Have a narrative, why don’t you? With the Hawks top six not producing much, and after the residents here proclaimed it would be the Hawks’ forward depth that would prove to be the difference, here comes the third line providing both goals that put the Hawks up in this series. And no, of course not, there’s no way that Teuvo Teravainen coming up big makes me feel especially good after all the shit we got for extolling his virtues. Why would you ever think that? He’s not special in any way.
As we previewed this series, and most others did, I feel like it was generally agreed that John Cooper was a pretty good coach. And while he probably wouldn’t come up with some novelty for this, he would do what was necessary. Well, tonight he kind of fucked up.
Game Time: 7:00PM Central TV/Radio: NBC, CBC, TVA, WGN-AM 720 Reinventing Axl Rose: Raw Charge
A year later, the Blackhawks finally find themselves in the position they should have been in with 20 minutes to play against the Kings on June 1st. And with them, a return to the only hockey that matters. Hockey whose outcome will determine names engraved in silver, and on the Hawks’ side of the ledger, a chance at solidifying even much more than that. Standing in their way is now the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team more than comfortable at not only playing the exact game the Hawks want to and possibly even faster, but also gleefully seizing the opportunity to play the upstarts and define their own story rather than be a footnote in someone else’s.
Have to thank the girlfriend for providing the Less Than Jake reference, because I’m not a fan but we need to vary it from Against Me! and Tom Petty. Like once or twice.
So we’ve got to wrap up this preview, and cover the special teams for Tampa and how it all plays out. Let’s get to it.
Sometimes the greatest successes come at a time when it’s seemingly the last shot for them. Such is the case for both the translucent ginger bearded El-P and the moutainous neckbearded Killer Mike, who together in the last three years have emerged as rap’s most formidable duo while both being well north of 35 years old. But their rise to the top was anything but overnight.
Hailing from Brooklyn, El-P cut his first records with the beloved Company Flow collective, which famously held the motto “Independent As Fuck”. After the group’s dissolution, El struck out on his own both creatively and in the business realm, founding and running the Definitive Jux record label, which gave a platform to such amazing acts as Cannibal Ox, Murs, and former beard of the day Aesop Rock. All three of El-P’s records are considered masterworks in both dystopic lyrical density as well as otherworldly production reminiscent of the walls of sound once produced by Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad.
In early 2012 he was put in touch with Atlanta’s Killer Mike through a mutual friend at Williams Street Records, the label that’s associated with Adult Swim, which is also based in Atlanta. Mike came up through Outkast’s Dungeon Family, with several critical acclaimed works of his own while also occasionally stealing the show with guest verses on Outkast tracks, most notably the incredible “Flip Flop Rock” on Speakerboxxx, where he stood among the giants of industry in former beard of the day Big Boi and Jay-Z.
The two developed such a rapport El-P produced Mike’s brilliant R.A.P. Music in 2012 and became fast friends, leading them to collaborate on a project they called Run The Jewels, named after a brief stick up scene at the beginning of LL Cool J’s “Cheesy Rat Blues”. Backed by El’s assaulting production, his lyrical dexterity has perfectly complimented Mike’s fiery political delivery, and the two have surged to the top of every critic’s best-of lists with two albums that contain absolutely no filler and are even more bone crushing live. Run The Jewels 2 was widely regarded not only as the best rap record in ages, but also as the best record, period, of 2014, and it along with its predecessor were released completely for free.
So now that they’re here, there’s only one way to keep what they’ve got, and it’s an appropriate message now that the postseason has reached June: Lie, Cheat, Steal. Kill, Win. Everybody doin’ it.
This is where it might get to be tough reading for everyone. It is rare that you would find yourself saying, “Boy, I’m not sure the Hawks want to get into a track meet with these guys.” Generally games against Colorado have fallen into that category. Dallas is sort of edging that way. And generally that’s about it.
But Tampa would almost certainly be on top of that list. While the Preds tried to go plaid and wear the Hawks out that way, the Lightning will try and do some of the same things Nashville did. Except they’ll try it with a consistent 40-goal scorer who once pierced 60, two Calder finalists from last year who are Conn Smythe contenders this year, and a some pretty clever centers. Yeah, little worrying.
But much like the defense, there’s an upper echelon here and then a Looney Tunes cliff-like drop. Let’s get into the nitty gritty.
As one of the masters of modern science fiction, the salt-and-pepper bearded Philip K. Dick was not only responsible for some of the genre’s greatest works, but also for some of the most adaptable source material for science fiction in cinema as well, due to his worlds being so fully realized on the page.
His list of works includes but is not limited to A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, Total Recall, and the crown jewel, Blade Runner, which was based off of Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? Dick famously remarked that he was terrible at writing concise catchy names for his stories, as evidenced by the aforementioned Sheep, and Total Recall being based off the novel We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Even the concise titles were completely esoteric, something we can identify with around these parts.
Dick’s most decorated work was The Man In The High Castle, which fleshes out the scenario of what would have happened had Germany won WWII, and yes, it is finally being made into a series soon available on Amazon. Dick’s stories often explored the topics of dystopia and theology, questioning the origins of human creation through the lens of things like computerized intelligence. And though he died in 1982, the vast majority of his work still holds up today, and there is even a Blade Runnersequel in the works currently.
Now that the calendar has turned to June and the Hawks are now playing an Eastern Conference opponent, it’s time to take a look at Tampa Bay’s defense and goaltending. And both groupings are led by extremely large men.
