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Chicago Blackhawks Blogger •
Ugh.
Not much else you can say as a Blackhawk fan after a 6-1 humiliation at the hands of the Red Wings in Game 4 of the Western Conference FInals.
You can point to injuries or poor officiating or a wretched performance by Cristobal Huet as the reasons for what happened. But, more than anything else, in spite of a great run this season by the young Blackhawks, the Wings are simply a better team.
A much better team (and if this sounds like an epitaph, well, let’s just say the odds don’t look real promising for any kind of comeback to win this series by the Hawks).
It’s not just their skating or their system, but clearly, the Wings also know how to work the refs a lot better than the Blackhawks do, and they know when to take penalties and when not to. And the Blackhawks don’t.
They lose Lidstrom and Datsyuk for this game. They go with two average (at best) goaltenders all season. It doesn’t matter, they still come at you in waves. And they still win.
For the Hawks, there’s really not much to be ashamed of; they came further this year than most people (myself included) thought they would. They tantalized us with the notion that maybe, just maybe this (not next year or years after) was the year they could really make a Cup run. They are a young, young team and they are going to get better. Probably a lot better under the guidance of Scotty Bowman.
And they need to. The Wings are still too good and the Blackhawks are still too young and too undisciplined.
The time for post-season blogging is not quite here yet. But when it is, there will be discussion of the Blackhawks’ roster, especially their goaltending situation.
I have been in the minority defending Cristobal Huet all year. But I really can’t anymore. You can make the excuse that he hasn’t played really since early April, or that his defense (especially Brian Campbell) was not good today. But like Nikolai Khabibulin at $7 million a year, Huet is paid $5.5 million a year to stop hockey pucks. And he failed to earn his money today.
Dale Tallon has a real problem on his hands. Because it is now fairly evident that Huet is not going to get the Hawks to the Cup. And there are many, myself included, who also have their doubts about Khabibulin. But Tallon has Huet signed at that figure for 3 more years.
Tallon also has a roster and a talent pipeline that needs some tweaking and depth. But again, that is a subject for another blog. Most likely, based on what we saw today, soon in the aftermath of Game 5.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUST SAYIN’:
Other Hawks who had miserable games: Campbell, Versteeg, Eager and Kane (who simply needs to learn the importance of effort in his own zone).
The Hawks need to make serious improvement in the off-season and in training camp next year in terms of channeling their emotion and playing within themselves.
I thought Keith had an OK game, but he still doesn’t look 100%. Really hard to say anything positive about anyone out there today. Byfuglien and Toews were pretty good. But clearly it wasn’t enough.
JJ
Not much else you can say as a Blackhawk fan after a 6-1 humiliation at the hands of the Red Wings in Game 4 of the Western Conference FInals.
You can point to injuries or poor officiating or a wretched performance by Cristobal Huet as the reasons for what happened. But, more than anything else, in spite of a great run this season by the young Blackhawks, the Wings are simply a better team.
A much better team (and if this sounds like an epitaph, well, let’s just say the odds don’t look real promising for any kind of comeback to win this series by the Hawks).
It’s not just their skating or their system, but clearly, the Wings also know how to work the refs a lot better than the Blackhawks do, and they know when to take penalties and when not to. And the Blackhawks don’t.
They lose Lidstrom and Datsyuk for this game. They go with two average (at best) goaltenders all season. It doesn’t matter, they still come at you in waves. And they still win.
For the Hawks, there’s really not much to be ashamed of; they came further this year than most people (myself included) thought they would. They tantalized us with the notion that maybe, just maybe this (not next year or years after) was the year they could really make a Cup run. They are a young, young team and they are going to get better. Probably a lot better under the guidance of Scotty Bowman.
And they need to. The Wings are still too good and the Blackhawks are still too young and too undisciplined.
The time for post-season blogging is not quite here yet. But when it is, there will be discussion of the Blackhawks’ roster, especially their goaltending situation.
I have been in the minority defending Cristobal Huet all year. But I really can’t anymore. You can make the excuse that he hasn’t played really since early April, or that his defense (especially Brian Campbell) was not good today. But like Nikolai Khabibulin at $7 million a year, Huet is paid $5.5 million a year to stop hockey pucks. And he failed to earn his money today.
Dale Tallon has a real problem on his hands. Because it is now fairly evident that Huet is not going to get the Hawks to the Cup. And there are many, myself included, who also have their doubts about Khabibulin. But Tallon has Huet signed at that figure for 3 more years.
Tallon also has a roster and a talent pipeline that needs some tweaking and depth. But again, that is a subject for another blog. Most likely, based on what we saw today, soon in the aftermath of Game 5.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUST SAYIN’:
Other Hawks who had miserable games: Campbell, Versteeg, Eager and Kane (who simply needs to learn the importance of effort in his own zone).
The Hawks need to make serious improvement in the off-season and in training camp next year in terms of channeling their emotion and playing within themselves.
I thought Keith had an OK game, but he still doesn’t look 100%. Really hard to say anything positive about anyone out there today. Byfuglien and Toews were pretty good. But clearly it wasn’t enough.
JJ
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