Saturday, December 31, 2011

Chicago Blackhawks Year in Review

2011 was a pretty good year for the Blackhawks. There were things they did well and things that they could've done much better.

The first memorable part of 2011 for the Blackhawks was Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Patrick Kane making the All-Star game. Patrick Sharp was a write-in and won the MVP trophy for the night by getting four goals.

The next memorable part of the year was the Blackhawks final day of the season. If they beat their bitter rivals, the Red Wings, they would be in the playoffs. They failed to do so, however, and had to wait and see if the Minnesota Wild would be the Dallas Stars. The Wild ended up winning and the Blackhawks made it to the playoffs. They would be playing the Vancouver Canucks, a team they had played the two previous playoff years.

The first three games of the series were lazy, unphysical, and plain bad. In the next three games, the Hawks were much better. Game 5 was probably the best game for the Hawks in the entire series. Game 6 was won by a Ben Smith overtime goal. As Blackhawks fans, including myself, celebrated I secretly thought to myself that the Blackhawks had hit their peak in the series. Game 7 started bad as the Blackhawks gave up an early goal. They stayed behind the whole game until with about a minute and half left, on the penalty kill, Hossa and Toews lead a little breakaway and Toews came up from lying on the ice shot the puck in, fell again, and then got up and celebrated. It was a true showing of what the Blackhawks captain can do. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks would not win the game despite Corey Crawford being fantastic in overtime.

Next was the long summer, something that the Blackhawks hadn't experienced in two summers. Players like Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith appreciated the rest and stepped up their game. New players were added including Steve Montador, Jamal Mayers, Daniel Carcillo, Sami Lepisto, and Sean O'Donnell. Crawford, Frolik, and Stalberg were all re-signed. It was a good offseason for Stan Bowman and the Hawks were ready for a good 2011-2012 season.

The season started okay, but got much better as the first month passed by. The Blackhawks not sit atop the standings and were the first to 50 points. Crawford and Emery are both playing fantastic. Toews, Sharp, and Hossa are among the top goal scorers in the league. The Blackhawks are doing great and have a ton of room for improvement. 2011 was nice, but 2012 has a chance to be great.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Blackhawks win 5-1

With Sharp's baby girl in attendance, the Blackhawks bounce back from a loss with a big win at home. The first period was good hockey and neither team could pot a goal. The second period started bad as the Hawks had a bad penalty kill and gave up a power play goal. Later in the period Brunette circled around the back of the net and tried to dish to an open Toews, but Toews never touched it and Brunette got the goal. 21 seconds later Sharp led a breakaway, faked the shot, skated forward and shot the puck into the back of the net. This was the turning point of the game. Stalberg would score a third goal in the third period, then Toews scored the empty net goal to win the game. With about 30 seconds left, Stalberg led a breakaway and passed to Bickell who scored. It was a great game for the Hawks all around and a great way to bounce back from a disappointing loss in Pittsburgh. Corey Crawford was great in net today and got the first star of the game. 

Brandon Pirri was recalled from Rockford and centered Sharp and Hossa the entire game. He got penalty kill and power play time and proved that he deserved it. He had no points, but played a very good game. He will probably stay up as long as Kruger is out with a concussion and maybe longer if he continues to play so well. 

Now that Crawford had a fantastic game it will be a tough decision on whether Emery will start or Crawford will start on Monday. Coach Q has a lot of time to decide, but it will be a tough decision. 

Stalberg was good again tonight. This is his second good game in a row. Coach Q said that he moved him from the top line to see if he could help get the third line going. It worked as him and Bickell both had goals and Stalberg had two assists. It's nice seeing him succeed and hopefully he continues to play well on Monday.

Canadiens @ Blackhawks Preview

The Blackhawks play their second game in that many days tonight. Last night did not go very well, but hopefully tonight will be different. Montreal has a new coach and have not won since he started coaching. Corey Crawford is back in net for the first time in six games. Emery was having a great couple weeks, but with two games in two nights, Crawford will get the start against his hometown team. The defense was bad last night, but hopefully they play better for Crawford tonight and help him get the win. Chris Campoli returns to play at the United Center for the first time since playing for the Hawks last year. Hossa has a 6 game point streak and looks to continue you that tonight.

I think the Hawks can win this game. The Habs are struggling. The Blackhawks offense showed some fire and finesse last night in the third period, if that continues through tonight the Blackhawks can easily get a win. Crawford will have to be solid in net tonight, and I think he will because he showed last year that he was better when it seemed like he was losing his job. A good team effort in all three periods is what the Blackhawks need to win tonight. 

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Blackhawks win third period, lose game.

The Blackhawks ended their five game win streak with a loss against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. The first two periods were the most frustrating and aggravating periods of hockey that I have ever watched. (This is excluding losses in the playoffs the last three years) The Blackhawks actually came out and were playing hard and well in the first ten minutes, and then something happened. Kruger got destroyed by an illegal hit that was not penalized. John Scott came to his rescue and got in the a fight and made Engelland bleed. He received a minor for instigating and a 10 minute misconduct. This lead to a power play goal for the Penguins and they didn't ever look back. The Hawks continued to take stupid penalties and play terrible defense. Emery was fantastic, but was not helped at all by the defense. The offense wasn't much better either, not capitalizing on power plays. After two periods, I was absolutely done. I wanted to turn the game off, but I couldn't because it was the once a month occurrence that I actually got to watch the Hawks on TV and I couldn't pass that up.

The Hawks came out firing in the third period and scored early. The captain got the goal even though it was meant as a pass to Stalberg. Then Stalberg got a real goal which was set up by some great passing from Kane. So, pretty much, Stalberg was the MVP of the game for the Hawks. That doesn't happen often. After those two goals, the Hawks were still behind one and had so many chances in the second half of the third period, but none of them went in. Fleury was fantastic and even with a power play to end the game, the Hawks couldn't score.

This game was pretty pathetic for the Hawks. The defense was terrible and Keith was forced to play 30 minutes including 7 minutes of penalty kill. The Blackhawks still have a game tomorrow against a struggling Montreal team. They should be able to get the win. Crawford will be back in net and maybe the defense will decide to actually play well in front of him. Despite being the best team in the NHL just a night ago, they have many things that need to be fixed. Kruger is hurt for an indefinite time period and that leaves the second center spot open. Kane can probably go there for awhile because he played well at center, but that's still a hole in the team. The Hawks could also use another defenseman.

The Blackhawks are a long way from the Stanley Cup. They were on a five game win streak, but Pittsburgh kindly exposed that the same problems from the beginning of the season are still there.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Goalie Controversy?

Ray Emery is set to start again tomorrow against the Sharks. Earlier in the season, when Emery was struggling, he was only set against the "easier" opponents. That's a lenient term because any team can win any night, but coach Q felt more confident with him in net against a weaker offense. Now Emery is being put up against a very good offense. There must be a reasoning behind playing Emery more often, but it may not be exactly what it seems to be. It's true that Crawford has struggled recently. He hasn't has as good of numbers as expected and has started to give up softer goals. Emery has been playing better in the past few games and is actually making a lot of good saves. The obvious conclusion is that Emery is playing more than Crawford because he is better and maybe Q wants to make him the starter similar to what is happening in Vancouver right now. I don't think that's the case, though.

I think that Quenneville knows exactly what he's doing by playing Emery more than Crawford right now. The first thing he's probably thinking is that Crawford could obviously use the rest because earlier in the season Q was afraid to start Emery because he had bad start after bad start. Now that Crawford can actually rest, Quenneville is going to do it as often as he can. The second thing is that he knows Crawford is in a slump, so he is trying to figure out how to get him out of it. When did Crawford play his best last year? When he is fighting for his job. If Emery continues to start continuously, Crawford is going to realize that he has to fight for his job and get with it.

There is no goalie controversy in Chicago, because Emery still isn't the starter. Crawford is the starter and he's a good one. All goalies need rest and by playing Emery more, Emery is getting better and starting to get in a groove. You can argue that by playing both of them equally and maybe even playing Emery more, the Blackhawks goaltending is better than it would be without a "controversy". You could also make the argument that the Blackhawks could have one of the best goalie tandems in the league at the end of the year. Blackhawks fans shouldn't be worried about Corey losing his job right after signing a big contract or becoming like Huet became. Sitting on the bench for a few games is making Crawford better.