I was completely unaware of this, but did you know that the Blackhawks aren’t terrible this year? I mean, they’re not even BAD! 15-13 is a winning record, and in Chicago, that’s grounds for a parade. Between the Bulls and the Bears, I just figured that team records were given in numerical order, but in fact, we just generally have been sucking lately.
I don’t know enough about hockey to claim brilliance, but I just couldn’t resist the chance to write about Chicago winning a game. Any game. I was checking the schedule for the Chicago Fire, for godsake! The Hawks were in the midst of a four-game losing streak before Thursday’s game (that means they were 15-8 before! That’s REALLY good!), so you can imagine my relief that they won a game.
As far as I can tell, we basically sent Tuomo Ruutu to be our goon of the evening, laying out a great hit on Lubomir Visnovski (who or what is a Lubomir?), then kicking the crap out of Brad Smith for no good reason, and he scored anyways. It also helped that Martin Havlat has been sick lately, and he tacked on two goals Thursday. Hell, he’s got 5 goals in 7 games since being a cripple the last 22 games, so something must be working for him.
I guess my one question is, why do people talk about Khabibulin like he’s such a good goalie? I’ve seen lots of good goalies in Chicago, from Belfour to Thibault, and I’m just not impressed by Nicky-boy. He has no shutouts (and only one in the last THREE SEASONS), and while I save percentage of .900 is do-able, he seems to be on the lower end (especially compared with the top tier goalies with a percentage near .930). Likewise, his GAA is almost three – how the hell can you be giving up almost three goals a game and expect to win? It’s a good thing the Hawks offense can put up 6 a game or we’d have some serious problems.
Wow. That was really a whole rant about Hockey! I feel dirty…
I don’t know enough about hockey to claim brilliance, but I just couldn’t resist the chance to write about Chicago winning a game. Any game. I was checking the schedule for the Chicago Fire, for godsake! The Hawks were in the midst of a four-game losing streak before Thursday’s game (that means they were 15-8 before! That’s REALLY good!), so you can imagine my relief that they won a game.
As far as I can tell, we basically sent Tuomo Ruutu to be our goon of the evening, laying out a great hit on Lubomir Visnovski (who or what is a Lubomir?), then kicking the crap out of Brad Smith for no good reason, and he scored anyways. It also helped that Martin Havlat has been sick lately, and he tacked on two goals Thursday. Hell, he’s got 5 goals in 7 games since being a cripple the last 22 games, so something must be working for him.
I guess my one question is, why do people talk about Khabibulin like he’s such a good goalie? I’ve seen lots of good goalies in Chicago, from Belfour to Thibault, and I’m just not impressed by Nicky-boy. He has no shutouts (and only one in the last THREE SEASONS), and while I save percentage of .900 is do-able, he seems to be on the lower end (especially compared with the top tier goalies with a percentage near .930). Likewise, his GAA is almost three – how the hell can you be giving up almost three goals a game and expect to win? It’s a good thing the Hawks offense can put up 6 a game or we’d have some serious problems.
Wow. That was really a whole rant about Hockey! I feel dirty…
4 comments:
Why are you talking about hockey? This is a Chicago sports blog. No one cares about hockey. Honestly, you don't either.
Yeah, stop pretending to give a shit.
If someone miraculously gives a shit about the Hawks, they are welcome to post (contact me).
OK -- guilty as charged.
for a hockey analysis of this post:
i actually attended a hawks game in person and got to watch them firsthand this year ($8 tix they are doing something right there). they are not a bad team they have a good nice crop of young and upcoming players including kane and toews. that said they were at the time missing havlat and still put up 5 goals to win. now with him they are a much better team and have a realistic shot at making the playoffs in the Western Conference.
as for everyones man crush on the Bulin wall: when he signed with the hawks the last season played pre- lockout he led the tampa bay lighnting to a Stanley Cup. the team with the paintbrush unis who played in the cavernous suncoast dome (tropicana field) for years and whos current building is named after a neighboring city's newspaper to the holy grail of hockey. there was reason for celebration at the time. that was like leading the clippers to the nba finals or the royals to the world series. his GAA this season is 2.81 which rannks not near the top of the league but not that bad either and is only .11 higher then his career avg.lets look at my goalie King Hendrik, with a GAA of 2.05 (a full goal less) he is single handily winning games for the rangers, they would be back to the pre-lockout high priced free agent money spending low scorning non game winning rangers instead of one of the top teams in the league without him. his goaltending will help the rangers when it comes playoff time as last year showed.he proved he could win the big game. however if the hawks do get the 7 or 8th spot (i see no way of them reaching much higher at this point)he will be one of the keys to see how far they can advance since he is one of the only players on the team with significant playoff experience and will prove helpful.
That being Chicago does now have a hockey team to pay attention to. With the ownership regime change and the increase of tv coverage that will start next year there is hope for one of the original six who's been the laughingstock of the league for the last few years (while possessing one of the best unis and logos in all of sports) to actually be a factor in the Chicago wintertime.
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