Hawks Hockey Hoiden » Pat Foley

Tiny Cracks That Show

hhh — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:06:46 +0000

A few posts ago, I wrote that it appeared that the Blackhawks still had bats in their belfry. Many a hockey pundit criticized Jonathan Toews in particular because he had been off for a couple games. I guess Tazer, the work horse, just couldn’t be off even for a game or two, even though Patrick Kane has, in the past, gone month after month turning in lousy performances, while no one but the fans would acknowledge Kane’s slumps. (Although who can blame sports reporters for treating Kane with kitty gloves? No one wants to lose their press pass.) For instance, remember the last time they tried Kane out at center? He got bulldozed. Even now Kane’s average face-off win percentage is 50% at best, but people seem not to notice things like lost face-offs if Kane scores a few goals.

Last night’s 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames was conspicuous in regards to Patrick Kane for a few additional reasons. First, it was very obvious that Patrick Sharp set Patrick Kane up for a very sweet goal in the third period. Even Pat Foley noted that Patrick Sharp could just as easily have taken that shot himself, but he “unselfishly” passed off to Kane for the goal. Was Patrick Sharp being “unselfish” really, or was he just doing what he had been instructed to do? It’s no secret Patrick Kane has trouble taking the puck to the net. It’s also no secret that Patrick Kane will give up the puck if harassed by opponents even slightly. Heck, I’ve been writing about it for several seasons now. In fact, much of this blog space has been taken up with my complaints about how Jonathan Toews shouldn’t have had to babysit Patrick Kane when Kane was on Toews’ line. Not only was it ridiculous for Toews to have to prop up Kane, but I think Toews got tired of it too and may have asked for Kane to be put on a separate line…

…Which leads me to the second most conspicuous thing from last night’s Blackhawks-Flames game: After the game, Captain Jonathan Toews gave every one of the Blackhawks a fist bump coming off the ice except for Patrick Kane. Subtle? Yes. Yet it speaks volumes. So I’ll say it. I think Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews may have had a falling out. And all this fan can say is that I don’t blame Jonathan Toews one bit for being fed up as Patrick Kane’s babysitter. I would also add that it is very apparent that Jonathan Toews is not happy on this team this season, and understandably so.

Jonathan Toews is a superstar, no doubt. But as captain, you can so clearly see he puts his team first and himself second. Toews could be a Sidney Crosby or an Alex Ovechkin and take all the glory for himself, but he is selfless and has instead taken a step back and has supported his teammates instead of becoming a glory hound. Still, there are limits, and if Toews was asked to babysit Patrick Kane in order to make Kane look better (i.e. to carry Kane), well, that is absolutely unfair to Toews, captain or not.

Now I’m not trying to shrink heads here, but there is inarguably a team psychology to every team, and it looks like the Hawks have been psyched out all season. They win, but can you really say that they’re clean wins or that the Hawks look like a cohesive unit? And why don’t the Hawks salute the fans after home games anymore? Why don’t Toews and Kane do fan signings together anymore, or at all? Why are the Hawks doing less reaching out to the fans than they have in past seasons? Something’s not right here, and the cracks are starting to show.

The Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players

hhh — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:00:47 +0000

Wow, what happened last night in the Blackhawks’ season opener against the Dallas Stars? It would’ve been a shutout had Nick Leddy not crashed the net with sheer determination in the last few seconds of the game to score the Hawks’ lone goal. The final score was 2-1 Dallas, but it could’ve been so much worse given how the Hawks played. They did not appear to be well-conditioned at all. They could not match the Stars on their stamina, and even Jonathan Toews was left far behind on one of Patrick Sharp’s mad dashes to the net. And while Sharpy had a high-throttle game coming strong off of his emergency appendectomy, the rest of the team appeared tired and sluggish as early as the 2nd period.

Dallas was all over the Hawks with active sticks and they constantly cut off passing lanes, leaving the Hawks with only the option of crashing hard on the net, but none of the Hawks, save Nick Leddy and perhaps Patrick Sharp, were able to get anywhere near the net. You have to hand it to the Stars; they had killer D, and the Hawks weren’t up to the challenge with their sloppy passing and giveaways.

And while Eddie Olczyk, Pat Foley, and others repeatedly talked up net minder Corey Crawford, trying to downplay the potentiality for a sophomore slump, Corey did appear to be showing early signs of the dreaded sophomore slump in last night’s game. It’s like a no-hitter. While it’s in progress if you talk about the possibility of a no-hitter, you will inevitably jinx the pitcher. Yeah, well, if you repeatedly talk about the possibility of a goaltender’s sophomore slump before the season has even started, you’ll jinx him too. And while we’re talking goal tending, how in the world could the Hawks have given the back-up goal tending job to Ray Emery and sent Alexander Salak back down to Rockford? Baffling. Simply baffling.

Oh yeah, and what happened to the Hawks’ special teams last night? The power play unit couldn’t score at all, though the Stars gave them ample opportunities, and the PK couldn’t kill a fly let alone a penalty.

Well, there certainly have been some mighty big changes with the Blackhawks in the last two seasons, and the strain appears to have left the team not quite ready for prime time. Jonathan Toews said something to the effect of that he hadn’t been this excited for a season to start in a while. Unfortunately, when they make the players say things like that it usually means the opposite. Hopefully the season-opening loss to the Stars was just a fluke, but I’m afraid it may not have been.

Hawks v. Oilers: Khabby’s MIA and Bickell Rings His Own Bell

hhh — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:47:21 +0000

The most consistent thing about last night’s 5-2 win over the Oilers was the inconsistency of the officiating. Beyond all the missed hooking calls that were so numerous I lost count, there were a couple of missed boarding calls (i.e. dirty hits from behind). The weird thing is the refs didn’t allow any fights. So, in theory, the refs would allow dirty hits which had the potential to do damage, but they wouldn’t allow fighting ostensibly because fighting leads to injuries? Yeah, that makes sense.

Also how many interference calls were missed? I think I counted two times when I looked up and one of the Oil was holding a Hawk against the boards. Those are pretty obvious penalties to miss, if in fact you’re just missing them and not, say, overlooking them altogether.

And in terms of overlooking things, it’s really too bad that Bryan Bickell overlooked his own safety while open-ice checking Oiler Dustin Penner which resulted in Bickell slamming his head on the ice after tripping over Penner. It’s never a good sign when two of your own teammates (in this case Niklas Hjalmarsson and Troy Brouwer) have to help you off the ice. Bickell got his bell rung but good and is certain to have a substantial concussion. I hope that the Hawks management will remember how Bickell took one for the team and ask him back up when he stops seeing double (or triple or quadruple).

Ok that was the bad, now for the good stuff. How much of a nail-biter was it when Cristobal Huet made that awesome save in the 2nd period by coming out of the crease so far he was halfway to the blue line! At the same time you have to cringe because of course you never want to see your goalie that far out. Yikes! (It was good that Huet was performing so well last night and that Khabibulin was not in net for the Oil because seeing those two go head-to-head just feels really wrong somehow.)

Huet would again star in another nail-biting moment later in the 2nd period. With the clock showing 0.1 seconds left, Oiler Shawn Horcoff supposedly scored a goal. It wasn’t a pretty goal and had it stood it would’ve been called a garbage goal, but the War Room ruled a ‘no goal’ determining time had run out before the puck went in. Once again, Huet had another great night.

Jonathan Toews too had an excellent night. He had two goals — one in the first period and one in the third on a power play — and an assist. (Also to score were Kris Versteeg, Patrick Kane, and John Madden.) Tazer’s forechecking is now back to his pre-injury caliber so it’s nice to have him back all the way. It’s nice to have this team back…finally. Now, if the Hawks can keep up their winning streak on the road, they will make Hawks fans some very happy humans (as Pat Foley would say).

Hawks Need a Little Less Iron in Their Diet

hhh — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:33:49 +0000

In the last couple of games, we’ve heard the worst sound in the world: the “clink, clink, clink” off the iron as the Hawks have made some bad shots. It’s to be expected because the Flames are just that good on ‘D,’ harassing the puck away or harassing the Hawks while taking shots. But you know, that’s what you do in the playoffs. You up the ante. Unfortunately, the Hawks didn’t answer tonight in their 2-4 loss to the Flames.

While the team in general may have forgotten they were in the playoffs, Seabrook seemed to understand the up-the-ante mentality, making the big hits and masterfully blocking a humdinger of a shot for Khabibulin at the crease in the first period.

It’s also good to see the Hawks are using the power play better, with Patrick Sharp scoring a PP goal in the 1st period thanks to a nice pass from Jonathan Toews. Looks like Sharpie is back to his old self again, even checking a Flame or two with a nice how-do-you-do in passing. And as it was in the first game, Marty Havlat seemed to be one of the only ones who could take it to the net and score in the 3rd period. Again, that’s just good ‘D’ on the Flames’ part.

And while this game was overall lackluster, a special nod goes to penalty killer Adam Burish and the penalty kill unit. Although Bur should have known better than to cross-check Dion Phaneuf in the dwindling minutes of the game. That cheap shot started a kerfuffle (as Pat Foley likes to say) between Dustin Byfuglien, Matt Walker, Ben Eager and Rene Bourque, Jarome Iginla, and Dion Phaneuf, resulting in Dustin Byfuglien and Rene Bourque being sent to the dressing room*.

Clearly something went wrong tonight. Maybe the Hawks had jet lag. Maybe they just didn’t bring their ‘A’ game (to dust off an old trite sports expression). Well, whatever it was, hopefully the Hawks shake it off by Wednesday.

*Update: Though it wasn’t said at the time (probably because nobody, including the ref, the linesmen, and Toronto, knew what the heck was going on) apparently Dave Bolland, Ben Eager, and Dustin Byfuglien from the Hawks and Curtis Glencross and Rene Bourque from the Flames all received game misconduct calls for that end-of-the game donnybrook. Hopefully nobody gets suspended.

Did Pat Foley Jinx Khabby??

hhh — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:52:12 +0000

Nikolai Khabibulin almost had a shut-out in last night’s Blues/Hawks game. With the Hawks up 3-0 and three seconds left in the game, Pat Foley wondered if Khabby might just have a shut-out on his hands. Then, the unthinkable; the Blues scored at the last second. So, was it Pat Foley who jinxed Khabby right out of his shut-out?

Yeah Pat, don’t you know that the first rule of a no-hitter is that you don’t talk about the no-hitter? Well, that’s ok Pat. We still love you. In the future, just please don’t say the “s” word again until after the game is over, kay?

Also, for all those who badmouthed Matt Walker, I think his return last night showed just how important he is to the Hawks. Like when Duncan Keith was injured, Walker’s absence was greatly felt. So hopefully some people can admit when they’re wrong and will join me in welcoming him back.

And is Dave Bolland seriously injured??? According to the Hawks’ injury report on 4/1:

“Head coach Joel Quenneville said that Bolland is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and will not play Wednesday vs. St. Louis.”

When did that happen??? What a cruel, cruel April Fool’s Day joke! (Troy Brouwer is also day-to-day.)

But to get back to yesterday’s game, the game against the Blues is what you want to see heading into the playoffs (assuming the Hawks make it). While the offense can have a few off nights like the games versus the Canucks last Sunday and against the Canadiens Tuesday, I think the biggest hole is the lack of defense on the net. That’s what was so great about Matt Walker last night. He was there, on net, to block shots. And that, including seeing big Dustin Byfuglien and even Patrick Kane checking (or in Kaner’s case, attempting to check) was a sight for sore eyes.

Does Nobody Know What Goaltender Interference Is???

hhh — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:16:19 +0000

How is it that the goal that Oilers’ Ethan Moreau scored at the beginning of the 2nd period in tonight’s Hawks/Oilers game was able to stand? All that Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk seemed concerned with was whether it was a good goal or not. The bigger issue was that the “goal” was as a direct result of goaltender interference by Dustin Penner on Nikolai Khabibulin in the crease. I even looked it up in the NHL rulebook which states that a goal is disallowed, “When an attacking player has interfered with a goalkeeper in his goal crease.” So what did I miss? Better yet, how did the War Room in Toronto miss that?

Introducing the Five Minute Interference Call!

hhh — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:18:08 +0000

What was with that interference call on Cam Barker after he checked David Backes on the boards in the first period of the Hawks/Blues game tonight? Barker got a five-minute major penalty for that interference call. The hockey pundits said that interference is usually a minor penalty, meaning only two minutes, but has anyone ever seen interference called as a major penalty, meaning five minutes? Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk were even baffled at the interference being a major penalty, though Olczyk acknowledged later that per the rule book a major penalty can be called for interference; that it’s at the discretion of the official. Still, what about that hit merited a major penalty? (Oddly enough, history repeated itself in the 3rd period when Dustin Byfuglien got called for interference for the same exact kind of hit. Yet Byfuglien’s interference call was only a minor penalty.)

And how many times have we seen someone who doesn’t even have the puck get checked and interference isn’t even called? At least the puck was in the vicinity of Backes, though true enough, he hadn’t touched it. It’s just that Cam Barker didn’t time his hit well, that’s all.

…And things did not improve from there with the Hawks losing 2-0.