In the last second of life, they’re gonna show you how. How they run this show. Sure. Run it into the ground.
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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Who Shot J.R.?: Defending Big D
As is going to be the case with a single exception for the next two-plus weeks, the Hawks are once again striking out on that ol’ dusty trail, this time deep into the heart of Texas to take on Joe Niewendyk’s somewhat revamped Stars.
There were lots and lots of goals scored and it’s late on a school night, so hit the jump for our characteristically brilliant insight.
Our long national nightmare is over, as there is now an actual NHL hockey game in the books for us to cover, and it’s about goddamn time. And give the Hawks credit, the display they put on today is about as good as anyone could have drawn it up. Two points are two points, and the giant SAMPLE SIZE asterisk for any and all points made from here on out is attached, but even still, this was quite emphatic.
Moving on from the spotty goaltending, we now meander into the real minefield, the Blackhawks’ special teams. Feel free to interpret the word “special” however you deem fit. In a shortened season with minimal lead in time, special teams figure to loom large over every team’s proceedings, and the Hawks will be no exception. So shield your eyes, and let us gaze at the macabre.
Moving right along down the depth chart we now come to perhaps the most stable unit of the post 2010 era, Dave Bolland’s third line. While Bolland has never truly become the force of nature that his numbers in junior or his paycheck would have suggested, that he has become one of the premier checking forwards in the NHL is still a victory in and of itself.However, the line he’s been a fixture on is not without its flaws, Bolland included, and it will need to find consistency in short order for this abbreviated season to be a successful one for the Hawks.
As Thelma and Louise speed off the cliff at the NHL office in New York and we await if we are deigned worthy of hockey this season, Sam, Killion, and myself would like to wish all of you a happy and safe New Year. Thank you all for helping make this post even possible, and we hope to actually have games to be writing about for you in 2013. And for the love of fuck, call a cab or make sure to take advantage of the CTA giving free rides tonight, as is their annual tradition.
Up until this point of this bafflingly insipid lockout, I’ve kept an arm’s distance from getting too emotionally invested in the day-to-day goings on in these so-called “negotiations”. At my core, I knew that there was going to be a significant amount of time missed, and that everyone would be beyond aggravated with the principals on either side, but that ultimately it would be too foolish to waste this much time, or the entire season. But, no one has ever gotten rich betting on the NHL using common sense. Perhaps I was more deluded and emotionally invested than I thought, because selfishly, I really wanted there to be hockey today, and it’s really hitting home now that there isn’t.
In an utterly predictable turn of events, the negotiations over the last 60 or so hours ended with a resounding thud not too long ago, as Bill Daly reportedly informed the Fehr brothers via voicemail that the PA’s latest offer was wholly unacceptable, and that talks would not continue any time soon and all other previous offers were now off the table.
Pardon me while I yawn.
Ed. note: This appeared in yesterday’s Piggies Weekly.
Hockey fans, particularly those of the NHL, have endured a lot over the years. Franchise relocation more frequently than the other major sports, dismissive to flat out derisive treatment by the vast majority of the sporting public, and most notably three work stoppages in less than 20 years. It is those injustices, both perceived and real, that have steeled the resolve of fans across the continent and around the world, even heading into what was viewed by all as yet another unavoidable labor dispute. But for all that grizzled determination and resignation to the fate, few could have imagined the absolute fucking stupidity surrounding this latest impasse.
