Chicago Blackhawks: Ryan Miller Complains About United Center Ice

The Chicago Blackhawks’ victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday didn’t make everyone happy

In a night where Brian Campbell reached his 500th career point and the Chicago Blackhawks extended their winning streak to three, another story is gaining steam.

The Canucks goalie is blaming his team’s loss on the quality of the ice conditions at the United Center. Now we have heard people complain about the ice quality at the United Center. But it’s usually in June, not in January. This is the third notable complaint of the United Center Ice.

Ryan Miller stated to the Province:

"“That was the first flat puck all night,” said Miller. “This ice is the worst ice I’ve ever seen in my career. It was terrible and they’ve got to do something about it. Even when we tried to handle pucks and make some plays, there were times when we should have went up the wall because it was the safest option.“But we did step up in the third period and that was nice to see. But it was a kick in the teeth to come all the way back and lose on a fairly flukey kind of play. We cleaned up the neutral zone, but there were plays where we were trying to make plays and were tired trying to get off the ice and they came back at us.Contributing factorsIn the Blackhawks’ defense, the temperature in Chicago this past weekend was unseasonably high. It was close to 60 degrees in Chicago on Saturday and in the upper 40s Sunday.More from AnalysisBlackhawks: Three Noticeable Improvements in Comeback Win vs BluesBlackhawks: Key Takeaways from 3-2 win over the BluesBlackhawks: Grading Connor Murphy and a position comparisonBlackhawks: Shuffling the lines to try and spark offense at 5 on 5These Lineup Changes could Solve the Blackhawks’ Scoring ProblemThe United Center also is also home to the Chicago Bulls, who had a home game on Saturday night. The Blackhawks also had former hot head Jeremy Roenick on the ice before the game for “One Last Shift.” Roenick proceeded to kiss the ice, so maybe it was Roenick’s fault.Miller might have a valid claim of the ice being sloppy, but the Blackhawks also had to play on the same ice.So the ice might have been a little rough, but be that as it may, Miller still allowed 3 goals on 34 shots for a save percentage of .912. Now his counterpart, Corey Crawford, posted a .929 mark in stopping 26 of 28 shots.Next: Blackhawks Roundtable: Presidents & Opposing FansMiller’s flukey goal to Jonathan Toews came with under two minutes left to play in regulation. The ice was in the same state for both team and the home team prevailed. Toews also added three assists to go along with his one goal to earn him the first star of the night. “That was the first flat puck all night,” said Miller. “This ice is the worst ice I’ve ever seen in my career. It was terrible and they’ve got to do something about it. Even when we tried to handle pucks and make some plays, there were times when we should have went up the wall because it was the safest option.“But we did step up in the third period and that was nice to see. But it was a kick in the teeth to come all the way back and lose on a fairly flukey kind of play. We cleaned up the neutral zone, but there were plays where we were trying to make plays and were tired trying to get off the ice and they came back at us."