Hawks Hockey Hoiden

As I said in yesterday’s post, referee Dan O’Halloran killed the Hawks in games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  He called so many penalties on the Hawks while ignoring so many others from the Flyers that it would be safe to argue that O’Halloran alone cost the Hawks games 3 and 4.

In tonight’s game 5, it looked like Dustin Byfuglien agreed when during a check of Flyers’ d-man Kimmo Timonen at about the 10 or 11 minute mark of the 3rd period, he took out Dan O’Halloran as well.  Two goons with one stone.  It was a thing of beauty!  O’Halloran seemed to know that hit was meant for him too by the look on his face.  Karma can be tricky Danny boy, so you just better watch out.  The hockey gods don’t seem to like your intentional missed calls on the Flyers.

Finally, just to add insult to injury, Hawks’ Dustin Byfuglien scored the last goal of the 7-4 victory over the Flyers with an empty-netter in the last minute-and-a-half of the game with Dan O’Halloran having to rule it a good goal.  So sweet.  Go Hawks!  Get that cup!

P.S. Hats off to Q for taking Big Buff and Kaner off the first line and moving Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky up with Toews.  It totally threw off the Flyers.  They couldn’t put the bullseye on any one player and with Buff checking up and down like a mad man, it was discombobulating to the Flyers.  Hopefully Niklas Hjalmarsson can figure his game out by game 6 though, because we need him blocking shots.  Don’t know what’s up with him, but he has that deer-in-headlights look about him.

Line changing seems to be the name of the game of late for the Hawks. On the Jonathan Toews line now is Patrick Kane again and Troy Brouwer.  Hmm, not bad in terms of forechecking and all out aggressiveness.  And how about that Madden line with Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien on wing; Madden who has steadily increased his face-off wins and overall performance?  And Jordan Hendry replaced Tomas Kopecky (Bout time somebody did!) on the Colin Fraser line.  Has Coach Q finally solidified the offensive lines?  Well, let’s hope so.  Let’s hope Q has finally found a winning combination. (more…)

Tensions ran high tonight in the Hawks’ 7-2 win over the Sharks.  Coach Quenneville was barking early at a missed boarding call wherein Tomas Kopecky was hit from behind and his helmet went flying; Brian Campbell got booed as he always does at the HP Pavillion (and I always try so hard not to laugh at that and am never successful); the penalty-kill unit had an awesome night, even for them; and of course Marian Hossa made his debut with the Blackhawks.  Boy did he ever.  (more…)

Games like tonight’s Hawks/Canucks match-up where the teams are scoreless even after the 2nd period can kind of drag on.  It feels more like tennis when you’re watching the boys skate back and forth.  But there was still some good scrappin’ to keep things lively, and things lit up in the 3rd period.  Seems to me like ever since that now infamous hair pulling incident, these two teams just can’t seem to get along. <chuckle> (more…)

Tim Sassone, my favorite writer over there at The Hockey News was spot on in his blog yesterday when he mentioned the ‘R’ word — Rockford.  But why bring up just one forward? (And if it has to be just one, it should be Jack Skille, no question.  Looking at Andrew Ebbett, you have to ask why Jack Skille was ever sent back down.)  I believe it was a commenter on Sassone’s blog that said that bringing up some boys (that’s plural) from Rockford might shake some of these guys just collecting paychecks from their collective reveries.  (more…)

Karma (or whatever you want to call it) can be a tricky thing.  Look at the Curse of the Bambino.  It would be 86 years (1918-2004) until the Red Sox won another World Series, supposedly thanks to the sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  Similarly, look at the Curse of the Billygoat.  The Cubs haven’t been to the World Series since 1945 allegedly thanks to Billy Sianis’ smelly goat (and it ain’t lookin’ like they’ll be returning any time soon).  Could it be that the misfortune-plagued Blackhawks have also cursed themselves for the goings on in the off season?  (more…)