Rozner: Blues coach hints Blackhawks given gifts

No one knows better the breaks a team can get from an official's call - or non-call - than Ken Hitchcock.

The Blues coach won a Stanley Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars when Brett Hull famously had a skate in the crease on the game-winning goal in triple-overtime of Game 6.

So Hitchcock didn't exactly go full-blown conspiracy when discussing the two huge calls that went the Blackhawks' way in their Game 2 victory over the Blues.

But the St. Louis coach tiptoed the line and sure made it sound like the Blues are up against it because of gifts handed to the Stanley Cup champs.

"If we expect to beat Chicago in this series, we're gonna have to fight through more than just Chicago," Hitchcock said late Friday night. "They're a (heck) of a hockey club. They have a lot of information on how to win.

"But there's other elements there that we're gonna have to fight through and we're gonna have to find a way to do it. If we're going to beat them, we have to know calls aren't going to go our way."

If Hitchcock had stopped right there, it would not have been sour grapes. It would have been a coach refusing to give his players an excuse.

But then he started leaking oil - and a bit of Oliver Stone.

"You're not dealing with unemotional people," Hitchcock said of the officials deciding the disputed offside that cost St. Louis the go-ahead goal. "You're dealing with emotional people who are connected to the game, too."

In other words, on-ice and off-ice officials want the Hawks to win the series?

"It's more than just playing against Chicago," Hitchcock said. "There's a lot of other things that go into it when you're the defending champions."

Hitchcock is correct when he says officials are human. They're also vindictive and the St. Louis coach is taking a big chance when he hints that the suits and stripes are out to get his team.

"I've been there on the other side of things," Hitchcock said. "The calls aren't gonna go your way. You're not gonna get the officiating you want.

"It's always gonna seem like it's one-sided. Big deal. Fight through it."

Unsatisfied with merely poking the refs, Hitchcock announced the Blues would be taking aim at Corey Crawford.

"We're gonna have to go into the blue area harder. We're gonna have to go into Crawford harder," Hitchcock said. "We're gonna have to do a lot of things harder. We're going to need second and third opportunities.

"We're not gonna go into Chicago and score one goal and win a hockey game."

In fairness, Hitchcock sounded matter of fact and completely unemotional when explaining that the defending champs get calls other teams don't.

"We're gonna have to dig as deep as any player and as any coach has ever dug to beat these guys," Hitchcock said. "We're not playing just a playoff team. We're playing a champion.

"And that's the way it is. Like I said, I've been on that side of it and I know how it works. So we have to be better. If we're the same, it's gonna go to them every time."

So an entertaining series just got a little more interesting. An excellent coach on the hot seat - having lost too many times in the first round and without a contract - has gone all in on the officials and the league, hoping a public demonstration gets his team a little rhythm.

If it goes the other way, Hitchcock may have sealed his own fate. But if what he says is true, what does he have to lose?

brozner@dailyherald.com

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