Archive for the ‘2009-10 Game Reviews’ Category

Roster spots at forward still available, and two more cut

September 28th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Yet again, another round of cuts hit Hawks’ training camp today. Forward Hugh Jessiman was assigned to Rockford (AHL) after clearing waivers, and Swedish forward Ludvig Rensfeldt was returned to Brynas J20 (SuperElite). The Blackhawks training camp roster stands at 31 players before their fourth (first un-televised) exhibition game in Pittsburgh tonight.

With four more pre-season games left, the competition for the few remaining roster spots at forward is still wide open. Ex-Oilers Fernando Pisani and Ryan Potulny have played well enough to secure roster spots, prospects Igor Makarov and Jeremy Morin are making bids to stick around, and one-time lock, Viktor Stalberg, might have played well enough to make the IceHogs.

Training camp roster as it stands –

Forwards (17) – Kyle Beach, Bryan Bickell, Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, Jake Dowell, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Tomas Kopecky, Igor Makarov, Jeremy Morin, Fernando Pisani, Ryan Potulny, Patrick Sharp, Jack Skille, Ben Smith, Viktor Stalberg, Jonathan Toews

Defensemen (10) – Nick Boynton, Brian Campbell, Brian Connelly, Jassen Cullimore, Jordan Hendry, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Nick Leddy, John Scott, Brent Seabrook

Goalies (4) – Corey Crawford, Alec Richards, Hannu Toivonen, Marty Turco

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Evil Doers Win Battle – Blackhawks 2, Detroit 3 (OT)

April 11th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Post Bolland Goal

So today’s 3-2 overtime loss to the evil doers of Detroit means that the Blackhawks fell short of the first overall seed in the west by one point. By clinching the second seed, they drew the seventh seeded Nashville Predators. In the regular season series, they had a record of 4-2-0 against their central division foe. Yea, it always sucks loosing to the Red Wings, but we can take solace in how well this team played in the last seven games of the season – as well as the kinder path the ‘Hawks could see as the second seed.

I had every intention of writing a game review for Friday game against the Avalanche, and the power play along with Colin Fraser were going to be among the talking points from that game. Well, the girlfriend’s dog chewed through the power cord to my computer making that impossible as my battery died while writing. Dave Bolland scored on the power play for the Blackhawks’ first goal. Prior to the two-game streak, they went seven games without scoring with the man-advantage. Fraser’s second period goal was his fifth in four games, and evened the game up at 2-2 forcing overtime. If the power play and fourth line continue being productive, it can only make the path to the Stanley Cup easier.

When it came to extra hockey in overtime, the Red Wings were the better team. It took them a little over three minutes to beat the Blackhawk defense and make Antti Niemi look silly. Dustin Byfuglien left his post to join the pushing and shoving on the boards, and that left Duncan Keith all alone to defend Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart. Niemi overcommitted to his left, allowing Stuart to score. The evil doers may have won the battle in overtime, but the war has yet to be won.

The Red Wings clinched the fifth spot in the conference with the win, and will play the Phoenix Coyotes in their first-round match-up. The Blackhawks and Red Wings can meet for a rematch of last season’s Coference Finals, but here’s to hoping they don’t make it that far.

Next, the Blackhawks will host the Barry Trotz’s On Ice this Friday at the UC for the first game of the 2010 post-season. Here is a link to the Blackhawks first-round schedule.

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Ding Dong Tkachuk Is Gone! – Blackhawks 6, Blues 5

April 8th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Leader of the knuckle-draggers, Cam Janssen

That Blackhawks reached another milestone last night. The 6-5 victory over the delightful St. Louis Blues gave the Blackhawks a total of 109 points this season, which is a new franchise record with two more games left to play. The organization’s previous high came in the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons at 107 points. This year’s squad can add to the total with two more games to be played this season.

Anyways, it’s always a pleasure to have the Blues grace us with a visit to the UC. How can anyone NOT love the Blues’ merry band of knuckle-draggers? (Sarcasm is always the highest form of humor). The best news from last night, however, was Keith Tkachuck’s retirement announcement. Yep, this blogger danced in the streets and howled at the moon. My favorite Tkachuk career moment took place this season – when he scored a goal with his face against the Blachkaws January 2nd. Too bad my boy Troy Brouwer and Tomas Kopecky couldn’t be the lineup for the festivities. Brouwer was attending to a personal matter, and Kopecky was sidelined the oh-so vague ‘upper-body’ injury.

The game itself didn’t start well for the Blackhawks. The Blues scored first, but the ‘Hawks were able to rattle off six un-answered goals in the first and second periods to take the 6-1 lead. A few unusual suspects were able to get in on the scoring. Duncan Keith struck first, then Ben Eager scored moments after leaving the penalty box and Bryan Bickell scored his third of the season. Kris Versteeg scored his nineteenth and the team’s thirteenth shorthanded goal of the season. Versteeg had three assists too. Andrew Ladd and Jordan Hendry finished off the scoring with a goal each.

In the third period, the Blackhawks sat back and let the Blues get back into this one. The Blues’ are known for playing dirty (well, at least against the Blackhawks), and that style of play was epitomized when Brad Winchester ran Marian Hossa into the boards. As the game went on the officiating didn’t step in, and the Blackhawks let the central division foe get under their skin. The shoddy play that the Blackhawks exuded at the end of the game culminated at the moment Dustin Byfuglien slashed Andy McDonald on a breakaway with under a minute left to play. Byfuglien’s actions resulted in a penalty shot (Brad Boyes scored to make it 6-5) and received a game misconduct. The Blackhawks held on to win.

Coach Qunneville has to have his team playing smarter hockey. There is the obvious excuse of fatigue in the second game of a back-to-back, but I won’t buy it. The Blackhawks can’t let themselves lower to the Blues’ game. It’s absolutely pathetic that Davis Payne (head coach) lets his team resort to mass-goonery when they are outmatched. As ugly as this game got, however, I will always relish a victory over any team from St. Louis.

Next up, the Blackhawks will match-up against the playoff bound Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Hossa left the game in the first period after the hit, but hopefully it was a precautionary move. Quenneville believes Kopecky won’t miss any significant time with his injury, but the outlook isn’t as good for Kim Johnsson after suffering a concussion weeks ago. The verdict is still out on his eventual return to the lineup.

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Fraser Earned This Tag – Blackhawks 5, Stars 2

April 7th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

It wasn’t the prettiest game by any means, but that didn’t stop the Blackhawks from earning their fiftieth win of the season. The most wins by the franchise since it’s inception to the league in 1926-27. And which Blackhawk led this team in their record-breaking 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars? Colin Fraser. He scored two goals in Dallas, and so often do his contributions as a defensive, fourth-line, penalty-killing center go unappreciated. To bad he’s married to a Sutter, of the Calgary (at least for the next week) Sutters.

Anyways, one of the stories last night was the number of shorthanded situations the Blackhawks found themselves in. They did relatively well, going four-for-five on the penalty kill, and Jonathan Toews scored his first shorty of the year for the team’s league-leading twelfth. Interesting how this happened the day of my post about the Blackhawk’s success on the penalty kill. Of the five penalties called, Dustin Byfuglien’s tripping of Loui Eriksson was the only penalty that wasn’t a blown call or the result of stupidity.

Antti Niemi was good in goal. He stopped twenty-six of the twenty-eight shots on goal, and he didn’t have to stand on his head against the much weaker Dallas team. Although there were instances of sloppy play, the Blackhawks also showed signs of being that dominating team we’ve become accustomed to. They positioned themselves, created turnovers and played their puck-control game. I’ll take it as a good sign with the playoffs around the corner.

Next up, the Blackhawks will host St. Louis at the United Center tonight. Ugh, I really hate the Blues and their band of morons. They resort to fisticuffs whenever they face a more talented squad knowing they can’t beat them in an actual hockey game. On that note, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Adam Burish on the second line once again – Troy Brouwer was a scratch last night – to protect Patrick Kane.

Minor League Shuffle –

Bryan Bickell was recalled from Rockford earlier today. He will replace Tomas Kopecky. Bickell has played fourteen games with the Blackhawks this season, and will add to his total tonight. The twenty-three year old has two goals and an assist in his time with the NHL club.

Meanwhile in Rockford, the IceHogs recalled Joe Palmer who was on loan to the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League (CHL). He was used primarily as a backup. In thirty-two games, Palmer had a goals-against average of 2.75 and 0.914 save percentage.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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Blackhawks 4, Flames 1

April 4th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

My boy Troy beat the Kipper

With today’s victory the Blackhawks clinched the central division title and tied the franchise record with their forty-ninth wins in a season with four games to go. It was the first time the organization has held the top spot in the division since the 1992-93 season.

Per usual, the ‘Hawks dominated the Calgary Flames on their way to a 4-1 victory. In the last two years the Blackhawks have owned the Flames – to say the least – going 8-0-0 and ousting them from the playoffs last year. Sunday’s win could have ruined Calgary’s chances of overtaking the eighth and final playoff spot in the west with three games left in the season – the Avalanche have five games (situation when writing this post) left to play. There must be so many kinds of hate coming from Flame fans towards the Blackhawks right about now.

Anyways, the goaltending today was great. Antti Niemi looks so comfortable in net right now. He gave up a few bad rebounds, but the defense was there to bail him out. The only blemish on the afternoon was when defenseman Ian White skated into the Blackhawks’ zone virtually untouched on his way to beat Niemi. Every facet of their game (minus the power play) was in working order.

The first two goals scored by Tomas Kopecky and Troy Brouwer was due to their conscious play in front Calgary’s goalie. It was Kopecky’s tenth goal of the season (a career high). Patrick Kane beat Miikka Kiprusoff on his stick side with a wicked wrist-shot from the slot in the second period, and Dustin Byfuglien scored in the third frame for the his first since returning to the blue line.

Next up, the Blackhawks will face the Dallas Stars this Tuesday. With four games in seven days to close out the season, I wonder if Coach Quenneville will give some players rest going forward.

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Blackhawks 2, Devils 1 (SO)

April 3rd, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Kane's oral fixation

I’m a little less worried about the state of Coach Quenneville’s squad after last night’s 2-1 (SO) victory over the New Jersey Devils. He played Dustin Byfuglien on the blue line and trotted out the same line combinations he used a few days ago in Minnesota. I hope we’ve seen the last of Quenneville’s constant line shuffling after winning two games in a row. With five games left in the regular season it’s too late to make any more major alterations.

Anyway, Antti Niemi played a tight game in New Jersey last night. He played like a goalie that can carry a team through the playoffs. The only Devil goal was a result of a defensive breakdown in front of the net, and Ilya Kovalchuk had himself an easy goal for his fortieth of the season. Niemi saved thirty-two of thirty-three shots on goal, and came up big over and over again. He kept his team in this game.

With under a minute left in the third period, Niemi was pulled from goal for the extra skater. The move paid off. Kris Versteeg tied the game at 1-1, and it went into overtime then a shootout. Jonathan Toews blasted a shot past Martin Brodeur, and that was all the Blackhawks needed to come away with two points.

Next up, the Blackhawks will host the Calgary Flames at the UC this Easter Sunday.

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Lucky #7 – Blackhawks 4, Wild 0

April 1st, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Tomas earned the belt in Minny

The fourth line was great last night. They attributed for three goals in the 4-0 shutout victory over the Minnesota Wild. Tomas Kopecky scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season, and Ben Eager scored a goal and tallied one assist. I’m quite disappointed Eager of all people couldn’t drop the gloves to give the viewers at home what they wanted – a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. On a serious note, Eager isn’t the fourth line energy forward we fell in love with last season. Ever since getting his brain scrambled in the first game of the season, Eager has become soft.

The defensive play in front of Antti Niemi was better then has been (still not great). They limited the Wild offense to twenty-one shots on goal. The Blackhawks controlled the tempo of the game, and Niemi didn’t see much action in his end of the ice until they were shorthanded three to five in the second period. Being down two men for ninety-one seconds, Niemi pulled up his pants and made a few pad saves the escape shorthanded situation unscathed. At the risk of sounding as though I bat for the other team, I’ve always been impressed with Niemi’s flexibility. For a man of his size, he moves form side-to-side rather well. This win marked his seventh shutout of the season.

On defense, Coach Quenneville had Dustin Byfuglien paired with Duncan Keith on the blue line. Byfuglien didn’t play all to well, but he didn’t embarrass himself either. Nick Boynton was out of the lineup as a result of his scuffle with Cam Janssen two night’s ago. Glad to see Brent Sopel off the top pairing, and Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook seem to play well enough together to keep that project going.

It was great that the fourth line stepped up and won this game for the slumping ‘Hawks, but the first two lines really need to get going with just six games left in the regular season. Jonathan Toews did score off a nice drop pass from Marian Hossa last night, but the bottom lines won’t always be productive enough to bail out the team. The win over the Wild was great, but I’m still a little worried about the state of the team and that lines are being shuffled willy-nilly.

Next up, the Blackhawks will travel fly to the cultural Mecca of the East Coast (sarcasm) to face the Devils this Friday. I haven’t had the opportunity to watch a game with Ilya Kovalchuk in a non-Thrashers jersey yet. It’s going to be weird.

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Nothing Semi-Witty To Write Here – Blackhawks 2, Blues 4

March 31st, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Ugh, the Blackhawks are taking all the fun out of writing right about now. I’ve been spoiled with the winning ways of the ‘Hawks earlier this season. Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Blues marked a ten-game stretch where the Blackhawks have gone 3-5-2 (with three consecutive losses). That is eight points earned out of a possible twenty, and they are barely holding onto the second seed in the West. In the Central Division the Predators are just five points behind and the Red Wings are six.

There are seven games left in the regular season for this team to find their way out of their current slump. Not going to lie, I’m starting to worry about this team. I really don’t know if the Blackhawks can remedy their anemic defense before it’s too late. I never thought in a million year that I would miss Brian Campbell, and what he brings to the offense and defense. Next year you won’t read any unwarranted shots at the seven-million-dollar-man from me. I’m doubtful of this, but hopefully Kim Johnsson can improve the team’s play on both ends of the ice whenever he is able to shake off his post-concussion symptoms.

Blame can’t solely be placed on the blue liners. The offense hasn’t been affective on the back-check and in their zone of late. A great example of this happened on Tuesday when Patrick Sharp couldn’t keep up with a streaking Erik Johnson on his way to score the Blues’ fourth and final goal.

Anyway, that’s all I can muster for this game review. Jonathan Toews two assists last night did help on of my many fantasy teams, but that only lifted my spirits for a brief moment in time. Next up, the Blackhawks will play the Minnesota Wild in the second of back-to-back games tonight. Unfortunately, this blogger plans to watch it.

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Another Suckfest – Blackahwks 2, Blue Jackets 4

March 28th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Shame

“Yeah Moe that team sure did suck last night. They just plain sucked! I’ve seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked!”

- Homer Simpson

I’ll put forth as much energy into writing a game review as the Blackhawks did on the ice. You got your picture. You got your quote. I say good day.

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Huet’s Last Stand – Blackhawks 3, Blue Jackets 8

March 26th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Huet's expression says it all

Didn’t have a chance to watch last night’s game. By the looks of it, this was a good one to miss. The Blackhawks lost to the Blue Jackets 8-3. Traveled to sunny Florida for some non-hockey related relaxation for the weekend, and here I am writing a game review for a game I didn’t see. That’s dedication…wait…not really. It’s overcast and there are periods of light rain, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to continue the on going series regarding my dislike of Cristobal Huet. Also, if I tell the girlfriend I’m writing it postpones the mindless window-shopping she’ll eventually drag me to once the sun comes out.

Anyway, by glancing at the box score it was simple to discern where the problem area was – in net. Huet let in seven goals on twenty-seven shots on goal. It appeared as though Antti Niemi had the No. 1 gig at this point, but Huet’s performance in Columbus set it in stone. I’ve been in Niemi’s corner for a while now, and believe Quenneville should pencil him in the lineup every opportunity he can. Then he can focus on improving the defense in the nine games remaining in the regular season, and hope that Kim Johnsson can return to the lineup sooner then later.

From what I’ve read around the World Wide Web is that all the blame shouldn’t land squarely on Thursday’s starter. (That’s the case in most losses.) But when you are making over $5M per season you have to better then this. This is the best team the organization has assembled in decades, and they can’t have a goaltender this soft in net going into the playoffs. It wouldn’t be tough to argue that Niemi has been the goalie with more mental tenacity of the Blackhawks’ tandem. There will be some concern from the front office to the fan-base whether a rookie goalie can take the Blackhawks to the Promised Land, but it’s been done before.

Next up, the Blackhawks will host the Blue Jackets at the United Center this Sunday. I would expect a different outcome in this game. Last night’s game will serve as another wake up call. Despite the big loss, the Blackhawks clinched a playoff spot.

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