RIP Big Doug
Game 4 tonight: Blackhawks
Darling’s gig for now: ESPN Chicago
Preds perspective: TT
Soupy still defending Crow: CSN
Long time coming: TSN
Dumb: PHT
The Rockford IceHogs will begin postseason play for the first time in five seasons this weekend. The AHL has a different idea of what “home ice” entails, so the boys will begin the opening round of the playoffs in Texas.
Rockford, who finished the season as the fourth-seed, will play Friday and Saturday night against the fifth-seeded Stars. The remainder of the five-game best of will take place at the BMO Harris Bank Center.
How do we feel about the opponent the Hogs have drawn? Well, they did everything they could to make this series happen.
For the disaffected youth of the greater Chicagoland area, the perpetually bearded and long haired Jerry Bryant is nothing short of a saint. His long-running cable access show, JBTV (originally on Ch. 62) has been a haven for interviews, live performances, and music videos that even the so-called “alternative” radio stations wouldn’t touch.
JBTV has always been self-produced, directed, and hosted by Bryant himself, with his signature look ever whitening as the years trudge on, never losing his intimidatingly phallic microphone. Even having now done his show for over 30 years, Bryant has never lost his enthusiasm for the music or the format, and that fact should be admired just as much as his magnificent hair and beard.
If you needed anymore proof that momentum doesn’t carry from game to game in the playoffs, Game 3 between the Predators and Blackhawks should serve as Exhibit A. After exploding for 3 goals at the end of Game 2 and sending the city of Chicago into a rash of overreactions, the Hawks took to Game 3 and made the most of their opportunities.
Even after coughing up two leads in less than a minute, the Hawks continued to dominate play in the middle frame. For whatever reason, this period has been a problem for Nashville all year. There’s really no explanation for something like that. It’s weird, it’s bizarre and it’s hockey.
The Hawks outscored Nashville 3-1 in the second period and it was all the Hawks needed to hold serve on home ice.
Let’s move on to bigger and better things.
@ 
Game Time: 2:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBC/WGN720
Smashy Smashy: On The Forecheck
Around the time of Craig Smith’s second goal of the night, the conversation at the bar I was at, as I’m sure it did in many bars and living rooms, turned to “Well who starts Game 3?”. I can’t say I’m shocked to see Q give the nod to Darling. Pulling him in Game 1 was certainly the right move, even as a wake up call to the rest of the skaters. He came on and was excellent. Like many of us, I also agreed with putting Crow right back out there to start Game 2. And after that lackluster performance where the entire team seemed to pack it in early, I’m not really sure there is a right answer on which goalie to start. I would personally lean more on Crawford. He’s shown us multiple times throughout the year that he can bounce back. He can win a game on his own. But the atmosphere in the UC this afternoon is going to be a force to reckon with. If Crow were to give up that first goal there would be no shortage of people calling for his head. Maybe it’s smart to just run with the laregely untested commodity at the moment.
And maybe it’ll still act as a wake up for the rest of the team – since that’s still where the majority of the problem remains.
John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, is someone you don’t want to make angry. Someone you shouldn’t get on your bad side. We need a bit of an asskicker today. Hopefully the Hawks respond to the last minute embarrassment the same way Wick does when you kill his puppy.
Doug Benson doesn’t always have a beard but more often than not you’ll likely find him rocking some stubble or a short beard. Whether this is because he prefers to have facial hair or he simple gets so stoned that he forgets to shave is unknown. Doug is one of the world’s more vocal advocate for the use of marijuana. His movies include The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled and Super High Me, one of his Podcasts is Getting Doug With High, and he’s named albums Gateway Doug… this guy loves pot. And it certainly looked like the Hawks joined him at the end of that third… or maybe Jarret Stoll just spiked their water bottles.
There were a couple times in the 80’s when the Hawks would make it to the Campbell Conference Finals; they’d split the first two games and their win would be a massive blowout. The Vancouver game where Roger Neilson infamously waved his towel on a stick that was later hilariously immortalized in a statue and against Calgary where the Hawks smoked the Flames in the Saddledome and took the series back to Chicago tied at 1.
Both series ended up in the opposition’s favor after 5 games. This really has nothing to do with anything other than to remind everyone that no matter how ugly a playoff loss gets, it ultimately has no bearing on how the rest of the series plays out.
Tonight’s game, whether the game ended 3-2, 6-2 or 1,432-2 still only means the series is tied at 1. I think people need to remember that more than ever. Things are getting weird around here.
