Everything Else

Keep Your Eyes On The Road: Hawks 4 – Scum 4 (Scum win Pin The Tail)

By Sam Fels 1361 0

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Event Summary

Extra Skater

After tangling with two of the NHL’s best at home over the weekend, it was kind of obvious the Hawks took the foot off the gas tonight. I can’t say that they were looking past the Wings, or what’s left of them, but it sure looked like that. Whatever it was, the Hawks were just kind of second best all over the ice for most of the game. And all the little blemishes of the Hawks’ game lately were on display once again. They were trying far too much cutesy shit at the blue line, resulting in killer turnovers or just loss of possession. Their puck support was just not there, as too many Hawks without the puck were looking for space for a pass that wasn’t coming from a teammate that was buried in red instead of helping him. And when a team can really pressure the Hawks D below the goal line, they can get yippy especially when the forwards aren’t close enough to help. The Hawks needed to be more straight line, especially against a defense that is simply dying to turn the puck over. They have to. They want to. It’s their oxygen. Thankfully Brendan Smith is still around for the Hawks to grab a point.

Whatever the Wings’ faults, you’ll never find a Babcock team not working hard enough. The Hawks didn’t want to or couldn’t match that level, which is why they were getting caught on the puck and couldn’t make plays tonight. It’s why you’ll see the Wings had the upper hand in Corsi or possession tonight, which really shouldn’t happen with a team this beat up.

Let’s get to it.

Everything Else

Atop The Sugar Pile 1/21

By Sam Fels 1233 0

Can’t think of much else to do today after a day off for most. So let’s see who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.

The Dizzying Highs

Marian Hossa – Well I’m not sure I quite agree with the Tribune’s assertion today that at 35 he’s better than ever (more people probably needed to see him play in Atlanta), he was certainly vintage stuff this week. Three goals and four points in three games, while firing 16 shots. We’ve talked about what Hossa’s shot totals mean, and it’s always heartening to see him getting his share. Maybe he’s taking some of Toews’s opportunities away, but no one cares at this point. I’m still jumpy about what he’ll look like after the Olympics and in the playoffs, and we know that there will be some nights where he never gets out of third gear. You can also look for him to not be in the lineup for a game or two in March, as that back is always a concern. But for right now, he’s the dominant force we know and love.

Ben Smith – This one might be a bit of a stretch, because there aren’t really any numbers to back this up, and he was a -2 over the week. But watching him play he’s been a badass. Simply everywhere and never stops working, and his PK work has improved. I still don’t know what he is (my heart says 3rd-4th line tweener), but his high rate of work definitely makes up for the lack of mobility on the other side of his line.

Everything Else

An Example For All: Bruins 2 – Hawks 2 (Hawks win Beer Pong)

By Sam Fels 1435 0

Box Score

Event Summary

Extra Skater

I don’t want to get too extravagant or over the top here, but I can’t help but smile at how the Hawks and Bruins demonstrated everything good the sport can be a little more than 13 hours after Vancouver and Calgary pretty much embarrassed everyone involved with it. Because today was as good a game as the regular season can produce. And it involved none of the bullshit that sometimes comes with teams with a history.

It was fast, it was passionate, it was physical at times, both teams traded periods of having the upperhand. Big saves, big hits, nifty passing, defensive responsibility, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in late May. If there’s any downside, it was just another illustration that a contest like this is somewhat sullied by having it end in a skills competition. It easily could have ended 2-2 and I doubt anyone would have walked out of that building feeling like they didn’t get their money’s worth.

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Those Faded Lines: Ducks 2 – Hawks 4

By Sam Fels 1338 0

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Extra Skater

Oh right, they can do it.

We said if the Hawks performed like they did against the Avalanche on Tuesday that they would win far more often than they would lose. I don’t know if they were significantly better tonight than Tuesday, but they sure as fuck weren’t any worse. And it led to them essentially rag-doll the hottest team in the league that currently sits on the Presidents’ throne, save for a nervy five minutes there in the 3rd. Don’t worry folks, the driver is still in the bag when it’s needed.

For me, the big tactic from the Hawks was an uber-aggressive defense. Not so much in jumping into the rush, but standing up at the Ducks blue line, jumping the Ducks in the neutral zone to whatever puck carrier there may be, and standing up at their own blue line. The Ducks have given the Hawks fits with their straight-line game for years now. It seemed like the Hawks just decided they were going to blunt those lines at center ice. They wouldn’t even let the Ducks get the puck behind them and down low, and whenever they did they were 100-feet away. The Ducks certainly weren’t at their best, but they weren’t allowed to be for long stretches. Every time the puck gained control of the puck outside of their zone, they were smothered.

You can’t do that every game, as eventually you’ll give up a bevy of odd-man rushes to a team that’s ready to play that quickly. And the Hawks gave up a couple, but not many. It was high-pressure stuff, and the Ducks didn’t really have an answer.

Everything Else

Hey Kids, Nobody Tells You What To Do

By Sam Fels 1561 0

While everyone else makes futile attempts to figure out why the Hawks suck when the games go over 60 minutes (um, luck?), let’s pass over that debate and check in on how the kids outside the organization at the moment are doing.

Unlike last year, where McNeill and Danault were some of the Hawks most exciting prospects plying their trade in the Canadian hinterlands, this year sees the more intriguing ones roaming the the quads and woods of American college campuses (in one’s case, sometimes in a garbage bag).

We’ll start out east in Chestnut Hill, MA, where Kevin Hayes has put up 35 points in just 22 games with Boston College. This past weekend, Hayes went a little bonkers with two goals and three assists in two games versus Providence and Brown. Hayes does have the sweetheart spot in the BC lineup, as he has been playing with one of the most dynamic players in the NCAA in Johnny Gudreau. But hey, you gotta make something of it when it’s given to you and Hayes has done that. While I only got brief glimpses of Hayes last year, I’ve always thought he was the better pro prospect than his brother Jimmy, as he’s a slightly smoother skater and has better hands. Hayes the Younger won’t be a Hawk next year or anything but should get a good look in Rockford.

His teammate Chris Calnan also scored this weekend, and has seven points on the year playing in the BC bottom six.

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Almost Close Enough For Disco: Avs 3 – Hawks 2 (OT)

By Sam Fels 1260 0

Boxscore

Event Summary

Extra Skater

Hockey is just weird sometimes. You can’t really ask the Hawks to do much more than they did tonight. From the opening bell, the Avs were pretty much rolled up in a rug and dumped in the snowy woods. But like the occasional Russian gangster who claims to wash his balls in ice water, even though he’s been shot in the head he escapes the mobsters (layered reference!). The Hawks don’t even have packs of mustard to keep them sane.

Sure, they could have cashed in on a power play. But it’s not as if the PP was totally helpless. It created enough chances, it just didn’t cash in. Sure, they’ll tell you they could have gotten more traffic in front of Semyon Varlamov, but that would just be covering up. The Hawks were there plenty of times, it just felt like the rebounds kept bouncing away from Hawks’ sticks aside from Shaw’s goal. Yeah, the penalty kill could have come up better than leaving Ryan O’Reilly enough space in front he would have died of exposure. But in OT, Hjalmarsson’s rushed clear could have taken any bounce off the glass. It just went to Matt Duchene.

The Hawks did everything but win tonight, and that happens from time to time during the season. Hockey is a cruel enough mistress to torture you by having luck play a role, and a big one. It just didn’t go the Hawks way tonight. Move on, and know that more efforts like that will result in pairs of points far more often than they’ll result in a solitary, lonely one.

Everything Else

What Is Eddie O’s Agenda?

By Sam Fels 1986 0

Today I’d like to move discussion off-ice, as we haven’t done that in a while. If you’ve read this blog for more than a day, you know that we like to have our fun and take our shots at the Hawks’ broadcast. At least the television side of it, as the radio broadcast really couldn’t be more top-notch. Though I haven’t sampled a large array of radio play-by-play men, I can’t imagine there could be anyone better than John Wiedeman. Troy Murray has become a very astute analyst after a rocky start to his broadcasting career, and host Judd Sirott is as passionate as they get (and if you can hear him talk off-air, you’d know exactly what I mean. I’m still scarred from a rant he went on in front of me when I was about 13 on Adam Creighton).

But the TV broadcast has entered the bewildering zone.