I know we only post a video in a wrap for a very certain occasion, but this felt apt. Whereas the Wild caused a few half-heart flutters in Game 1, this one very much felt like a boat race. Once Michael Frolik — and perhaps from here on out he should be referred to by his full name, “Playoff Dynamo Michael Frolik” — put the Hawks ahead in the first, there was never a moment where it felt like the Wild would catch them. And that’s how it played out.
Yeah, you might still be nursing a hangover from your Derby party — if people still have those. But a Sunday afternoon calls for beers and BBQ….and playoff hockey of course.
So we’ll be at Sheffield’s Sunday for Game 3 against the Wild. There’s going to be a few specials on Two Brothers and Lagunitas beer ($20 buckets of Outlaw, $4 pints of Lagunitas and Two Brothers.. maybe more), and I don’t see how you can resist that. With the game at 2, you can even time it to miss out on any Cubs pregame crowd, and scare the shit out of them when they return after that game!
Come on out, these have been a blast so far this year.
It’s playoff tradition around these parts. For those who may be new to our little thing here, John Druce was a middling third liner for the Caps in the ’89-’90 season. But then the playoffs hit, and Druce from out of nowhere came up with 14 goals in 15 playoff games after scoring only 8 in 45 regular season games.
So who do you think is going to emerge from the dark and be the talk of the town?
Up next under the microscope are the Wild’s power play and penalty kill. If it seems like we’ve kind of shat all over the the Wild lineup to this point, well….that’s probably true. But for all the lack of depth that the roster possesses, they actually have two fairly competent special teams units all things considered.
Just one more game left in the regular season. Who else is ready for games to hold some meaning again?
Good, me too. Now for some totally random and incoherent observations.
Well, it wasn’t exactly as locked in and authoritative as it could have been. But it didn’t have to be, and they certainly aroused more passion tonight than they did Monday. Against the Oilers, it barely takes a whisper of a care to win, and the Hawks managed that… at least after the first 10 minutes where this looked like a kindergarten class that got into the Jolt Cola. Yes, Jolt Cola. I know some of you drank it once upon a time.
The one big difference was the Hawks were far more engaged tonight in front of their own net than they were on Monday. The rest of the ice? Eh, comme ci comme ca. But in front of both goalies, they were determined to tie up sticks and knock over bodies. Hence, the Oil never really sniffed much.
Let’s get the bullets out of the way then so we can all move on to Friday:
vs. 
FACEOFF: 8:30pm CENTRAL
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
THERE WAS A TIME: mc79hockey, The Copper And Blue, The Boys On The Bus
I guess when the Oilers brass are drawing up this reconstruction plan that the Oil have been in for as long as you’d get sentenced for assaulting a cop, they look at the Hawks and try and convince themselves that’s what they’re trying to create. After all, back in the spring of 2008 it looked like the two teams were in the same place.
Except the Hawks bothered to draft and develop actual defensemen and their forwards maxed out. Details, details.
I have to admit to getting a real joy out of the no-context hockey of the past two nights. There are things I could try and make something out of. But I can’t convince myself that they really matter. Yeah, another attacked-by-bees effort from Crawford. A second night in a row a team with all the offensive punch of a possum on anti-depressants was able to muster a mountain of 3rd period shots. Some very sloppy play from the Hawks all over.
But it just feels more like a common cold to be shirked than a stronger disease sinking in. I guess we’ll find out more tomorrow night, where it’s probably not possible to treat any game against Vancouver as just another one to be ticked off the schedule.
But hey, you come for bullets.
As the season winds down, the results hold less and less meaning. Particularly when the Hawks are matched up against a team that will not be attending the playoffs. There is pretty much next to nothing to take away from these games. Nothing that happened tonight will change anyone’s feelings about the Hawks and whatever shortcomings they may have.
In last night’s Indian, we had the honor of having Daryl Reaugh as our guest in the Q&A section. Although Daryl seemed more excited to do it than we were to have him. Either way, here it is in all its glory.
The Stars jettisoned Derek Roy, Brendan Morrow and Jaromir Jagr and yet got themselves into the playoff race after doing so. How, exactly?
Ya, whiskey tango effin foxtrot?! Three really good players get purged – including the captain and the leading scorer, and the team’s able to win 5 in a row to jump back into 8th in the West? How paradoxical. They’ve morphed into a good ‘team’. Everyone plays the same way, they haven’t been beating themselves (not a metaphor) with penalties and turnovers like they were, the youth has been splendid (Chiasson thinks he’s Selanne circa 92’), there is no diva component, the coach seems both vindictive and more comfortable with this attentive, blue-collar lineup, and they play much, much faster.
