Hawks Hockey Hoiden

All throughout this series with the Vancouver Canucks I have repeatedly been amazed at the classlessness of Canucks’ fans and the Canucks’ organization itself.  At every game in Vancouver, The Star Spangled Banner was butchered by some decrepit, sorry excuse for a vocalist who hurriedly warbled through our beloved national anthem in what was clearly an expeditious fulfillment of the requirement.  So very disrespectful Vancouver…even for you!  Compare that embarrassment with the Blackhawks’ vocalist Jim Cornelison who always sings O Canada with poise, sincerity, and beauty. 

Also of note was a Vancouver newspaper that made sport [See page 1, yes page 1 (!), of the preceding link] of Patrick Kane’s incident with a Buffalo, New York, cab driver last summer.  I don’t mind anyone criticizing Patrick Kane for that incident,  I have certainly added my two cents, but what is conspicuous about the Vancouver paper poking fun at Kane is that they chose playoff time to do it, which is just sort of lame.  That was so last summer Vancouver.  You should’ve commented on it then.  Doing it during the Hawks/Canucks series just comes off as sour grapes.  Once again, real classy Vancouver!

And last, but certainly not least, is the goon hockey played by the Canucks in this series.  I guess that shouldn’t surprise us.  But what is chuckle-worthy is the whining of Roberto Luongo about how the Blackhawks are supposedly engaging in goon hockey!  Wayne Gretzky last year held the trophy for the whiningest individual in hockey, but even Luongo could give “The Great One” a run for his money in this series!

Last season I used to argue against Dustin Byfuglien’s face washing and harassment of Roberto Luongo during Hawks/Canucks games.  My criticism came mostly from the fact that the Hawks would have to penalty-kill an avoidable goal tender interference call.  That and winning a hockey game because of gooniness isn’t winning the game based on expertise, but rather because of what a team can get away with.  So if the Canucks are going to engage in goon hockey (which they regularly do) then I think it only fair that the Hawks answer with a little bit of gooniness themselves.  And in this series, keeping pressure on the net and on Luongo, has certainly been one of the greatest keys to the Hawks’ success.  So why should Luongo expect a classier version of play than his own team engages in?  And why should he expect an opposing team to change his diapers?  Just because your save percentage has gone below .900 doesn’t mean you get to be a crybaby.  So to Roberto Luongo I say: WAH!  Tell it to your mama.

As for the overall play in this series so far, I’m surprised there haven’t been more scuffles.  What, no dirty hits, cheap shots, or jerseying from Kevin Bieksa?  What, no hair pulling from Alex Burrows?  What, no reason for Ben Eager and Dustin Byfuglien to beat the stuffing out of you two?  Bummer.  Well, there’s always next season!

And hats off to Dustin Byfuglien and Jonathan Toews for their hat tricks in this series!  Victory is the best revenge.  Yes, who wouldn’t prefer a couple of hat tricks (or even a Gordie Howe hat trick) to just a donnybrook?  It also shows you what Jonathan Toews is capable of when he doesn’t have to babysit Patrick Kane at every turn.  As Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told The Hockey News, “to me the guy you build the franchise around is the Toews kid…He’s a will machine. He just keeps coming and keeps coming…”  And that’s why he has more points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs than any other. (Yes, even more than leading NHL scorer Henrik Sedin!…Nelson Muntz finger point and “Ha! Ha!”)

And finally, there is a little bit of vindication for Huet haters (or Huet dislikers) like myself.   Some have been afraid of the backlash and so haven’t been vocal about the Hawks needing a new net minder, but the sentiment was still there.  I’m just sorry the Hawks wasted so much of this season trying to beat a dead horse.  Lots of fans knew that given a chance, Antti Niemi would rise to the challenge and be a great net minder.  I’m just grateful the Hawks organization figured that out in time for the playoffs.  Sorry baby Huey.  I think your tenure in Chicago may be over.

So, da be, da be, da be, that’s all folks… at least for now.  But remember Canuckleheads…stay classy!

P.S.  Oh yeah, and stop calling Byfuglien “Buffy.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Chicago Blackhawks, Jim Cornelison, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.