No Tricks: Need Goals! No Goals

After scoring eight goals last game against the New Jersey Devils, you'd think the Hawks could score at least one goal, nope! After a scoreless first period where the Blackhawks looked competitive, the Blues scored three straight in the second period and one more in the third to coast to a 4-0 victory at the UC Sunday afternoon. Another painful loss at home!

Takeaways:

• In the second, it felt like the Blues were toying with the Hawks, playing a game of "keep away" for much of the period. Giveaway after giveaway cost the team with numerous unforced errors from the home side.
• Speaking of unforced errors, the d-pairing of Caleb Jones and Connor Murphy were on the ice for every goal (McCabe might have been on for one?). They coughed up the puck or were forced off the puck in their own zone on more than a couple occasions and makes you want to yell, "get the f**cking puck out!!". The rest of the defense played okay, considering. Seth Jones was fine, Jake McCabe returned, Regula gets overwhelmed at times, but he's been steady and Isaak Phillips just called up from Rockford, played a safe and efficient game.
• Without Fleury in goal, this game could have been a runaway a lot sooner. He made some amazing stops and sometimes it was the second or third chances that went in. Especially while shorthanded, the Blues controlled the play and had Fleury moving side to side to side to side most of the game. I fear the blowouts could become even more frequent if Fleury gets traded at the deadline. Doesn't help that your team can't score in front of you. This season against the Blues in four games, the Hawks have given up 12 goals, while only scoring 4 goals and were shut out twice!
•  Just a random thought, but with the Jones brothers (Seth & Caleb) and Phillips on the back end, it meant that 3 of 6 (50%) of the Hawk's defencemen in the game were black. Not sure how often or at all if that's happened.

• Unfortunately, there weren't many highlights for the Hawks on the ice, but at least upstairs in the broadcast booth, Pat and Eddie were back together. Midway through the third, Caley and Colby said, "How about some desperation, it's kids day at the United Center give the kids something, some desperation", Eddie added, "You need a push-back for the great fans at the United Center", Pat followed with, "for all these great young fans, you don't want the ball pit and bouncy house to be the highlight of the day! Classic Pat!
  

Double Hat Tricks: Want Goals? We Got Goals!

 

"Hat-trick" Kane completes the hat-trick into an empty net

From a fan standpoint, it was an exciting game, from a goalie's point of view, not so much. Thirteen goals were scored between the Chicago Blackhawks and the New Jersey Devils and fortunately for the Hawks they scored eight of them. A see-saw battle with the teams exchanging goals, scoring in bunches. The Hawks opened the scoring, then the Devils scored two straight to make it 2-1 after the first period. Then, with help from the power-play (3 power-play goals!), the Hawks scored 3 (making it 4-2), the Devils 2 (4-4), Hawks 2 (6-4), Devils 1 (6-5), then 2 more into an empty net (8-5). Lots of goals and lots of hats!

Random thoughts:

• Both Patrick Kane and Brandon Hagel scored hat tricks for the Hawks with their third into the empty net. The last time two Hawks scored hat tricks in the same game was in 2003 with Eric Daze and Steve Sullivan completing the task. A nice way for Hagel to celebrate his 100th game in the NHL.
• Kevin Lankinen made his return to the Hawks lineup in his first game since January 22 because of an injured hand. Despite allowing five goals, he made some timely saves and didn't get much help from a depleted d-core who were without Calvin DeHaan and Jake McCabe and lost Murphy briefly after taking a big hit. Speaking of goaltending, the Devils have experienced loads of trouble in net. Injuries have hurt their starters and they've been struggling to keep a consistent starter healthy. Definitely a weakness.
• Nice to hear Pat Foley back doing play-by-play during the TV broadcast. With all the others auditioning for Pat's job, his voice is part of the joy of listening and watching to a Blackhawks telecast. The combo of Pat and Eddie Olczyk will be sadly missed next season and hopefully Eddie can do as many Hawks games as possible. It was first game with Caley Chelios doing colour commentary and she did a very commendable job filling Eddie shoes. She's much more pleasant to listen to than Colby Cohen (though he's ok) and her work as an analyst in the studio with Pat Boyle this season has been a breathe of fresh air. She's been excellent!
• Jerk of the game: PK Subban. Though he was pretty much unnoticeable most of the game, PK was up to his old tricks with a cheap-shot on Brandon Hagel as he scored into the empty net in the dying seconds of the game. As Hagel flew past Subban full speed, PK tripped Hagel and he crashed into the net. An extremely dangerous play, if the net wasn't there he would have crashed into the boards. Notice how Hagel has been the recipient of so many cheap-shots from opponents? His hard working, never stop working, "nose over the puck mentality" play clearly annoys opponents and it's too bad the Hawks don't have more players that play that way.

 

Remember when a first period three goal lead was safe? Not so much nowadays and the Winnipeg Jets proved that last night. Up 3-0 after the first, the Jets gave up 6 straight in the second and third period. The Avs are a much superior team, especially at home, so being down 3 wasn't a big deal. The Jets gotta get out of this current streak of losses if they have any hope at all of making the playoffs. In a related story, I received my playoff package yesterday. I might save more money this season.

Proof Of Vaccination: Respect

 As a season ticket holder of the Winnipeg Jets, I received and responded to the letter/survey about the upcoming provincial health orders that would include lifting the proof of vaccination to attend games. The survey asked: Are you very comfortable, comfortable, uncomfortable or very uncomfortable with the lifting of vaccination proof on March 1, 2022? It followed with: When would you feel comfortable with the lifting of restrictions and I believe the options were March 1, end of March, end of April or after April? 

The response from the 3900 responses were: 42% were comfortable/very comfortable having the proof of vaccination lifted on March 1, while 55% indicated they were uncomfortable/very uncomfortable. Of those that were uncomfortable, 90% would prefer the vaccination proof stay in place until at least April 30. (The full letter from True North)

Takeaways:

• Personally, my response was I was uncomfortable about the proof of vax being lifted March 1 and I indicated end of April was my preference for it to stay in place. My reason is that at full 100% capacity we are crammed into this already too small space (yes, the concourse, lineups, washrooms included), I don't feel comfortable about having unmasked, unvaccinated fans standing face to face, sitting side by side just yet. There is some comfort with the fact everyone is vaccinated and I will still wear a mask (this will be an option March 15th) when I'm in the concourse and lineups.
  

• I commend True North for taking the time to survey the fans. The fans are the ones that are paying to see their product and the satisfaction (and comfort level) of their fans should be their number one priority. The organization has following the provincial and federal laws to do with COVID protocols and they have been transparent with their protocols and rules and so far it has worked. They have responded to their surveys and have acted on the responds from that feedback. When the capacity at games were at 250 people or 50%, True North was taking a serious financial hit. When there was rumours and talks that the team would play some of their home games in another location (Saskatoon? North Dakota?) to help coup some losses, that didn't have any capacity restrictions, the team surveyed the options of their season ticket holders whether they would support the idea. The response was negative (myself included) and the team respected that feedback by playing without fans or limited capacity in Winnipeg.

• As a fan of hockey, it was tough to see postponements or games without fans, but you have to do what you have to do. True North is out to make money, but to abandon your fan base would have been a big mistake. There is a small vocal minority of fans, even season ticket holders that haven't been able to attend because they aren't vaccinated or don't want to wear a mask and as a result the Jets might not get a full sell out this season because of it. Some of the unhappy fan comments on social media are laughably predictable: "Shame on you True North, where is freedom of choice?", "My choice is to not give this organization a dime ever again. The absolute ridiculousness of this call is beyond my comprehension!", "Glad we canceled our season tickets! Shame on you for continuing to enable this discrimination.", "I will not be supported any discriminating places. Sad day when you realize just how segregated canada still is", "This is absolutely shameful, this entire time they’ve use the excuse that they just need to follow public health orders. And now they show their true colours by promoting discrimination and segregation. Shame on them for banning my children and I"....fortunately there are more comments that support True North's position. I would guess that the fully vaccinated fans that have been attending the games this season don't mind showing their proof of vaccine since they have been already.
  

This is those fan's choice, but I am glad True North won't give into complaints and "boycotts" of the dissatisfied and stick to what they feel is safest for the majority of their customers instead of just the all mighty dollar. Respect!

Hawks Lose Again: No Afternoon Delight At Home

 

 

The title says it all, the Hawks lost another home game this time to one of the better teams in the league, the Florida Panthers. Even without former head coach Joel Quenneville, the Panthers have stayed close to the top of the standing with former Hawks player, Andrew Brunette behind the bench. The Hawks are digging themselves an even bigger hole for their fading playoff hopes, they were close, but a loss is a loss.

Random Observations:

• The Hawks actually kept up with the Cats for the most part, out shooting them 11-3 in the first period. It was closer than the score indicated as the Panther scored 2 empty net goals after the Hawks made it close at 3-2. If the Hawks came back to win, the turning point might have been when the Panthers seemed to score to make it 4-1 midway through the third, but it was disallowed because of an offside. It was only a few moments later the Hawks made it 3-2.
• Jake McCabe left the game early with an unknown injury and Murphy left the bench briefly after taking a cross check to the face. This left Caleb Jones to play over 23 minutes, which is scary, but he scored the second Hawks goal. Defensively, the Hawks played well, so that's a positive.
  

• Jerk of the game: Radko Gudas. It was no surprise Gudas took a pair of penalties for late shots on Hagel and DeBrincat. That punch to the face of Hagel was so unnecessary and the fact both Hagel and Gudas were penalized is crazy. The league should clean up crap like that. Next time you watch a Panthers game, watch how many cheapshots Gudas lays on smaller players (it's always smaller skilled players!). He's been previously suspended for hits on Mathieu Perrault (10 games), Nikita Kucherov (2 games) and several other suspensions. What a jerk!
  

I'm out of town for a couple days, but I'll be back before the Hawks continue their home-stand against New Jersey on Friday night.

Double Shutouts: But Only One Team Wins

So, in the previous game the Blackhawks gave up seven goals against the Blue Jackets and if I told you the Hawks shut out the Stars in regulation and OT, you would think it was a win, right? Unfortunately, the Hawks failed to score as well and the game was decided in the skills competition aka: the shootout. Both goalies stubbornly gave up a goal a piece during the 3 shooter round and it took extra shooters to decide a winner. Jacob Peterson (who?) the 12th shooter, ended the game 1-0 with the Hawks still coming away with one point.

Random Thoughts:

• A scoreless game you would think might not be exciting and for the most part it wasn't. It was dull, especially the first two periods and it never got interesting until OT. Both teams has some chances, with Kane and DeBrincat with point blank chances, but for the most part the Hawks offense was pretty inoffensive. The Stars had more quality opportunities and this is another game that Fleury kept them in and earned the point. He made an amazing stop off Hintz in the dying seconds of the second period that looked like a sure goal and if he scored it would have been devastating, as goals at the end (and beginning) of a period have been the Hawks Achilles heel all season.
• Speaking of Jacob's or Jake's, interesting decision by the Hawks having defensive defenseman, Jake McCabe taking part in the shootout. Maybe, coach King had a hunch, but why not Dach or Seth Jones, if we're choosing a d-man? The shootout is a crap-shoot anyways, so why not.
  
• Jerk of the game: Since his scoring skills have been slowing degrading, I've been noticing the Stars, Jamie Benn has been becoming a bit of a jerk. Last night, after MacKenzie Entwistle had his face rammed into the corner glass by the Star's bench as he skated past their bench on the way back to the Hawks bench, Benn squirted Entwistle in the face with water. It's not a big deal, but it's a jackass move, especially as captain.. He earlier gave rookie, Lukas Reichel a late, cheap hit which has been more common with Benn lately.
  

 

Up next: Jets/Oilers, Saturday afternoon; Hawks/Panthers, Sunday afternoon.

One Win, One Loss: Down Two Goals Early, Now What?

 

Both the Blackhawks and the Jets were down 2-0 in the early part of the first period in their games and I was wondering, is scoring the first (and second) goal in a game overrated? You generally hear during telecasts about the importance of the first goal is and the top teams in the league have very high percentages of victory after getting a lead, but I've been seeing more and more games where the first goal is not a factor. Last night, the Jets were down early, but considering they were playing the predictably horrible Seattle Kraken, it was only a matter of time before the better team won. The Blackhawks on the other hand have been making it a habit this season (and last year!) of digging themselves a hole early and though they put up a valiant effort tying the game and getting within a goal twice, they kept allowing the Blue Jackets to maintain a 2 goal cushion until the empty netter that made it 7-4. So frustrating!

Random Thoughts:

• I think the turning point to the Hawks/Jackets game was after the Hawks tied it 2-2, the Jackets scored late in the period then scored in the opening seconds of the second period to make it 4-2. It was a weak goal shot from the corner by Laine that trickled past Arvid Soderblom. A review clearly showed (see photo) the puck completely crossing the line. Not a stellar game from Soderblom, who was in net to give Fleury a break in this first of a back to back. I recall a game earlier this year when the Hawks gave up a goal right at the end of a period and opened up the next period giving up 2 goals in the first half minute. In total game time, they gave up 3 goals in under a minute!
  
• Speaking of, what's the plan if the Hawks trade Fleury at the trade deadline? Will they ride Soderblom and Kevin Lankinen or will they try to get another goalie back in a trade? If the team wants to drop to the bottom of the standings for the lottery pick, this would be the way to go. In recent years, they've been letting super quality goalies get away for next to nothing in return (Lehner, Crawford), what could Fleury yield?
  
• Similiarly to the Jets, Mark Schiefele, Patrik Laine is getting hot after a slow start to the season. Granted he missed time with injury, covid and the death of his father, so this is making the Laine/DeBois trade look slightly more even. He netted a hat trick and he extended his scoring steak to 8 games with 10 goals and 6 assists in the span.
• What are we expecting tonight? Well. Fleury will be back in net, but the Stars will be rested and hungry chasing a playoff spot. The Hawks better start on time tonight!!
  

Next game: Hawks/Stars in Chicago 7:30 pm CST

Disappointment, Redemption And Jubilation: Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad!

First of all, congratulations to the 2022 Canadian Women's Olympic Hockey team for their gold medal win last night! As usual, an amazing game and this time the Canadian women regained their status as the best in the world. It was a big day for hockey for our country and my city and as I said in the title, 2 out of 3 of those games went well.

Disappointment: The Canadian men's team didn't fare as well as the women and their games ended the same day as the women (at least in my time zone) with a loss to Sweden in the quarter finals.

•  Did we really think the Canadian team (and the US) had a hope in winning gold? Without the NHL players, the European teams had a much larger pool of talent playing in their leagues. There are still a lot of really good players that haven't come to North America and it sure showed in the depth of their lineups. Former Hawks, Marcus Kruger and Lucas Wallmark were in Sweden's lineup with Wallmark scoring the winning goal against Canada. The medals will be won by a European country, just like the old days.
  
• Please don't attack or blame the players online after the loss! It wasn't their fault they were thrown into this mess and they gave a valiant effort. Keep your snide comments to yourself and move on. The NHL season is starting to ramping up so there is lots of exciting hockey happening. 
• During the broadcast, as Canada was losing, the camera showed Shane Doan, Canada's GM, "he's not used to losing..." I had to laugh out loud because he played for Phoenix/Arizona, right? This was followed with "as a member of Team Canada" Oh...ok.
  

Redemption: The Jets redeemed themselves, at least temporarily with a convincing win against one of the top teams in the league, division rivals, the Minnesota Wild 6-3. This reinforces the theory that the Jets seem to play to the level of their competition beating the better teams in the league and losing to the bottom dwellers (Chicago, Arizona, Philadelphia, Buffalo etc.)...oh oh, the Kraken are in town tonight!

• Good news for the Jets, Mark Scheifele is starting to finally heat up. A hat trick last night and goals in his last 5. If Scheifs and Wheels can stay hot their chances look pretty good. A much needed shot, the Connor's can't do it themselves.
  
• This was the first game of increased capacity and about 12,500 fans showed up. What a difference with more fans in the building and the atmosphere seemed to be more pumped up than previous games. Still a lot of empty seats, but a more accurate measure of the fan's warming up to returning will be this weekend against the Oilers. It'll be interesting to see if True North will stay with current restrictions once the proof of vaccine and mask laws are lifted or if the unmasked anti-vaxxers will return. Yuck! Stay tuned!
  

 

Jubilation: What can be further said, the games between Canada and the US seem to go either way, but this year the Canadian's had a much more dominant Olympics than the Americans, crushing the competition. The Americans barely beat the Czechs and Finns in the quarters and semis and I wasn't convinced they could beat Canada in the finals. I think goaltending was a major factor for both wins against the Americans, as the Canadians were out-shot (quite badly in round play) and Desbiens clearly outplayed Cavallini with the Canadian's scoring timely goals. Too little, too late for the US.

Up next: Jets/Kraken and Hawks/Blue Jackets

Hawks Beat The Jets: That Turned Out Better Than Expected!

 

 ...If you're a Hawks fan! If you're a Jets fan this was another setback during this up and down season. After a successful road trip, the Jets disappointed the half capacity crowd losing to a team below them in the standings and there aren't too many of them, at least in the Western Conference. Personally, as a Hawks first fan, this capped off a perfect night, not only because it was a jab back at the fans around me at the game, which was very satisfying, but also I had the opportunity to sit closer up the action, so it was a thrill in so many levels! If the Hawks can put together a good solid defensive game more often, they would definitely have more wins. Fleury once again was a big factor, but the defense kept their coverage and didn't hand out too many giveaways. They kept the Jets from gaining much momentum even after their only goal and overall the Hawks played a near-perfect road game.

 

Takeaways:

•  Not sure what's up with the Jets. They seem to be playing better on the road, but their lack of any intensity is costing them games at home. To be honest, it was a dull game and a the road team took advantage of it. Is it the near empty building because of the COVID restrictions? We'll see starting on Wednesday with the elimination of capacity restrictions where the Jets potentially can have a full arena. I doubt they'll sell-out, but the larger crowd should help...or not?
• This will be a key week for the Jets as they play a set of 3 games in 4 nights at home against teams they should beat. They'll be in tough against the Wild, but it has been done recently and you can't lose against the Kraken and Oil in your building, though they did lose to the Hawks. I losing streak will be very bad timing. We'll see what Jets team shows up
  
• Speaking of pivotal points in the schedule, the Hawks begin a six game home-stand starting on Thursday against the Jackets. If they have any faint hope of making the post-season, winning a majority of those games is essential. Otherwise, figuring out who to trade away before the trade deadline will be the main thing on the team's mind.
• I stood against the glass during warmup and you really appreciate the skill and speed of the players. The size of the players astounds me and the split second decisions they have to make before they get drilled into the boards is something you don't experience on TV or in the upper deck seats. I do have an appreciation for my usual seats in the upper levels because you can see the whole play, seeing the plays develop you maintain a sense of seeing all the action. Sitting close to the ice surface apart from the play directly in front of you (in our case close to the face off dot in the Hawks end), your view is obstructed anytime the play is in the other end, especially along the near boards. Your sense of perspective and depth is very challenging and you have to reply on the jumbotron for a lot of the action.
• It was a huge thrill to watch Marc-Andre Fleury, hopefully not the last time in a Hawks jersey! He's fun to watch, during the warmup and the game, there's so much going on with him and it's obvious how much he loves the game and he looks like he's having a good time. The last off the ice during the pregame was Hagel, Kane and Fleury...telling isn't it?
  

Welcome back!! Happy Valentines Day!

It's been almost 5 years since the last post on this blog and I thought what better day to reboot this thing is on Valentines Day. Actually, another reason for this date is it's the second meeting of the season between the Winnipeg Jets and the Chicago Blackhawks. The "new" focus for River City Blackhawk is on the two teams in the NHL I'm most familiar with. I have an invested interest with both teams, firstly, the Jets are my hometown team, the one I support by purchasing season tickets since the day the team returned to Winnipeg. I watched and followed the Jets since I was old enough to attend a professional game from the first year the Jets were in the WHA, through the rest of the 70's, 80's and mid-90's. For a period of time during the early 80's when I was in high school, I bought season tickets with a friend (with my own $$$$). So I'm a pretty hardcore Jets fans, but to be honest I don't love the Jets, but I was maybe a little more interested in the visiting teams. I got to see a lot of the greats from the era including, Hull, Howe, Cheevers, Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Savard (all of them)...you get the idea. 

While I have more of a casual relationship with the Jets, my true love is the Blackhawks! Recently our relationship has been tested with some seriously disturbing shenanigans from the organization. I've been a patient, dedicated obsessed fan since the early 70's and I never thought in my lifetime I would actually see the Hawks win the cup, but to win 3 in one decade was way beyond expectations. I stream all their games (home and away) and when they come to town I try to secure tickets. Tonight's game is no exception and fortunately this much delayed game (thanks to covid postponement) will be played at 50% capacity and I'm lucky to get this game. Speaking of lucky, I will watch the game (with my daughter) close up in a section closest to the ice, as opposed to my usual nosebleed seats. 

 Hopefully, it'll be a good game as both teams are trending in different directions with the Jets gaining 5 of 6 points in their last 3 games since the all-star break, while the Hawks have been consistently inconsistent beating the Oilers, (convincingly enough to get their coach fired) then playing like crap against the Blues on Saturday. Speaking of fired, the last time the Jets and Hawks met, the Hawks played so bad it ended up being Jeremy Colliton's last game as head coach. 

My goal with this blog is to give focus to the Jets and the Hawks, hopefully with daily updates to analyze and criticize the teams performance. I will not necessarily provide game summaries or highlights because there are sites that do a much better job at that. Let's see how this goes! Go Hawks!