Everything Else

Let's Get To The Bottom

By 1658 0

No, that’s not a plea to suddenly tank for Eichel or McDavid (I’m totally putting together a Seabrook & Sharp trade for that in June. HA!). But it’s probably time to try and dig a little deeper to see what is plaguing the Hawks of late.

Before we go any farther, it’s important to note this isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. You only have to go back one year. On Jan. 1, 2014 the Hawks were 28-7-7. They went 6-3-7 to the corresponding date of today one year ago, and actually didn’t get too much better from there. They went 12-11-1 the rest of the way. That wasn’t the first time the Hawks roared through December and then kind of just floated through the rest of the season. They’re just not going to put an 82-game sprint together, even though that’s what they’re coach seems hellbent on wanting.

But we’re here, and we’ve got nothing better to do.

Everything Else

I Bought A Headache – Wild 3, Hawks 0

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Box Score (Barf)
Even Summary (Puke)
War on Ice (Spew)

One thing needs to get cleared up right from the get go. Any talk of this being retribution for the Vegas trip or the players being too drunk and/or hungover from it is completely stupid and lazy, and anyone who writes that is stupid and lazy. On any given night a solid handful of players on every team are dehydrated or sleep deprived from nights spent out drinking or chasing things, and to not believe that is to be fooling one’s self.

Everything Else

2nd Leg: Hawks at Wild Preview/Pregame Thread/Re-shelving

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Hawk Wrestler vs. Zakk-Wylde-by-Ivan-Chopik

FACEOFF: 7pm Central

TV/RADIO: CSN for the locals, NBCSN for the non-locals, WGN Radio 720

GOIN’ CRAZY OUT BY DA LAKE DERE: Hockey Wilderness

This road trip broke up nicely into two distinct legs, and I’m sure the Hawks categorize them as pre- and post-Vegas. Hopefully that two-day stop in Sin City left the Hawks feeling refreshed instead of lethargic. Not that they had too much to complain about, because even though they ended up 1-2 the effort over the three games was mostly, mostly ok. It wasn’t perfect, and probably not even close, but a bounce here or there and they could have walked with a maximum six points instead of only two.

Everything Else

Keep Me Alive At The Bottom Lounge: CI Roadwatch This Friday

By 2080 0

We had so much fun last time, we’re going to do it again. This Friday, for the Hawks-Jets game, we’ll be washing up at our usual haunt in the West Loop (I think that’s what you call it) The Bottom Lounge — 1375 W. Lake St (upstairs). If you work downtown and want to kick off the weekend on the right note, by telling me I suck or hitting Killion with a fish, then please come on by. Or if you don’t work downtown, either way. I’ll have some of our shirts on hand if you want to get them without the hassle of waiting for shipping and the like. We hope to see you there.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: State Of The IceHogs

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The Rockford IceHogs split a home-and-home with the Chicago Wolves over the weekend. Rather than give you the blow-by-blow this week, I thought I would weigh in with some thoughts on the Hogs as they enter February still atop the Midwest Division of the American Hockey League.

Normally I will spend a couple of hours Sunday breaking down the past week’s action. However, between the Super Bowl, shoveling my driveway and proctoring an 11-year old through a book report, I am taking a slightly different course.

With some player movement taking place over the last few days, let’s take a look at the current bunch. I’m just going to riff; perhaps an intelligent observation or two will sneak out of my head.

Everything Else

I Don’t Understand How A Heart Is A Spade: Hawks 0 – Sha-arks 2

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I’m relieved I waited until this afternoon to wrap this one up. The anger last night, slightly booze-fueled, was more than it should have been. That’s what happens when you toss away the first game on the trip yourself, because when you just lose one with nothing majorly wrong and you’re suddenly 1-2 on a tough trip things get amplified.

Most of my anger last night was directed at Joakim Nordstrom which is simply wrong and useless. But it felt good at the time I guess. It’s a symptom of perhaps a larger problem, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

There was a lot of angst directed at the Hawks’ sloppiness and that’s not to be dismissed, but going back over the game this morning there’s a pretty good reason why the Hawks had a tough time finding each other and it wasn’t just because it was the second game in two nights, or looking forward to Vegas.