Maybe the Oscars got into me subconsciously. Or maybe I just wanted to have some fun with photoshop. Anyway, here’s last night’s Page 8, and I wanted to share it with you.
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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Tanks Even In Their Fantasy League: The Copper And Blue
Well that homestand didn’t really seem all that long, did it? After spending the majority of the season on the road, we all looked forward to seeing the Hawks spend some time on the familiar (though lousy) United Center Ice. Yet tonight’s match up against the Oilers is the end of the homestand, though we’ll see them again Friday against the BJ’s again. (Note – none of this applies to Fels who is likely at the end of his already very short rope after a ton of home games and Indians to produce. Have fun tonight buddy)
Tonight we welcome the team that’s been slowly building their way up to having playoff potential for the last, well, I guess since they made the finals and lost to Carolina… which still has to smart. This year was supposed to be the year the Oil finally got it together and ending their streak of high draft picks with a potential run to the post-season. But it hasn’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. They’ve been flirting around with .500 all season. Lucky for them, that makes them pretty competitive in the Northwest Division.
We’re coming out again. You know what that means.
Kick off your weekend early this Thursday night by joining up upstairs at Bottom Lounge for what is shaping up to be a pretty massive Hawks-Blues tilt. Bottom Lounge is at 1375 w. Lake, and the new Morgan St. stop on the Pink line won’t leave you very far from it at all. So knock off work and head on over to get ready to watch the Hawks topple the humanized boogers that are the Blues (credit to Slaky for that one).
Oh, and the pinball is free on Thursdays at BL, so your intermission entertainment is also taken care of.
The IceHogs carried momentum with them throughout the end of week 18 after a big shootout win earlier in the week against the Texas Stars on February 5th. Two more games were on tap for the boys from RockVegas as they wrapped up their four game road trip and returned to the BMO Harris Bank Center.
Time for our weekly jaunt around the world to see what the Hawks system is looking like.
You know, let’s go in reverse this time. We’ll start in Europe. Teuvo Teravainen didn’t scratch in two games for Jokerit. He’s at 12-13-25 in 33 games.
I can’t seem to figure out where Maxim Shalunov is these days, so I’m just going to not care until he does or doesn’t make it to Rockford next year.
Joe Gleason and Nick Mattson were a combined +5, and Mattson had a goal and an assist in one of the two games for North Dakota against UNO.
Paul Phillips was a -3 in two games for Denver
Sometimes, you tie.
This is my point with shootouts. Tonight was probably as even as you get, with both teams carrying some play and each benefiting for being harmed by a couple bounces here and there. But because we have to flip a coin to see who wins, the Hawks don’t get as many points as the Ducks. That’s how that goes.
The big point will be the Hawks power play, and that’s a valid one. Aside from Leddy’s goal, the Hawks barely threatened on the rest. And the gremlins from last year are creeping into it. Right now, it has about as much movement as a goth dance party, and that has to stop. It also wouldn’t hurt to try and create off the rush more than it is. Just because it’s a power play doesn’t mean you have to set up a system if something else is there.
God, there need to be more Get Shorty references on this blog. That’s my fault.
First rule of publicity according to McDonough, give the people what they want.
The IceHogs had three games in Texas as week 17 stretched into the beginning of week 18. The first two games finished brutally as the Hogs set a franchise record for six consecutive losses, but finished on a high note with a big win in Cedar Park against the Stars.
You’re built like a car, you’ve got a hub cap diamond star halo
You’re built like a car, oh yeah
You’re an untamed youth that’s the truth with your cloak full of eagles
You’re dirty sweet and you’re my girl.
