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When You Come Undone: Hawks 1 – Lightning 2

By 1213

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Event Summary

War On Ice

This harkened back to some other games. The tenets of was made the Hawks 12-game win streak were not in evidence tonight. And while it was only a one-goal game, this was as badly as the Hawks have been outplayed in a long while. Other teams had done it for a period or two during this streak, but for a whole game you’d have to go back to the loss to the Canes. The Bolts are basically the realized version of what the Canes would like to be. A high-tempo team with a couple puck-moving d-men, a band of quick, skilled forwards who play with speed at both ends. The Hawks were nowhere near tonight.

What had gotten them to this point? Let’s go through the checklist:

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A Simple Plan: Hawks 4 – Preds 1

By 1427

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Event Summary

War On Ice

Sorry for the delayed wrap. My insomnia got the best of me again and I was going to write this last night before my forehead nearly landed on the laptop.

I don’t think there’s much to draw from this one other than how the two goalies are playing. It was a pretty even 1st period, with the Preds certainly having the upper hand in the first 10 minutes and the Hawks the last 10. The Hawks benefitted from a good bounce to get their goal, but you see how the Preds can get caught trying to play at their skin-peeling pace. 1-0 is certainly no huge advantage.

And then Rinne gives up that goal to Panik, and he might have been screened by Barret Jenkem and his terrible gap but it was not a goal that should have gone in. Sure, the Preds quickly got back within one but the way Crawford is playing you’re just not going to make up two goals on him right now. The Preds didn’t, and once Panarin found Kane for a breakaway this one was basically over. And Rinne wasn’t bad for sure, but he’s giving up the goal he can’t right now. Crow isn’t.

Let’s to it:

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Don’t Play With Your Food: Sabres 1 – Hawks 3

By 1319

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War On Ice

The Hawks moved to their sixth win in a row with a simple adjustment after 20 minutes, or at least a tightening of their usual plan. But even though the Hawks basically kept the Sabres under their thumb (it’s down to me) from the start of the second, they let them hang around and hang around. And as the Hawks should know by now, they can’t let any team hang around that has Ryan O’Reilly on it, because he will score against them. Luckily, a few minutes later Rasmus Ristolainen let Phillip Danault have far too much space entering the zone, and Danault was only too happy to gobble it up and bury the winner short-side. Throw in another Toews empty-netter to throw the mainstream off his scent of struggles, and you have yet another Hawks win.

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Knights Of The Round Table

By 1312

This is something we told ourselves we were going to do regularly before the season, and like everything else we tell ourselves we were completely lying. But in the interest of everything else we want to do in 2016, i.e. ramp up our content, we’re going to do this regularly. All of us get together to talk about something with the Hawks and something with the NHL. 

What would you like to see the Hawks do in 2016, be it a trade or a change in style or anything else?

Feather: Despite his lack of scoring thus far, Phillip Danault certainly has the look and feel of a guy that fans will be worried about the Hawks being able to afford in a few years. So that’s one less hole they will have to fill. 

The obvious answer on what the Hawks need is on the back end. The problem, of course, is that no one is dealing game-changing defenseman anymore. (The 80s and 90s were pretty remarkable) So instead, they’ll have to find a couple guys who still have value but close to expiring contracts on non-contenders. Like everyone else will be too. 

Or if they truly believe in TVR and Gustafsson, they can let them take their lumps and hope by the time the playoffs roll around, their games will have matured to levels where the Hawks three defensemen aren’t averaging 45 minutes a game. 

Slak: McClure and I have talked about this, seemingly for years, and I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t mention it in his answer – but clearly they need to trade someone who has value in the forward corps for someone who is good enough to play defense. One guy who is coming up as an RFA and doesn’t make a ton of sense as a longer and higher term player on this team is Andrew Shaw. The issue with that is a) I have no idea how other teams value him and b) the Hawks will probably re-sign him, which will enrage our circle of bloggers but delight most every other Hawks fan. He’s just not the kind of guy the Blackhawks don’t usually send away. Seems like a defenseman who can skate and it’s 38 years old would be a nice addition. Hopefully a catastrophic injury to one of their best players isn’t the path to acquiring one. 

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Won’t You Ride My White Horse?: Sharks 3 – Hawks 3 (Hawks Win Sketchfest)

By 1244

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

They’re certainly racking up the goalie wins. After a very even first period that ended a deserved 2-2, and a quite simply dull 2nd period that ever so slowly turned to the Sharks, capped off by Pavelski’s goal where their top line got to run around the merry-go-round that is the Hawks’ 3rd pairing, Corey Crawford held his team in the 3rd period where they were outshot 11-5, out-attempted 21-10, and basically simply outplayed. But thanks to Crow, they had time for Shaw to make Paul Martin look like a clown for the second time in the game, forcing both teams into the bull-riding show where one bad change let Kane and Toews in. That basically only ever has one ending.

The performances this weekend, and for most of the season, haven’t matched the results. But in the Suicide Squad Central Division the Hawks won’t care because they’ll need all the points they can get. There will be time enough to improve the roster and hence the performances, and to have it on a higher platform would be beneficial.

On to it.

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High On The Hog: Hartman Hot In Texas

By 1550

The Rockford IceHogs opened this past week with a tough stretch of games in Texas ahead of them. With three of those four contests in the books, a four-game Lone Star sweep is within the reach of the IceHogs.

In what may be its most impressive stretch of the season, Rockford posted 15 goals in three victories. After winning a track meet against the Texas Stars Wednesday, the Hogs scored two wins over the San Antonio Rampage over the weekend. Rockford improved its season mark to 15-5-1-2 and sit at the top of the Central Division.

With several of last year’s leading scorers on the shelf, Rockford looked to be in need of some offensive punch against some good offensive teams.

Who provided a good portion of that punch? The above picture should spill the beans.

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High On The Hog: How The Hogs Continue To Roll

By 1742

Dang…I hate when Mom gives us all sweaters…

The Rockford IceHogs, the Blackhawks AHL affiliate, just finished up play for the month with a tough loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. The Hogs Central Division rival handed Rockford three losses in November. Three of the IceHogs top scorers were called up to Chicago this month and several more key players have succumbed to injury.

On paper, it reads like a month Rockford would like to forget. However, the Hogs finished November with a 7-2-1-1 mark and sit in third place in the division standings. How the heck did that happen?

Let’s take a look…

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The Road Never Ends And The Party Never Stops

By 1507 0

While us fans are still going to bask in the glow of Monday’s victory and Thursday’s parade (or in my case, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s Kyle Schwarber performance), this week is when the Hawks front office has to start to pivot toward next year, and namely to the point clearing out cap space to get Saad, Kruger, and whoever else they might like into the fold so we can attempt to do this all again in a year’s time.

Watching this unfold, I have to say I’ve been impressed with the local media’s reserved, optimistic tone about what the Hawks can do next year while the national — both here and north of the 49th — have been forecasting doom and gloom and it’s 2011 all over again! As it’s our job to piss on national and local narratives alike, let me poke some holes in this latter view, if you don’t mind.

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High On The Hog: Wrapping Up The Season

By 1424 0

The Rockford IceHogs have put the 2014-15 season in the rear view mirror. It was a memorable campaign for many reasons. Several rookies made impressive pro debuts, a couple of veteran skaters won the hearts of the Rockford fans and the Hogs made the second round of the playoffs.

This year’s version of the IceHogs made some memories…but this is the AHL. Things are gonna change, regardless of how warm and fuzzy the feelings are about this group.

Before we move on, let’s quickly recap the season that was for Rockford.