Saturday's Alright for Fighting: Hawks vs. Kings Big Boy

And so another Circus Trip concludes and The Hawks come home with 10 of a possible 12 points.  The forward lines have been more or less stable for the past 4 or 5 games with three of the four lines actually clicking really well offensively.  I guess Patrick Sharp will return to the lineup and screw all that up, ho ho.

There's no shortage of candidates for Big Boy Beltiness after the 4-1 win over The Kings.  Richards had two goals but one was a giveaway and the other a simple tap-in to conclude a very dirty series of passes.  Versteeg registered two assists but really only one had much to do with anything he did.  Crawford was solid for the umpteenth game in a row but does 20 shots constitute a full day's work?

Why not Dan Carcillo, then?  He swatted in a dying quail in the first period, handily won a more or less legitimate fight late in the game and maybe he gets a little extra credit for the great pass on Friday afternoon.  Also, it may never happen again.

Black Friday Big Boy and Other Stuff

I watched the Friday game on PVR and THEN read the various recaps, Tweets, etc., and now I wonder if I watched the same game as some of these other guys.

- After being slagged by practically everyone, including myself, Kris Versteeg is defiantly having a fine start to the season.  Let's not get too carried away, though; how many of his points were with Patrick Kane on the other wing?  Just sayin'...
- I am delighted that Kane has finally found his stride or his mojo or whatever he lacked for the first 15 or so games.  What bugs me is that his offensive outburst pretty much coincided with Richards replacing Shaw as his center.  So what took so long?  Just sayin'...
- The Hawks had very good puck possession and, as usual, outshot their counterparts handily, but it sure didn't look like "the best game all year" that several post-game soundbites and interwebz recaps declared it to be.  Sure, they schooled the first-placed team in The West but there was still plenty of ugly.  Saad was a nightmare, consistently passing behind his linemates and what the hell was that no-look pass to nowhere?  Kruger, of all people, flicking that backhand whatever-it-was in front of his own net...what was that?  Richards had to stretch, dive and chip pucks all night to make up for his linemates "approximations".  Rundblad looked slow and yippy throughout the game but, hey, the coaching staff hasn't done much to boost the lad's confidence, have they; after seeing Clendenning get benched (and then scratched) after ONE error Rundblad must feel like he's walking on glass.  He knew all along that a two-goal game might not be be enough to avoid the scratch for Saturday's match against The Kings.
- The Ducks dressed three defensemen who had a combined 16 games NHL experience, two of whom failed to crack 9 minutes icetime.  Well, at least we now know that Bruce Boudreau is slightly dumber than Quenneville.

Anyway very glad to have the two points and the emotional lift that making The Ducks your bitches must bring, but it just felt like the sort of game that, with slightly different circumstances, is a 4-3 loss.

Oh yeah, I thought this guy was awesome.

Two points and several desperate efforts to keep the play alive earns Brad Richards the pants-holder-upperer for a few hours.

                  Hey, photos of Richie in a road jersey are still as rare as Pope shit....

It's a Tough Job But Somebody Has to do it: Wednesday's Big Boy

Despite sleepwalking through half the game as well some other challenges, such as Coach Q benching Clendenning which, in turn, had Rozsival on the ice waaaay too much, The Hawks walked out of Denver with another two points.  

Despite the chancy victory all indicators point to this young fella deserving The Belt, yet again.

                                            What the....are those Canucks colours?

Oops, course I meant this guy, The Hawks' own One Man Gang, on merit of three helpies in a 3-2 win.

What I really wanted to do was post some photos of Andrew Shaw's and Dan Carcillo's wretched Movember mustaches, but it would seem that no photographers have bothered recording these "efforts".  Seriously, those two look like they're planning to do bad things to a cabin boy or something.  Instead, how about a few classic Hawks Movember pics?

                                                     Live, from the Press Box!

                                The chipped tooth and single-Windsor really set this off.

                      Let's get this over with, my shift at the paper mill starts in 20 minutes.

Well, That Was Fun: Hawks vs. Oilers Big Boy

Okay, so it was against The Oilers and all that comes with (or fails to come with) that, but it was still mighty good and fun to see an offensive explosion for a change.  Looking at the boxscore many aspects of this game were close run; The Hawks outshot The Oilers by only five shots, and scoring chances were nearly even.  What made the difference, though were these:
- The Oilers goaltenders were not great.  That may be too kind, as Ben Scrivens was horrible, actually.
- Scrivens and his replacement, Viktor Fasth received no favours from their defence who failed to keep up with The Hawks' forwards, failed to clear many (any?) rebounds and provided virtually no front-of-the-net presence.
- The Oil's forwards fared little better in the keeping up department, as juggernauts such as Versteeg and Carcillo were too much for the likes of Aulie and Nugent-Hopkins and The Hawks hit for two power play goals on seven chances.
- The early lead allowed Coach Q to "rest" his top players a little.  Rozsival and Clendenning played north of 19 minutes and Kane, Toews and Hossa all played less than 17 minutes.
- Phillip Danault looked just fine, albeit against The Oilers.
- All but four Hawks players registered at least one point.
- Marian Hossa.

A sneaky four-point-night gets Hoss The Belt for a day.  I say sneaky because he was just doing what he always does and in no way appeared to be playing better or differently than usual.  After not getting the bounces so many times this season Hoss seemed to get all the bounces last night, and he may finally be regressing to his own mean. The eight points he's notched in his last five games represent more than half of his fifteen points to date, so maybe he's overcome his dreadfully slow start, points-wise, anyway.

Canucks tonight.  More, please.

One Down, Five to Go: Circus Trip Game One Big Boy

Didn't see any of the game apart from the highlight pack but it sure feels like The Hawks stole one tonight.  I guess this makes up for those games in late October when they outshot the opposition 382 - 16 over three or four games and came away with, what, a single point.

I kinda wanted to go with Clendenning tonight after not even expecting him to dress until at least Saturday and then potting one on his very first shot on net.  As cool as that is it fails to match Patrick Kane's efforts tonight.

Kaner's game-winner was just so....Kane, grabbing a puck in a crowd, slipping it between some guy's skates and wiring a quick wrister in for the win.  Add to that the sweet, soft pass to Seabrook to set up the third goal and we have reason to believe he hasn't given up.  Kane seemed kind of asea there for a week or two but these last two games he's been terrific, simply magical in close-quarters like he can be when he's fully dialed in.

"Ferrari guys are already wearing their Marussia shirts." Huh?

Marussia heading to Abu Dhabi after all?

Better hurry, then; FP1 starts in 39 hours.

And the Winner is...

....Adam Clendenning.  Although it took a bit of effort and a fair amount of salary-cap manipulation before it got done.
This comes as a bit of a surprise to most observers, as the odds-on favourite to replace the injured Trevor Van Riemsdyk (out 2-3 months, LBI) seemed to be Klas Dahlbeck.  While Dahlbeck has been described as the steadiest of the defence group in Rockford, Clendenning has certainly waited around long enough to get his NHL looks.
Promoting Clendenning may fill a rather large gap in The Hawks' lineup, as well, since Michal Rozsival has been working on the second power play unit.  Say that out loud.  Anyway, Clendenning is a prototypical offensive defenceman and is quite accustomed to quarterbacking a power play and should see some PP time straight away on the upcoming western road trip.  I would expect to see Clendenning debut on Saturday or Sunday; Saturday if Rozsival is a disaster on Thursday, Sunday otherwise.
With TVR being unavailable for 2-3 months, though, The Hawks will have the opportunity to give their other defence prospects a spin and I fully expect to see Stephen Johns and Klas Dahlbeck play some games before the New Year.  Once Sharp returns from his own injury, still as long as week or two from now, The Hawks' first-unit PP guy will be back and, unless Clendenning sets the world on fire in the interim, that would be the time to give Johns and Dahlbeck their respective shots.

Joakim Nordstrom will join The Hawks on the road trip, as well, presumably alternating with Jeremy Morin alongside Kruger and Smith.

One Last Helping of Home Cooking: Sunday's Big Boy

Despite losing their way a bit in the latter part of the first period and most of the second, The Hawks executed a near-perfect third period, scoring four times and looking very much like the team they can be.  The Good Guys outshot Dallas 23 - 5 in the final frame, attacking relentlessly while The Stars, who played and lost the night before, simply failed to keep up.

And check this out - Coach Q rolled four lines.  Isn't it amazing what can happen when the forwards achieve some consistency?  Another big element in the win was the play of Patrick Kane.

With a beauty of a goal and two assists Kaner has hopefully shaken off whatever had limited him to only occasional points over the last several weeks.  Kane played practically the entire game with Brad Richards and Kris Versteeg and, even with Versteeg being extra-shooty tonight, the trio looked in control on the majority of their shifts; drops and lateral passes were working well and the line drove possession all night.

                                                            Welcome back, 88.

The only crappy thing about the game tonight was Trevor Van Riemsdyk leaving the game early in the first period after blocking a shot with the early word from The Hawks' camp being not very encouraging.  TVR has been an unqualified pleasant surprise this season, so it's a shame to see him go down for any amount of time just as much as it was terrifying to see Rozsival play almost 20 minutes tonight.  David Rundblad, obviously, will draw in but someone will certainly be called up from Rockford this week, as The Hawks embark on the annual Circus Trip and six games in a row on the road.  Nobody wants to confront the prospect of Rozsie playing six consecutive road games, so prepare to get to know Klas Dahlbeck.

Not as Bad as it Seems: Tuesday's Big Boy

Right off the bat, a 3-2 win over the top team in the Eastern Conference and one of the league's hottest teams right now is always a good thing.  Apart from the occasional error (lookin' at you, P. Kane) and that stretch in the third period after Oduya went down The Hawks looked very much in control of this one.  I won't harp on about another game in which they only managed two goals in regulation because Ben Bishop is a quality netminder and, with The Lightning's so-so defence corps, stopping 20+ quality scoring chances is just another day at the office for him.

In fact, if not for one lazy error (paging Mr. Kane, paging Mr. Kane) and the referees' joint refusal to stop play when Oduya was obviously in trouble, this is a 2-0 shutout for Crow.

                        Dammit, Rozsie, do you have to stand RIGHT in front of me?

There has been no word on the extent the injury sustained by Oduya whilst blocking a shot by Jason "War Machine" Garrison and, with three days between games I wouldn't expect anything beyond Q's "He'll be out a bit" for at least a day or two.  If he is hurt, though, it might be nice to let Klas Dahlbeck get a couple of practices in with The Hawks before the weekend...heh heh heh.
 
 

Sunday's Best: Hawks vs. Sharks Big Boy

Odd, that The Hawks pot four goals (plus an empty-netter) in a game in which the shot counts were pretty even, after out-chancing the opposition mightily during their recent losses.  No matter, a win is a win.  There were several deserving candidates tonight, but one Hawk really stood out for me.

Just a goal on the scoresheet, but a big one and a beauty, at that.  I thought he worked very well with Saad, instigating two odd-man rushes and helped minimize the disaster that was Andrew Shaw.  Tonight's Big Boy is Big Bick.

                                                              Dreamy.

Speaking of Andrew Shaw...

First, he ices the puck needlessly, executing a shoot in a full stride away from the red line.  On the ensuing defensive zone face off, which he loses, of course, The Sharks hit for their first goal.  Later, a lack of care & control causes him to cut Joe Thornton resulting in a double-minor penalty and the second Sharks goal.  Not a great night for old Chickenhawk.

                                 
                                   Hawks 5, Andrew Shaw 2.  Nice game, dum-dum.

F1: Minnows Caught

It was always going to happen.  This morning Marussia F1 announced that the team, part of the Formula One World Championship since 2010, has ceased operation.  Optimistically, an entry for the 2015 Season remains under the name "Manor Racing", but it seems unlikely that we'll see them again, under any name.

It appears that their cohorts, Caterham F1 Team, are on their way out as well.  Both teams were granted permission to miss the USGP last weekend and The Brazilian GP this weekend. 

I feel bad for the people involved.  Formula One is exciting, romantic and, when it's really good, intoxicating.  Above all else, though, it's expensive.  When Marussia (neé Manor, Virgin), Caterham (neé Lotus) and Hispania (neé Campos) began participating in 2010 there had been firm handshakes and assuring nods promising a spending cap would soon be in place to help level the playing field and ensure the survival of all of the F1 teams.  As we now know, any serious chatter about a spending cap was scuppered by the Big Three Teams (allegedly) and, with that, the eventual demise of these three young teams was all but assured. (Yes, a limit on spending is scheduled to be introduced for the 2015 season; believe it when it actually occurs.)

Marussia, especially, has had a rough go the last month or so, their most well known setback being the appalling wreck suffered by their driver, Jules Bianchi, which very nearly killed him, and still might, as he remains in grim condition in a Japanese hospital not far from where his accident occurred.  Less newsworthy but of even greater significance, business-wise, was the withdrawal of Marussia's main source of funds, Russian businessman Andrey Cheglakov; once the chequered flag dropped at the inaugural Russian GP so did Cheglakov's interest in Formula One.  (They might have known; Minardi was practically ruined by the failure of Russian "backers" to actually deliver any funds at all.)  Even if Marussia had been able to remain afloat until the end of this racing season it's unlikely that even the empty promise of spending limits for 2015 and beyond would have saved the day.

Before today I might have included Caterham in this camp of unlucky, perhaps overambitious and generally shat-upon by the "have" teams in F1, but not after today's revelation that Caterham have launched a crowdfunding project to attempt to raise sufficient funds to participate in the final race of this season, two weeks from now. Yeah, right.  The official press release pitches this appeal as a means to aid Caterham's "comeback" and to allow the team to continue racing on a permanent basis; who do they think they're kidding?
The Caterham team was alleged to have been sold to a group of Middle Eastern businessmen (there's that word again) last month but, evidently, that deal either didn't go through or the new owners are just...shady.  This is a rich man's sport, fellas, and to go around with one's hat in hand, asking for $3.7 million to enable the team to complete one more race is laughable and should be bloody embarrassing.  I can just imagine what the money would actually go toward, too, as Caterham reel off a token effort, pay some bills and disappear forever. 

It's a pity.  I, and countless other racing fans, really did want these teams to thrive.  Bianchi's ninth-place finish and 2 World Championship Points marked the first points earned by any of the three teams that joined in 2010.  Five seasons, three teams, two points.  Yeah, it's harder than it looks, right?  Looking ahead, here's hoping that Gene Haas has his eyes wide open as he embarks on his own F1 adventure, beginning in 2016.  Hey, by then Ferrari and McLaren will have found a way to veto the proposed spending cap, so at least Haas will be able to quit while he's not too far behind.

Interestingly, maybe, is the fact that the official Formula One website did not acknowledge  Marussia's announcement.

It's Regin

What did I say yesterday... Bickell - Regin - Shaw?

How about Saad - Regin - Morin?  Remember a few years ago when Saad & Morin punched a big hole in the AHL...?

Actually...

...putting Peter Regin in the mix wouldn't be a terrible idea, either, I just can't think who to partner him up with right now.  Bickell - Regin - Shaw could be fun, but I suspect Bickell and Versteeg will remain together until halfway through the next game.  Just sayin'.

Take a Tip, Get Hip (It's Not so Bad in the Promised Land): Hawks 5, Habs 0

The Line Blender™ was set on "puree" last night and, for whatever reason, it seemed to work for a change.  What is it they say about a broken clock being right twice each day?

Some of the changes were subtle and even sensible, like reuniting Toews and Kane for even-strength shifts for the first time this season and getting Sharp and Hossa back together.  The biggest leap would appear to have been the Bickell - Kruger - Versteeg combo, and didn't they hit for two goals?

Also, it's probably not a result of any line shuffling, The Hawks struck for at least three tip-in goals (maybe more?) so they clearly had the kind of net-front traffic they've been lacking all season.  

Quite a few Hawks had good nights, as one would expect in a 5 - 0 thumping, with five players notching two points apiece (Rundblad!?  Stan, you fox!).  But, just because it might never happen again, I'll go with 'Steeger on merit of two goals.

                                                          Does this look cool?

The only crappy news from last night is that Sharp had a knee-on-knee incident with Alexei Emelin and will be out "for a bit" which, in Q-speak could mean anything between a week and eight years.  Expect one Teuvo Teravainen to get his crack at 2C very soon.

You think you can make my life any worse? Go on, take a shot.

The Hawks cannot seem to score, but not for lack of trying.
They own the highest Shots-on-net-per-game (38.4/game) and, while they allow only the 7th least amounts of Shots-against-per-game their differential between Shots-for and Shots-against is second highest.
Let's not even get into shots attempted.  Last night The Jets are alleged to have blocked 30 shots in addition to the 33 that The Hawks hit the goalie with.  The night before The Hawks hit for 47 shots and their opponent blocked a further 19 attempts.  This doesn't even account for shots that get through and miss everything altogether.

So, what's the problem?
I believe it's not just a matter of low shooting percentage or not being selective in shot choices, but rather that the low percentage shot is too often the best option The Hawks forwards have had a lot of the time.  For this, I blame, at least partly, The Line Blender™.

The last week+ we've seen a couple of key Hawks forwards shuffle up and down the lineup so often they need Post-It-Notes inside their visor to remind themselves who their linemates are.  Last week Patrick Sharp played significant parts of a few games on the "third" line with Richards and Versteeg (although sometimes Bickell) which actually wasn't terrible.  Brandon Saad has played on all four forward lines in the last two weeks.  The problem is, when a particular line stops being "not terrible" it gets changed.  How is this team going to establish any chemistry if so many of the forwards are forced to play alongside different guys from one game to the next?

Toews and Hossa have been a consistent pair, as have Kruger and Smith.  One could point out that Kane and Shaw have played together fairly consistently, as well, but since Shaw has little idea of how to play center what's the worth in that?  Truthfully, of all the Hawks forwards, Kane is the one most able to adjust to having different linemates....as long as the center knows how to play his position, I guess.

So what do we get?  Toews and Hossa aside, we have a lot of problems getting into the opponent's zone and, even if the entry goes well, no one knows what to do once they're there.  I think, it's often down to that unfamiliarity amongst linemates.  I exclude Toews and Hossa because they are better able to lug the puck through the neutral zone, make a clean entry and then make a play because they have an idea of what the other guy will do.  On the other lines who is going to the net?  Smith, but he gets precious little time in the offensive zone and lacks a linemate who can get the puck to him reliably.  Morin, yes, but his 6 minutes of icetime hasn't, for some reason, translated to goals.  Bickell looks willing, occasionally, but not consistently enough.  Poor Andrew Shaw is in so far over his head in the 2C role that he's probably already forgotten that all of his goals have come from within four feet of the goal line.  Chaos.

Something does have to change and that's to stop changing every game or two.