John Jaeckel: Saad Scores; Hawks Win Again

Great game last night and while Saad hasn't shown he is the second coming, yet, it bodes well for the Hawks and is a testament to their talent and depth that they can carry him will no ill effects to the team.

Pretty cool to see Saad score his 1st NHL goal when he grew up about 10 minutes from where I live.

clean hit for sure...and when any player leaves his feet he's reducing the force of the hit. the only downside of the dreaded "leaving your feet" is if it results in head contact. in last nite's game, the contact was shoulder to shoulder.

regardless of rooting interest, it's frustrating to watch a clean hit like last nite's get a match penalty while a blatant elbow to the head, like erskine's on simmonds last week, not get anything.

hawks are darn exciting this yr

clean hit for sure...and when any player leaves his feet he's reducing the force of the hit. the only downside of the dreaded "leaving your feet" is if it results in head contact. in last nite's game, the contact was shoulder to shoulder.

regardless of rooting interest, it's frustrating to watch a clean hit like last nite's get a match penalty while a blatant elbow to the head, like erskine's on simmonds last week, not get anything.

hawks are darn exciting this yr
- isaiah520

I think the hit was clean as well. The refs don't have the advantage of seeing the play in slo mo and they will more than likely call a hit like that a penalty more often than not.

Fun game.

I would have yanked Crawford, but his bounce back showed some toughness so leaving him in may have been what was needed. Good.

Bolland on the 2nd line is still not working, injury or no.

And that hit on Mayers was 100% clean. Great hit. Sharks have a right to be upset with that one.

clean hit for sure...and when any player leaves his feet he's reducing the force of the hit. the only downside of the dreaded "leaving your feet" is if it results in head contact. in last nite's game, the contact was shoulder to shoulder.

regardless of rooting interest, it's frustrating to watch a clean hit like last nite's get a match penalty while a blatant elbow to the head, like erskine's on simmonds last week, not get anything.

hawks are darn exciting this yr
- isaiah520

Hit a guy straight on - NOT with you shoulder coming up and your skates coming off the ice - only reason to do those is to get the head.

Want to reduce concussions? Eliminate hits like that.

Crawford look weak again.

Hey Man at least they keep winning. This schedule is crazy keep piling up them points ! If the Hawks end up with a bit of a buffer they could rest guys down the stretch which would be a luxury.

Hit a guy straight on - NOT with you shoulder coming up and your skates coming off the ice - only reason to do those is to get the head.

Want to reduce concussions? Eliminate hits like that.
- StLBravesFan

Mayers was looking backwards while pushing out of his own zone. Of course he'll get hit. And he knew it. I didn't think it was a dirty hit, but loves seeing Keith step up.

clean hit for sure...and when any player leaves his feet he's reducing the force of the hit. the only downside of the dreaded "leaving your feet" is if it results in head contact. in last nite's game, the contact was shoulder to shoulder.

regardless of rooting interest, it's frustrating to watch a clean hit like last nite's get a match penalty while a blatant elbow to the head, like erskine's on simmonds last week, not get anything.

hawks are darn exciting this yr
- isaiah520

leaving your feet reduces the force of the hit um since when

Hit a guy straight on - NOT with you shoulder coming up and your skates coming off the ice - only reason to do those is to get the head.

Want to reduce concussions? Eliminate hits like that.
- StLBravesFan

Agreed .... the fact that he did not hit his head was really pure luck , if mayers was a scant lower , head shot ... It could of turned out totally diffrent . It was a bad call as it turned out but hardly the reason the sharks lost ....

Great Blog JJ!

Pond Hockey in the first period but a lot of fun to watch
Great win for the Hawks who looked a step faster than San Jose

Saad seems like he will be here all year and he now has one more goal than Kessler

Boy how Gomez's game has fallen from the raptors

The hit was clean but I can see how the League is going to call any "border line" hits and are sensitive to concussions that have knocked out the likes of Crosby,
Toews and Sedin in the last year or so. Good on Keith!,


Detroit and St Louis both get smoked at home
Surprising
Amazing road trip and amazing Penalty Killing kept er going boys

Hit a guy straight on - NOT with you shoulder coming up and your skates coming off the ice - only reason to do those is to get the head.

Want to reduce concussions? Eliminate hits like that.
- StLBravesFan

And the recurring theme in sports regarding concussions and CTE is what helped precipitate the match penalty call. Not that it is wrong, but there is a ton of talk the last couple years on this topic.

Right or wrong, the zebras were sensitized (overly so if you're a Sharks fan) on plays like that. If anything, I figured he'd get 2 for charging as I saw him leave his feet on the live play.

Didn't think the penalty would draw as much as it did. DK got the obligatory 2/2/5/10. Done, end of story. Match penalty is withdrawn. Should be interesting games at UC come 2/15 and 2/22 though.

Meh, the hit looked nasty in real time. Tough call for the officials to make. Maybe not 100% correct but w/e. I could live with that if a Hawk player was called for a similar play (haha not likely but you know).

Also, massive difference between leaving your feet and exploding through someone and leaving your feet to lessen a blow. It happened, wasn't a huge factor in the game and moving on now.

Really really dislike the Sharp, Bolland, Kane line. I hate it. On paper it looks awesome and Kane because he is Kane will get his points either on the PP, being double shifted or just because he is that good. They either need a masher of a center who create space or a LW who is better equipped to do dirty work.

Ummm the third line. Wow. Those three just seem to be clicking. First time ever Edzo complimented Stalberg on multiple occasions.

Hit a guy straight on - NOT with you shoulder coming up and your skates coming off the ice - only reason to do those is to get the head.

Want to reduce concussions? Eliminate hits like that.
- StLBravesFan

leaving your feet reduces the kinetic force of the hit. direct head contact is what they are trying to get rid of, not shoulder to shoulder hits, which are fine.

leaving your feet reduces the force of the hit um since when
- wolverine19

reduces kinetic force...it's physics

Hell of a game.

I thought the hit was clean. Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda were adamant that it was a clean hit. Actually liked Keith's response as it was instinctual and reactionary. Although I could have swore instigating with a visor was 2,5 and 10. Hawks definitely caught a break. But it sure as heck didn't change the momentum of the game.

Can't say enough good things about Frolik. Which is a shift for me. But he's been an absolute badger on the forecheck and brilliant on the PK. With as clown shoes as the second line has been I really wouldn't mind seeing a reunion of the Bolland-Bickell-Frolik checking line. And actual checking line....( Shaw is too skittish to be a checking center....or a center for that matter.) Bickell, Kruger, and Stalberg, who drew a lot of praise from the SJ broadcast team, deserve their due. They're all playing well.

JJ, I wish I saw this "Hype machine" you're constantly rebelling against. I don't see it. I see people celebrating a hard working kid's first goal. And having fun with the kid's name because it rhymes with God and looks like sad and their are a lot of twitter friendly jokes. But this Hype machine you speak of simply doesn't exist. You're tilting your windmills in the direction....

18 out of a possible 20 points. That's awesome.

leaving your feet reduces the kinetic force of the hit. direct head contact is what they are trying to get rid of, not shoulder to shoulder hits, which are fine.
- isaiah520

Leaving your skates and lifting up means you're going for the head - at leat give the other guy an uppercut to his chin - I don't care about the kinetic force of the hit, I care about the concussions - and there is sufficient remaining kinetic force (even if you're correct, and I'm no physicist) to do damage o the head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B48D60wH8gA

Good advice for Sharks fans this morning, and really for all hockey fans in general...

Leaving your skates and lifting up means you're going for the head - at leat give the other guy an uppercut to his chin - I don't care about the kinetic force of the hit, I care about the concussions - and there is sufficient remaining kinetic force (even if you're correct, and I'm no physicist) to do damage o the head.
- StLBravesFan

i mentioned that. in this case it was a solid shoulder to shoulder hit and the puck was there so it was clean. what's unacceptable, is when a guy sticks his elbow out and nails a guy in the head like cooke was known for and erskine did last week.

JJ: Maybe I'm not reading the same media outlets as you (I only really read a few), but I'm not sure I see the same "Saad Hype Machine" you've railed on a number of times in your blogs. I'm not sure anyone is touting Saad as even a Calder contender (Schultz would seem to have a stranglehold on that so far, no?).

Regardless, the fact is, that even while he wasn't producing on the score sheet, Saad's play has been pretty solid, if unspectacular, this year. I know we're only (slightly) less than a quarter through the season so far, so "grain of salt" on this, but Saad has stepped up his game and answered a lot of the question marks a lot of us had prior to the start of the season: will his physical play continue moving from playing against kids to men and, will his play be consistent?

Saad's physical play has been there, fairly consistently (especially of late), and both the "eye test" and advanced metrics show that it's helping that top line to generate offense.

i mentioned that. in this case it was a solid shoulder to shoulder hit and the puck was there so it was clean. what's unacceptable, is when a guy sticks his elbow out and nails a guy in the head like cooke was known for and erskine did last week.
- isaiah520

Tell you what, stand by the boards and I'll skate at you and hit you with my feet on the ice. Then I'll skate at you from the same distance and speed and leap into you and you tell me which hurts more.

Remember physics also theorizes that a curveball is an optical illusion.

lament arising from Northern California over this might seem more justified had the Hawks scored on the ensuring 4-on-4 and 1-minute power play. They didn't.

I thought the Kane goal was score during the resulting 4 on 4? Isn't that why Kane and Toews were out there together?

Edit: penalties at 8:48, Kane's go ahead at 11:52

Mayers was looking backwards while pushing out of his own zone. Of course he'll get hit. And he knew it. I didn't think it was a dirty hit, but loves seeing Keith step up.
- LoserSince61

I almost wet myself. Couldnt believe Keith did that. Super props to him. It shouldnt matter if you are a star or role player instantly drop the gloves and attack in a situation like that. I hope they play that way all season

While I enjoyed seeing Bickell work at being physical, am I the only one who felt he took out more glass panes then players? Did I miss something?

Also, it seemed like Kaner was coasting back on a lot of the plays, and has stopped the constant attack/pressure. He's starting to look like 2011-12 Kaner again.

Sorry, maybe I'm just cranky because I was up late!