalizing. Either way, excellent game and excellent finish.

I happen to be of the opinion that the Blackhawks should be rooting for the Ducks to win this series. Why? Because the Red Wings terrify me. Maybe the Ducks should too, but I’m not sure if I ever saw them play before the playoffs this year. I’ve seen the Red Wings plenty of times. Live once, even. They are horrifying. They’re like the antidote to everything that makes the Blackhawks effective; all of their players seem bigger and faster and more aggressive, and beyond that, they have a certain presence on the ice that makes it feel smaller, less open. The Ducks are named after a Disney movie. They scare me less.

None of it is rational, but neither is rooting to play the Red Wings just for the sake of personal enjoyment. I’d rather win. And not soil myself by Game 3.