SB Nation - Troy Brouwer

This Is What I Know About Being Gigantic - Hawks 5, Bruins 4 (SO - Hawks win shirtless slap fight)

McClure — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:09:48 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Hey! Is that a ninja up there?

The biggest United Center crowd of the year got to see the Hawks' most entertaining game of the year, outside of the obvious asterisk that the Calgary comeback ever shall be.

The Hawks' lineup looked quite a bit different on Friday, with Antti Niemi starting in net, Niklas Hjalmarsson sitting out because of feeling under the weather (rumor has it he hurt his knee in the Peterborough game), and Ben Eager sitting out presumably because he's a steakhead. Personally, I would have sat Tomas Kopecky again in favor of Eager, but I'm not the guy with the mustache...YET. Both teams traded chances in the opening minutes of the first, with the Hawks once again moving the puck very well, but only seemed to be able to manufacture shots from the perimeter against Tim Thomas, who appeared to be on in the early going with his Hasek-esque style. In their own zone, however, the Hawks were an adventure. Joel Quenneville very quickly into the game rearranged his defensemen, pairing Jordan Hendry with Brian Campbell in order to keep two pairs consistent in Hammer's absence- a result which paid dividends. It did not prevent David Krejci from opening the scoring, however, as Niemi failed to smother a dump in with his catch glove (which was suspect all evening), and the puck came to Krejci out front to poke home.

Early in the second, Kris Versteeg potted the Hawks' equalizer off of a careless pass from Andrew Ference which VERSTEEG! alertly snapped past Thomas. The ice then began to tilt in the Hawks favor, as Patrick Sharp gave the Hawks the lead banging home a rebound crashing the left post. After having some issues with the referee in the corner at the other end of the ice Brent Sopel (at his Sopel-est tonight), coughed up a turnover that led to Daniel Paille tying the game at two. However, in the waning moments of the second, Troy Brouwer threw a goal line pass from the corner to Jonathan Toews, who harpooned the puck between Thomas' legs to give the Hawks the lead after 40. All three Hawks' goal scorers in the period potted their tenth goals of the year.

The Hawks' assault on Thomas continued into the third, but Boston once again drew even, as Johnny Boychuk slapped a cross ice feed undereath Niemi's right arm. Less than two minutes later, Andrew Ladd received credit for redirecting a Brian Campbell point blast into the net after some fine perimeter puck movement by Campbell, Hendry, and Sharp. It would not be a lead the Hawks would hold onto. With less than three minutes remaining, the Bruins found themselves on a 3-on-2, with both Sharp and Marian Hossa late to return on their backchecks, which let Krejci pot his second of the night to tie the game up. After relatively uneventful OT, the contest needed to be decided with a couple rounds of rochambeau, with Q deciding to let the B's shoot first. Patrice Bergeron ran out of room on Niemi, and Toews made him pay with the now trademark snapper at the other end. Blake Wheeler got Niemi down and out but drew iron, which made Patrick Kane's backhader at the other end hold up as the winner. Hawks win.

Observations

Outside of Sharp and Hossa's lackadaisical backcheck, Niemi's glove, and Sopel being Sopel, I found very little to complain about from anyone else. No passengers for this game whatsoever. Even Tomas Kopecky's general invisibility was not for lack of effort.
I was very impressed with Jordan Hendry's ability to step in and play with Brian Campbell, one of the more difficult defenseman in the league to partner with, arguably the most. Credit to Quenneville as well for realizing very quickly that Cam Barker simply does not have the foot speed to recover in time to be paired with Soup at even strength, and making the change. As Sam said, why screw up two pairs with Hammer out?
The Hawks dominated in shots in the second and third, and give credit to the Bruins for capitalizing on the opportunities they got. This game could have been a case of water finding its own level with Antti Niemi, who did make some very good saves when they counted, but a couple of the B's goals - Krejci's first and Boychuck's - could and should have been stopped.
Apologies for the obtuse headline. I know it's a reach, but please bear with me. See what I did there?
I know the Hawks have two games in hand, but how the fuck are they only two points ahead of goddamn Nashville? That Barry Trotz really is something.
Credit the Hawks for not shying away from the monster that is Zdeno Chara. I witnessed Kane, Toews and VERSTEEG! initiate contact with that pituitary case, with Toews retaliating a bit on Versteeg's behalf at one point near the benches, and at one point Troy Brouwer and Chara came to within a hair on my sack from scrapping. It would have been a fight that Our Boy Troy would have been destroyed in, but the courage is admirable.
All eight goals came at even strength. For the top two PK units in the league, I know that's a shock.
Thanks to you, the reader, who now seems to understand that if there's a game on a weekend evening, it's pretty well implied that the wrap isn't coming until the following morning due to this blog's propensity for getting itself banged up before, during, and after games. The fact that the weekday games are now a coin-flip as well could be cause for concern, however. Knowing us, though, we'd make the inevitable intervention an open invite event at the Whirlaway.

Player of the Game

While this award could have gone a number of ways, I'll give it to everyone's, including seemingly Q's, favorite $7 million dollar whipping boy. Even with his Swedish security blanket out of the lineup, Brian Campbell managed to be a +1 with an assist during nearly 28:00 minutes of ice time in a back and forth game. Campbell created opportunities in the offensive zone, had an assist on a redirected slap shot, and was solid in his own end.

Run Run Rudolph, Santa's Gotta Make It To Whirlaway

SamFels — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:10:01 -0000

Another holiday, another big road game for the Hawks, which means it must be time for the Three Amigos to host a road watch. So, we invite you on Dec. 23rd to join Killion, McClure, and myself at Whirlaway (Fullerton at Kedzie) for the Dec. 23rd tilt against Scum. It's at 6:30, so just head straight from the office and avoid even more time with your family. Just look for a tall doofus with the shit-eating grin, the Irish-looking motherfucker in the Toews jersey, and the bald, Scott Ian-looking moron with the look of desperation in his eyes.

Few thoughts from last night:

-Brian Campbell had his best game of the season last night, and it wasn't just the goal. He was flying into the Blues' zone, and was pretty damn fair in his own end. Andy Murray was quoted after the game as saying the difference between this year's Hawks and last year's in 51 Phantom is playing well. That's definitely part of it, as the Hawks have a d-man capable of quick transition for at least 40 minutes a game (combined with Keith). Though his numbers don't look all that impressive (due to inexplicably having his PP time cut), Hjalmarsson has brought the best out of Soupy. The best play of the night didn't result in a goal, but Campbell's rush up the left boards and blind pass to Hossa, who then faked Conklin out of his gord but contrived to not score, was a treat to watch. Two sublimely talented players displaying it to the hilt.

-The encouraging thing about Troy Brouwer's goal was the way he drifted into a scoring area by stopping to lose his check. That displays instincts that we know Troy has always had, something that would be awesome to pass to Buff.

-That said, since Buff has been skating with Madden, he's been a presence, and a very physical one at that. Whether he scores or not, as long as this continues, I won't complain.

- The Blues are a mess. They didn't put forth any sort of energy until down three, and I can only imagine a fear of embarrassment was the main factor. The only two players I noticed all night were David Perron and Erik Johnson.

I think that's it for now.

Scumbag Blues - Hawks 3, Blues 0

McClure — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:31:36 -0000

More photos » by Paul Beaty - AP

That's what you get for switching from Graf skates, McDonald.

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Wanna hear one of my favorite jokes, as originally told to me by a college roommate?

"What would you call Chicago if it sucked?"

"St. Louis."

That pretty much sums up my sentiment regarding the Hawks' division rivals after watching last night's game. The Hawks were all over the Blues from the get-go. Troy Brouwer finally dented the twine after one-timing a pass off of a cycle from Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane from the top of the left circle. Shortly thereafter Brian Campbell scored his first goal on North American soil on the power play, blasting a slapshot far-side past St. Louis goaltender Ty Conklin.

Even though during the second period the Blues mounted at least a half-assed attempt to get back into the game forcing Cristobal Huet to make some timely saves, the Hawks managed to extend the lead fresh after killing a penalty when the Unholy Alliance that is Kane-Toews-Hossa got thrown out there once the penalty had been killed. Hossa broke into the zone, and once again a low cycle ensued which somehow left Hossa alone between the hash marks to receive a pass from Toews which he buried.

From there on out, things got quite chippy, as cuntrags Barrett Jackman, BJ Crombeen, and Cam Janssens decided it was time to exact their pound of flesh since they clearly couldn't skate with the Hawks. Credit the Hawks for standing up for one another, as once again Kris Versteeg took on a much larger opponent in Jackman during one of the many extended sessions of slap-dick in the third. While it may earn him much respect in the dressing room, personally, I'd rather not have VERSTEEG!'s skillful hands be pounded to cinders on someone's face, or have his own face re-arranged should he be taking on anyone other than Kyle Turris. Cristobal Huet even nearly got into the act, as he skated out to the blue line and subtly motioned to Ty Conklin during a 5-on-5 dogpile that was the result of Janssens getting in Huet's grill. While I don't need fights to enjoy a game, a goalie battle would have certainly endeared Huet to the fans, and it would be one more thing I could check off my list of things I've seen live. Oh yeah, Hawks win again in shutout fashion.

Observations

In spite of Campbell's goal, the power play is still fucking clown shoes.
Kerry Fraser = Hockey Hochuli
Hossa's backchecking has to be seen live to be believed. One cannot fathom the distance on the ice he covers in such short order to retrieve the puck from his own zone.
Did I mention that Barret Jackman is a fuckhole?

Player of the Game

With the tinted visor he becomes Darth Kaner, harnessing the power of the Dark Side to the tune of three assists.

To The Five Boroughs - Hawks 2, Rangers 1 (OT)

McClure — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:33:32 -0000

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Dustin Ovechkin? Where the balls did THAT come from?

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If you can find anything to complain about from the Hawks from this game...you're wrong. The fact of the matter is, for nearly 64 minutes, the Hawks dominated this game, and the only thing that kept the Rangers in it was Henrik Lundqvist. The one sequence that the Hawks gave Marian Gaborik any room to work with in the first he found an open Chris Higgins who beat Cristobal Huet from the left circle with a perfect water bottle wrister. Other than that, however, the Rangers didn't get a sniff, as evidenced by the 3 shots COMBINED in the third and OT, and totaled 18 for the evening.

In the offensive zone, the Hawks mauled the rangers for a total of 41 shots for the night, and the game would have been out of hand early if not for Lundqvist's heroics. Every line for the Hawks produced offense, and it finally took four Hawks jamming away at King Henrik with 6 minutes left, and on a power play, to finally prod one past him to equal the score, and consequently force the overtime.

Once in OT, the Hawks kept the pressure on, and then came one of the most ridiculous things I've seen at the UC in a long time. Dustin Byfuglien picked up a loose puck at the top of his own rings and led a one-man rush down the ice and slid the puck past Lundqvist for the game winner. Buff has regularly been a whipping boy of this blog, and this play is part of the reason why. Seeing this, we all know he has it in him, and yet he is still quite often a passenger on whatever line he happens to be playing with. It's confounding, but even still, it resulted in my maniacal victorious laughter at the end of the night, so all's well that ends well. Hawks win 2-1.

Observations

The second line of Sharp, Kane, and Brouwer looks quite promising, as Sharp was everywhere tonight, despite not making it onto the score sheet
I TELL YA, DAT HORSA GUY CAN BACKCHECK
Nice to see Troy Brouwer throwing his weight around again
It seemed like the book on Lundqvist was to go high, which the Hawks adhered to, but it led to many, MANY shots over the net and rung off the end board glass. Had they not gotten too cute, the shot total would have dwarfed the 41 that was put up.
The Hawks have only scored 4 even strength goals since the San Jose game.
I cannot believe a game that involved Donald Brashear, Sean Avery, and Ben Eager did not contain a single moment of unbridled numbskullery.

Player of the Game

In spite of Buff's goal, and even though it ended up being a losing effort, there is no denying that King Henrik had the best game of anyone on the ice tonight.

Game 27 Preview: Jackets head to the Windy City to face the Hawks

Mike MacLean — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:03:19 -0000

by Jay LaPrete - AP

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After snapping a five game losing streak, the Jackets are in Chicago to take on the 'Hawks. On paper, this doesn't look good for the Jackets. It's the second game of a back-to-back, Rusty is out of the lineup with a groin tear (Mathieu Roy will play tonight, he's up from Syracuse on emergency recall), and tonight is the home debut of Hossa.

That said, the boys should still have some momentum from last night. It was a gutsy performance, and maybe the victory against the Blues was the tonic needed to get the Jackets back on track. Chicago is a great team from top to bottom. Their one question mark heading into the season-goaltending-seems to no longer be an issue with the strong play of Huet.

In my opinion, and likely many other share this opinion, the Hawks have the best defense in the NHL. It will be tough to score tonight, but the Jackets do have the weapons needed. Umby is playing his best hockey of the season, and Brass is looking better and better each game. If Voracek can build off of the strong game he had last night, look for that line to produce tonight. That would allow Nash and Juice to do their thing offensively-Huselius has been putting up serious points lately as well.

This is an imprtant game for the checking unit. I haven't seen much from Chimmer all season, and he needs to bring a physical element tonight. Mike Blunden hits everything that moves, and he'll need to continue doing that tonight against the 'Hawks potent forwards. Sammy was a Blackhawk for a brief period last season, and I look for him to have a strong game matching up against either Toews or Versteeg.

Fearless Prediction: Goal from a CBJ defenseman.

Game Time: 8:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Second City Hockey

Game Page: Blue Jackets vs Blackhawks Coverage

TSN Preview: Blue Jackets vs Blackhawks Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Blue Jackets snapped a five-game losing streak last night with a 5-2 win over the Blues. It should be a loud crowd tonight in United Center. The Blackhawks are back off a six-game trip, Marian Hossa makes his Chicago debut and coach Joel Quenneville goes for his 500th victory.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Michael Blunden
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Anton Stralman
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Mathieu Roy

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Alexandre Picard

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot

Chicago Blackhawks

Patrik Sharp	Jonathan Toews	Marian Hossa
Dustin Byfuglien	Kris Versteeg	Patrick Kane
Andrew Ladd	John Madden	Troy Brouwer
Ben Eager	Colin Fraser	Tomas Kopecky

Duncan Keith	Brent Seabrook
Brian Campbell	Cam Barker
Niklas Hjalmarsson	Brent Sopel

Cristobal Huet

Antti Niemi

Mark It Eight, Dude: Blackhawks Crush Sharks 7-2 for Their Eighth Win in a Row

Matthew Dirt — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:09:50 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

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In the history of Second City Hockey, we've probably had some pretty terrible game recaps - this might be one of them. McClure and Fels are obviously still over at the Whirlaway plowing down drinks and eating whatever delicious food Maria has made for the horde that made it out to the bar.

Meanwhile, I got back to my parent's home just in time for the second period to watch the Sharks game go absolutely down the toilet. Of course, I had to watch the game on a shitty internet connection and Yahoo's feed kept fucking up so I don't have any great insight as to how the game actually went - as if I ever do anyway though, eh? I've had several Yuengling's though - so I'm good to go.

Since the feeds out here sucked, all I've really got to go on are the stats and the game thread... and by the way the game thread had over 700 comments - I'm very fucking proud.

There are two things that obviously stand out - the Hawks scoring 3 short handed goals and Hossa netting two goals in his return to the ice... Honestly - I'm not sure which is more impressive. Short handed goals are always a mix of great play and a bit of luck. Due to the poor feed, I can't remember who but I remember seeing Sharks D-men falling down allowing at least one of the shorties. It was almost the bizzaro version of the game against the Flames where the Hawks scored their goals on the power play. This time they got them with a man feeling shame in the box - word is Brouwer, Sharp and Hossa all grew goatees too... Regardless - awesome. Hossa immediately making his presence felt, that could be even sweeter. This team is scary good at the moment, hopefully it's this fun for a lot longer.

Hossa ended the night with 2 goals on 4 shots in 16:35 minutes of ice time - Quenneville obviously didn't have any problems pushing Panda (alliteration!) tonight, only Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews had more ice time among the forwards.

On the Sharks side of things - it didn't look too good. Danny Boyle, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thornton were all -4 tonight. Patrick Marleau had a team leading 4 shots (one less than John Madden and a few other Hawks) on goal but was still -3. Speaking of shots on goal - The Sharks only managed 11 through the first period, though they did more than double that total in the third once the Hawks foot was clearly off the gas and settled into cruise control.

Scoring a touchdown (the extra point is good!) on the road is good - doing it against a team that hadn't lost in regulation at home, that's better. If you read the Power Rankings post I had yesterday, you saw that this was had the potential to be a statement game. These are two of the best teams in the NHL - and the Blackhawks absolutely dominated the Sharks. Happy Fucking Holidays.

Don't know how the other two are going to be feeling tomorrow but if they're not too annihilated they may have a few more thoughts before settling into a traditional American food coma. If not, let this be the Second City Hockey message to all of you saying we're very thankful to have all of you as readers and we hope you have a great day. Enjoy.

Player Of The Game:

Once again, this could have gone to a lot of players. Troy Brouwer had a goal, an assist and two hits. Duncan Keith had another 3 assist game. Both Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook had goal and assist games - Biscuit also had 5 hits. Cristobal Huet had another great game - he came out with only a .917 SV% but deserved better since the Hawks got sloppy in the waning moments. I think we've got to go with the new guy though. 2 goals on 4 shots in just over 16:30 minutes TOI.

Thanks again to GMH for the image - which is slightly terrifying but awesome at the same time.

Bomb.Repeat.Bomb. - Blackhawks 7 - Flames 1

Matthew Dirt — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:15:03 -0000

Its become something of a tradition around these parts - but every time the Blackhawks absolutely dismantle the Flames we get an appearance of a vastly under-appreciated Simpsons character

That my friends, was a paddlin' indeed.

During the first period it seemed like the Hawks were having a bit of trouble getting things going. They grabbed the lead when Troy Brouwer was left alone in front of the net on the Hawks first power play but it didn't seem like somthing you'd want to rest on. It was obvious the winning team would need more than just one goal that resulted after an even first. The shots on goal were tied and if not for a few great saves by Huet, it could have been tied. Then the Flames started the second on a power play and wasted only 14 seconds before Olli Jokinen snuck the puck past Cristobal Huet. With the game tied we started to settle in for nail-biting close game.

And then Hammer absolutely ruined Rene Bourque.

We'll set aside the fact that Niklas Hjalmarsson may have left his feet to make the hit (haven't seen a good enough replay of it yet) because this was the breaking point in this game. Nigel Dawes came to defend Bourque (who didn't really skate again after the hit) and was given 2 minutes for roughing. Shockingly, the Blackhawks scored on that power play too and didn't look back. Even Dustin Byfuglien decided it was just about time for him to do something again to keep himself from getting benched and had a nice takeaway and goal. Don't expect to see him again for at least 6 more weeks. After Hammer's hit the Flames wilted and died - We didn't see anything close to the game we were expecting.

How good were the Hawks in the second period? They finally fucking scored on a 5 on 3... that's how good. They were something like 0 for 5 with the two extra men but had continually been shut down until tonight. The Hawks exploded for the most goals of any period this year, got their first player with a multi-goal game (VERSTEEG!), were 80% on the power play, and finished with 13 players getting at least a single point... There's just about nothing poor to say about the men of four feathers in this game. Everything went as well as you could hope.

Well - I guess Seabrook could have made Dion Phaneuf bleed. That would have completed the night. In case you needed any more evidence that this frankenstein is one of the biggest shitbirds in the league, look no further than picking a fight with someone while wearing a visor. Even the zebras called bullshit on that move and gave him a phantom 2 minutes for roughing. So VERSTEEG! followed it up by scoring his second of the night.

Oh, and as is being pointed out - Hossa is almost ready to make the Blackhawks even more dangerous.

Other Thoughts:

The Flames ought to be ashamed for leaving Brouwer alone on the crease for so long. It's one thing to ignore a player while the puck is being cycled around the zone but I think Troy got three shots off before netting the final one without so much as being breathed on by a Flames player.
Seabrook was a force all over the ice tonight.
Has Colin Fraser ever won a fight? Dude, you're a center and I think we've seen the end of the Ebbett experiment - I think your spot is safe at least until Dave Bolland comes back.
This was the first game of the year where the Hawks were outshot but still won. They also lost the face off battle (EDIT: Just kidding - they actually won 53% of the faceoffs, I misread)

Player Of The Game:

Fuck.. how do you choose? Duncan Keith had three assists and was the usual monster in the Hawks end. Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist on his 21st birthday (first carbomb is on me, kid). Kris Versteeg had 2 goals on the power play. Patrick Sharp added two points. Hammer changed the tempo of the game with a huge hit on a player I'm quickly growing to hate (and added an assist). And of course Cristobal Huet had a brilliant game making big stops to keep the Hawks in it when it was close and stayed focused when it got out of control - this was also his best SV% (.964) in a non-shutout game.

So we're going to let you pick. Time for the first poll in a while.

Poll

Who should the Player of The Game be?

Cristobal Huet - .964SV %

214 votes

Patrick Kane - 1G, 1A

60 votes

Kris Versteeg - 2G

97 votes

Duncan Keith - 3A

136 votes

Niklas Hjalmarsson - 1A, 2 Hits (both on Bourque)

196 votes

Someone else

5 votes

708 votes | Poll has closed

Shark Sandwich - Hawks 4, Sharks 3 (OT)

McClure — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:40:34 -0000

Eight of eight points against 3 top conference foes and one truculent opponent? Yeah, we'll take it. Tonight's win wasn't pretty, but an ugly win is still a win.

Things started off well enough with Brent Sopel (yes, BRENT SOPEL) notching his first of the year on a one time feed from Jordan Hendry who won the puck down low skating at forward tonight. Fresh call-up Bryan Bickell provided a nice screen on a shot that Evgeni Nabokov never saw. The Sharks answered later on in the period when dickweed Dany Heatley took a feed from Joe Thornton on a play that the Hawks should have cleared the zone on, but Jason Demers made a nice play to cut off Troy Brouwer receiving the exit pass.

Early in the second, we got to see the numbskullery we had been missing from Ben Eager, where he somehow managed to earn an extra two minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from his scrap with cro-magnon Douglas Murray. On the ensuing power play, the Sharks broke the Hawks streak of 18 straight penalties killed when Demers picked up a loose puck in the left circle on a broken play. It was a shot Huet did not get over to his post in time to cover. Forty-five seconds later, Patrick Marleau got a pass from Joe Pavelski in the slot, where he was left alone in a defensive breakdown, and was allowed to get two cracks at the net, the second of which he punched through. For the rest of the period, the ice was tilted in the Hawks favor. Patrick Kane picked a corner over Nabokov's glove to cut the deficit in half. With about a minute and a half to go, John Madden tied things up after skating through four Sharks to bury a rebound of a shot that was generated between he, Andrew Ladd, and Troy Brouwer. There was a scare in the middle of the frame when the puck squirted behind Huet and the Sharks had thought they had scored, but there was no indication on the ice, and the war room in Toronto determined no goal.

The third period was a rather tenative affair, with neither team generating much offensively, almost playing as if they were resigned to the fate of overtime as teams once did in the pre-lockout era. The Hawks ended things quickly with a great shift from Troy Brouwer and Jonathan Toews, who won the puck after hard work in behind the Shark net, with Toews finally able to slip it to a pinching Brent Seabrook who shot the puck through Nabokov for his second of the year, and second OT winner. Ballgame.

The Hawks were without the services of Kris Versteeg tonight, who was likely banged up after getting demolished by Jeff Finger on Friday night. Bryan "Don't Call me Travis" Bickell filled in admirably, and proving to be basically the left handed version of Troy Brouwer, which isn't a bad thing to be at this point.
Glad to see the Hawks hang tough and win over the top team in the league with basically half of their top 6 out for tonight's game (Bolland, Versteeg, Hossa).
Niklas Hjalmarsson continues to impress with his patience and smarts in his own end. As we've mentioned before here, and in the Indian, pay attention and marvel at his knack for absorbing a hit to make the correct pass. Additionally, he had a nice break up of a rush by dropping to a knee and taking away a passing lane.
Coach Q broke form and got way less matchup happy in the second period when the Hawks were down two goals, in an effort to generate some offense. Of course, with the score knotted in the third, John Madden once again resumed shadow detail on Thornton.
It wasn't Huet's best night, but he made a gigantic save on Scott Nichol in the waning seconds of regulation, so credit has to be given. All we as fans have asked from him is to just make the key save, and there was none bigger in the contest than that one.
The Hawks again limited one of the top offensive teams in the league to just 23 shots.
EDIT: John Madden was 9-0 on draws. The man love grows ever stronger.

Player of the Game

Though realistically, the honor should have gone to Patrick Marleau, who was everywhere tonight, you don't really think we'd pick someone from the other team, do you? So in that case, I'm going to go ahead and hand this out to Hammer, who was again rock solid tonight, in spite of being -1. Stats be damned, I know what I saw.

Return of the King - Hawks 4, Kings 1

McClure — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:24:22 -0000

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....and I don't mean Raitis Ivanans.For the first time in two and a half weeks, the Hawks had their captain and top center back in the lineup, and it showed. On top of winning 13 of 20 draws, Jonathan Toews added the insurance goal in what ended up as a one-sided (for the last 20 minutes) affair for the Hawks.

The first period started things off at a lively pace, with both teams trading chances and both Jonathan Quick and Cristobal Huet having an answer for all of them. While the Hawks outshot the Kings only by a 13-11 margin, the ice was tilted in the Hawks' favor the majority of the time. These were clearly not the Kings of last year, favoring a more wide-open attack, particularly while boasting the league's leading scorer in Anze Kopitar.

After a scoreless first, John Madden added a tally a little over a minute into the second frame on a backhand that farted through Quick's legs that was on a rush sprung on a rush by Duncan Keith and Troy Brouwer. LA answered about 8 minutes later when Kopitar found himself untouched on Huet's doorstep to pound home a rebound of a Drew Doughty shot after the entirety of the Hawks skaters had collapsed below the top of the rings. Huet made a few key saves to survive what was left of the second, before Patrick Sharp drew an interference call with five seconds left in the period.

On the ensuing power play in the third period, it was Sharp who found himself with time and space walking out from the left half wall to fire a wrist shot at Quick which Troy Brouwer tipped home. A couple minutes later, the Kings again found themselves shorthanded, and Jonathan Toews slid a backhander past quick after finding a loose puck alone in front of the LA net. Andrew Ebbett later netted his first as a Hawk after having a puck redirect into the goal off his nipple on a broken play. From there on out, the Kings never really mounted a threat; Hawks win 4-1.

Even with Bolland out, what a difference having Toews back makes when everyone is skating (for the most part) in their proper roles
The "Versteeg-at-center" experience lasted all of two shifts before Quenneville jumbled the shit out of the lines
Since being called out by this blog, Patrick Sharp has once again been skating like he gives a shit when he's not on Patrick Kane's line.
Good god, two moments of adequacy from the power play!
It's been real nice these past couple of weeks to have Cristobal Huet's play be an afterthought to the rest of the game.
The Hawks' defensive positioning in their own zone is really something to behold these days. At least in that aspect of the game, they're already playing like it's late May.

Player of the Game

Our Boy Troy has worked his ass off for every second of ice time he's sniffed this young season, and he was finally rewarded with significant power play time and a three-point effort. He was the first star as far as the press contingent at the UC was concerned, and he's also our first star here. Well done, sir.

We've Been Through This: Blackhawks November Monthly Preview

Matthew Dirt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:41:43 -0000

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I did these last year and meant to write one up for October but just forgot with the start of the actual season. These will be up hopefully on the final day of every month..

As for October though, there were plenty of ups and downs - the Hawks are off to the best start in a long time, they're coming into November in first place in the central, Kane is playing above where even some of his biggest fans thought he'd be right now and despite a shaky start, Huet has put together 4 solid starts in a row.

Of course there's bad too - injuries are a growing concern, even with a roster we all thought was pretty deep going into the year. The biggest injury obviously being to the Captain... who doesn't seem like he'll be returning anytime soon. The 4th line is patchwork at best without Eager or Burish. We're still figuring out if Tomas Kopecky is worth anything at all and for the record I'm not sold that he's a complete waste yet.

November will be much more of a challenge with the annual circus trip to California and Canada. The Hawks will be facing much harder competition as well with almost every game against a team with a winning record so far and two games against Colorado who have been one of the hottest teams going so far.

Hit the jump for more numbers and discussion.

Home Games: 4

Road Games: 8

Games Against Teams Over .500: 9

Central Division Games: 0

Longest Road Trip: Circus Trip - From Nov. 19th to the end of the month the Hawks will play 6 games on the road, Canada down to Cali

Sets of Back-to-back Games: 3 - Yotes and Avs to start it off this week, Oilers and Canucks on the 21st/22nd, Ducks and Kings to end it all the 27th/28th

Games to look forward to: The two games against the Avalanche should be interesting given how well they're playing right now. The Avs are 10-3-2 but remember - the Hawks are responsible for one of those OTLs.

The annual circus trip got a lot more interesting after last year now that the Hawks get to play the Flames and Canucks again. After the outrageous comeback against the Flames and the tough loss to the Canucks (not to mention Willie Mitchell's hit on Toews) means we're likely to see two hard fought tough games in Canada plus the Oilers thrown in there for good measure.

And on November 13th we get another Original 6 Match-Up when the Leafs come into town, possibly still looking for their 2nd win of the year.

ON PACE FOR

Record Of: 51-25-6 (108 Points)

4 points higher than last year - and just for the record the Hawks historical high in points was only 107 in the 70/71 and 71/72 seasons... 108 points will be insanely difficult and I would never put money on it.. but it would be a shit load of fun.

Most Goals: Patrick Sharp - 38

Sharp is an interesting case - we've all talked about his coasting and lack of production but this would only be 2 goals higher than his career best which shouldn't be out of the question. Sharp has been a pretty streaky player but netting 5 goals in 6 games then going 6 games without is going to drive us all insane.

Most Points: Patrick Kane - 76

With 12 points, Kane is close to finally being the point per game player we've suspected he might be. Add Hossa, Toews or Sharp to his line instead of Buff and Madden then Kane's numbers will only get better. If the power play ever gets off the ground then the numbers go up again - anyone think we could see a 100 point season if things go right?

Most PIM: Andrew Ladd - 145

Yeah - that's not going to happen. Ladd's numbers are obviously inflated due to the misconduct against the Habs. Ladd's never had more than 50 PIM in a year and only had 113 coming into this year. With Eager and Burish both out there isn't a clear leader in PIMs just yet though if Eager can make it back soon and keep his brain in tact I'm sure he'll start to run off with that stat..

Most Hits: Troy Brouwer -246

Brouwer is averaging 3 hits a night - if this pace keeps up I think Madden might have a little competition for newest man-crush in this city.

Most Blocked Shots: Duncan Keith - 183

Sam mentioned in the Indian on Friday that Keith is having an odd year and this is just another example. Keith is facing a lot of shots and is getting in the way of a lot of them too. 183 is extremely high but Keith came close with 148 in the '06/'07 season. Blocking a ton of shots and logging even more ice time is not a welcome sight - Keith's stats need to be watched closely this year.