The Ticket Chest

Blackhawks Have Backs up Agaisnt Wall After Game 1 Debacle

Monday, May 3rd, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, NHL, Sports | No Comments

It’s “gut-check” time for the Chicago Blackhawks tonight after Game 1′s 5-1 debacle on Saturday night at the United Center.  The Hawks looked scared and lost in the embarrassing home defeat.  They will need to elevate their play if they want to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole going to Vancouver on Wednesday.

Antti Niemi stopped only 20 of 25 shots on goal during the game’s 1st 2 periods on Saturday.  Head Coach Joel Quenneville pulled Niemi after the game’s 1st 40 minutes and let Cristobal Huet finish out the affair.  Niemi did pitch 2 shutouts in the Hawks’ opening round series against the Nashville Predators – both shutouts came after a previous loss tying the series up at 1-1 and 2-2.  Does he have a 3rd shutout in his bag of tricks?  Let’s hope so.

Everyone needs to play better and the Hawks need to capitalize on their shots-on-goal advantage.  In game 1, the Hawks outshot the Canucks 37 to 28, but they only tallied once, on Patrick Kane’s power play goal in the 3rd.  But by then it was too little too late.

It’s put up or shut up time for the Hawks at the United Center tonight.  Come on, guys – let’s get a W!

Tags: Antti Niemi, Joel Quinneville, Patrick Kane

Blackhawks Still Riding High Despite 2 Straight Losses

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, Sports | 1 Comment

The Chicago Blackhawks still have the most points (66) in the NHL and are still sitting atop the Central Division of the Western Conference with a 9 point cushion.  The Blackhawks suffered 2 losses over the weekend – the 1st time the team suffered back-to-back losses since the team lost to the Ducks in Anaheim and the Kings in Los Angeles on consecutive nights at the end of November.  Both losses were frustrating.  In Saturday night’s 6-5 OTL, the Blackhawks let a 5-1 3rd period lead slip away as the Wild outscored the hawks 4-0 in the final period.  The team earned a point by losing in the shootout.  The next night back at home, the Hawks outshot the Ducks 43 to 12, but 2 of the 12 shots found the net against Annti Niemi and the 3rd Ducks goal came on an empty netter.  Hopefully these are games that the Blackhawks can learn from -the next time the Blackhawks have a big lead in the 3rd period, they’ll remember that they can’t let their feet off the gas pedal.  They’ll also remember the significance of getting off to a good start each game – when you find yourself in a 2-0 1st period hole like they did against the Ducks on Sunday night, it’s often a very hard task to overcome.

The Blackhawks have 1 more home game this week before embarking on a season-long 8-game road trip.  The Hawks play the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at the United Center and then again on Saturday afternoon in Ohio.  Then it’s a quick turnaround for the Hawks with a prime-time matinee affair against their hated rivals – the Red Wings – in Detroit on Sunday.  Then they play the Ottawa Senators before heading west for a grueling trip against some tough teams – the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks with 1 game in between against the cellar dweller Edmonton Oilers team.  The Hawks finish up the road trip with a game against the lowly Hurricane in Carolina on Saturday, January 30th.  If the Hawks can get off to a good start with wins against the Blue Jackets, Red Wings and Senators, they should be able to finish the trip with a winning record.  Let’s hope the team can rebound from the 2 losses with a solid effort on Thursday night in Chicago.  Something tells me that Coach Joel Quinneville will have his team primed and ready to go.

Patrick Kane still leads the club with 19 goals and 52 points.  Duncan Keith is 2nd on the team with 42 points.  Jonathan Toews has 14 goals and 36 points while Patrick Sharp has 15 goals with 35 points.  As for the goalies, starter Cristobal Huet has proven his worth during the 2009-2010 NHL schedule.  Huet is 20-8-3 with a 2.17 goals against average and 3 shutouts.  Annti Niemi leads the squad with a 1.84 goals against average.  Niemi is has an 11-3-1 record with 4 shutouts.

Go Hawks!

Tags: Annti Niemi, Cristobal Huet, Duncan Keith, Joel Quinneville, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp

Quinneville Optimistic About Blackhawks Future

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 | NHL, Sports | No Comments

Just 2 short weeks ago, the Chicago Blackhawks replaced the legendary Denis Savard with veteran coach Joel Quinneville as the new head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

It came as a surprise in some respects – why didn’t the Blackhawks make the switch to Quinneville during the off-season if that’s what they were going to do anyway, and if they wanted to give Savard more time to prove himself, why didn’t they give him more time to right the ship than a mere 4 games?

On the other hand, there were definite signs that the team could move in a different direction. During early 2008, the Blackhawks brought in successful coach Scotty Bowman as a special adviser to the organization. Bowman, having coached several Stanley Cup Champion Teams, knows what it takes to turn an organization around to bring it over the top towards that Stanley Cup goal. During the summer of 2008, the Blackhawks brought in Joel Quinneville as a scout. Quinneville had coached successful teams in St. Louis and Colorado and in 9 full seasons as a head coach, his teams had finished at least 1st or 2nd in the division 8 of those years. From these 2 additions, one could glean that the organization was ready to win, and win now. And it would do whatever it took to get back to the playoffs and make a spirited run to the Stanley Cup Finals. And if that meant parting ways with a legendary player, but green coach like Savard, then so be it.

There are rumors that Savard did not entirely take advantage of having Bowman at his disposal. Many young coaches would love to be able to talk strategy with a man like Bowman, but it doesn’t appear that Savard made enough of a commitment to listen to Bowman or learn from him. Maybe if Savard had made more of an effort with Bowman, he would still be here, but the flat pre-season and 1-2-1 start to the season, brought about Savard’s removal in quick fashion.

The Blackhawks are in a very unique position in the Western Conference. Although they just missed out on the playoffs last season, they have a talented mix of players that could make them a serious threat all season long. With Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks have 2 talented scorers who can change the momentum of a game with one flick of the wrist. With two #1 goaltenders in Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet, the Blackhawks have 2 goalies capable of pitching a shutout on any given night. The young team has gained another year of experience and with the addition of Brian Campbell, the defensive unit will be more aggressive and be able to create goal-scoring opportunities unlike previous seasons.

Quinneville is excited to take the reigns of the young, talented team to continue the re-building process started by Savard the last 2 seasons. He understands that many of his young players admired Savard and grew to respect him and trust him as a coach as time went on. Quinneville is in the process of learning about each of his players – their strengths and weaknesses and the types of schemes and situations that will bring out the best in each player. He has been slow to implement his full game plan into the mix. Quinneville wants his team to be able to play in the same Savard system for the time being, until he has made his full analysis of what he has to tinker with. The team has responded well under Quinneville – better than he ever expected. The team has yet to lose in regulation, winning 2 games and losing 2 games in a shootout. Quinneville has brought a calming influence to the coaching upheaval, and emphasized taking time in practice to work on fundamentals and the team’s game plan. So far so good, and the future only looks brighter. Keep your eyes on this young Hawks team – it should make the playoffs for only the 2nd time in 10 years, and if certain things bounce Chicago’s way, this is a team you might be seeing in June 2009.

Tags: Chicago Blackhawks, Joel Quinneville