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Atop The Sugar Pile 10/7

By Sam Fels 1320 0

It’s back. Our weekly feature… or one of them, at least. Let’s get to it.

The Dizzying Highs

Brandon Saad – Well this was easy, wasn’t it? Four points in two games, and when he wasn’t piling up points on the third line he was dominating pretty much every shift. As we suspected, Saad is relishing being away from the other teams’ top pairings, not that he did all that badly when he had to deal with them last year. A physical force, and turning into a premier power forward right before our eyes. While Smith and Nordstrom have been tested on the top penalty killing pair with Kruger, will it be too much longer before Saad gets his chance? I doubt it.

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Strange Games, Indeed: Lightning 2 – Hawks 2 (Ning win Cutthroat 1-0)

By Sam Fels 1315 0

Well, that was weird.

I had remarked on Tuesday how October hockey can be disjointed, sloppy, and a ragged. It can also devolve into what we saw tonight, which is just strange, like when streets are uneven. Obviously, it’s hard to say the Hawks did much wrong. Holding a team with exactly no shots is how you’d draw coming out in the first period at home, even if you don’t score yourself. Outshooting them by over 20 for the game is another thing you’d settle for.

And yet, it was only one point. Why? The only reason has to be… THE BISHOP! It’s been a while since the Hawks had a complete goalie steal against them, and this was one. We could moan about the Hawks not putting a team away, but Bishop came up with everything he needed to in the 2nd and 3rd periods to keep the Hawks from getting away. That kept the Lightning it bloop-and-a-blast range, and they found that. The Hawks had their chances, at both even-strength and the power play, but just couldn’t solve… THE BISHOP! We was too late….

Let’s get to the bullets:

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Central Roundtable

By Sam Fels 1381 0

This is a feature we’re going to try to do about once a month, maybe a little more often. We’ve gathered out blogging friends from around the division to give us a little more insight from those in the know about the teams the Hawks are competing with. Without further ado, this roundtable’s question is what can we expect from each team this season:

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Moneyball Will End Fighting

By Sam Fels 1453 0

I was going to post a Central Division roundtable that I’d put together with our blogging friends from around the division. But I’m going to shelve that until tomorrow, even though I’m hesitant to pile even more onto what is admittedly a tired debate about the place of fighting and goons in the game. But it needs to be addressed, I think.

As you know, last night George Parros took a nasty fall and had to be stretchered off. He’ll be ok, as only his Princeton-educated brain was bruised. Or however ok you can be when you have a brain injury (which we really should start calling it, just like “Global Warming” should be “Climate Change.”) His face-plant into the ice didn’t really have much to do with fighting, and could have happened in any portion of the game. I remember Kevin Stevens taking such a fall and having a very nasty injury, and that was just a play around the net.

But of course, it’s going to engender a whole new round of furious discussion. My views are well stated, but just to reiterate: Though I’m not one who calls for the end of fighting, I recognize that there really is no way to keep the fights I can accept (two actual players spontaneously getting angry at each other) while getting rid of those I abhor (the staged ones between two slobs who serve no other purpose, and neither does their fight). So I would have to accept a total ban on fighting, and would be all right with that.

But it doesn’t matter where you stand, because fighting will be phased out. And it will be phased out not only because of player safety, but because of the evolution of the sport.

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Capital Knockers: Caps 4 – Hawks 6

By Sam Fels 1289 0

And we’re off and running. Had you forgotten what a season feels like when it starts in October? You probably did. I know I had. Let’s get right to the bullets.

-First, the ceremony. This is something the Hawks organ-i-zation really does well, if not a little over the top on patting themselves on the back. But the use of the ice as a big screen is always cool, and just like in 2010 they used interviews with the players to highlight the key moment (this time being the :17). It really brings it home that they were in just as much shock as we were. We were all kids then. Speaking of which, nice touch on having the kids bring the banner to the players, though it would have been better to give them a quick, personal introduction.

-I always find it a little off that Rocky is wildly cheered when introduced, same with McDonough, but then I hear all the moaning when ticket prices are raised. Who do you think does that? Still, they both deserve the cheers, because all we ask is that they provide us a winner for our money.

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Where You Can Buy A Committed Indian

By Sam Fels 1082 0

Committed Indian Map

I know some of you are new to us, and I always get asked where to find a copy of our gameday program outside the United Center. Well, here you go. The red x’s are where we have sellers stationed every game. That’s Gates 2 (Scott, generally) and 3 (yours truly), Madison and Wood (Adam), Monroe and Wood (Hamish, though not tonight), and Monroe and Damen (Sarah). Sometimes, when I’m lucky, we have a sixth vendor at Damen and Madison (Glenn). So if you’re heading down to the United Center any time this year and have never purchased our booze-soaked rag to get you ready for that night’s game, you now know where to find us.

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Wheel It Out Here, Carnac

By Sam Fels 1269 0

Just about 30 hours or so from the new piece of cloth going up to the rafters. And as I do every year, I’ll take a whack at predicting what goes on this season. I think the only thing I’ve ever gotten right was Hawks-Flyers in 2010 (so did McClure, and boy did the Flyers make it interesting before getting there). But we’ll do it anyway. I’ll invite the other three goofs on this blog to add their predictions to this post later today, but they have lives which I don’t. So no guarantees that I won’t be the only one hanging himself upon his own petard.

Let’s do it:

Hawks point total – The number 102-105 keeps ringing around my head. Of course, last year the Hawks were on a 131-point pace (Jesus Christ!), but no one expects that again. 102 in the old set up would have landed the Hawks probably a 4th or 5th seed. 105 near the top I would think. I just don’t see them ducking the injury and fatigue bugs all season as they pretty much did last year (only Sharp missed significant time). In this new division set up there are certainly easy points to rack up, and the Conference as a whole won’t be as tough as it once was with Vancouver and Anaheim sure to backslide at least a little. Only Edmonton looks like it has a chance to rise up, and even then only a little.

Would 105 win the division? Probably. Not sure 102 will. Pretty sure it won’t matter if the Hawks are mostly healthy in April.

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The Board Is Set

By Sam Fels 1340 0

We tune it up for real now. The Hawks have picked their roster that will head into the regular season…..for at least one or two games. Remember, it’s not been beyond Q and Stan to change things early. And considering the moving parts the Hawks have, we should expect all of those who lasted until the last cut to get a look at some point. They might all get one before October is even out. So chin up there, J-Mo, Pirri, and one or two others.

Now that the roster is set, let’s pick through the decisions that were made.

-The upset was that Joakim Nordstrom will skate out on Tuesday with the big club, which I don’t think anyone saw coming when camp started. It’s always slightly easier for an energy player to make a splash and carve out a spot on the 4th line, but Nordstrom wasn’t the pick of most.

Like everyone else, I’ve liked what I’ve seen. Fearless, quick, looks like a player who can help keep the puck in the other end which is all you ask of a 4th line. But I wouldn’t get those #42 jerseys just yet. I remember Pirri making the team two seasons ago out of camp and getting all of one game.

The other thing to watch is that Nordstrom is only 21 and has played 11 games on this continent that count, those being last year in the AHL after his Swedish season ended. If he’s here he really needs to play. While the Hawks are no longer in the business of development, it would be kind of a waste to just have him in the pressbox every game. But a 4th line of Smith-Shaw-Nordstrom would be extremely annoying to play against. Nordstrom also will get a look on the kill, which should save a top-sixer the duty if he sticks around. As we’re all interested in conserving minutes for the big guns, that’s a good thing.

That is of course, until he sits for Bollig.

Everything Else

And So It Begins – The CI’s Season Preview: The Final Questions

By Sam Fels 1220 0

Well, we’re about to embark on it all. Before we head into the dress rehearsal tomorrow (please Brandon Pirri, have like four assists), and before we roll out our Central Division special on Monday and then it all kicks off on Tuesday, there’s a few questions we should wrap up. So, let us away, friends.

Will Patrick Kane crack 100 points?

He’s going to make a run at it, that’s for sure. There’s something that happened to Kane last year. He seemed to thrive in cementing himself as a top five player in the league, at least offensively. There seems to be a new determination in him to do things he hasn’t done before. He wants an Art Ross, he wants to be in the Hart conversation, he seemingly wants to erase what he used to be known for. But, as good as he was last year, he was only on pace for only 95 points.