Hockey

“How To Set Your Own Face On Fire: Vol. 486” – by The Chicago Blackhawks

By Sam Fels 3251 0

There are two things that are true about Brent Seabrook. Two things that you have to keep in mind simultaneously. And two things the Hawks have not been able to square away in their heads simultaneously, and they’re the only ones.

Brent Seabrook is a Hawks legend who was an integral part of their three Cup wins and will most likely one day have a dual number retirement ceremony with Chris Chelios.

Brent Seabrook is no longer one of their six best d-men, and possibly not even an NHL defenseman anymore.

For at least two seasons now, the Hawks have used the first statement to blind themselves to the second. And now apparently, they’re using the second statement to blind themselves to the first.

I want to get this upfront. If Seabrook plays last night, the Hawks still get torched. I have no idea if that kind of effort has anything to do with a dressing room in turmoil or not, because the Predators are that much better, and more to the point, that much faster. So I’m not making that connection.

That said, the way the Hawks and Jeremy Colliton, or how they’re making it look like Jeremy Colliton, have handled this Seabrook thing this week is unacceptable. And it was so easy for it not to be.

Oh, and let’s put this at the top too:

So either someone is lying, or Jeremy Colliton quite simply is a coward. Joe Quenneville could get away with this kind of thing, and sometimes did, because he had the rep and it was clear what he wanted out of practice and games. He had other things to do than explain every detail of what was missing from someone’s game (not that I always thought this was a good policy, especially with younger players).

Colliton has none of this. To boot, Seabrook was his ally in that dressing room last season when veteran players were rolling their eyes, given their past relationship. It’s probably why the front office bent over backwards to make sure Seabrook would have a roster spot this year, because they knew how tenuous Colliton’s hold was on the team and how much Seabrook’s voice was worth.

So much for that:

This isn’t necessarily a “Come and get me!” plea. But it isn’t not one either, and it’s generally how they start. Now you’ve got an angry and respected vet publicly rebelling against a coach I’m fairly sure isn’t equipped for this and then getting your ass waxed to for the second time in four games. There are better looks.

Is scratching Seabrook a necessity? It surely was going to be whenever Adam Boqvist is ready. And on the second of a back-to-back at home, that’s actually not a bad time to introduce it. It gives you the cover of “rest,” and even if no one buys that (no one did) everyone can kind of just pretend they do and move along. This is a fanbase and media that saw it enough with Marian Hossa, an actual contributor, in his last couple years to get it. Considering how Seabrook had gotten his doors blown off in Carolina, no one would rock the boat on that. If it was preparing the field, it was about the only way you could do it.

Doing it a second straight game, after Seabs would have had two days off, blows off that facade we were all doing our best to hold in place. Now you’re embarrassing him, somehow more so than his play has, and he apparently had no indication this is how it would go.

We and many others laid out how to handle this during the offseason. The front office needed to go to Seabrook and tell him how much he’s meant to the team, the organization, and the fans, and how his name will pretty much live on forever in Hawks history. But they also needed to make it clear where they thought he stood in the pecking order, and how they needed to start to turn their blue line over. They needed to say to him, “You’re going to be #6-#7, if that, and you’re going to spend more than a smattering of nights in the pressbox. If that’s not ok with you, we will do our best to find you a solution that is, even if it means eating half your salary. If you feel you can come into training camp and prove us wrong, ok. But this is where we have you now and that’s the risk you’ll take.”

And maybe they did, because the feature of that method is to keep it quiet and everyone gets to save face at the conclusion. But I tend to doubt it, because the trade of Henri Jokiharju sure seemed like it was made to keep Colliton from having to make any hard decisions. And again, Seabrook is claiming he’s never heard anything.

Again, this was always going to happen. But when you’re scratching a guy with a rep and voice that Seabrook has so you can keep Dennis Gilbert or Slater Koekkoek or Erik Gustafsson (who’s been worse this year and not by an eyelash) in the lineup, and you’re doing it without being open to the player, that’s a slap in the face to a player who deserves much, much better no matter what his performance has been.

It feels like the Hawks wanted to avoid going down this road as long as possible, and were just hoping that an injury or divine providence would help them avoid it altogether. Boqvist and Mitchell are arriving one day soon, possibly March or April. That’s when all the bills were coming due. They’ve sped up the process now. But not on purpose.

Nothing the Hawks seem to do these days has a purpose. Or a plan. So you get not even sniffing the playoffs for a third straight season, and no discernible map on how they plan to correct that in the future.

Hockey

Game #11 – You Made Me Sleep and Uneven and I Didn’t Believe Them When They Told Me That There Was No Saving You– Hawks 0, Preds 3

By John Pullega 2772 0

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Corsica

Christ. Fire them all.

– The Official Marc Crawford Watch begins now. Jeremy Colliton is entirely out of his element. His systems have all the connectedness of a 3:30 a.m. Crave Case fart after a 6-hour GG Allin tribute concert.

I’m not even sure where to begin. The Hawks were outshot 40–14 through two periods. At no point did they ever lead the possession share. Their xGF% was 22+%. If not for the Kings, who have all the panache and verve of a gangrenous scrotum, the Hawks would have two goals over the last five games. Seven in five is bad enough. The Hawks were a team that finished in the top 10 in goals scored last year. Colliton has managed to take the one thing the Hawks could do well and bury it under his throbbing Genious Brain.

Then there’s the defense. It’s truly a work of art that Colliton could manage to scratch Seabrook incorrectly. Dennis Gilbert, Slater Koekkoek, and Erik Gustafsson all proved tonight that scratching your 7th D-man is pointless if the guys you’re playing ahead of him are 8th, 9th, and 10th D-men themselves.

This is after training camp. This is after Colliton had an entire off-season to implement his system. This is what it produces.

All of the Core guys—Toews, Kane, Keith—looked lost tonight. None of them were effective, and they all looked to drag. And given the overall effort, it isn’t hard to think that Colliton has completely lost his Core. If you manage to lose Toews, and it sure looked like Toews was lost tonight (28+ CF%, 22+ xGF%), what are you even doing here?

Then there was Colliton’s galaxy brain just prior to Bonino’s first goal. At about 16:40 in the first, the Preds had just finished applying a bewildering amount of pressure on the Hawks to the tune of three or four good shots on goal that Lehner miraculously turned away—including a post-to-post save—which all started because of some lazy coverage by Toews at neutral ice. After the TV timeout following a Lehner freeze, Colliton CHOSE to ice DeBrincat–Strome–Carpenter Gustafsson–Gilbert. In the defensive zone. Against a team that was outshooting them vastly. After six or seven shots (that’s not hyperbole), the Preds scored because, get this, EXACTLY ONE OF THOSE GUYS IS EVEN PASSABLE IN THE DEFENSIVE ZONE.

This is what a moron does. Jeremy Colliton is a moron. Even if his GM is a bigger moron, this kind of decision makes it clear that Colliton is out of his element.

There’s no structure to anything the Hawks do at all. It’s a lot of flotsam floating and true talent rolling their eyes. If Colliton makes it to Christmas—hell, Thanksgiving even—we can only assume that the league has contracted back to six teams and every other coach has been Poochied away.

– Robin Lehner prevented that game from being 8–0. If Stan Bowman makes it to the end of this year, it’ll be solely because Lou Lamoriello had no more use for Lehner. Falling ass backward into a talented goaltender will stay his execution longer than Colliton’s. Whoever’s the GM this off-season better pucker up their ass-kissing lips, because Lehner’s got to be looking for the nearest exit.

– This game should reinforce the fact that the Blackhawks have absolutely no idea how to scout defensive talent. Dennis Gilbert is not an NHL player, no matter how many times he leads the game in hits. The only thing I can say for sure about him is that he’s slow. I want to say he’s clueless too, but Colliton’s ass-blood scheme would make Paul Coffey look like Dennis Gilbert, so I can’t say that with any confidence.

– The Blackhawks could have traded the Erik Gustafsson formerly known as a 60-point D-man before the draft or at any point in the off-season. Never forget that.

– Jonathan Toews looked horrible tonight. He looks like he’s given up, and I can’t blame him. Colliton replaced Toews with Saad on the PP1 late in the first period. Yes, Saad was the best forward up to that point, but he’s never been much of a producer on the PP. This reeks of a coach who’s lost his best players trying to prove a point nobody cares to hear anymore.

– I guess if you’re looking for a positive outside of Lehner, maybe there were two. Dach made a couple of heady plays in the first. The first was a dump in that was out of Rinne’s reach, which led to a DeBrincat stuff attempt. The other was a good-idea-not-so-good-execution play on a 3-on-2 with Saad. Dach glided up the near side and tried to feed a streaking Saad for a tip, just missing him. He’s got a feel for the right ideas, which is nice. It’s really gonna suck when they send him back to the WHL next week.

The other was that late in the third, 11 games into the 2019–20 season, Colliton finally put DeBrincat–Strome–Kane together. They immediately produced a strong scoring chance before Kane got a hooking/unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The fact that the one line that should have been a given going into the year is together only after more than 13% of the season is finished is lamentable.

– I don’t give a fuck that DeBrincat and Strome were statistically awful tonight. This putting-them-on-the-fourth-line horseshit is unacceptable. It was cute when they played the Kings, in the same way that a toddler screaming “God dammit” in a church is cute. Only after letting his team get thoroughly embarrassed did Colliton put them with Kane—which is where they should be at all times, defense be fucking damned—and what do you fucking know? They finished with a 100 CF% and a 78+ xGF%. Get fucked, Jeremy.

This team is lost. Its identity has been reduced to off-ice soap operaisms and leading the fucking league in hits. It’ll be hard for them to do worse than they did tonight, but as long as Colliton and Bowman are calling the shots in any capacity, they sure as shit are going to try.

Start over.

Beer du Jour: Craggenmore 12 and High Life

Line of the Night: “PK Subban wasn’t even in their top three defensemen.” Eddie O on the Preds

Hockey

Game #11 – Hawks vs. Predators Preview: Don’t You Eat That Yellow Snow

By Sam Fels 1655 0

vs.

RECORDS: Hawks 3-5-2   Predators 7-3-1

PUCK DROP: 7pm

TV: NBCSN Chicago

NO HUGGY NO KISSY TIL YOU MAKE ME A WIFE: On The Forecheck

The cushy start to the season is over, and the Hawks will remember what it’s like to have a road trip. They’ll also remember before too long what it’s like to play some real opponents night after night. And those memories might not be too sweet. But that’s for later in the month. For the first time this year the Hawks will embark away from the UC for a while, with a four-gamer that starts in Nashville before the California songs starting this weekend. Could have asked for an easier start.

The Nashville Predators are in fine fettle, as has been the custom, as they’ve taken 15 of the 22 points on offer so far this year. They also come off having just gotten both points (the second in OT) off the Lightning in Tampa and having won three in a row. They did the first part without Matt Duchene, their shiny new toy, and he’ll return tonight.

Look under the hood a bit, and it’s not quite as rosy. The Preds are one team when Duchene is out there along with Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi (the newly rich Roman Josi), and another when just about anyone else is out there. Those three and those who join them carry the play at 55% of chances and attempts. Every other time the Preds are below water. They have the highest shooting-percentage in the league at nearly 12% at evens, which isn’t going to continue. They also have a top-ten SV%, which probably will given the recent track record of Pekka Rinne . Although Rinne most likely isn’t going to ring up a .931 all season. When he comes to Earth a bit, the Preds current PDO of 104 is definitely going to deflate.

Maybe Treat Boy Johansen is in a sulk because Duchene has replaced him as the #1 center, or he’s in a sulk because the Halloween candy hasn’t been discounted yet and his usual wheelbarrow of it is feeling the effects, but he’s been getting caved in and he starts most of his shifts in the offensive zone. Kyle Turris has showed a pulse after going cold and grey last year which has mitigated Treat Boy’s struggles a touch.

Still, this team might need to figure out what they’ll do beyond the top pairing, as new kid Dante Fabbro hasn’t been able to do the things PK Subban did yet, except for not being popular and black which were two things the Predators were definitely after by moving PK along to make room for him.

The Preds also might have some issues when they need the power play to chip in, as it’s been worse than the Hawks’ if that’s even possible. Maybe they could use a right-handed bomb from the point and circle? No? Ok. So yeah, there’s some air in this cake, let’s say.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be a world of trouble for the Hawks, as they have more speed basically everywhere and will use it aggressively. The Hawks were able to hang around the Knights earlier, but they had caught them on a back-to-back and were at home and maybe had their best effort this season or even last against them. They also had Connor Murphy. Even with Seabrook scratched again (and not a happy camper) Preds will be fighting each other to get over the boards when any of Maatta, Gilbert, Koekkoek, and Gustafsson are out there. Hey, that’s most of the Hawks’ defense!

As for the rest of the story for the Westside Hockey Club, Robin Lehner will get another start as he is more worthy of the harder tests right now. Crow will get at least one start in California, and starting with that swing the Hawks will basically be playing every other day for all of November so there will be more than enough starts for everyone.

For all the buzz coming off a 5-1 win over the woebegone cattle ranchers that ended up as LA Kings, the Hawks gave up too much possession and shots in that one. That kind of effort here would see them give up nearly a touchdown or 50 shots or both. This can be a game too fast for the Hawks if the Preds want it, so the Hawks defense is just going to have to get rid of it ASAP, get it off the glass and out to the neutral zone and hope the forwards can win those races. If the Hawks can get the pucks to their forwards with any frequency, they can have at the bottom two pairs of this Preds outfit. Then they just have to beat Rinne, which takes more than a smile these days.

There are going to be some ugly shifts either way tonight, and hopefully Lehner is up to the task. But if the Hawks are going to be what they say they are, they have to get points off teams ahead of them. So far this year their wins are against terrible Oilers and Kings teams. That’s not going to get you anywhere in the long run except back in the lottery with those Kings and Oilers teams. Fuckin’ figure it out.

Hockey

Game #11 – Hawks vs. Predators: Hedley Lamarr’s Nitwits, Halfwits, Dimwits

By Sam Fels 1238 0

Ryan Johansen – Treat Boy here always gets labeled as one of the top centers in the game, and we still can’t figure out why. His numbers the past two seasons mirror that of Jonathan Toews, and everyone’s relatively sure he looks like the host of “Tales From The Crypt.” RyJo Sen played his ass off just long enough in 2017 to get a fat new deal from the Preds, and then he became a fat new deal. The dude has one 70+ point season. When the Preds get bounced early again, it’ll probably be because Ryan O’Reilly or Nathan MacKinnon hand him his considerable lunch.

Matt Duchene – Rich kid face with an Oakland booty!

Austin Watson – Any day now, David Poile is going to yell, “I’m so fucking glad we have Austin Watson” at some female reporter. Except it’s Nashville, so that’s probably like an every day thing there.

Hockey

Game #11 – Hawks vs. Predators Spotlight: Gran Turris-mo

By Sam Fels 1216 0

If you feel like the Predators acquire a tweener center every season — one who’s not quite a #1 but can be more than a #2 pivot — you’re not alone. Three years ago it was Ryan Johansen. Two years ago it was Kyle Turris. Now it’s Matt Duchene, whom they got because they weren’t sure what they had in more in the second one of those. Or maybe they realized Johansen isn’t what they claimed either. Maybe it’s both. Or maybe it’s the Preds just have to have all the lightning quick forwards with faces you want to turn into ground chuck. It’s a rich elixir.

The Preds were always rumored to be after Duchene, and he them, for years. So that signing might have happened no matter what kind of year Turris had last season. It gained more urgency when Turris played most of the year as if he was hit by a bus. When he wasn’t injured, he was terrible.

Turris only put together 23 points in the 55 games he claimed he was upright for, and missed the rest. The two points in the Predators’ playoff loss didn’t really do much to put any kind of gleam to it, either. Digging deeper, the look only gets worse.

Hockey doesn’t have a “chances created” category really yet, like soccer does. So it’s hard to suss out how far Turris’s passing game went into the toilet. We can fairly assess how much his scoring became El Disparu. His goals/60 was a career-low 0.17. His individual expected-goals per 60 was also a career low 0.37. Scoring chances, shots, attempts, whatever you want to look at were all the worst marks of his career.

On the flip side, the team’s overall numbers with him on the ice weren’t staggeringly bad. So Turris was either still doing some of his old work, or his teammates were carrying him around like a pool noodle.

No question Turris struggled with injuries. He had two separate stints on the IL to total those 27 missed games, both to his legs. Perhaps he just couldn’t get around the ice as well as he would normally.

Things have turned around of Turris this year, though. His goals/60 so far in 11 games is the highest of his career, though that has a little to do with the highest shooting-percentage at evens and overall of his career as well. But his individual expected goals is back to where it was in his halcyon days in Ottawa (if such a thing can exist in Ottawa), and his individual attempts are the highest he’s managed as well. Turris has never been a great sniper, as his career 10.9 S% would show you. So the volume of attempts and chances has to go up for him to score.

Health is certainly part of it, as thanks to the Preds’ first-round hairball against Dallas he had plenty of time to heal whatever fell off of him last year. It could be linemates as well. Last year, Turris spent most of his time with Craig Smith and Kevin Fiala. Smith is a fine player but something of a battering ram, and Fiala sucks and you know he sucks because he ended up in Minnesota. This season, Turris is playing between Mikael Granlund and Rocco Grimaldi. Grandlund has by far more verve and dash to his game, which means Turris doesn’t have to do all of the creating. Grimaldi’s speed, when not carrying his cross around to wave in everyone’s face, opens up more space than Smith and Fiala could have managed.

Maybe it’s also getting to slot behind Johansen and Duchene, when Duchene plays center at least. All of it must be a relief to the Preds, who watched Turris eat it in the first year of his $6M-a-year extension. Turris was, and might still be in the near future, looking at being a cap casualty. The Preds have $22M in space next year but they also have Roman Josi to sign, and he’s going to be looking for quite the raise from his current $4.5M hit that gave the Preds one of the biggest bargains in the league for years. They’ll have some holes at forward as well to fix with the rest of it.

At worst, if Turris plays himself into a useful trade piece, that’s probably enough for the Preds, who can roll with Johansen and Duchene 1-2 from here. Which makes it seem like this has to be the year for Nashville, or it’s never going to happen.

Hockey

Game #11 – Hawks vs Predators: Lineups & How They Were Built

By Sam Fels 1002 0

Hawks

Notes: Lehner had the starter’s net at the morning skate and that’s probably the right call, as this is a stiff test and Crow didn’t exactly prove he was worthy of it against similar in Carolina…no word at time if Seabrook will remain scratched. There’s not much point in regularly doing this until Boqvist is here, if that ever happens. We don’t need more Dennis Gilbert in our lives, especially against this swift outfit…amazing what happens when you give every line at least one puck-winner, isn’t it?

Notes: We’ll be honest with you folks, we aren’t really sure what the Preds lines will look like. Duchene missed out last time and they’ve had other injuries as well as Laviolette still trying a bunch of shit. This is our best guess but Scumbag Watson could be in there, Duchene could play wing with Johansen, Granlund and Smith could switch spots, it could be anything…Josi signed a huge extension today for eight years that clocks in at a tick over $9M per on the salary cap. It’ll take him to 37, which won’t be a problem at all…

Hockey

Atop the Sugar Pile – It Was a Long Week

By Rose Rankin 1697 0

Time again for the good, the bad, and the surprisingly acceptable in the world of the Hawks.

The Dizzying Highs

Dylan Strome: This guy gets demoted to the fourth line and comes back and scores two goals against the Kings after that humiliation. And he had an assist. Alex DeBrincat could be here as well but we’re giving the nod to Strome—it may only be one bounce-back game but he earned this.

Robin Lehner: He’s been getting hosed by by his teammates and should have a much better record, but despite the frustrations of terrible defending in front of him, Lehner has been solid. He came into Sunday’s game against the Kings with a .922 SV%/2.44 GAA and proceeded to finish that game with a .974 SV%. I still say there’s no real goalie controversy here and Crawford isn’t at full-on backup duties (yet), but Lehner could play himself into a more clearly defined starter role, or at least make the contract decision coming later this season a lot easier on the front office. All of that is well in the future, and for now let’s just be happy he’s playing so well and giving the team a more-than-reasonable chance to win every time he’s in net.

The Terrifying Lows

The Power Play: In the midst of all the disappointment last year, people kept saying well, at least the power play is better. So much for that, at least thus far. The Hawks’ power play is currently ranked 26th at a miserable 10.3% and hasn’t notched a goal since Top Cat’s against the Blue Jackets on 10/18. All the credit Colliton got for turning around last year needs to be held up against the current results before anyone decides if he’s worth much of anything. For example, his inexplicable decision to play Nylander over Strome (and don’t think I’m just bad-mouthing Nylander here, keep reading) made no sense, because as Sunday’s game showed, playing Strome and DeBrincat together can result in goals! Strome isn’t going to solve all the power play’s issues, let’s be clear, but it’s just another symptom of a coach who appears to not know what he’s doing and a team that struggles to finish.

Brent Seabrook: OK, I’m seriously not trying to pile on here or be a dick about it. For this article I have to objectively look at the team and describe who and what are demonstrably bad, and it would be kind of disingenuous to ignore how bad ‘ole Nachos has been. He finally got benched for the Kings game, which means it was so bad that Coach Cool Youth Pastor had to locate his balls and tell Seabrook to grab a seat in the press box. And we know he’s been loathe to do that. But the decline we all knew was happening has only worsened, like we all knew it would. He’s got the lowest possession numbers at evens of any Hawks defenseman (44 CF%), his xGA is 5.6 (not the worst on the team but certainly not good), the team gives up way more high-danger chances than they get when he’s out there (HDCF% is 41 and HDGF% is even worse)…I can keep going with these numbers but why? We all know what we’re seeing.

The Creamy Middles

Alex Nylander: I have no desire to adjudicate between Sam and Fifth Feather and their bet over the Nylander-Jokiharju trade being a good thing, so know that I’m just reporting what I see here. And, for the record I’m still not convinced the Hawks will come out ahead on this one, but Nylander HAS been playing decently lately. He had an assist while falling down against the Kings, which was as entertaining as it was effective. His possession numbers have been well above water (65 CF% on Saturday, 52.6 CF% on Sunday, all at evens). He’s even had some decent defensive plays, and those are pretty damn hard to come by these days. So here’s to you, Alex Nylander, for not being as awful as I feared.

Hockey

High On The Hog: Pancaked In Cleveland

By Jon Fromi 1511 0

The Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. had themselves a rough stretch in Cleveland. After winning their first two games of the season last weekend, Rockford went into Ohio and got knocked around by the Monsters.

The IceHogs took back-to-back lickings, falling 7-1 Friday night before being shut out 5-0 the following afternoon. Rockford fell to 2-5 in 2019-20. With four standings points and a .286 points percentage, the Hogs sit in seventh place in the Central Division heading into a five-game home stand that gets underway Wednesday night.

Rockford’s lone goal came in the first period Friday night, as Tyler Sikura drew even with Dylan Sikura for the team lead with his third goal of the season. From there, it was all Monsters. Up 1-0, the IceHogs gave up 12 unanswered goals the remainder of the weekend’s action.

Cleveland was able to maneuver around the Hogs defense for point-blank attempts in both contests. The Monsters fired 43 shots at Matt Tomkins Saturday. Neither Tomkins or Collin Delia could do enough to stop the deluge of scoring opportunities.

So far this year, the piglets have been flat out bad in all areas of the game. Through this weekend, Rockford is giving up 3.71 goals per contest, ranking them 25th in the AHL. Offensively, the Hogs are in a familiar place-namely, the nether regions of the league.

Only winless San Diego (1.67) score less frequently than Rockford, who average 1.71 goals per game. The power play has been on the ice 28 times and has yet to score. The penalty kill unit has surrendered eight goals in 28 chances. That 71.4 percent is second-worst in the AHL.

To summarize, the Hogs can’t score, allow tons of juicy scoring chances and are stinking up the joint on special teams. A recent spanking at the hands of an experienced Monsters team makes it easy to take a negative point of view. However, Rockford is running pretty low on sunshine and rainbows at the moment.

 

Musings

  • Kris Versteeg and John Quenneville both sat out the weekend with injuries. Kevin Lankinen practiced last week but did not make the trip to Cleveland. Rookie Mikael Hakkarainen also remained out.
  • With Versteeg missing his second and third straight games, Nick Moutrey was the closest thing to veteran presence in the Hogs lineup. The leadership group is comprised of second and third-year players. This contrasted mightily with Cleveland, who got production from Nathan Gerbe and Zac Dalpe. Both have been key veterans for the Monsters.
  • Perhaps Versteeg will be able to get back into action this week. Regardless, he’s not going to be able to carry the offensive load all by himself.
  • Reese Johnson was the first Hogs skater to engage in fisticuffs this season, dropping the gloves in a brief bout with Cleveland’s Justin Scott early in the second period Friday with Rockford down 4-1.
  • There was a extended fracas at the end of that game and some very chippy play Saturday afternoon. The Monsters pulled the piglets into a style Rockford is not set up to play. It showed up on the scoreboard, big time.
  • This has been the case for the two previous seasons, but this young Rockford club is even less equipped to handle bigger, more physical foes. If the Hogs continue to try and play to the strengths of their opponents, it’s not going to end well most nights.
  • The talented rookies that have flooded the current roster have combined for zero goals in the first seven games. This includes the three games Adam Dach took part in while on his conditioning assignment. D Chad Krys and C Phillipp Kurashev each have two assists to pace the Hogs rookies in scoring.
  • Adam Boqvist and Nicolas Beaudin, two of the organization’s highly-touted defensemen, are both looking for their first point as professionals. Boqvist played both games in Cleveland after missing the previous two games. Beaudin sat out of Friday’s affair but had three shots on goal on Saturday.
  • I seem to be painting a rather dour picture of the piglets first month of action. Rockford is just seven games into a long season; I’ll put away my crayons for now.

 

Recaps

Friday, October 25-Cleveland 7, Rockford 1

The Monsters put an end to Rockford’s two-game win streak in emphatic fashion, despite the Hogs taking an early advantage.

Rockford opened the scoring midway through the opening period. Tyler Sikura gathered in a rebound from brother Dylan’s off angle shot. The Monsters goalie, Matiss Kivelniecks, stopped Sikura’s initial attempt, but Sikura’s second effort hit paydirt at 9:52 of the first.

The lead was short-lived. Cleveland erupted for four unanswered goals in the remainder of the first period. An Anton Karlsson shot slipped past Hogs goalie Collin Delia at 10:04. Ryan MacInnis took advantage of Delia being out of his crease to give the lead to the Monsters just at the 13:01 mark.

Just 44 seconds later, Nathan Gerbe sent a centering pass off of Hogs defenseman Lucas Carlsson for a 3-1 Cleveland advantage. Paul Bittner sent a shot from the high slot past Delia in the nineteenth minute.

Cleveland added a goal at 14:05 of the second period when MacInnis fed Calvin Thurkauf at the left post for the lamp-lighter. A minute later, Sam Vigneault was credited with the tally when a Kole Sherwood pass glanced off of the shin pads of Carlsson and past Delia.

Zac Dalpe put in a power play goal midway through a chippy third period for the final margin of victory.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Nick Moutrey-Reese Johnson-Dylan McLaughlin

Matthew Highmore (A)-Tyler Sikura (A)-Dylan Sikura

Anton Wedin-Jacob Nilsson-Brandon Hagel

Alexandre Fortin-Phillipp Kurahsev-MacKenzie Entwistle

Ian McCoshen-Adam Boqvist

Philip Holm-Joni Tuulola

Chad Krys-Lucas Carlsson

Collin Delia

Power Play (0-4)

Wedin-Hagel-Nilsson-Boqvist-Philip Holm

T. Sikura-D. Sikura-Kurashev-Highmore-Carlsson

Penalty Kill (Monsters were 1-2)

Forwards-Wedin, Nilsson, Highmore, T. Sikura, Entwistle, Johnson

Defense-Tuulola, Holm, Krys, Carlsson

 

Saturday, October 26-Cleveland 5, Rockford 0

It was all Monsters in the second game of the weekend; rookie goalie Veini Vehvilainen posted a shutout, stopping 29 Rockford shots.

All the offense Cleveland needed came in the first period. Ryan Collins threaded a shot to Matt Tomkins glove side that reached the top shelf of the goal 8:43 into the game. Ryan MacInnis took advantage of a turnover in the Hogs zone and made it 2-0 at the 16:27 mark.

Rockford gave up two goals in the first two minutes of the second period. That’s pretty much all she wrote for the IceHogs. Monsters captain Nathan Gerbe added a power play goal 7:50 into the period for the final margin of victory.

The Hogs had three chances to take the goose egg off the scoreboard vie the man advantage. Each time, they came up empty.

Tomkins made 38 saves on the afternoon in the losing effort.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Anton Wedin-Jacob Nilsson-Brandon Hagel

Nick Moutrey-Reese Johnson-MacKenzie Entwistle

Matthew Highmore (A)-Tyler Sikura (A)-Dylan Sikura

Tim Soderlund-Phillipp Kurahsev-Alexandre Fortin

Philp Holm-Lucas Carlsson

Ian McCoshen-Adam Boqvist

Nicolas Beaudin-Joni Tuulola

Matt Tomkins

 

Rampaging Into Rockford

Coming to the BMO Harris Bank Center Wednesday night is the San Antonio Rampage. San Antonio is tied with Grand Rapids for second place in the Central with a 4-1-2-1 mark.

Seventh-year pro Nathan Walker came over from Hershey this summer. Walker leads the Rampage with seven goals (two of which have been game-winners) and five helpers. Another Eastern Conference veteran, D Derrick Pouliot, arrives from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has seven points (1 G, 6 A).

San Antonio added a lot of veteran pieces after a last-place finish in the division a season ago. Forwards like Cam Darcy (0 G, 5 A) Nick Lappin (four goals) and  Zach Nastasiuk fortifies the Rampage with experienced skaters.

Ville Husso (4-1-1. 2.35 GAA, .919 save percentage) has been very good in net for San Antonio the the early going. Like Cleveland, this is a team with AHL experience. The Rampage will be a tough opponent for the piglets as they try to snap their losing streak.

I’ll be back on Friday to preview Rockford’s weekend action with Iowa and Chicago. Until then, follow me @JonFromi on twitter to catch my thoughts on IceHogs hockey throughout the season.

Hockey

Game #10 – Kings 1, Hawks 5 – I’m Kermit With The Glass

By Adam Hess 2339 0

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

After attending today’s Bears game, I had some minor apprehension about watching the Blackhawks tonight, especially upon the realization I had signed up for this wrap. Could I really handle that kind of emotional turmoil from my sports teams twice in one day? But then, Frenemy of the Program Aaron reminded me this game was against the Kings, so I tuned in. Because if there is one thing I know, it is that the Kings are worse than the Blackhawks, but really that just means that they will have better lottery odds come April (or whenever they do that thing). I was then proven correct. Let’s dig in.

– There was a lot of hubbub on the Twitter Dot Com application when the line combos for tonight first got put out there, in large part because Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome were listed on the fourth line. Admittedly, it was a really strange looking lineup when you looked at it in a tweet. You had Daydream Nation together with Drake Caggiula, Kampf and Nylander on the second line, Dach and Saad on the third. It was a bit perplexing. But overall the combinations made a lot of sense, actually. Kane and Toews both need a puck-winner who can create space for them, and Caggiula is that. Same goes for Top Cat and Strome with Carpenter, and them being the fourth line in the warmups and therefore the lineup tweets was mostly just procedural it seems. Dach’s skill was able to shine through on a line where Shaw could make the thumps for him. Kampf created room for Nylander. Basically every line had a puck winner for the skill guys. I was shocked as well.

– Just to go a little further on the last point, the success of Strome and Top Cat together surprised just about no one, and that is truly how it should be. Around these parts, we’ve been banging the table for them to be together (or at least I have) ever since Strome came here last fall. I don’t really see a non-injury reason for them to not play together because they have great chemistry and complimentary skill sets. But I don’t think that Carpenter’s presence on that line and the subsequent huge night from the two kids is mere coincidence. Again, he was able to serve as the puck winner and space creator for those two, which they need since neither is fully capable of doing it on their own. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Carpenter moving forward, but having someone like him or Caggiula with these two will be very wise moving forward.

– *deep sigh* I have to admit – Alex Nylander is certainly growing on me. Thus far I can’t tell if it’s more like a gross fungus or a nice beard, but he certainly growing on me. I…… I like him. I haven’t been able to watch every single Hawks game this year, because I value my sanity, but he has been mostly impressive in just about every game I have watched to this point, and certainly one of the best players in the two games I’ve wrapped. This is unexpected but certainly welcome.

– Duncan Keith has been playing quite well lately. Even as the guy who gives the least fucks possible for the coach, it’s been nice to see him playing well. Someone on the blue line has to while Murphy is out.

– Launch Slater Koekkoek into the fucking sun. He didn’t even doing anything that bad tonight, I’m just done with him. Fucking sick of it. Get rid of it.

– To steal a tweet from @DeBrincat_Haver, even though this game was a lot of fun, in many ways it served as a reminder of how far the Hawks are from what they once were. Even in roundly waxing the asses of the Kings, the Hawks just don’t have the same creativity and puck movement that they once did. It could certainly be coming soon, as the Hawks actually revamp the blue line with guys like Boqvist and Beaudin, but for now I am left waxing poetic about the Hawks of 2010-2016.

– Fuck you Drew Doughty, you pissbaby ass, racist uncle looking ass, washed up ass, punk ass bitch.

– Next up for the Hawks is Nashville on Tuesday, kicking off a 4-game road trip.