Tag Archives: Blackhawks

Playoff Fever

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I have been waiting for this moment ever since the Blackhawks were eliminated in Game 7 of the Conference Quarterfinals against the Canucks last year. NHL playoff fever is finally back.

Now that the Hawks have clinched a playoff spot, all I can do is think about the upcoming playoffs. Three years ago when the Blackhawks made the playoffs for the first time since 2002, I was introduced to playoff hockey for the first time in my life (I was too young to remember the ’02 playoffs or the playoffs from the 1990’s). Let me tell you, it’s a feeling that never gets old. It’s almost an addiction. It is also one of the toughest feelings to try and describe to someone who has never experienced it.

During the regular season, hockey is still one of the most suspenseful sports to watch because of the quickness of the game. The playoffs, however, take it to a new level. From the opening puck drop to the final buzzer, you will find yourself on the edge of your seat with your eyes wide open knowing that at any second, someone could score a goal. For me, I get a bit more extreme.

I cannot sit back and relax while watching the Blackhawks in the playoffs. I am constantly leaning forward, waiting for something to make me jump out of my seat. My heart is beating a mile a minute from about 2 hours before puck-drop to a good hour after the game ends. I can’t even think about food while watching the game. I get so wrapped up and nervous while watching that I sometimes even feel sick. Yes, I know that sounds pathetic, but I cannot help it. You know those people who yell and scream at the TV while watching their favorite sports teams? Well, that’s me, and then some. Just ask any of my college roommates, or anyone who lived on my floor in the dorm last year during the Hawks’ first round series against the Canucks. I know for a fact that I woke up most of my neighbors when the Hawks won in overtime in Game 6, as well as when Toews scored shorthanded to tie Game 7 with about 2 minutes left in regulation. Maybe the best example of how obsessed I am with the Blackhawks and the playoffs is this:

May 29th, 2010 was the day of my high school graduation. It was one of the biggest days of my life up to that point. I had been waiting for that day basically ever since I started school. Most kids get nervous before their high school graduation, and for good reasons. They don’t want to trip and fall while walking across the stage, they don’t want to faint while sitting during the ceremony, etc. Well, I was definitely nervous that day, but for a completely different reason. May 29th, 2010 was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Blackhawks and Flyers. While riding with my family to my graduation, which was about a 45 minute drive from my house, all I did was read that day’s newspaper articles about the Blackhawks and the Cup. While sitting in my seat during the graduation ceremony, guess what I was thinking about? I don’t think I even have to answer that. When the whole ceremony was over with, I took a few pictures with my friends like most people do, but then it was back to the Hawks. The best part about it all was when my dad handed me a note after the ceremony that read, “Be ready by 4:00. Game starts at 7:00.” It was at that moment that I realized he had bought tickets to that night’s game without me knowing until then. I’ve never been so excited in my life.

The playoffs make you experience certain feelings that you never even knew existed. Some people might ask how I can find enjoyment in watching the Blackhawks when all I do is get so nervous that I end up feeling sick. Well, my answer to them is this: I am a die-hard fan who lives and dies with the Hawks. When they win, I win. When they lose, I lose with them. It’s an addiction, and not a bad one.

Us Hawks fans are still waiting to see just where in the standings they will finish up this year. It’s looking like they will most likely finish 6th, with a 50/50 chance at finishing 5th. They have 2 huge games left on their schedule, both of which they need to win if they want to finish any higher than 6th. Thursday, they’re in Minnesota, and Saturday afternoon they finish up their regular season in Detroit.

So, with all of that being said, if there is one thing that I can ask of you, please watch the NHL playoffs this year. Especially those of you who have never done so! You will not regret it, I promise.

Go Hawks!

 

Interesting Dilemma For Blackhawks

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With last night’s big win in Nashville, the Blackhawks tied the Red Wings for 5th place in the Western Conference with 97 points. They sit just one point behind the 4th place Predators. While you always want to try and head into the playoffs with as high of a seed as possible, this year may be a little different for the Hawks.

Up until last night, the Blackhawks had been sitting in the number 6 spot in the West for quite some time. If they were to enter the playoffs as the number 6 seed, they would play the number 3 seed (the winner of the Pacific Division) in the first round of the playoffs. If they make the playoffs as the number 5 seed, they will play either Detroit or Nashville (whichever is the number 4 seed) in the first round. There is now a chance that the Hawks could even end up getting the 4 seed in the Western Conference. The big question is, do the Blackhawks really want to end up as high as the number 4 or 5 seed?

Let’s say that the Hawks end up finishing 5th in the Western Conference. They would end up playing either the Red Wings or the Predators in the first round. Both the Wings and Predators are two of the best defensive teams in the entire NHL, and they also tend to give the Blackhawks more problems than most other teams. As the 5 seed, the Hawks would play one of these two teams in the first round, and they would be without the home-ice advantage (only the top 4 seeds get home-ice advantage in the first round). If this were to be the case, I’m not so sure that the Blackhawks advance to the second round, regardless of whether they play the Red Wings or Predators.

Now, what if the Blackhawks get the 4 seed? In this instance, they would still play either Detroit or Nashville, giving them an extremely tough first round matchup, but they would have home-ice advantage. This gives them a bit of a better chance at advancing past the first round.

What happens if the Hawks end up as the 6 seed in the West? Well, they would play the winner of the Pacific Division in the first round. Regardless of which team wins the Pacific (San Jose, Dallas, Los Angeles, or Phoenix), they will have finished the season with fewer points than the Blackhawks. The Hawks match-up better against any of those 4 Pacific Division teams than they do against both Detroit or Nashville. The only problem with finishing as the 6 seed is that they lose home-ice advantage. With that said, I still believe that the Hawks could get by the first round against whichever team wins the Pacific.

So which seed benefits the Hawks the most? It comes down to either the 4 or 6 seed. With the 4 seed, yes they would have an extremely tough first round matchup, but they would have home-ice advantage in that series. As the 6 seed, they would match-up better against their opponent than they would as the 4 seed. Having said that, I would like to see the Blackhawks finish 4th in the conference. Their first round would definitely be a tough one, but with home-ice advantage on their side, they could get the job done (not to mention that it sounds like Toews will for sure be back for the playoffs). It’s always a good thing to have as high of a seed as possible as you get deeper and deeper into the playoffs.

As it stands right now, anything could happen. As long as the Hawks don’t end up getting the 5 seed, I think they have what it takes to get by the first round, and maybe even further.

Your thoughts?

Blackhawks Downed in Shootout

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The New Jersey Devils beat the Blackhawks in a shootout tonight by a final of 2-1. One could say that the outcome of this game was determined by the play of Martin Brodeur.

About the first 10 minutes or so was all Devils. They were dominating the Hawks in just about every aspect of the game. Corey Crawford was forced to bail his teammates out a couple of times by making some big saves. Then, with just over 7 minutes left in the first period, Brent Seabrook took a hooking penalty to put the Devils on the powerplay.

The first minute and a half of the powerplay was played pretty well by the Blackhawks. They did a decent job of clogging up the passing lanes and were able to clear the puck a couple of times. However, with only about 10 seconds remaining on the Devils powerplay, Dave Bolland attempted to clear the puck down to the Devils’ end of the ice. The puck ended up hitting the linesman right in front of the Chicago bench and deflected towards center ice where it was picked up by the Devils. The Blackhawks, however, were anticipating the puck going all the way down into the New Jersey end, and therefore attempted to make a line-change. When the puck was picked up at center ice by the Devils, they caught the Hawks in the middle of their line-change, which lead to an odd-man rush and eventually the first goal of the game by New Jersey.

After that goal, the Blackhawks responded pretty well by dominating the rest of the first period, and pretty much the rest of regulation time. They were out shooting, out hustling, and simply out playing the Devils from the end of the first period on. It wasn’t until about half way through the third period that the Blackhawks finally beat Martin Brodeur for a goal.

After gaining control of the puck following a face-off, Dave Bolland made a great pass to a wide open Brent Seabrook who hammered home a slap shot from a few feet inside the blue line. This tied the game at 1 a piece. The Hawks would get a handful of scoring chances following that goal, but Martin Brodeur continued to show why he is arguably the best goaltender of all time.

The game would move into overtime, where the Hawks had to kill off just under a minute and a half of a Devils powerplay. The Blackhawks did end up successfully killing the penalty without allowing any real good scoring chances.

In the shootout, Patrick Sharp scored the Hawks’ lone goal, and Patrick Elias and Travis Zajac tallied for the Devils giving them the 2-1 victory and 2 more points in the standings. The Blackhawks earned 1 point in tonight’s game.

For the most part, the Hawks looked pretty good tonight. Their team defense was above average, Corey Crawford made some big saves when he had to, and they out-shot the Devils 38-22.  It was really nice to see Crawford have a good bounce-back game after being pulled early from the game Sunday night against Nashville.

Now, it’s time for me to rant.

The NHL needs to eliminate shootouts. It’s a terrible way to lose a game. You play a full, tough, 65 minutes (including the 5 minute overtime), and then have to lose in what is basically a showcase of individual talent. Shootouts come down to which team has the best snipers and “trick-shot” players. It’s no longer a team game. In place of the shootout, the NHL should add on a 5 minute, 3 on 3 overtime period after the 4 on 4 overtime is over. If no one has scored after both the 4 on 4 and 3 on 3 overtimes, add another 5 minute, 3 on 3 overtime. I know that all pro sports are trying to minimize the lengths of their games from start to finish as much as possible, but the shootout needs to go.

With that said, I am pleased with the effort shown by the Blackhawks tonight. Unfortunately, they came face-to-face with one of the best goalies of all time playing at the top of his game. The Blackhawks remain in the number 6 spot in the standings with 93 points, 3 points behind Nashville, and 6 points ahead of Dallas. New Jersey also sits in the 6 spot in the East, 4 points behind Philadelphia, and 4 points ahead of Ottawa.

Thanks for reading.

 

Blackhawks’ Keith Gets 5 Game Suspension

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NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety, Brendan Shanahan, announced this afternoon that Duncan Keith has been suspended for the next 5 games for his elbow to the head on Daniel Sedin. The incident occurred during the first period of Wednesday night’s match-up between the Hawks and Canucks at the United Center in Chicago.

To me, 5 games seems a bit harsh, and I’m not just saying that because I am a Blackhawks fan. After going back and looking at some of the previous incidents that resulted in suspensions of less than 5 games this year, this one seems a bit drastic. Yes, Keith definitely deserved a suspension. There is no doubt about that. I, however, thought that it should have been more along the lines of a 3-game suspension. Here is my reason why:

This past Tuesday night in Dallas, Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes delivered an elbow to the head of Jamie Benn. As the replay shows, Doan clearly intentionally stuck out his elbow to try and make contact with Benn (Video: Doan’s hit on Benn). Only about a week before that, Doan was fined by the NHL for a boarding penalty that he took. For the elbow to the head on Benn, Doan only received a 3-game suspension, even though he is a “repeat offender.” Granted, Jamie Benn did not suffer any injury on the play.

If you watch the replay of Duncan Keith’s hit on Daniel Sedin and compare it to Doan’s hit on Jamie Benn, they are pretty similar incidents (Video: Keith’s hit on Sedin). Yes, Daniel Sedin now apparently has a concussion and Benn does not, but if you are going to give Doan just 3 games for what he did, Keith should have gotten 3 as well; 4 at the most. Also, this is Keith’s first offense, whereas Doan has a history with this stuff.

I dislike the fact that the NHL takes into consideration whether or not the victim was injured in plays like these. Regardless of the outcome of the hit, it’s still an illegal hit! Punish the guys who deliver the hits for the hit itself. Don’t add games onto the suspension if the victim ends up being hurt. I’m not saying that this is the case at all with Daniel Sedin, but what if he and the Canucks are “faking” his concussion? What if they want Sedin to look injured just so that Keith misses a few extra games via his suspension? Again, I am in no way implying that this is what the Canucks are doing, but it is possible that some team could do that in the future. Because of that possibility in and of itself, I don’t think injuries should be taken into consideration when deciding how many games to suspend someone.

I will say again that I totally agree with suspending Duncan Keith, but I think that 5 games is a bit much. Now the Blackhawks are without their best forward, Jonathan Toews, and their best defenseman, Duncan Keith, for the most important stretch of the season. There is still no word on when Toews might return.

Thanks for reading.

 

Blackhawks Get Big Win Over Blues

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After looking terrible the last time that these two teams met, the Blackhawks turned in one of their best performances of the year tonight against the Blues. They managed to battle back from an early 3-1 deficit to get the 4-3 victory in the shootout.

The Hawks started off the game with a bang. Just under 3 minutes in, Andrew Brunette scored on a 2 on 1 after a great pass from Marian Hossa found him open in the slot. It looked like it was going to be a good night for the Hawks after scoring this rare, early goal on Jaroslav Halak. However, that was far from the case.

About a minute after Brunette found the back of the net, Jamie Langenbrunner beat Ray Emery on a slapshot from just above the left circle. Talk about a momentum killer… Then, a few minutes later, Andy McDonald scored with a wicked wristshot from about 15 feet in front of Emery. This goal was all set up by beautiful passes from Patrik Berglund and David Perron. With about 4 minutes left in the first period, Patrik Berglund added the Blues third goal after redirecting a shot from Barret Jackman. The two teams headed into the intermission with the Blues leading 3-1.

After watching the Hawks completely fall apart after scoring their first goal, it looked like St. Louis was going to get another blowout victory over the Blackhawks. Fortunately, that did not happen.

Ray Emery was pulled at intermission, and Corey Crawford came into the game for his first action since February 29. In the second period, the Hawks really seemed to step up their game. They began getting more physical, which was a major factor in the outcome of the game, and they were getting some good shots on goal. With just over 6 minutes left in the period, Johnny Oduya made a great play to keep the puck in the Hawks’ offensive zone after an attempted clear by St. Louis. Kruger grabbed the puck along the right boards after the keep-in, wristed a soft shot at Halak, and the rebound hit off of Viktor Stalberg’s skate and went in the net. This was a HUGE goal for the Hawks. Heading into the third period being down by just 1 goal rather than 2 is a big difference.

After going 0-4 on the powerplay through the first 2 periods, the Hawks were given another powerplay opportunity a little over 6 minutes into the third period. On this powerplay, Brent Seabrook let go an absolute bomb of a slapshot off a one-timer from Hossa that beat Halak to tie the game at 3. This was the first powerplay goal scored against in the Blues in their last 51 powerplays against. They were just 2 more penalty kills away from tying the all-time record at 53 in a row. As the third period progressed, the Hawks had a few more chances to take the lead, but Halak answered the bell on all of them.

Then, the game moved into overtime where Duncan Keith had the best scoring chance from either team with only about 3 seconds left on the clock. Patrick Kane found a wide-open Keith in the slot for a one-timer, but the shot seemed to hit Halak in the mask and deflect over the net.

In the shootout, Patrick Kane scored the only goal for either team, and the Hawks prevailed with the 4-3 victory.

There were a lot of positive signs in tonight’s win by the Hawks. First, they out-shot St. Louis 46-24. That is pure domination. Second, they tied the Blues with 29 hits in the game. If you have watched the Hawks on a frequent basis this year, then you know that they have not been a physical team up to this point in the season. Also, Jamal Mayers and Brandon Bollig got into a couple big fights that helped give the Blackhawks energy boosts. I specifically liked Brandon Bollig going right after Ryan Reaves after Reaves put a major hit on Jamal Mayers. Bollig was given a 2 minute instigator penalty (I don’t like this rule), but the Hawks were able to kill that off.

Maybe the biggest positive that came out of tonight’s win (aside from the 2 points) was Corey Crawford. He came in to start the second period and played a great game from then on. He needed to be perfect in net to give the Hawks a chance at winning, and he was. He didn’t allow a goal on 18 shots against, including overtime, and he was perfect in the shootout. Hopefully he will get a big boost in confidence after getting the win tonight.

All in all, this was an absolutely huge win for the Blackhawks, who again were without their captain.

Thanks for reading.

Blackhawks Get Destroyed in St. Louis

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Tonight’s game between the Blackhawks and Blues in St. Louis was a showcase of most, if not all of, the Blackhawks’ weaknesses as proven by the 5-1 final score. They were outplayed by the Blues in every area of the game, and showed virtually no desperation whatsoever.

One of the biggest areas of weakness on the Blackhawks’ roster is their toughness. Night in and night out they are being out-hit by their opponents. St. Louis, on the other hand, is by no means afraid to hit guys at will. Throughout tonight’s game, the Blues were running the ‘Hawks into the boards and flat on their backs left and right. This created a couple of good scoring chances for the Blues after putting some big hits on the ‘Hawks in the Chicago defensive zone. The Blackhawks’ on the other hand, had just a small handful of hits, and they were not effective.

Another area of weakness for the ‘Hawks that was blatantly obvious tonight was their board-play. It seemed as though the Blues won just about every board-battle from start to finish. This is one of the most crucial aspects of a hockey game. By winning board-battles, you gain possession of the puck. You can’t win hockey games without having possession of the hockey puck. One way to really judge a team’s effort and toughness in a hockey game is to look at the number of battles that they win along the boards. Tonight, the ‘Hawks did not get the job done in this aspect of the game, to say the least.

Shots-on-goals, what was once one of the Blackhawks strong-suits, has recently become another area of weakness for this team. In order to win, you need to score goals. In order to score goals, you need to get multiple shots-on-goal. It’s really not that hard of a concept. Yet over the past month or so, the Blackhawks are consistently getting out-shot by their opposition. In tonight’s game, the Blackhawks got out-shot, again, 31-20. They passed up a number of opportunities to get good shots on the net by trying to make an extra pass. I specifically noticed a couple of instances tonight where Patrick Sharp tried making tough passes through a lot of traffic rather than taking the open shot that he was given. When you are a team that has struggled to score goals as of late, you cannot afford to pass up shooting opportunities to try and make unnecessary passes.

The last area of weakness for the ‘Hawks that I want to mention is their powerplay. They were 0-5 on it tonight. If a team is going to give you 5 different opportunities to try and score on them with a one-man advantage, you have to convert on at least a couple of them. This has been a problem all year long for the Blackhawks, and they are showing no signs of improving.

All in all, tonight was an embarrassment for the Blackhawks. If they want any hope at making it past the first round of the playoffs, or even into the playoffs, they are going to have to get better in at least a couple areas of their game that I mentioned above. Also, getting Jonathan Toews back cannot be overvalued. They need him healthy as soon as possible, and right now, there is no timetable for his return.

Thanks for reading.

‘Hawks Win!

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I just wanted to quickly talk about the Blackhawks’ win today in Detroit. This is one of their best wins of the season in my opinion, and it came without their captain…again.

Yes, Detroit was without 2 of their biggest stars, Datsyuk and Lidstrom, but the Hawks were without Jonathan Toews as well. Heading into today’s game, the Wings had the best home record in all of hockey. That, coupled with the fact that the ‘Hawks are desperate for every point they can get right now, is what makes this win so big for them. They are now 7 points out of the number 9 spot in the Western Conference, and 6 points ahead of the 7 and 8 spots. The more distance that the Blackhawks can put between themselves and the teams below them in the conference, the better.

It is encouraging to see this team putting up some big wins lately in Ottawa, and now Detroit, without Toews being in the lineup. Because of the injuries to Toews, Hjalmarsson, and Montador, rookies like Andrew Shaw, Dylan Olsen, and Jimmy Hayes are all getting the chance to prove themselves at the NHL level. These guys have been providing a ton of energy to this team lately, which is exactly what the ‘Hawks need. A great example of this came today when Shaw got into a fight with Detroit’s Brendan Smith with about 5 minutes left in the second period. The fight energized not just the fans, but the two teams as well, and less than 3 minutes later Patrick Kane scored what ended up being the game winning goal. Sometimes that’s all it takes. A simple fight to boost your team’s energy, and it’s the little things like that these rookies have been providing lately. Hopefully they can keep it up.

I’m not saying that the ‘Hawks will be fine without Toews moving forward, because they won’t be (Toews was leading the league in faceoff percentage before his injury). But, the Blackhawks and their rookies have been showing some good signs the past 3 games. Now all they need is Toews and Hjalmarsson to get healthy again. That will only provide more energy to this team.

The ‘Hawks Need Toews

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The Blackhawks came out today and said that Jonathan Toews will miss at least 2 more games. The ‘Hawks play tomorrow afternoon in Detroit, and Tuesday night in St. Louis. Detroit and St. Louis currently have the 2 best home records in the NHL. Even with Toews in the lineup, these would be 2 extremely tough games to win. Toews has missed the last 6 games now due to what the Blackhawks are calling an “upper body injury.” Some people believe that he suffered a concussion in San Jose during their 9-game road trip. Others are saying that he has a shoulder injury. Regardless of what the injury may be, the Blackhawks need their captain back for the stretch run.

Prior to this injury, Jonathan Toews’ name was being mentioned in MVP talks. That’s how good of a season he was having and how important he is to the Blackhawks. Toews played in every one of the 9 straight losses that the ‘Hawks suffered beginning in late January. Because of the fact that this team was able to lose 9 straight games with him in the lineup gives me no confidence that they will be able to lock up a playoff spot with him out of the lineup. The ‘Hawks are currently on a 2-game win streak after beating Toronto at home on Wednesday and winning in Ottawa on Friday (Coach Q was calling this their biggest win of the year). Because of this short winning streak, some fans are jumping to the conclusion that the Blackhawks will be fine without Toews heading into the home stretch of the season. Those fans couldn’t be any further from the truth! Jonathan Toews still leads the ‘Hawks with 29 goals on the season, even since missing the last 6 games. Also, he is still second on the team in points. He was first before getting hurt. You cannot tell me that this team will be “fine” without him heading into the last 16 games of the year.

From here on out, the Blackhawks have possibly the toughest remaining schedule in hockey with 2 games against Detroit, 3 with St. Louis, 2 with Nashville, and the rest with teams such as Vancouver and New York (the Rangers). So while this could easily be their toughest stretch of the year, not to mention the fact that they have yet to give themselves a comfortable cushion in the standings, they will be playing possibly a handful of these remaining games without their captain and best player. The Blackhawks desperately need Jonathan Toews back in the lineup, regardless of the fact that they have won 2 games in a row.

Oduya Is Not Enough

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The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Blackhawks did little to improve their chances at making a deep playoff run this year. Their only moves were the acquisition of defenseman Johnny Oduya from Winnipeg, and the departure of enforcer John Scott to the Rangers. That’s it. Many, myself included, thought that the Hawks might trade for a top 4 defenseman and a top 6 forward. Unfortunately, neither of which happened.

Oduya is a number 5-6 defenseman and will most likely be paired with either Sean O’Donnell or Sami Lepisto, whomever is in the lineup on any given night.  By trading for Oduya, Stan Bowman added a little more depth to the Blackhawks’ defense. The common belief around the NHL heading into the trade deadline was that the Hawks needed to trade for a top 4 defenseman that could kill off penalties as well as play on the powerplay. Johnny Oduya is not a top 4 defenseman, as previously mentioned, and is mediocre at killing off penalties. Odds are that we will not see him on the powerplay. If I had to guess, I would say that Johnny Oduya was not the number 1, or maybe not even the number 2 most wanted defenseman by the Hawks’ front office heading into the trade deadline. However, with the lack of available defenseman at the deadline, it is tough to get too disappointed with Stan Bowman for making this move. He had to trade for one of the few available defenseman, and he did. As for his failure at acquiring a top 6 forward, that is a different story.

While Nashville, one of the Hawks’ biggest rivals and toughest competitors, was strengthening not only their defense (trading for Hal Gill), but their offense as well (acquiring Andrei Kostitsyn and Paul Gaustad), the Blackhawks sat on their hands, it would appear, and did nothing. Yes, Bowman went out and traded for Brendan Morrison last month with the hopes that he could fill the number 2 centerman roll, but that has not worked out thus far to say the least. Since joining the Hawks, Morrison has played in just 7 games and has yet to register a point. I am sure that Bowman made offers at the deadline for players such as Gaustad, Derek Roy, and Jeff Carter, but clearly his offers were not good enough. It sounds as though Stan Bowman and the rest of the Blackhawks’ front office were too reluctant to trade away any top prospects or draft picks to get a top forward. This is what aggravates me and the rest of us Blackhawk fans. If they wanted to, the Blackhawks could have traded for one of the previously mentioned forwards, which would have greatly improved their team and better prepared them for a deep playoff run. Instead, they are going to be battling it out with Phoenix, L.A., Dallas, Colorado, and possibly a couple other teams for a playoff spot.

The Blackhawks are basically the same team today as they were 48 hours ago; a team that is fresh off of a 9-game losing streak, and currently in the midst of a 3-game losing streak. This is going to be a tough and grueling next 2 months for the Hawks. Hopefully when it’s all said and done we will be watching them in the playoffs.

Thanks for reading.