Oh Starry Night

When the Blackhawks welcome the Dallas Stars into the United Center on Tuesday night, they’ll be facing the only Western Conference team they’ve yet to draw a point from.  The big news for the Stars is they’re expecting Mike Ribeiro to make his return.  Ribeiro has missed the last month after getting struck in the throat by Christopher Higgins’ stick. 

Despite no longer being a Western Conference powerhouse, the Stars can still fill up the back of the net.  They have nine guys in double-digit goal totals.  Loui Eriksson, James Neal, and James Benn give them a nice starting point to build around.  Brad Richards is having his best season since coming over from Tampa Bay with 63 points in 56 games.  That’s good for 10th in the league just ahead of Patrick Kane. 

The Stars don’t boast much of a threat from their backline.  Ex-Hawk Stephane Robidas has carved quite a career for himself and has already set career highs in goals (10) and assists (23) this season.  2005 1st round pick Mark Fistric easily leads the team in +/- with a +15.  Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot to see here. 

Marty Turco will probably end up getting the start in net.  His name has popped up in trade rumors with the Hawks lately.  Let’s break it down: 34 years old, a save percentage hovering around 91%, tendency to let in a soft goal, minimal playoff success.  I thought the Hawks already had someone like this locked up for the next two years.

Staying on the same theme, Antti Niemi will get the start in goal for the Hawks.  This will be the second time in his career he’s played two games in a row.  The first time didn’t turn out so well when he didn’t even make it out of the first period in Vancouver.  He’ll need a much better showing if he expects to get more than spot starts the rest of this season.  Clamoring fans be damned.

Whether Tomas Kopecky gets more top-6 minutes remains to be seen; he certainly hasn’t deserved it.  Joel Quenneville was not at practice on Monday because he was in Massachusetts for Brendan Burke’s wake so we won’t know his plans until the first few shifts of the game.

On a side note, the Blackhawks new practice facility, Johnny’s Ice House West, finally opened last week.  None of the amenities are finished other than the Blackhawks private locker room.  Their media room, workout room, and coaches room are still in the process of being finished.  The ice is immaculate, though, and I suppose that’s all that really counts.  That, and the Hawks finally have their own practice facility, even if it was 5 months later than scheduled.  

Anyone with plans to attend practice should be warned the surrounding neighborhood is a little rough around the edges.

A Weekend on the Farm

It was another busy weekend in the Hawks farm system but before that, I want to address the latest popular rumor circling the ranks: James Wisniewski back to the Hawks.  Any regular reader knows I rarely venture into dissecting rumors but this one is just too funny to pass up. 

If the Hawks were to re-acquire Wisniewski for anything with a pulse (say Cam Barker, like a certain nameless columnist suggested), it would mean the Hawks would have basically given Anaheim Cam Barker for Logan Stephenson.  That’s not exactly the greatest use of a relatively valuable asset.  And perhaps Wisniewski is currently living in a parallel universe much like the cast of “Lost” finds itself this season because nowhere in this dimension does a 5th defenseman command $4 million on the open market.

Ok, on to the farm update:

Friday- Rockford 5, Lake Erie Monsters 3-  In a 2-2 game heading into the third period, the IceHogs and Monsters traded goals in the first eight minutes.  Then Matt Keith scored on the power play with help from Bryan Bickell and Peter MacArthur.  The win was sealed when Danny Bois scored an short-handed empty net goal. 

Defenseman Richard Petiot put together his best offensive game of the season with a goal and two assists.  Kyle Greentree had a goal and assist and so did Bryan Bickell.  Corey Crawford got the win by stopping 23 of the 26 shots he faced. 

Saturday- Lake Erie Monsters 5, Rockford 3 – With their second game against each other in less than 24 hours, the IceHogs spotted the Monsters a three goal and it was too much to recover from.  Adam Hobson and Peter MacArthur both scored to cut the deficit to one but Lake Erie scored four minutes later to extend their lead.  Kyle Greentree scored forty seconds later but that was as close as Rockford would get.  An empty net goal with 37 seconds left cinched the win for Lake Erie.

Joseph Fallon didn’t last two periods in giving up 4 goals on 23 shots.  Corey Crawford came on in relief and stopped all 7 shots he faced. 

–In two games this weekend, Shawn Lalonde had a goal and assist.  Both of which came on Saturday during Belleville’s 5-4 loss to the Guelph Storm.

–Kyle Beach had a goal, three assists, and 15 penalty minutes in two games.

–Byron Froese had two goals and two assists in Everett’s 5-1 win over Spokane on Saturday.  The Silvertips lost their Friday night tilt 1-0.

–Dylan Olsen was a -1 in UMD’s split with Michigan Tech.  Dan DeLisle played in both games but was a non-factor.

–Brandon Pirri had two assists in RPI’s 3-3 tie with St. Lawrence on Friday.  He had no points in their Saturday 2-1 win over Clarkson.

–Billy Sweatt had no points for Colorado College this weekend.  Despite cooling off since his fast start to the season, Sweatt still leads the Tigers in scoring with 28 points in 30 games.

–David Pacan scored a goal and notched an assist as Vermont went 1-0-1 against Providence.

Blackhawks 2, Blues 1

Major League Baseball managers love to trot out their “ace” pitcher every fifth day for a few different reasons; chief among them is the idea that, with a true ace, the team won’t lose five games in a row – not with the “ace” pitching in one of them.

And, while Antti Niemi may not be the Hawks’ “ace,” he certainly played the role last night in St. Louis during the Hawks’ first win in four games, stopping 34 of 35 Blues’ shots and “pitching a shut out” through the first 58 minutes of the game.

The game started out as most other games including the St. Louis Blues.  Even after defeating the Hawks three evenings prior in a game that was noteworthy for what didn’t happen – the Blues toned down the physical play and beat the Hawks for the first time since last season – Scotty Bowman Davis Payne went back to the same old strategy, looking to physically pound a superior Hawks’ team into submission.

Case in point: Barrett Jackman, who turned down an invitation from fighter Ben Eager on Wednesday, grabbed Cam Barker – he of the one 2009-2010 fight – within the game’s first ten minutes.  Steve Winchester and Cam Jannsen were doing their best UFC impressions, and late in the first, Eric Brewer challenged Andrew Ladd just before the two traded single hay-makers.

When the dust settled after the first period, it was Hawks – 2, Blues – nothing.  The two Hawk goals came from the old classic Toews-Kane-Sharp line, with a Sharp special preceeding a Toews tally by ten minutes.

It wasn’t until the tenor of the game changed that St. Louis began flexing its hockey muscles, outshooting the Hawks during the second.  After the Hawks were unable to take advantage of a couple dumb second period Blues’ penalties, St. Louis found itself on a two-man advantage late in the frame.  On the power play, a loose puck bounced to Brad Boyes on the doorstep, but just before Boyes smashed it home, the whistle sounded, indicating that the near referee either lost sight of the puck or believed Niemi was on top of it.  Alas, the Hawks maintained their two-goal lead entering the final frame, avoiding the late-period tallies that have haunted them throughout the past couple weeks.

The Blues notched a handful of good scoring chances during a frantic third, but were only able to register one – this one again coming in the same fashion as the disallowed goal during the second: after killer Brent Sopel took a penalty to make it a two-man advantage.  This time Sopel received a late-game unsportsmanlike conduct. 

He must’ve offered to give the referee’s mom a Canada’s History.

You Down for This?

- “For all you young hockey players out there,” we’ve seen the right way and the wrong way to hand a teammate a stick during the Hawks’ last two games.  On Friday evening against the ‘Yotes, Phoenix defenseman Sami Lapisto - I believe – was retreating into his own zone without a stick when about four teammates reached their sticks out onto the ice from the bench for Lapisto to take.  Problem was they handed out the butt-end of the stick rather than the blade.

Last night, on a penalty kill, Jonathan Toews handed the blade end of his stick to a defenseman who was without one – Sopel, maybe.  The d-man cleanly grabbed the stick.

So, to recap: pass the blade end of the stick.  It’s bigger and much easier to grab hold of.

- One has to assume Niemi will get the start on Tuesday against the Stars.  We’ve seen this movie before, though, so don’t get too excited. 

- Is Kris Versteeg’s recent poor play connected to the looming trade deadline?  It doesn’t sound too far-fetched to me.

- Ben Eager was apparently a healthy scratch last night.  Unfortunately for Ben, he’s likely cost himself some money this year.  Last season, he played like the straw that stirred the fourth-line drink, and boy, was it yummy.  This season, it seems like concussion concerns get the better of him most nights.  But, with a possible $1 million price tag, it certainly seems that he won’t be back next year.

- I may have said it here before, but among the many great things about hockey is the fact that most players don’t call their coach “Coach.”  Some of my co-viewers were surprised to hear Patrick Sharp refer to Q as “Joel” last night, and I explained to them my hatred with grown men calling other grown men “Coach,” most notably in college basketball and football, where guys like Steve Lavin get all horny talking about other “coaches.” 

- Finally, from yesterday’s recap, it’s so important, I’ve printed it twice:

I said it a couple weeks ago, and I stand by it: There’s not a whole lot that I could see between now and playoff time that will change my opinion about this Hawk team.

Remember last March, when hundreds of people were threatening to launch themselves off a roof during the Hawks’ early spring struggles?  Remember all the things people said were wrong with the Hawks at the time?  From sloppy defensive play to a lack of offense to inconsistent goaltending, it was all well forgotten before the Hawks advanced to the Conference Finals.

Listen, this isn’t the early ’70s Bruins here, but the Hawks are really, really good by today’s NHL standards.  What’s more, it’s a group that has proven it can adjust its game come playoff time.

So, until then, just trust me and relax.  This is just a small bump in the road that even sports’ greatest teams hit.

Coyotes 2, Blackhawks 1 (SOL)

SOL, indeed.

With the Blackhawks’ shootout loss to the streaking Phoenix Coyotes Friday night at the United Center, the Hawks are now winless in three straight, a mark they haven’t reached all year.

Moreover, reaching back to mid-January, the Hawks are a staggeringly human 3-4-1 in their last eight games.

This one came down to a sequence that went the Coyotes’ way, similar to the “Andrew Ladd sequence” in Wednesday’s tilt against the Blues.  With a one-goal lead and killing a too-many-men penalty, Marian Hossa found himself – get this – on a breakaway.  (The NHL has to start keeping tabs of stats like this.  Shouldn’t Hossa be on pace to break some sort of record with his ridiculous number of breakaways and odd-man opportunities?)  As has been the trend recently, Hossa was stoned on the opportunity.  Back came the Coyotes, and less than a minute later, a weak Radim Vrbata wrister made its way through traffic and past Cristobal Huet to tie the game.

From there, the Hawks only mustered six shots during the third and just a decent chance or two.  Other than the last few minutes of the period – where Toews, Kane and Hossa created some havoc in the Phoenix zone – and six minutes of Hawk penalty kills, the third was played mostly in the neutral zone by two teams that registered only 11 total shots during the frame.

Overtime came and went, and the procession of ex-Hawks continued into the shootout.  Castaways Robert Land and Adrian Aucoin beat Huet, while Jason LaBarbera stopped Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa.  Aucoin’s game winner, which preceded LaBarbera’s poke check of Hossa on the final chance, hit Huet in the shoulder but had enough steam to squirt off and past him.

Yo, Listen Up

- First, an incredibly somber note: Pat and Eddie – sort of – mentioned it last night, but Brian Burke’s son passed away yesterday after a car accident.  Many of you may know the back story, but Burke’s son, Brendan, came out of the closet last year.  John Buccigross told the story in a recent ESPN column everyone should read, but suffice it to say that Burke and his wife accepted Brendan’s lifestyle with open arms.  More recently, Brendan worked as a part of the Miami of Ohio staff and had ambitions to do more within the hockey community after graduation.

From all I’d heard, he was a great hockey man, just like his dad, and had a great opportunity to take a step towards chipping away at many of the barriers that currently exist for homosexuals in all sports.  It was a cross he apparently didn’t mind bearing.

Here’s hoping his message doesn’t grow quieter with his passing.

- Back to life’s fun and games:

I said it a couple weeks ago, and I stand by it: There’s not a whole lot that I could see between now and playoff time that will change my opinion about this Hawk team.

Remember last March, when hundreds of people were threatening to launch themselves off a roof during the Hawks’ early spring struggles?  Remember all the things people said were wrong with the Hawks at the time?  From sloppy defensive play to a lack of offense to inconsistent goaltending, it was all well forgotten before the Hawks advance to the Conference Finals.

Listen, this isn’t the early ’70s Bruins here, but the Hawks are really, really good by today’s NHL standards.  What’s more, it’s a group that has proven it can adjust its game come playoff time.

So, until then, just trust me and relax.  This is just a small bump in the road that even sports’ greatest teams hit.

- Case in point: the Hawks have looked rather disinterested the past couple weeks.  Whether it’s the Olympics or a team looking forward to the playoffs, the Hawks won’t approach games in this way come springtime.

In the meantime, they’ll certainly try to change that.

- Many have said it for two years now, but it may be time for Kane to find a new shootout move.  In all fairness to Kane, he had LaBarbera beat last night, and put it off the post.

- In the same vein, I’ve now started to just take my pants off before Toews’ shootout attempts.  Last night, LaBarbera looked like he was struggling to get out of a pit of M&Ms when Toews beat him like a rented mule.

- Tonight’s tilt against the Blues should be a good one, assuming the Hawks can muster up a fight so close to the Olympic break.

- Steve Rosenbloom called Dan Jansen “Cam Janssen” this morning on The Score.  Pretty sure those are two separate people.

- Eddie O. said the Hawks went into a semi-box during last night’s 4-on-3 Hawk power play during overtime.  I think he’s just making things up at this point.

The Dream Is Dead

Ilya Kovalchuk is now a member of the New Jersey Devils.  After months of squabbling with ridiculous contract terms (he was in the ballpark of 10-year, $100 million), the Thrashers finally figured out Kovalchuk wanted no part of staying in Atlanta.  In return, the Devils sent rookie Niclas Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, prospect Patrice Cormier, and a 1st round pick this summer.  The Devils also received Anssi Salmela in the deal.

Of particular interest in the trade is Patrice Cormier.  He was suspended for the remainder of the season by the QMJHL for this hit.  Cormier also threw a wicked elbow in the World Juniors against Sweden.  That didn’t garner nearly as much interest as no one nearly died because of it.

Anyways, when the ruling from the QMJHL came down, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello promised Cormier would sit for the rest of the season even though he easily could have placed him on their AHL affiliate, the Lowell Devils roster.  Well, Atlanta general manager Don Waddell has made no such promise so there’s a decent possibility Cormier could suit up for the Chicago Wolves.  Only time will tell on that, though.

Just for fun, let’s take a closer look at the package New Jersey sent over for Kovalchuk and see how it matches up with what the Hawks could have offered.

• Johnny Oduya-  Oduya was a legitimate top-4 defenseman on one of the best defensive teams in the NHL.  He’s having a bit of a down season after signing a contract extension in the summer.  While people would be quick to offer up Cam Barker, I just don’t see why Atlanta would’ve accepted anything less than Ham Sandwich here.
• Niclas Bergfors-  After opening up the season with 27 points in 41 games, Bergfors has been unable to notch a point in his last 13 games.  He’s playing on his rookie contract and up for restricted free agency in the summer.  Kris Versteeg would probably be the guy Atlanta would’ve wanted in this spot.
• Patrice Cormier-  Atlanta wasn’t in the market for a defenseman so Shawn Lalonde would’ve been out here.  That leaves a collection of wingers including Kyle Beach, Akim Aliu, and Billy Sweatt (though I’m not entirely sure if NCAA players can have their rights traded.  Anyone who knows the answer, please feel free to share).
• 1st round pick-  The Hawks pick looks like it will be right around New Jersey’s so that matches up fairly well. 

With all that, it looks it would have taken a package of Ham Sandwich, Versteeg, prospect winger du jour, and a 1st round pick.  I’m sure some will disagree and say Cam Barker could’ve gotten it done, but I’m just not buying it.  Atlanta wanted a legit top-4 defenseman so Ham Sandwich it would’ve been. 

Do you make that trade?  Keep in mind, you’re also getting a fairly young depth defenseman back from Atlanta.  I suppose if you put a gun to my head, I’d turn down that deal too.  The Hawks will have until March and/or all summer to get a decent return on Versteeg.  Ham Sandwich has the look of a legitimate top-2 defenseman – not to mention, if he gets shipped, Cam Barker or Brent Sopel become your 4th defenseman for the rest of this season.  Just right there, that seems like an awful lot to give up on a player the Hawks would only have for three months. 

Then, you throw in the prospect and 1st round pick and all of a sudden, the Hawks would be shrinking their Stanley Cup window to the size of a shattered piece of plexiglass.

No thanks, even if it is for a player like Kovalchuk.

–With Dave Bolland now back in the fold for good, we got our first look at what the lines may look like on Friday night.  The Toews line remains the same; Bolland takes Sharp spot at the pivot on the second line; Sharp takes Madden’s spot on the third line, and Madden moves down to the fourth line.

Now before anyone goes ‘Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome’ about Madden moving down to the fourth line, let’s look at what he does well:

• Hellacious back-checker
• Solid face-off man
• Good penalty killer

At this stage of the season, that’s all Madden really gives the Hawks.  Of course, it didn’t exactly help/hurt his causes when his best shifts on Wednesday came when he skated with Eager and Kopecky.  The move, however, is quite an indictment by Joel Quenneville.  With unlimited roster options upon Bolland’s return, he chose to keep his wingers intact and shuffle around his centers, one of whom wasn’t even playing the position at the outset of the season.  Bet you didn’t see that one coming.   

I wouldn’t get too shook up about it, though; it will probably take two lackluster shifts before Quenneville jumbles everything up all over again.

Blues 3, Blackhawks 2

In a fair hockey world, Andrew Ladd probably doesn’t deserve all the blame for his team’s loss on Wednesday night to an archrival.  It’s not his fault his top defensive pair combined for another pillow soft play which resulted in the other team celebrating.  He’s not to blame for his brain-dead teammate taking a penalty 200 feet away from his own net.  

Ah, but this hockey world can sometimes be very cruel and it was Ladd’s shift at the end of the second period that ended up being the difference in the tilt.

With less than one minute in the period and the Hawks trailing 2-1, Ladd was the triggerman on a 3-on-1 with Dave Bolland and Patrick Sharp.  Coming down on the right wing, Ladd had the whole play developing right in front of him with the puck on his strong side. 

The Blues defenseman (I don’t recall who) played the situation so horribly he left Bolland and Sharp completely wide open.  With a tie game just a couple passes (maybe just one if he saucered it to Bolland) away, Ladd chose the worst option and decided to take a shot at tying the game on his own.  A bad decision became even worse when his shot sailed wide and became an easy breakout for the Blues.

Ladd’s shift didn’t end there, though.  When the Hawks defused the Blues ensuing counterattack, Ladd found the puck on his stick along the boards.  Rather than making the easy pass to a nearby defenseman, he took his chances with a 70-foot ‘hope’ pass to Patrick Sharp.  Roman Polak happily intercepted the pass just inside the Hawks blue line and with Jay McClement streaking towards the front of the net unmolested, the puck was in the back of the net before you could say, ”Bad idea.” 

The sequence of events put a mushroom stamp on a particularly lousy second period from the Hawks.  Holding a 1-0 lead thanks to Patrick Kane’s breakaway theatrics in the first period, the Hawks didn’t appear particularly interested in the night’s event.  Cristobal Huet did his part in keeping the Hawks in front by stopping Paul Kariya on a breakaway.  But when Duncan Keith tried making a soft pass to Brent Seabrook behind the net, Kariya swooped in and found David Backes to tie the score at 1. 

Backes would score his second goal seven minutes later on the power play when his point shot hit Brent Seabrook a few feet in front of Huet and deflected past him.  

In the third period, the Hawks sent a barrage of shots on Chris Mason.  Ladd hit the post in the opening minute; Byfuglien made a neat little tip from four feet out.  It was only when Jonathan Toews weaved through the entire Blues power play unit and found Marian Hossa standing all alone on the doorstep that the Hawks solved him. 

The one goal deficit was as close as the Hawks would come and in the end, it was Ladd’s horrific shift to close out the second period that ended up costing the Hawks at least one point.  

Quickies

–Ah yes, the old ”First game back from a long road trip” excuse.  Not nearly as popular as the “Our defensive coverage blows” or “One of our top 6 forwards is a bonehead” excuses, but still.  I don’t recall when it became one of the seven deadly sins to return home from a road trip.  The Hawks played like poo-poo, the location of their last game didn’t have a whole lot to do with that.

–It didn’t take long to scrap Dave Bolland as a 4th line center.  As soon as the Hawks went down a couple goals, Quenneville started mixing and matching him with numerous combinations.  His favorite combination was putting Bolland in between Hossa and Sharp.  The trio combined for some solid pressure in the third period.  All in all, it was a fairly quiet return for Bolland.  Though there was a bit of a scare late in the third when Bolland got smoked in the back by a Blues defenseman in front of Mason.

–Ham Sandwich saw a significant chunk of his ice time cut out while only seeing 15:16.  There’s no doubt he’s fairly banged up as he’s been unable to practice with the team for quite some time.  Do I dare ask to see a bit more of Cam Barker while Sandwich rests his various bumps and bruises?  Barker played a fairly strong game by his standards.  With the Hawks so far in front of the pack, it would behoove them to find out how Barker responds to added responsibility.  Just please for the love of Bob McGill, don’t pair him with Brian Campbell.

*On the Farm*

–The IceHogs continued their domination over the Grand Rapids Griffins with a 5-3 win.  Evan Brophey had a goal and an assist, as did Mark Cullen, and Bryan Bickell scored a goal with two assists.  Corey Crawford stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced.   

–Somehow in the OHL All-Star Game that saw the two teams combine for 27 goals, Shawn Lalonde didn’t have a point.  For the record, Lalonde’s team won 17-10.

–Kyle Beach scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over the Everett Silvertips.  Byron Froese was scoreless.

Wherefore art thou, Cam Barker?

Unless you’ve been under a large rock without a high definition television since Sunday, you’ve likely heard the Blackhawk trade rumors de jour, this time involving a number six-type defenseman. One rumor in particular, involving Pittsburgh defenseman Jay McKee, apparently took off after McKee was scratched before Monday night’s game against Buffalo. Other names thrown around include Sean O’Donnell and Garrett Exelby. (Bigger names have been mentioned more recently, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.)

Of course, Stan Bowman will have to make sure the acquired player is better – or a better fit, I suppose – than Jordan Hendry and that the cap hit is nominal. You don’t have to be an NHL insider to figure that out.

It’s been assumed by many “in the know” that any deal the Hawks make before the early March trade deadline will be for a depth defenseman rather than for a big name. Jay McKee certainly fits the bill, and I’d have no real qualms with such an acquisition so long as the price is right. So, let the bidding begin with a third round draft pick, and wake me up when it’s done.

The story that may be hidden beneath the layers here, though, is the season Cam Barker is having. Simply put: if Barker had continued to develop this season as he did during the second half of last regular season, the Hawks’ perceived “need” for a depth defenseman would be poppycock.

His inability this season to stand out for positive contributions in any zone, however, has pinned Barker in NHL Neverland; not only has he become expendable and perhaps duplicative, but downright injurious at times. Indeed, his astonishing lack of development has quietly become one of the few lowlights in an otherwise wonderful campaign.

During the summer, we had the following to say about what could make Barker’s season a success or disappointment. Read carefully, and stay seated please.

Barker’s 2009-’10 season will be a success if…

He takes power play pressure off Brian Campbell. Sure, Campbell was signed for big bucks to quarterback the power play, and for the most part, he did a nice job of doing so. But, $50 million has a tendency to wear players down. If Barker can continue to be the power play force he was most of last season, Campbell may feel a tiny bit of the load lifted from his shoulders, and that’s a good thing.

He continues to develop his defensive and physical games. Being a power play ace is fine, but Barker has all the tools to be a force in his own zone. He took a large step forward last season in those capacities, but there’s plenty – OK, a lot – of room for improvement. Many – me included – thought the Hawks were essentially writing Barker off with the acquisition of Campbell last offseason; Barker proved them wrong. This offseason the Hawks have a perceived need for a large defensive defenseman. Could it be Barker is capable of adding this dimension to his game?

Barker’s 2009-’10 season will be a disappointment if…

He’s asked to play third pairing even strength minutes. While Barker may earn his money on the power play alone, more should be expected of a third overall pick. With Matt Walker gone, Barker should be asked to pick up more late minutes.

Oh, boy. Where to begin?

As I said in the offseason post, “Barker’s confidence with the puck and his booming shot from the point help set the Hawks’ power play apart during the ’08-’09 campaign.” Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the current season, where Barker’s signature confidence with the puck has been missing since Day 1, and his time on the power play has suffered proportionately, as he’s mostly been a second unit contributor, if at all.

Most troubling, there are times this season where Barker seems content to blend in rather than step forward, often settling for partner-to-partner passes during breakouts and zone entries. That’s just not the Cam Barker we saw at times last season.

As for the development of his defensive and physical games, I’ll give him a pass – maybe an “incomplete” is more appropriate – on both. Playing against mostly third and fourth lines, Barker’s defensive game hasn’t necessarily had to develop, and no one wants him to go toe-to-toe physically with many depth forwards.

But, therein is the rub: with his confidence obviously lacking, Coach Joel Quenneville has been reluctant to play him during crunch time. It’s hardly the situation a 23-year old, developing defenseman should be subject to.

Finally, as we feared during the offseason, Cam’s been asked to play third pairing even strength minutes. What’s more, Barker is averaging about 13 minutes of ice per game, less than the other five defensive regulars and every forward not typically on the fourth line. That’s no good-ah.

A couple points underscore Barker’s fall from grace: first, in defense of Barker, it’s been clear since he signed on the dotted line during the summer that (i) there wasn’t enough money to satisfy all the signed players in future years and (ii) he would likely be one of the players shipped out because of it.

It’s not a huge jump to assume then that Barker’s been squeezing his stick all season, feeling as though he’s both (i) playing for a team that doesn’t necessarily want or need him and (ii) trying out for another in the process. That’s probably not a great combination for a young-ish d-man; nor is it necessarily his fault. It certainly seems like he was set up to fail in many ways this year.

Next, given the above, it’s also not a stretch to assume that Quenneville has been “phasing out” Barker, slowly reducing his penalty minutes and looking to others – like Ham Sandwich, who’s a restricted free agent following this season, but figures to be back – to fill in the “big time” minutes. Hell, Q has gone to Dustin Byfuglien on Barker’s familiar spot atop the first unit power play, and Ham Sandwich has gobbled up the crunch time minutes taken last season by Matt Walker.

So, while the Hawks are sure to at least make one small tweak to the ol’ rooster in the next month, remember what a boost a fully functioning Cam Barker could bring come spring time. 

Not that I would count on it.

UPDATE: I have something of a policy not to read other Hawk blogs before I write; especially on game days when I don’t want my thoughts to be tainted – for lack of a better term – by others’ blogs.

Well, this afternoon, during my usual afternoon jaunt through the Hawk blogosphere, I stumbled upon Mike Kiley’s take on Cam Barker’s season, one that seems similar to my rant posted this morning.  Of course, this was the first I had seen of Kiley’s Barker column, which he apparently posted yesterday, and I in no way attempted to copy or piggy-back his work.  Judging from the lack of “Hey, you took Kiley’s column” comments and emails, I assume you all understand the coincidence.

I suppose, in the end, it’s just more evidence that Barker’s having a tough year.

Thanks all.

Rick Morrissey: Hockey is a sport

Before I get started, let me offer this warning.  The articles I will be referencing – and therefore linking to unless otherwise mentioned - are from the Chicago Sun-Times Rick Morrissey.  If you click on any of the links, be warned your brain may melt. 

Ok, now to the point at hand.  Monday’s offering from Rick Morrissey is most-assuredly in response to his inbox to being flooded from all sorts because of his take on the Blackhawks limo pictures from last week.  If you didn’t see it already, Matthew Dirt from Second City Hockey already picked that one apart. 

So after being told by the typical hockey yahoos “YOU DON’T KNOW HOCKEY!! STOP TALKING HOCKEY!!!”, Morrissey decided to fight ignorance with more ignorance.  Behold:

For a player, the difficulty of hockey is not in its strategy but in being talented enough to keep the puck away from the other team.

I’m not really sure what this means.  Is he saying there’s no point in having coaches?  Is he saying that players only plan of attack is to make sure the other team doesn’t have the puck?  Are players simply instructed not to worry about anything but playing keepaway?  If so, why do teams sit through film sessions?  So Ben Eager and Cam Barker can have a little alone time in the dark?   So many questions, so few answers.

It goes a bit deeper, though.  Imagine if I just discovered the game of baseball, would I be in the wrong for thinking this: “For a player, the difficulty of baseball is not in its strategy but in being talented enough to hit the ball.”

Probably not.

Not understanding a sport is quite alright but painting it with a broad stroke simply because you don’t want to know the intracacies is a different story.      

Here’s the thing about hockey: There aren’t a lot of intricacies. Players skate like madmen for 40-second shifts. The passing at the NHL level is crisp, a thing to behold, but it doesn’t take a genius to know where the puck is supposed to go. And a fan needn’t have a vintage Dennis Hull sweater to know it, either.

Now watch very closely for what I’m about to do here.  I’ll bold it for the slower in the audience.

Here’s the thing about football: There aren’t a lot of intricacies. Players run around like madmen for 5-second intervals. The passing at the NFL level is crisp, a thing to behold, but it doesn’t take a genius to know where the ball is supposed to go. And a fan needn’t have a vintage Vince Evans jersey to know it, either.

See, if you’re a novice to ANY sport, everything seems simple.  It’s only when you peel off the layers when the intracacies are revealed.  Don’t tell that to Morrissey though.  He’s too busy trying to offend other niche sports.

Soccer might have more strategy than hockey. If only it had checking.

I love how he says “might” as in, “I’ve watched soccer for about 15 minutes once, it seemed to have some strategy going, but I’m not sure.  There seemed to be some plan of attack rather than just 10 guys skating around with this piece of rubber.  Oh yeah, and soccer is stupid.  Haha.”

The underlying factor (and most likely the biggest reason we were subjected to Morrissey enlightening us with how simple hockey is) in all of this is how much I despise hockey fans who respond to people with misguided opinions about the sport by saying, “STOP TALKING HOCKEY!! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT!!”  Whatever happened to the good old reply of “You’re an idiot.”  What do you think Bears, Cubs, or White Sox fans say to Morrissey when he tries to dissect their teams?

No one tells Don Cherry to stop talking hockey and he has plenty of brain-dead ideas.  Just watch CBC for about three minutes.  Chris Berman is a blowhole.  He isn’t instructed to stop talking football.  John Kruk has a string attached to his back; just give it a yank and you’ll get all sorts of cliches.  His inbox isn’t flooded on a nightly basis with strict orders to stop talking baseball.  No, viewers just call them idiots and move on with their lives. 

Of course, the main point of Morrissey’s column was instructing old fans how to treat new fans and somewhere in between explaining how there’s little strategy in hockey and how the game hasn’t really changed in 25 years (as if they used to use tennis rackets to hit baseballs 20 years ago), he sort of lost his way. 

If you want a better idea of how to treat all the new fans discovering that hockey is actually played at the United Center, check out what these two guys said last year.  They might know what they’re talking about.

Weekend Farmin’

It was another unbeaten weekend for the Rockford IceHogs and the result was they got to spend a few hours in first place of the West Division. 

On Friday night, they beat their intra-state rival, the Peoria Rivermen, 4-2 at the Rockford MetroCentre.  After a scoreless 1st period, Jack Skille scored the game’s opening goal five minutes into the second with assists from Kyle Greentree and Richard Petiot.  Peoria tied the game at the 16 minute mark, but Greentree scored 45 seconds later to help Rockford re-take the lead.  Skille and Bracken Kearns had assists.  Two minutes later, the Rivermen scored again to cap a wild 2nd period. 

Three minutes into the 3rd period, Jake Dowell scored his 5th goal of the season with help from Simon Danis-Pepin and Brian Connelly.  Matt Keith clinched the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute of the game.

Corey Crawford was named 1st star of the game in making 27 saves. 

Another note of interest from the game:  With less than four minutes left in the game, Akim Aliu received a 10 minute misconduct and a game misconduct for arguing with referee Kyle Rehman.

On Saturday, the IceHogs continued their recent domination over the Grand Rapids Griffins.  Rob Klinkhammer opened the scoring with his 8th goal of the season.  Danny Bois and Richard Petiot had assists.  After the Griffins tied the game with five seconds left in the first period, Akim Aliu put the IceHogs back on top in the second period.  Bryan Bickell and Brian Connelly notched the helpers. 

When the Griffins tied the score late in the third period, Aliu bailed out Rockford once again.  This time, Aliu scored on a penalty shot with less than three minutes left to give the IceHogs the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory.  He was awarded the penalty shot after being yanked down on a breakaway.  It also marked the first multi-point game for Aliu this season. 

Joseph Fallon got the start in net and stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced.

–Shawn Lalonde didn’t have a point in Belleville’s 6-0 loss on Saturday.

–On Friday night, Kyle Beach scored two goals, assisted on an empty-net goal, and had a fight in the second period.  Saturday, he scored two more goals, one on the power play and one short-handed.      

–In two games this weekend, Byron Froese didn’t have a point.

–Dylan Olsen had no points and was a -2 in a weekend split with Wisconsin.  Dan DeLisle played in both games and was a +1.

–Brandon Pirri had a goal and three assists this weekend as RPI lost on Friday night to Brown and beat Yale on Saturday.

–Billy Sweatt scored two goals and had two assists in Colorado College’s weekend split with St. Cloud State.

Hurricanes 4, Blackhawks 2

Just don’t be mad about Saturday night’s loss in Carolina to the comparatively lowly Hurricanes.

Not when you circled it on your calendar in August or September as a loss because of the cross-country travel from California the day prior.

Not when you promised yourself you’d be as happy as John at a Hannah Montana concert if the Hawks won four or five on the road trip that ended Saturday.

And, not after you fell asleep with a smile from ear-to-ear after Thursday night’s victory in San Jose.  After all, you told your friends back in August the Hawks needed to get a split out of the trip’s last two games.

Just be lucky: it could have been much worse.  The Hawks looked like the Northbrook (Illinois) Bluehawks tying to break the puck out of their own zone in the first, yet managed to keep the game scoreless until the final ten seconds of the frame; Marian Hossa road on Brent Sopel’s back head-first into the boards and somehow came away with full use of all his appendanges; Ham Sandwich blocked no less than 24 shots; and Brent Sopel took a scary shot to a leg in the second.

Add that to the ten points the Hawks secured on the road trip, and we all should have slept soundly last night.

All in all, the game came down to a few minutes in the third period.  Facing a one-goal deficit, the Hawks were pounding Canes’ goalie Cam Ward with shots and chances.  The puck bounced to Andrew Ladd, who was standing just outside the slot for a puck drop, and  Ladd flicked it by Ward after a neat, quick curl and drag-type move.  (Does Ladd ever shoot the puck without first dragging it towards his body?  I think this has essentially become his shooting motion.)

With all the pressure the Hawks had established, it looked like they would start to pile on the reeling Hurricanes, but it was not to be.

In less than two minutes, the ‘Canes had a two-goal lead off two redirects, and the Hawks might as well have been on the plane home.  After a few chances – a few of which came after Joel Quenneville pulled Cristobal Huet with about 2:30 left – the road trip ended.

And, I’m sure we’re all just fine with it.

The Good Stuff is Down Here

- Cam Ward was fantastic, stopping 39 of 40 shots and numerous first-rate chances.  He’s absolutely one of the best in the game.  I got the feeling early it would be a Cam Ward night.  It was.

Why he’ll be home during the Olympic break is a tough one to figure out.  (I suppose it has to do with his injury earlier this season, but I’m not sure.)  Marc-Andre Fleury is capable, but Ward is capable of stealing one just as much as Brodeur or Luongo.

- We don’t get to see those Eastern Conference teams too much these days, but … Aaron Ward, Tom Gleason, Matt Cullen, Eric Staal, Ryan Whitney, Sergei Samsonov, Bredan Sutter, Rod Brind’Amour, Stephon Yelle, Jiri Tlusty, Jonni Pitkanen, Tom Kostopoulos, Jussi Jokinen, Andrew Alberts, Chad Larose …

Is this the most “awesomely bad” team in hockey?  I mean, has any single team at any single level looked so good and so bad on paper at the same time? 

(And, let us not forget Tuomo Ruutu.)

- The Hawks were sloppy again at times in their own zone.  It was one of those nights were most of the mistakes landed up in the back of the net.

- Huet was not to blame for this one.  Just sayin’…

- Were there officials out on the ice?  Must’ve missed them.