Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm.
Before I unload all my thoughts and observations from this series, I wanted to take a look back at perhaps one of the more traumatic series losses the Blackhawks suffered in my youth that has been forgotten more than others.
The year was 1992-1993. The Blackhawks were coming off a Campbell Conference Championship and were once again the class of the conference. Mike Keenan got kicked upstairs into the general manager’s office (albeit briefly as he simply could not handle screaming at people in the press box as opposed to the ice level) and former assistant coach Darryl Sutter was given the task of head coach.
The Hawks were rejuvenated under Sutter as they matched their 1990-91 President’s Trophy output of 106 points (Good for second highest in franchise history up until that point). Roenick set a new career high in points with 107 (50 goals, 57 assists); Chris Chelios won his second Norris Trophy and first of two with the Hawks and also tied a career best with 73 points (15 goals, 58 assists). Ed Belfour, clearly before coaches gave a crap about resting goalies, played a whooping 71 games in net for the Hawks.
As the playoffs opened, the Hawks were the favorites to win the Conference and opened the post-season by facing a dog-ass St. Louis team who barely finished over .500 that consisted of one line (Hull-Janney-Shanahan) and a young, inconsistent goalie (Curtis Joseph). Not to mention, the Hawks had already beaten this Blues core in their last three playoff meetings (’88-89, ’89-90, ’91-92).
In Game 1, local fans were treated to the rare nationally televised home game and all 145 of us witnessed a Brian Noonan hat trick that went for naught as the Blues edged the Hawks 4-3. If memory serves (I was 11, folks), the Blues scored a goal late in the third period to avoid overtime and steal home-ice advantage.
Game 2 was the first of back-to-back shutouts for Cujo (sound familiar?) and my only memory of this game is reading about it via Tim Sassone’s game wrap. Apparently, Steve Smith hit the post during a power play and then the Blues came down and scored and that was that – Blues won 2-0.
Game 3, the Hawks were once again stymied by Cujo as he stopped all 34 shots.
The Hawks were mercifully put away in Game 4 despite giving it their best effort. They had their first lead in the series since Game 1. The Blues, of course, retook the lead and Shanahan’s one-timer off the rush in the third looked to sink the Hawks. Larmer and Roenick teamed up late, though, in the third to force overtime.
Then, in overtime, well…you’ve probably seen the GIF after Belfour was clearly interfered with behind the net leading to an empty net tap-in for St. Louis. If not, why not relive the whole game’s highlights. Come for Belfour smashing his stick over the cross-bar, stay for a vintage Roenick clothesline.
The reason I bring this all up is because, as I mentioned, this Hawks series loss scarred me the most in my impressionable years. Despite having a more talented roster top-to-bottom and a tremendous regular season, it seemed like the Hawks simply forgot how to play hockey over the course of 4 games. Every single thing they did seemed like an impossible task; whether it was making a simple cross-ice pass, evading a check or heaven forbid – scoring a goal and holding on to a lead.
This series has always been the ghost in the back of my mind every time the Hawks have opened a round as the favorite. “What if they get Cujo’d?” “What if one line catches fire and it’s not the Hawks?” “What if the Hawks collectively wet themselves and can’t win one damn playoff game?”
That last one really is the worst part. You spend a whole regular season worth of 82 games enjoying how a team plays and believing there might be something more memorable down the line only to seet it completely washed away in four games. Even one tiny win would soften the blow of the black abyss of the off-season (albeit briefly).
So here we stand, 24 years later with history sort of repeating itself. A Predators team that couldn’t get past the Hawks in previous years, one line doing all the scoring with a goalie pitching consecutive shutouts, a Hawks team that looks completely befuddled and 0 postseason wins to show for it.
How can the Hawks avoid the fate of their ’92-93 squad? Glad you asked. Let’s go to the bullets.
–First of all, the Hawks are getting killed by the Predators transition game. When Joel Quenneville said in the post-game that he was most disappointed in the Hawks lack of puck management in Game 3 – here’s what he means:
The line of Kruger-Rasmussen-Panik was the really the only line generating consistent pressure against Nashville on Monday because they were the only line getting pucks past the Nashville defensemen standing at the blue line.
The Toews line was the most guilty line of mismanaging the puck. I counted 4 times that Nick Schmaltz was unable to get the puck past the Nashville defensemen on his side in Game 3. The Predators were able to knock the soft dump-in out of the air and come steaming back into the Hawks end almost as if the ice was tilted downwards. This is also pretty much the only way Ryan Johansen is going to create offensively and why he looked like the second coming of Christ in the first period.
Another play that jumps to mind was in the third where Ryan Hartman got the puck on his own blue line and tried to make a drag move past PK Subban before completing a breakout pass. A simple backhand chip on the boards, and Tanner Kero is off to the races on an odd man rush as Subban was committed to Hartman. Instead, Subban stole the puck and the Predators set up camp in the Hawks end for an extended shooting gallery at Crawford.
Did you notice in the second period when the Johansen line went invisible, it also coincided with the Hawks not coughing the puck up in the neutral zone? Funny how that worked.
Getting the puck behind the Nashville defense forces them to turn their back, worry about who’s coming to hit them and then decide what to do with the puck. It also forces Nashville to go the full 200 feet, which by the way, is still not one of their strengths. What is one of their strengths, however, is the ability to come roaring back into the offensive zone when the Hawks are careless with the puck in the neutral zone.
–The other mismanaging of the puck came on the defensive end. If there was an Olympic sport where two people aimed to put passes in the other’s feet, Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson would be the reigning gold medalists year after year. Keith and Hjalmarsson took turns giving each other god awful passes that forced the other to look down at the puck, corral it and then pick their head up. In the meanwhile, two Predator forecheckers on their top line are coming down full bore.
It’s been said over and over that these two just don’t pair up well together. Monday night was probably the gold standard example.
–Since we’re all about teaching and education at the Fireside Chat, here’s another thing to bring up which I also mentioned on Twitter yesterday:
Pay attention to Kero’s positioning here. Even though he’s back, he’s way too deep and allows point blank shot https://t.co/T2TEaQk8o8
— Fifth Feather (@FifthFeather) April 18, 2017
This has been a criticism of Kero I’ve had for awhile now. If you watch the clip, you notice Kero gets himself back in the defensive zone (which is good). However, that’s only half of his responsibility. Once he gets back, he sort of just floats in front of Corey Crawford. Meanwhile, this allows a passing lane that Robert “Tractor” Traylor could drive down (which is bad) for Kevin Fiala to get off a wicked one-timer.
When he was moonlighting with the Good Time Boys, Kero would consistently skate himself too far close to the crease in the offensive zone that he had absolutely zero room to adjust if the puck didn’t come right to him. There were several opportunities where the puck just floated past him as he was too busy getting tied up by a defender while standing next to the goalie.
Contrast that with how Marian Hossa sets up shop in the slot. Hossa (at least in his prime) is like a damn jungle tiger staying out of the fray, floating around the high slot and constantly creating passing lanes by staying out of the muck. When the puck heads in his direction, he’s able to adjust in time and pounce on any loose puck like a lost gazelle.
–Sam mentioned in the wrap, Kane could be counted on in Game 3. Crawford too, obviously. I thought Seabrook also had a strong game and Campbell was still able to get the Hawks out of trouble with his skating ability. The aforementioned Kruger line was strong in all three areas. Other than that…you got me. I’m willing to give Artem Anisimov a break seeing as though he’s probably playing on one leg and totally gutting it out.
(Have we talked about how the Hawks said Anisimov wasn’t healthy enough to play in the final two regular season games but somehow magically recovered in those precious few days before the post-season started? Does that not make any sense to anyone else?)
Artemi Panarin looks dazed and confused. Hossa against top line talent is straight-up depressing. Toews, well you know.
It’s obvious we overestimated the children’s ability to adapt to the post-season (and that’s really my bad on that) but there’s no excuse for the veteran core not carrying the load while they get their feet wet.
As bad as it all looks right now, the fix is rather simple and shouldn’t be ‘that’ difficult.
Don’t cough up the puck in the neutral zone, get pucks behind the Nashville defense and let them start turning it over or make them go the full 200 feet (which really only Forsberg can do on their side). This simple yet very difficult to execute discipline will effectively neutralize any of those extended Predators offensive zone times where they tee off on Crawford. Unfortunately, this has been one of those series for the Hawks where skating and stick handling at the same time looks like a completely foreign skill.
This Predators team was inconsistent all year long and as unbeatable as they look now, the pendulum will most definitely swing in the opposite direction at some point. For the Hawks, they just have to hope it happens in this round and not the next.
It’s a touch early to start the post-mortems. They haven’t quite administered the lethal injection just yet. But clearly, the Hawks have been wheeled into the room and the restraints have been fastened. So to get to this point, clearly we got it way, way wrong. I’ll wear it. Just as I did when I pronounced the Hawks dead in March of 2015 and then watched them march to their third Cup.
As we try and clear the cobwebs, let’s take you on our journey to see what we missed so horribly.
For the Rockford IceHogs, the 2016-17 season is now in the history books. It wasn’t memorable in terms of team success, but it’s over. For the moment, that’s the best thing I can say about the last eight months.
Rockford wrapped up its season at home in what was announced as a sellout BMO audience. Some folks who bought tickets to the finale opted to sit this one out, though there still was a hefty crowd of IceHogs fans who wanted to send off a team who kept on plugging away for the bulk of the 76-game schedule.
It wasn’t pretty at the end. Rockford suffered a pair of blowouts to conclude a frustrating season. Saturday’s game was a sad affair that saw the league’s second-worst offensive team, the Iowa Wild, put up a five-spot on the Hogs (guess who the AHL’s worst offensive club was?) in the first two periods.
With what amounted to 20 minutes of garbage time awaiting us, I commented to the folks in my section (the ones who got out of the BMO before a torrential rainstorm kept people from checking out at the second intermission) that if the final score was 5-1 and the one Rockford goal came from the stick of P.C. Labrie, a lot of the fans wouldn’t mind so very much.
Several minutes into the most final of final periods, Jake Dowell got to a loose puck and skated it out of his zone. As he crossed the blue line, he spotted a teammate skating behind the Wild defense. Dowell quickly slid the puck through neutral territory and onto the stick of…Labrie, who had gone all season without knowing the feeling of sending a biscuit into a basket.
The assembled throng poised on the brink of ecstasy as the big forward faced his destiny, as well as Iowa goalie Steve Michalek. A simple flip over Michalek’s blocker allowed the crowd to release a season’s worth of frustrations into one glorious outpouring of joy.
Rookie William Pelletier took a touch pass from Brandon Mashinter into the offensive zone and beat Michalek from the dot to make it 5-2 in favor of Iowa. One Michael Latta fight (for which I assume he’ll be suspended next season) later and the game came to an end and it was time to leave. So we did.
Before the game, the IceHogs presented their annual team awards. I spent a bit of time speculating on possible recipients; below is a comparison of how that hardware was distributed.
IceHogs Defenseman Of The Year
Team Pick-Eric Gustafsson (68 games, 5 G, 25 A, 30 P, minus-27)
My Pick-Carl Dahlstrom (70 games, 6 G, 5 A, 11 P, minus-12)
Why go with Dahlstrom as opposed to Gustafsson or Ville Pokka? To me, it’s simple; I went with the defensemen most likely to defend effectively.
I’m not knocking what Pokka and Gustafsson did on the offensive end, but one of the major problems of this IceHogs team this season was the lack of shut-down types on the blue line. Rockford’s back end is largely set up to push the puck into the offensive zone; the lack of speed up front prevented that from happening. With the defense on its heels most nights, it led to a record amount of pucks in the Hogs net.
Pokka and Gustafsson are much better players when they are moving forward and looking to get scoring plays started. They were also a combined minus-52 between them. This was the first season that Pokka wasn’t partnered with an offensive monster (T.J. Brennan) or a solid defender (Cameron Schilling) most of the way, and it exposed some defensive flaws.
Gustafsson led the Hogs in assists (25) but also had a team-worst minus-27 rating. He was prone to very inconsistent play in his own end and still has much to learn defensively.
Viktor Svedberg played in just 51 games this season, but was very respectable in this area. His positioning has really improved in his time with the IceHogs. However, Dahlstrom has been the team’s most steady defender over the entirety of the campaign, and that’s how I’m going to interpret this award.
IceHogs Rookie Of The Year
Team Pick-Luke Johnson (see below)
My Pick-Luke Johnson (73 games, 8 G, 9 A, 17 P, minus-24)
To me, this award came down to the two players who were with the IceHogs for the bulk of the season-Johnson and Robin Norell.
Both Tyler Motte (43 games) and Gustav Forsling (30 games) started the year with Chicago and played a good chunk of time for the Blackhawks. Johnson seldom got out of Rockford’s bottom six for most of the season and accounted for just three assists in his first 20 games with the Hogs.
Getting his first AHL goal December 20, Johnson played hard at both ends and has been one of the more steady presences in the lineup. Of late, he has been part of a pretty effective line with Brandon Mashinter and William Pelletier.
Johnson’s rookie season wasn’t the stuff of dreams. He did come in at an opportune time; with the dearth of prospects on the roster he was able to get lots of ice time. Next year, the minutes may be harder to earn, but Johnson at least has a head start on the young guns.
IceHogs Unsung Hero
Team Pick-Martin Lundberg (see below)
My Pick-Martin Lundberg (67 games, 9 G, 12 A, 21 P, plus-one)
Lundberg is the type of guy I would love to see back with a role in next season’s club. He spent the majority of 2016-17 as a penalty killer and defensive stopper. However, he has the skill to compliment a scoring line as well. Lundberg was Rockford’s handyman this season, capable of fitting in with whatever grouping Ted Dent saw fit for him on a given evening.
Fourth on the current Hogs in goals and the only positive rating among the regulars, Lundberg also inserted himself in a couple of scraps along the way. He was also tied for the team lead with two game-winning goals.
IceHogs Most Improved Player
Team Pick-Kyle Baun (74 games, 14 G, 20 A, 34 P, minus-14)
My Pick-Johnson, Baun, or Robin Norell
I ultimately penciled in Norell for this award, assuming that the team wouldn’t double up on anybody and had already slotted Johnson and Baun into other awards. However, it would be hard not to recognize Baun based on his rocky start with the Hogs in his rookie campaign.
Here’s the thing; I could probably make a case for Baun for Most Improved and MVP as well as where I placed him on my list. Of the Rockford players remaining in town by season’s end, Baun was one player who stood out.
I was hoping that the free-agent signing from Colgate would be healthy and able to sweep aside what was a pretty forgettable rookie season. I felt like he had a lot to prove in 2016-17. Mission accomplished; Baun earned my respect with his sophomore performance.
Baun (who was also presented with the team’s top scorer award) appeared in 74 games this season, second to only Pokka, who again was the only Hogs player to play in every game. He made an impact at both ends of the ice, earning time on both special teams after rarely drawing such duties last season.
It’s hard to say where Baun slots into the organization’s plans moving forward. Baun is a heady player who earns his living around the net from an offensive standpoint. He should at least be in the mix to make the roster in Chicago.
IceHogs Heavy Hitter
Team Pick-Chris DeSousa (36 games, 4 G, 1 A, 5 P, minus-eight)
My Pick-Kyle Baun (74 games, 14 G, 20 A, 34 P, minus-12)
This is where I placed Baun; he dealt some of the biggest impacts of the season. He also laid into guys on a pretty consistent basis. Most importantly, his physical style paid off in the form of points throughout the season.
DeSousa? Well, he attempted to play the same up-tempo, forechecking style that served him well last season. The trouble is that it wasn’t nearly as effective when he wasn’t skating with Mike Liambas, who spent this season in Milwaukee.
He also didn’t get anywhere close to the ice time in which to make things happen. DeSousa missed the first couple of weeks with an injury and just never seemed to get a steady foothold in the lineup. With the AHL’s new fighting rules putting the kibosh on designated scrappers (I’ll get to that next week), Hogs coach Ted Dent often used Evan Mosey on the fourth line in lieu of DeSousa.
This isn’t a knock on what DeSousa brought to the team (including six fighting majors) or on his effort this season. The feisty winger played hard when he was in the lineup. That just didn’t happen enough for him in Rockford.
IceHogs Most Valuable Player
Team Pick-Brandon Mashinter (see below)
My Pick-Brandon Mashinter (61 games, 15 G, 15 A, 30 P, minus-20)
In any other year, Mashinter would have secured his place in the order of things with another 15-goal, 30-point type of season for which he can be counted on in the AHL. He would be an excellent complimentary player who leads by example, cleans up around the net, and handles the occasional physical disagreement.
Mashinter did all of those things this season, as has been the case in parts of four seasons in Rockford while wearing an “A” on that big sweater of his. He hit the 15-goal/30 point plateau for the fifth time in seven full AHL seasons despite missing almost a month due to an injury. He dropped the gloves on four occasions. He posted a hat trick back on November 12 and had two other multi-goal efforts.
Two of those team-leading 15 goals were of the game-winning variety. In fact, in the 25 games won by the IceHogs, Mashinter united rubber and twine a dozen times, leading to eight Rockford victories.
I know that I’ve made this general statement about Mashinter more times that we’d all care to hear concerning his place in professional hockey. In a season where the IceHogs jettisoned it’s three top scorers with six weeks remaining, the guy that operates in that fifteen feet around the cage gets a little extra recognition. Even on a team as bad as Rockford.
Some, But Not All, Of The Recaps
Wednesday, April 12-Milwaukee 2, Rockford 1
Milwaukee’s first goal came midway through the first period when Vladislav Kamenev managed to thread the needle between Lars Johansson and the left post. At the 15:47 mark, Ads forward Yakov Trenin made an incredible spin move to reign in a Mike Liambas pass in front of the Hogs crease. Maneuvering as if defenseman Erik Gustafsson was nowhere to be seen, Trenin flipped a backhand shot into the upper right corner of the net to give Milwaukee a 2-0 advantage at the intermission.
Rockford settled down and played hard the rest of the game. As has been the case all too often this season, the Hogs just weren’t able to create enough offense to catch the Admirals.
Tyler Motte put back a rebound of a Kyle Baun attempt to draw Rockford to within a goal of the lead at 11:50 of the final period. That was as close as things got as the IceHogs were not up to the task of tying the contest.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Radovan Bondra-Jake Dowell (C)-Anthony Louis
Tyler Motte-Jeremy Langlois-Kyle Baun
Brandon Mashinter (A)-William Pelletier-Luke Johnson
Matheson Iacoppelli-Michael Latta (A)
Luc Snuggerud-Ville Pokka
Erik Gustafsson-Robin Press
Nolan Valleau-Carl Dahlstrom
Robin Norell
Lars Johansson
Friday, April 14-Milwaukee 6, Rockford 2
The IceHogs saw their lineup shrink before the second shift of the evening. Rockford coach Ted Dent had listed Anthony Louis twice on his official lineup card. As a result, Michael Latta was not listed in the official Hogs lineup. Latta was sent from the ice, ending his night before it started.
Milwaukee took the lead on the power play 5:01 into the proceedings. The goal came when Frederick Gaudreau skated to the left dot and sent the puck to the back of the net over the shoulder of Hogs goalie Mac Carruth.
The Admirals advantage was doubled at the 14:41 mark, after Carruth sent away a shot from the right circle by Vladislav Kamenev. The rebound found the stick of Justin Kirkland, who drove home the goal before Carruth could slide back into position, giving Milwaukee a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The IceHogs fell behind 3-0 just 2:17 into the middle frame when a centering feed by Sam Girard hit the skate of Hogs defenseman Nolan Valleau and into the net. Valleau would get Rockford on the board a few minutes later. Shooting from the outside hash marks on the left halfboards, Valleau banked the puck off the far post and into the cage to cut the lead to 3-1 5:01 into the period.
Some rapid puck movement resulted in a Matt White tally at the 9:32 mark made it a 4-1 Ads lead. However, Rockford answered just over a minute later. Luc Snuggerud, shooting from a similar spot that resulted in Valleau’s goal, picked up his first pro goal when the puck glanced off of a Milwaukee skater and past Admirals goalie Marek Mazanec.
Down 4-2, Rockford had a pair of power play opportunities to get back in the contest. The first came and went without a serious chance. The second resulted in a shorthanded goal by Milwaukee’s Adam Pardy 17:43 into the middle frame. The late score put the Hogs down 5-2 after 40 minutes.
The third period was uneventful for Rockford, with the Admirals getting an even half-dozen on a Trevor Smith goal at the 3:54 mark.
Lines (Starters in italics)-Michael Latta was omitted from the lineup card and did not play.
Tyler Motte-Jeremy Langlois-Kyle Baun
Matheson Iacopelli-William Pelletier-Anthony Louis
Brandon Mashinter (A)-Luke Johnson-Radovan Bondra
Pierre-Cedric Labrie (A)-Jake Dowell
Luc Snuggerud-Ville Pokka
Eirk Gustafsson-Carl Dahlstorm
Nolan Valleau-Robin Norell
Mac Carruth
Power Play (0-2, surrendered a shorthanded goal)
Motte-Langlois-Baun-Gustafsson-Pokka
Iacopelli-Pelletier-Louis-Snuggerud-Valleau
Mashinter-Dowell-Bondra-Gustafsson-Pokka
Penalty Kill (Milwaukee was 1-1)
Motte-Dowell-Pokka-Dahlstrom
Wrapping Things Up
Next post, I will try and reflect on the season that was in Rockford. There’s lots to cover, but I will try to touch all the bases.
Late last year on the podcast, I made the production choice to use WHAM!’s “Last Christmas”, being in the in the holiday spirit. Unfortunately, it seems that even loose association with us caused George Michael to succumb to an illness he kept private only four days later, on Christmas Day. And so Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, in accordance with what your final wishes very well could have been, we honor you here.
When I look back on it, I guess my predictions on this series, and the ones I assumed would follow, were based on hope more than I realized. I hoped Duncan Keith was merely pacing himself for what mattered. I hoped that Toews’s midseason scoring binged signaled he had not been infected by the Kopitar gremlins. I hoped that Quenneville would realize what he had in Oduya and TVR, and more importantly what he didn’t have, and would adjust accordingly. And I hoped that the weight of all Corey Crawford had to carry at least in the first half of the season wouldn’t be too much to leave him incapable of more miracles now. Of all those, he got the closest.
While there will be a lot of ink spilled tomorrow about “grit,” “want to,” “determination,” and whatever other bullshit we’ve built our career in dispelling, the answer is more simple than that. It’s speed. The Preds can trap, or they can forecheck, they can collapse, but whatever they do they can do it so much faster than the Hawks. When the Hawks simply mishandle a pass, or take an extra beat to get it under control, there’s a Pred there. When they do manage to get it deep, the mobile Preds defense is there. When the Hawks think they have a passing lane, it’s filled faster than they can compute.
at 
Game Time: 8:30PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN. CNBC, SportsNet 1, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
Returning Conquering Heroes: On The Forecheck
Let it never be said that the core group comprising this era of hockey in this city can’t find new ways to surprise its adoring, albeit psychotic and reactionary public. After one solid game they probably should have won, and one that started fine but got away from them in a hurry, they head on the road down 0-2 in a series for the first time under Joel Quenneville.
Everyone hates Roman Reigns. It’s felt he hasn’t earned his place at the top of the WWE roster. Yet no matter how much he’s booed or hated, he keeps ending up victorious. No matter the odds, no matter how down and out he seems, Roman OVERCOMES and wins and ends up in a big spot. He’s main-evented three Wrestlemanias in a row, for fuck’s sake. The powers that be keep pushing him, even while seemingly putting every obstacle in his way.
Everyone hates the Hawks. The NHL wants you to love them, but pretty much everyone outside the 606 hates them. And yet normally, no matter the odds or when they seem down and out, they OVERCOME. And end up where the lights are brightest, ready to be booed and heckled even more mercilessly than the last time.
The Hawks need to OVERCOME, starting tonight.
Ok. Guess we’re going to have to drop the Kesha songs as titles. Shame, I was really enjoying it.
It’s important to make the difference clear between concern and panic. Concern is completely warranted, as losing the first two games at home and not scoring a goal in the process certainly is a new trick for the Hawks and ups the degree of difficulty to a level that will surely impress the Ukrainian judge. A lot of concern is fine, too. Watching the Hawks come up with a stale beer fart in a spot we’re used to seeing them respond is jarring.
But panic? C’mon. The Hawks lost their first two home games last year too, and pushed that to a Game 7 that they lost by the width of two posts. Sure, that series being a loss isn’t exactly something you’d draw inspiration from. And in their comebacks in the past, they rarely had to start them on the road. So again, a new trick. But it’s not like the Preds have picked some secret underbelly here. So let’s try and clean it up and see what’s what.
Happy Easter everybody, bang a gong.
