VERSTEEG! for President!

Huet has a long way to go before we can say he is good enough. How many times does he get beat high and to the glove? Turnovers and fast breaks will happen to every team, but it is the goalie who can make saves in those situations that we can count on for a playoff run.

Props to Sopel and Hammer – GREAT game tonight. I quit counting how many times 51 got beat on the boards and/or passed to nowhere. Upside to 51 tonight, no pirouettes.

Whatever it was, the Hawks just looked tired tonight. I felt they were outworked for much of the game. In fact, I thought Colorado looked like our guys from last year. Maybe not the speed, but the work ethic. (And Barker looks just lost in the defensive end.)

That said, VERSTEEG!, Sopel, and Keith stood out. Huet did a good job. Not much blame for any of the goals. The Hawks got away with a few things (I thought the Avs had an argument for goaltender interference on the Barker goal, and Hammer’s high stick to the face that was missed) but that happens just about every game for one team or the other. Hammer also looked good.

And maybe I missed an update, but wasn’t that Josh Mora working the studio after the game? I thought he was gone…

I like the gray and black. Keith is meh. I think it’s the slicked-down hair that puts me off.

And I just saw a photo of Buff on the Blackhawks site. Oh my GOD. Where the heck did he find that bright red suit? It made me LOL.

gallery link He’s photo 7.

First, thank CHRIST for that extremely much needed confidence boosting shoot-out for our boy Huet. He’ll come around with those kinds of mental helpers. I’m saddened to hear about the boos. That’s just something less than classy. If it was March, okay, but come on.

Barker needs a good talking to. His play has been unusual for him and when I heard him talking about what a great first period we played during the intermission between one and two it spoke volumes as to where his mental game is at. Yes, you got the goal. No, you weren’t at home for a large portion of the night (or any of the previous 6 games either).

Toews = Tank. What a workhorse!

I have to wonder if the league isn’t going to review the dental work Hjalmarsson performed on Tucker. There’s little doubt the lippy sonofabitch didn’t have it coming, but the replay clearly showed the brutality. The Swedish wonder is playing fantastic and probably saved a timely goal (perhaps even the game?) with the face-smash but holy dinah. Maybe Tucker said something about the ref’s mom or daughter because he was standing right on the other side of the back of the net in the replay and staring right at the incident but didn’t use the whistle. I really hope there isn’t a suspension coming down the pipe.

Hawks won the game even though the Hawks did not score on a 5on3 and the Avs did. The game was exciting (with the exception of what looked like jetlag and some questionable defensive zone passing) and I don’t have a problem with the Madhouse theme. It would be nice if they flashed on and off when the lights are low during the intro’s and the anthem. The bars are nice if you have friends going to the game and you don’t have seats together. Or if you just happen to be sitting next to a loud obnoxious Detroit-river-sucking-Scum-fan and you don’t want to get your white Hawks jersey all bloody while inflicting bodily harm upon the poor lost front-runner. As frustrating as Huet and Campbell may be sometimes, no one should boo them before the home opener.

In the end the Hawks grabbed the 2 points they desperately needed against an inferior opponent and although the Hawks did win tonight it would be easy to suggest that this game should’ve never been in doubt, yet after Tucker (the Avs eighth shooter) scored to give the them a 3-2 advantage in the shootout the Hawks stood directly in the eyes of defeat once again knowing full well that once again they had outplayed their opponent yet had yet to receive the proper reward justifying their efforts. Enter Kopecky. Nothing special, nothing fancy, he just actually shot the puck instead of making 10 moves before deeking which hadn’t worked since the Hawks 2nd shooter Versteeg. After another Avs shooter stick-handled himself into submission, resulting of him going into the net as opposed to the puck , Ladd swiftly followed Kopecky’s lead and shot the puck resulting in a Hawks win. Add to the fact that the first goal never would have happened in the first place if was not for Kopecky’s beautiful screen on Barker’s bullet and that his line was beligerent on the forecheck and created many scoring chances (Fraser’s came oh-so-close) concludes that for once I have to diagree on the player of the game and give to Kopecky for he was good all night not on just a couple of plays.

Mentioned this during the game thread that Barker has been dreadful throughout the season so far and is looking more and more liike trade bait for I do have the sneaky suspiction that Stan is chomping at the bit to make a significant deal. Sopel (mostly due to extremely low expectations) has been impressive so far and blocked, most likely, two goals and has been reliable on the penalty-kill which is key moving forward. Less minutes in any capacity for Keith and Seabrook will be beneficial for the Hawks down the road. Versteeg has been playing like a man posessed and at least realizes that this year is an 82-game tryout for most players with the signings of Keith, Kane and Toews coming in the off-season. Make no mistake players are going to be shipped out and their performance this year will ultimately dictate who stays and who goes.

And to all my fellow patriots a wish you all a Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

This is going to be the hot-button topic all season so why not make another post devoted to the much maligned Huet. Not all 3 goals could be categorized as his fault mind you but nonetheless he wasn’t spectacular either. The first goal many pin on Barker’s horrible outlet and justifyably so, but look at the replay Heut couldn’t have bobbled that rebound any worse than what he did and once again showed he severely lacks the ability to control any of his rebounds. Bad rebound… Goal, tie game. The 2nd goal was a beautiful tip by Wolski that I doubt many NHL goaltenders would’ve stopped so Huet gets a freebie on that one. The 3rd goal was really awful as Huet looked as if he was guessing on the play, guessed right and still muffed the save and looked embarrassed as he should have after letting that one slip by. 3 goals on 8 shots will not do for any team in any league and just adds more fuel to the fire that the Hawks are starting to shop for his replacement (think of all the money Stan could save by switching to Giguere?…tell me who’s got your money?)

After a 3rd period where Huet never seen the puck and an OT that followed along the same lines it was off to the shootout. The Shootout started exactly the way many of us Hawks fans feared it would as Huet looked dazed and confused in goal as the Avs scored twice on 3 shots and had Wolski concentrated more on Huet rather than making Sportscentre he would’ve realized that Huet was flat on his stomach like a newborn trying to crawl for the first time. He looked awful, but after Kane was stopped by Anderson a light suddenly went on like “if I look bad on another shot here it may be over for me very quickly” and all of a sudden he started to look comfortable and confident which was a complete 180 from what the Hawks had seen so far this year from Huet like he morphed into his Game 5 body. Don’t know what it was but the Hawks sure hope he stays that way for the rest of the season. All in all a better effort from Huet but given his past 2 performances, how couldn’t he?

Skille back to Rockford after FIVE minuts of playing time..??

He keeps getting Aaron Johnsoned by Q…i dont get it.

(Apologize in advance for the general vagueness of this post)

Somewhere in a review of Thursday’s game, not entirely sure where, but it was discussed that Q said something to the effect of if you don’t score on a 5 on 3 if you have it, your odds of winning aren’t very good. They (the writers of whatever article I was reading) then mentioned that there was no way of knowing what kind of record teams have when missing 5 on 3 chances.

Along with the multitude of other stats on the back of the CI, I’d like to see the Hawks’ record when not scoring on a 5 on 3. Wonder if anybody else was curious about that or just me.