Faxes from Uncle Dale

Tag: Dave Bolland

  • Nice Catch, Hayes: Canucks 3 – Hawks 3 (Hawks win nerf basketball)

    Nice Catch, Hayes: Canucks 3 – Hawks 3 (Hawks win nerf basketball)

    Boy, there’s a lot to get to here, so let’s just jump into the bullets, shall we?

    -Let’s get to the most pressing issue. Why the fuck can’t the United Center spell, “Lightning?” It has a fucking T you dummards!

    Ok, now that’s out of the way…

    -Where to start? We’ve spent some time bemoaning the Hawks habit of sitting on leads, or doing their best to blow them, or straight up blowing them. It didn’t feel like that tonight, and I recognize how stupid that sentence sounds now. But the Hawks weren’t under siege until a Rozsival penalty, where both Toews and Saad went to block a shot and didn’t. Then it’s just a one goal game and all it takes is a puck squirting out of a board battle and one shot.

    The Hawks did manage 13 3rd period shots. They pressed, they forechecked. Where they got themselves in trouble was straight up declining two 3rd period power plays that could have ended it. Instead of stepping on the throat, the Hawks played with their food. That was a problem last year and has been this year, where the Hawks just use a 3rd period PP with a lead to run the clock instead of cutting the jugular. They should stop that.

    (more…)

  • Morning Links 2.19.13

    Morning Links 2.19.13

    Game Day: (Daily Herald)(NHL)

    They are ready: (Vancouver Province)

    Aiming for History: (Pro Hockey Talk)

    Good for these players: (Puckdaddy)

    Soviet legend remembered: (RT)

    Do players need to be saved from themselves? (The Score)

  • Morning Links 2/15

    Morning Links 2/15

    OH Yes!! All our problems are solved: (SunTimes)

    Sharp isn’t worried: (Daily Herald)

    Game Preview: (Blackhawks.com)

    Oh and Sharp has free time for the ladies: (Puckdaddy)

    Kesler is back: (Sportsnet)

    So Matt Cooke must pay: (Ottawa Sun)

    What if the IOC,NHL and NHLPA all crap in our cocoa puffs:(US of Hockey)

    Evander Kane and the race problem: (Puckdaddy)

    Sportsmanship personified in Russia: (RT)

    This needs to happen..Also click on the figurine link: (Daves Geek Ideas)

  • Legs Feed The Wolf

    Legs Feed The Wolf

    With some things starting to stagnate in the last couple weeks in spite of the ongoing points streak, it’s time once again to turn a critical eye to some on-ice issues.

    (more…)

  • The Family And The Fishing Net – Hawks at Sharks Preview, Pregame Thread, Satellite Uplink

    at

    Game Time:     9:30PM Central
    TV/Radio: CSN, NHL Net (Canada), WGN AM 720
    Cage In The Water: Fear The Fin

    While ten games into a season might be too soon for a “measuring stick” game in any other year, for this shortened campaign, that’s equal to over 20% of the entire season. Given that circumstance, it’s entirely appropriate for these two teams to use tonight to judge where they’re going for the rest of the year. Tonight features a matchup of the two best teams in the conference, with a grand total of 5 points lost between the two out of a possible combined 36, and a single solitary regulation loss.

    (more…)

  • Morning Links 2/5/13

    Morning Links 2/5/13

    Bolland could get the green light: CSN (auto play)

    Checking in on the farm: ESPNChi

    Simpson had a good week: ECHL

    Vancouver riot trials begin: CBC

    It looks the guy and his Clydesdale from the Super Bowl ad were busy: PD

  • Angry At Numbers

    Angry At Numbers

    Haven’t dusted this one off in a while. Let’s take a look at some stats and stuff. But we’ll start with the stuff. My boy Rob Vollman over at Hockey Abstract.com sent me this player usage chart.

     

    (more…)

  • Screaming at a wall: Blackhawks 1 – Canucks 1 (Canucks Win Pepsi Challenge)

    Ahh yes, the late game wrap the next morning. What a fun time these things are. The Blackhawks kept up their impressive point streak to start off the season but for the second time in a row.. fell in the skills competition.

    For all the hype we may put on these games, this one turned out to be a pretty lackluster affair. There were plenty of runs on Keith (too be expected and pretty understandable), strong play from both goalies, lots of awful power plays and then a silly little shootout

    (more…)

  • And Just Like That….It’s Gone: Hawks 2 – Wild 2 (Wild win runway walk-off 2-1)

    And Just Like That….It’s Gone: Hawks 2 – Wild 2 (Wild win runway walk-off 2-1)

    Well, I guess you can’t win them all. Maybe you can win all the ones you don’t tie. Let’s see if that can be done.

    But after all is said and done (and before they make me run), there isn’t too much to get upset about. Which is weird, because just about the time I was going to start getting itchy about how the Hawks were getting pressed into waffles at even-strength in the 2nd period, one penalty kill turned it around and the Wild were chasing shadows. The 17-6 shot-difference in the last two stanzas would be evidence of that.

    Still, all that possession and territorial advantage didn’t lead to a barrage of chances, which I guess is a little worrying. But not all that much. I suppose it could be argued that the Hawks got better as the Wild got more tired, having played last night and in their 3rd game in four nights. But the Hawks will find that a lot this season, as well as the reverse.

    In the end, the width of the crossbar kept the Hawks from extending the shootout where they might have won it. Or might not have. It’s a fucking shootout. Just flip a coin and be done with it.

    (more…)

  • And Just Like That….It's Gone: Hawks 2 – Wild 2 (Wild win runway walk-off 2-1)

    And Just Like That….It's Gone: Hawks 2 – Wild 2 (Wild win runway walk-off 2-1)

    Well, I guess you can’t win them all. Maybe you can win all the ones you don’t tie. Let’s see if that can be done.

    But after all is said and done (and before they make me run), there isn’t too much to get upset about. Which is weird, because just about the time I was going to start getting itchy about how the Hawks were getting pressed into waffles at even-strength in the 2nd period, one penalty kill turned it around and the Wild were chasing shadows. The 17-6 shot-difference in the last two stanzas would be evidence of that.

    Still, all that possession and territorial advantage didn’t lead to a barrage of chances, which I guess is a little worrying. But not all that much. I suppose it could be argued that the Hawks got better as the Wild got more tired, having played last night and in their 3rd game in four nights. But the Hawks will find that a lot this season, as well as the reverse.

    In the end, the width of the crossbar kept the Hawks from extending the shootout where they might have won it. Or might not have. It’s a fucking shootout. Just flip a coin and be done with it.

    (more…)