A Chicago Blackhawks Blog
2011-12 Regular Season
End of Season Reviews: Jimmy Hayes
May 16th
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Part two of the dynamic duo called up in 2012 is Jimmy Hayes. I had really high hopes for this kid this season, but his presence was merely a teaser of his future potential on the Blackhawks, as well as a potentially promising indication of what’s to come.
I have a soft-spot in my heart for the big guy. For one thing, he’s American. Secondly, he is 22 years old. Lastly, and most importantly, Jimmy’s frame is built to bruise. Standing 6’6″ tall and weighing in at over 220 lbs, Jimmy has the body to hit and hit hard.
Jimmy started the season strong, scoring 2 points in his first three professional games. He netted 2 points in three different games for the Hawks. Not bad for a kid playing just above 10:00 per game on the season. Hayes started the season as a top line forward and netted 7 points in his first 10 NHL games.
Unfortunately, Hayes was a part of the player carousel that the Blackhawks had going this season, and it prevented him from developing any sort of offensive consistency, dropping in the depth chart towards the end of the season.
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Detour On The Road To Dynasty
Apr 24th
( Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune)
Well, it’s not the way we had it scripted, but the 2011-2012 Chicago Blackhawks season ends not with a bang, but a whimper.
It was supposed to be a lot different (better), of course. This particular ‘Hawks team was going to be the one to restore all the glory after a mostly forgettable 2010-2011 season. That season was written off fairly early by many fans who understand how contracts and the CBA worked. Hey, they would be back with a vengeance the next season, reloaded and rested, right? We heard a lot about how much that loss to Vancouver pissed them off. We heard about how hungry they were to prove the critics wrong. We were told the ‘Hawks finally had some money to spend. We had reason to be optimistic.
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Desert Dogs it is: Blackhawks Beat Red Wings in Shootout, Will Face Phoenix in Round 1
Apr 8th
Credit: Andrew Weber, US PRESSWIRE
Hopefully those who celebrate are having a nice Easter Sunday, and you’re about to find out what day the Second Season begins in the Second City. You’ll be seeing a lot of posts around these parts in the coming week with a wide variety of things being covered as the playoffs begin.
For the Blackhawks, the quest for the Stanley Cup begins in Phoenix after Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over Detroit.
Yes, Patrick Kane made a filthy move in the shootout. It had me taken aback, and his smiling face skating back to the Blackhawks’ bench gave me a nice giggle.
But did that meaningless shot simply mask the disappointment we should be feeling after the ‘Hawks blew a late lead for the second consecutive game? If Kane doesn’t make that move and the Blackhawks lose that shootout, aren’t we going around asking questions about how the ‘Hawks are going to survive in the playoffs, especially if Jonathan Toews isn’t quite ready?
Instead, we’re all “excited” to be playing the Pacific Division champion Phoenix Coyotes, who ended the season with 97 points, four fewer than the ‘Hawks. Avoiding Nashville sounds fun and all, but there’s still the fact the Blackhawks let a chance at home-ice advantage in the first round slip away over the past week.
Now the ‘Hawks get to face Mike Smith, who is pretty much the hottest goaltender in the world right now. Forget that he doesn’t have playoff experience. Some guy named Niemi didn’t have any either. The ‘Hawks were less than a minute away from avoiding him and a Phoenix team that has won five straight games barely breaking a sweat.
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Quick Work: Duncan Keith Returns For Wild Rematch
Apr 5th
Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Chicago never had the lead in their game against Minnesota last Sunday, which isn’t how the Blackhawks play their best game. However they did fight back to erase 3 deficits and force the Wild to a shootout. A shootout which the Blackhawks lost, eventually. But beyond showcasing the pugilistic talents of the bottom-six forwards, this game showed that this Blackhawks team may have a lot more perseverance and “guts” than we saw earlier this season.
The playoffs are right around the corner. The Blackhawks had better get a heaping helping of guts on the menu, and start making quick work of trifling teams like Minnesota, pretty quick. Like, perhaps, tonight.
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Some Good, Some Bad, But We’ll Take It
Apr 1st
Photo: ESPN
First thing’s first: with their 5-4 win over Nashville last night, the Chicago Blackhawks have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s the first time since 1995 that the club has managed this feat for 4 consecutive years.
And there was much rejoicing.
The story of how they got that win, however… Well, I’m going to quote Pat Foley (always a dangerous move, I realize) and say that, “It doesn’t have to be an oil painting.”
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Crushing Blow: Blackhawks Get One More Shot At Nashville
Mar 31st
Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Every time the Blackhawks go up against Boris Badenov and the Nashville Predators I find myself sitting there wondering, Why the HELL does Chicago have such problems with this team? Other teams kick the crap out of them regularly, as evidenced by Nashville’s losses to Pittsburgh and cellar-dweller Edmonton just last week. Why, oh WHY, do the Blackhawks usually end up either on the short end of a close game, or being humiliated by a staggering margin against these pukes?
In the 5 games between these teams this season, the Blackhawks have come away with a only one win — and that one went into overtime. Chicago has better records this year against St. Louis, Vancouver, and Detroit (*spitting noise*). They’re laughing at us in Music City, counting the ‘Hawks as an easy win, and hoping that they manage to land Chicago as a first-round playoff opponent instead of the Red Wings.
Nashville fans are laughing at us. That has to fucking stop. Tonight. And that means the Blackhawks had better deliver a crushing blow to this Predators team, and make it clear that taking Chicago lightly will be a costly mistake.
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Blues Clues: Blackhawks Try To Solve St. Louis
Mar 29th
Photo: Associated Press
How did the Blackhawks beat the St. Louis Blues two weeks ago? By pounding them into submission? By Jamal Mayers making dents in B.J. Crombeen’s melon? By Brandon Bollig trying to tenderize Ryan Reeves? So many will say ‘yes’, and assert that a physical game will be imperative to beating St. Louis tonight. I’m going to disagree.
Chicago beat the Blues by first of all, recovering from a 3-goals-against meltdown by Ray Emery in the first period; and secondly, by throwing 46 shots at the Blues’ goal while limiting their shots against to just 24.
Tonight will be no different. If the Blackhawks use their speed, press their forecheck, take advantage of a demonstrably slower St. Louis defense, and not waste time and energy throwing the body, they will win. How do I know? One week prior to that game, the Blackhawks managed only 20 shots on goal against St. Louis while allowing 31 shots against. Chicago lost 5-1. And Bollig and Reaves went at it in that game too, precious little good it did.
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Speak The Truth: Blackhawks Try To Shame The Devils
Mar 27th
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Having just done a brief tour of some of the less scenic parts of New Jersey, I can tell those of you who haven’t been there to skip it. New Jersey is to New York City what Gary, Indiana is to Chicago — except with half the smell and twice the abandoned buildings. Got the picture?
Hey, the truth hurts. And with the Blackhawks’ ranks depleting faster than they can call up reinforcements from Rockford, the truth is more painful than usual these days. But we’ll go there later.
Right now, the matter at hand is a New Jersey Devils team that, fortunately, won’t land in the basement of the Atlantic Division thanks to an Islanders team with a nice lottery position. But a team that is nonetheless in big trouble as its latest bout of losses presents the real possibility of missing the playoffs. Surging teams in the form of Buffalo and Washington may just use the last 6 games of the season to kick New Jersey straight to the golf course.
Will offensive titans Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias, and Zach Parise be able to light the lamp enough to make up for Martin Brodeur’s fading talents between the pipes? Hopefully not tonight…
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Sunday Bloody Sunday : Preds 6 – Hawks 1
Mar 25th
Two Hall of Fame goaltenders in this photo. (Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune)
So, this game is getting the recap it deserves. This was the sort of game where the Blackhawks give up 6 goals to a team that shuns offense. It was almost like Corey Crawford and Ray Emery decided to have a contest seeing who could suck the worst. Somehow, Brendan Morrison found a way to top them both.
This was a game the ‘Hawks just have to forget about and move on from. They have played very good hockey the last two weeks and its not like this game broke their backs, although pulling even with the Predators would have been awful sweet.
The ‘Hawks had a chance midway through the 1st period where Johnny Oduya was stoned cold by Pekka Rinne and they didn’t do a damn thing the rest of the evening. The Predators had goals from Matt Halischuck, The Other Kostitsyn, Patric Hornqvist, Francis Bouillon, Shea Weber and Mike Fisher. Crawford was pulled after the 4th Predator goal. Pekka Rinne was spectacular – per usual.
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‘Hawks Notes : More On Keith Suspension
Mar 24th
(Warren Wimmer/Icon SMI)
As I’m sure you all know by now, Duncan Keith has been suspended for 5 games by the NHL (Brendan Shanahan) for his blatant elbow on Vancouver Canucks forward and all around creep Daniel Sedin.
Keith made the argument to Shanahan that he was trying to impede Sedin from making progress in the neutral zone. No sale. This was always going to be a tough sell for Keith even had Thing 1 not been injured.The replay clearly shows Keith getting his elbow up and if you believe the Thing 2 (Henrik), Keith made clear his intention to even the score after a highly questionable (and probably suspendable) hit he took from Thing 1. In the future, Keith would do well to keep his mouth shut about such actions. He made up his mind to take a shot at Sedin and there was no reason he had to advertise it to the world – they would have found out eventually, right?
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