When I lived in Chicago, I'd go to one Hawks game a year, securing pretty good seats, an annual birthday present from my parents, who know how insane I am about hockey. I brought my friend Lee to all the games, as we're hockey buddies. We were there for Jonathan Toews' 1st hat trick against the Penguins in 2009, which also happened to be free hardhat night. Holy shit, it was fucking glorious! Seeing all those hardhats raining upon the ice in celebration, it was really special. That was the best game we saw.
The worst game we saw was against the Washington Capitals in 2010. Shit was bad from the start, because NBC decided to flex schedule the game for their Sunday NHL matinee, with an 11AM start instead of 6PM. I hate mornings and am not enthusiastic about being alive until 1PM on most days, so having to drag my ass out of bed before 9AM on a Sunday was strike 1. The whole reason I wanted to go to that specific game was to see Alex Ovechkin play in person. I was a huge Ovechkin fan at the time, and thought he was the tits. An ugly Russian scoring machine with grace and brute strength in equal measure, he was my favorite NHL player not named Toews.
Halfway through the 1st period, as Brian Campbell and Ovechkin were chasing a puck deep into the Hawks' zone, Ovechkin checked Campbell into the boards, breaking his collarbone. Strike 2. Ovechkin was given a 5 minute major and ejected. Here's the hit...
After seeing that hit, I was silent and glum. The man I came to gawk at did something obnoxiously stupid, and injured a good player in the process. I knew immediately that I was through with Ovechkin. To pour salt in the wound, we sat next to an obnoxious pair of Capitals fans the whole game. Father and 10 year old son. They were more interested in booing the Blackhawks than cheering their team. People gave them looks, but since dad had a kid with him, nobody said anything. It's a good tactic for assholes to use their kid as a criticism shield. Strike 3. I don't remember if the Hawks won or lost, all I know is that I was thoroughly bummed. Fuck Alex Ovechkin with a butter knife.
Onto the game...
Delicious Cake
- The 2nd period. The Hawks outshot the Capitals 17-7 and had more scoring chances than Fabio at a menopause convention.
So-So Soup
-They scored a goal! That's objectively better than being shut out, right?
Expired Tuna Salad
-The net-front presence at both ends of the ice. The Hawks are going to run into a lot of positionally sound, anchored goalies. The era of the flailing goalie making spectacular saves is over (I still love you, Dominik Hasek), replaced by big steady netminders. To beat these goaltenders, you have to have a durable player in front of him, obstructing his view, deflecting shots, and tapping in rebounds. It's no coincidence that the only Hawks goal was scored with Anisimov standing in front of Braden Holtby.
As far as defensive net-front presence, the Hawks are losing battles and failing to clear space for their goalie to see oncoming shots. 3 of the 4 goals were scored because of someone screening Scott Darling. The 1st goal by Oshie, that overrated red-cheeked bastard who scored more than 20 goals only once in 7 seasons, saw him sneak into the slot and snap a shot past Darling, who was dealing with Marcus Johansson in his face. The Capitals 2nd goal was made possible by Johansson again, who was in front of Darling, as well as Svedberg screening him. Svedberg is gonna have to learn to get out of his own goalie's sightline, big motherfucker that he is. 3rd goal had two Hawks, Hjalmarsson and Tikhonov, screening Darling as Matt Niskanen cruised across the ice and lifted a shot over Darling's right shoulder.
To score, you need a body in front of the net. To defend, you need to clear the bodies in front of the net. It's that simple. The Hawks need to get better at both.
An example of good net-front presence.
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