Faxes from Uncle Dale

Recent Posts

  • This Isn’t My Beautiful House: Flames at Hawks Preview/TSA Training

    vs. 

    GAMETIME: 7:30pm

    TV: CSN. NHL Network outside the 606

    RODEO CLOWNS: Flames Nation

    RECORDS: Cal And Gary – 1-4-1   Hawks – 3-3-0

    Projected Lineups

    flames-lineup-card

    blackhawks-lineup-card

    SCORE ADJUSTED CF%: Cal And Gary – 50.2% (15th)  Hawks – 50.5% (13th)

    POWER PLAY: Cal And Gary – 4.0% (Dead ass last)  Hawks – 20.8% (10th)

    PENALTY KILL: Cal And Gary – 74.2% (23rd)  Hawks – 42.9% (Dead Ass Last)

    TRENDS: Gaudreau and Monahan were a combined -8 against St. Louis last game, the Flames power play is 1-for-25

    Much like the Hawks, the Flames start to the season hasn’t exactly kicked into gear like they’d hoped (and getting skulled twice by the Oilers probably hasn’t helped matters much). Cal and Gary stroll in with only one win and three point of the 12 that were on offer. And some of the same problems have bothered the Flames that have bothered the Hawks.

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  • Flames Spotlight: You’re Not In Missouri Anymore, Moose

    Flames Spotlight: You’re Not In Missouri Anymore, Moose

    It was something of a surprise not just that the Blues traded Brian Elliot to Calgary, they’ve always wanted to give the job to Jay Gallon, but just how aggressively they did. A 2nd and a 3rd for a goalie that had just been to the conference final and whose five years in Meth County had seen a combined SV% of .925 (somewhat boosted by his ridiculous .940 in half the starts in ’11-’12, but still) seemed a tad on the low side, even if conceding for Elliot’s over-30 age. While three starts is hardly enough of a sample, what Elliot might be finding out soon enough is that he needed the Blues more than they needed him.

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  • Everybody’s Doing Just What They’re Told To – Blackhawks 4, Maple Leafs 4 (OT); Hawks win tickle fight 2-1

    Everybody’s Doing Just What They’re Told To – Blackhawks 4, Maple Leafs 4 (OT); Hawks win tickle fight 2-1

    Box Score

    HockeyStats.ca

    Natural Stat Trick

    Let’s start this off with a cliche, shall we? The NHL regular season is a marathon. There will be ups and downs and by 82 games, the correct teams will be properly slotted in the standings. The majority of the games will feel like a blur and are totally forgettable. Some are a little memorable.

    Last night’s may be filed in the category of memorable – at least in regards to the last two minutes of regulation.

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  • To All The Young Dudes: Leafs at Hawks Preview/Cubs Pregame

    article-2653004-1e9bc62400000578-101_634x480 vs. Hawk Wrestler

    PUCK DROP: 6pm Central thanks to HNIC

    TV: WGN, CBC in the Great White North

    THE ZOO: Pension Plan Puppets 

    Projected Lineups

    maple-leafs-lineup-card

    blackhawks-lineup-card

    POSSESSION STATS: Leafs – 54.5 CF% (4th)  Hawks – 51.1 CF% (9th)

    POWER PLAY: Leafs – 23.7% (7th)  Hawks – 27.8 (6th)

    PENALTY KILL: Leafs 83.3% (16th)  Hawks – do you even wanna know?

    TRENDS: Kadri has three points his past two games, you may have heard Auston Matthews has five goals

    The Hawks turn right around tonight and face another team full of young go-hards. Though where the Jackets had most of their youth on the blue line, tonight they’ll see the Maple Leafs who are oozing youthful machismo up front. The Hawks certainly won’t get much of a break in pace tonight.

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  • Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! Kill!: Jackets 3 – Hawks 2

    Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! Kill!: Jackets 3 – Hawks 2

    Box Score

    Hockey Stats

    Natural Stat Trick

    Yes, I’m well aware these aren’t the same movies, but just allow it, all right?

    Once again, the Hawks had an ugly period (no, don’t make your menstruation joke here, because as Ash vs. Evil Dead taught us vaginas are powerful and life-affirming and should never be mocked). That one segment kind of colors everything else about the game, perhaps unfairly. The penalty kill remains a tire fire inside of a dumpster fire contained in a landfill fire. But as always, there are things to be learned. Oh, and some bad luck didn’t help the cause. Let’s get to it, shall we? We all have drinking to do.

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  • Your Authority Is Not Recognized Here In Torts Kickass: Hawks at Jackets Preview/Sage Burning

    Hawk Wrestler vs. Chief_Blue_Meanie

    PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

    TV: CSN

    THE HOCKEY BLOG: Jackets Cannon

    Projected Lineups

    blackhawks-lineup-card

    blue-jackets-lineup-card\

    SCORE ADJUSTED POSSESSION: Hawks – 50.3 CF% (11th)  Jackets – 48.2 CF% (20th)

    POWER PLAY: Hawks – 35.7% (3rd)  Jackets – 40% (2nd)

    PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 47.1% (Dead ass last)  Jackets – 85.7% (12th)

    Trends: Cam Atkinson only has three goals and seven points in 10 games agains the Hawks. It only feels like has 27 and 43. 

    The Hawks take it out on the road again tonight, to face a certainly well-rested if oddly-cobbled Blue Jackets squad in the Ohio capital. It’ll start a three-in-four stretch for the Hawks, who return home tomorrow for the Leafs Saturday and Flames Monday. What they’ll find in Columbus is a team built to play a game that no longer wins in the NHL, and one under that that could be a useful NHL team if they let it.

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  • Jackets Spotlight: Donnie Jarmo

    Jackets Spotlight: Donnie Jarmo

    It would seem that in this age of the NHL, the biggest skills a GM can have is the ability to scout his own players, judge them fairly, and also have a really great math guy. Because as we know, it only takes a couple of mistakes with your salary cap, or evaluating your own guys, before you’ve fornicated over all the good work you’ve done.

    This is Jarmo Kekalainen’s fourth full season as GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets (he took over in the middle of the shortened 2013 season). They have made one playoff appearance in that time, in 2014 where they threw a brief scare into the Penguins before fading into the background. They haven’t really come close since. And the patience in Columbus is starting to run a bit thin, especially when Jarmo’s hire as a coach was the personification of a bullhorn.

    Let’s try and pull in the whole scope of Jarmo’s work.

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  • Jackets Q&A With The Cannon’s Matt Wagner

    Jackets Q&A With The Cannon’s Matt Wagner

    Follow him on Twitter @bzarcher. You can read his work at JacketsCannon.com.

    So as fans of a team that is coached by John Tortorella, how horrifying was the World Cup?

    -Terrifying, but I think it’s worth considering that Torts was given a roster that I’d consider schizophrenic at best. Still, it was a very dramatic demonstration of how NOT to win against international competition, and Torts seems to be applying some of what he learned with the increased emphasis on speed and generating chances in Columbus.

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  • Hoss

    Hoss

    Do you remember Hossa’s first game as a Hawk? How could you forget it?

    We waited nearly two months for him to be unveiled, requiring shoulder surgery after he signed here in the summer of 2009. We heard the buzz when he started practicing. Joel Quenneville seemed amazed, as he told the press that normally returning players from injury slow practice down, but Hossa actually sped it up. I clearly recall my ticket rep at the time, who would sneak down and watch practice at times, telling me on the phone, “Wait ’til you see this guy.” We kind of knew what we were in for. Did we completely know, though?

    I’d say it was like Christmas, except it was on black Wednesday. There he was, in the 2nd period on the penalty kill, simply smothering the point-men for the Sharks with Jonathan Toews. They caused a turnover and though they’d barely played a period together, Toews knew where Hossa was. And he was gone in a flash. The Sharks couldn’t get anywhere near him.

    He made it look so easy. Evgeni Nabokov might as well have skated off the corner. You know true class when you see it. That was this. So effortless. I remember Fifth Feather, when he had his own blog (far better than this one) described it in his wrap, and filed it under, “Oh right, he kills penalties too!” folder.

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  • Since Ben Got That, He’s a Sociopath: Blackhawks 7, Flyers 4

    Since Ben Got That, He’s a Sociopath: Blackhawks 7, Flyers 4

    Box Score

    HockeyStats.ca

    Natural Stat Trick

    It seems like it’s an annual rite of passage for the Blackhawks to jump out to a huge lead early and then cough up a giant hairball at least once a year to an Eastern Conference team. Last year, you may recall this Sunday matinee nightmare against the Bruins. The Hawks almost lost a six goal lead in that one, giving up four straight goals to a listless Boston team. The end result was basically the same. Kane, Panarin and Anisimov combined for 11 points in both games. The only real difference was an empty net goal.

    So they got this out of their system early this year. On to other things.

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