Blackhawk Link-Up: Niemi may start today, RosenDouche sucks and kittens rejoice

Blackhawk Link-Up will recap each Chicago Blackhawks game with links from around the Blackhawks blogsphere and views from the opposition’s coverage. Look for it the morning after each Blackhawks game.

Coach Q made it official following the Blackhawks’ 4-3 shootout loss to Florida on Friday, naming Antti Niemi the backup for Cristobal Huet. From the Sun-Sentinal’s Steve Gorten:

"Quenneville said backup goalie Antti Niemi, the team’s only Finnish player, might start Saturday even though Cristobal Huet played “great” Friday, making 21 saves.“It would be awesome. I’m already a little excited and nervous about it,” Niemi said of the possibility. He won a preseason battle for the No. 2 job against Corey Crawford, who cleared waivers Thursday and will be sent down to the AHL when the team returns to Chicago.“It was a tough decision,” Quenneville said. “This was close.”"

It would be a nice story to have the Finnish-born Niemi get a start in his home country, but I’d much rather have Huet back in net to keep him going with consecutive starts. Either way, I just hope whoever is between the pipes wins the damn game.

What Chicago has to say about Friday:

• Steven Rosenbloom continues his life of getting paid to write about shit he didn’t even watch/attend by blaming the loss on Cristobal Huet and then proceeds to damn him for the rest of his life. Idiot. (RosenDouche)

• More constructively, Mike Kiley writes: “Huet doesn’t get all the blame. But unless he can make a bigger difference in the clutch, the Hawks won’t be as good as advertised.” This is very true, and it was actually written intelligently — and I’m positive Kiley watched more than 10 minutes of the game. God, I hate Rosendouche. (Blackhawks Confidential)

• ESPNChicago’s Jesse Rogers makes some pretty bold predictions, saying it “wasn’t even close” that Niklas Hjalmarsson was Chicago’s best defenseman, “which won’t happen many times this season,” and that the ‘Hawks blowing three leads in a game “might not happen again this season.” (ESPNChicago)

• Brent Sopel looked like a “drunken wildebeast.” (Second City Hockey)

• In tune with last season, the ‘Hawks earned their first too-many-men penalty. “If this team really wants to believe they’re an upper-echelon team, they need to behave like it, and play with discipline.” (Hockee Night)

• F-ing liars. John told me him and Bobby were going to be snuggling under blankets together for the game. They actually did a live blog while drinking White Russians. (Fifth Feather)

Kittens rejoice:

• Frank Rekas over at The Rat Trick is a Florida transplant, but he is from Chicago and is a self-proclaimed die-hard Blackhawks fan. After reading this, tell me what you think. (The Rat Trick)

• Tomas Vokoun sure as shit can’t face 55 shots every night if the Panthers expect to keep winning. (Litter Box Cats)

• Ville Koistenin, the Helsinki native who scored the winning goal in the shootout, is not a man of many words. (On Frozen Pond)

Follow Blackhawk Up @blackhawksup and on Facebook