Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Matt Eberflus

Well, the season for the Chicago Blackhawks ended by no one’s surprise losing the series 4-1 to possibly the best team in the league the Detroit Red Wings. While it looks like the Red Wings took it to this team, the series was closer than it showed.

I can’t sit here and say that I expected the Blackhawks to win the series. However, I did think they would take it at least six or seven games making it very close. I think Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet are two players to be looked at very closely in reflecting on this series.

If Nikolai Khabibulin could have just stayed healthy one last time instead of injuring his groin for about the third time this season, this team still may be playing. We will never know. Cristobal Huet sucked pretty much all season. He was put in net for game four and he showed why this team needed Khabibulin. In game five, he pulled a miracle out of his ass and saved about 45 shots. I think everyone can admit they were shocked. It wasn’t enough however.

Brian Campbell. He was awful all series long. And he wasn’t the only one. A few players lost the puck off the stick and Detroit scored goals right off of those turnovers. For other players such as Ben Eager in particular game four, it was just embarassing seeing him and other players just start fights after every stoppage of play. It doesn’t get your teammates fired up. It doesn’t do anything to make your team better.

The Blackhawks will be very good next season. They can certaintley get back to the conference finals. The only way I see the Blackhawks getting past the Red Wings for next year is to sign or make a big trade or the Red Wings just get old and slow. Khabibulin will be missed. I wish he could come back. Unfortunately, there is a shitty goalie signed for a few more years in Huet that has pretty much took his spot. I would like to see Corey Crawford get a shot.

So in a nutshell, it was fun following the Blackhawks all season. It did not end the way I wanted it though and I do not think anyone else feels differently. I went to my first hockey game this year. It was nice seeing more than 41 games on TV. I was  a fan of this team and hockey since playing NHL ’95 on Sega Genesis constantly. I was nine at the time. Roenick/Chelios/The Suters/Amonte/Belfour. You couldn’t stop that line. I still love that game.

I was a fan when Eric Daze was suppose to be the next best thing. I was a fan when Trent Yawney was the fucking coach. I remember listening to a game at work when the Blackhawks blew another lead for about the third straight game in 2006 and Yawney went off in a press conference. I think he got fired a few days later. Oh well. The times are much better now.

Til next time.

Yes. You. Go fuck yourself. You have had maybe two good games all year long. The team had a chance to tie the series up before Khabi went down. Thanks to you being on the team, the Blackhawks need a miracle to win this series against Detroit. You are the second coming of Jocelyn Thibault. My mom who is 4’11 can stand in front of the net and have more saves than you.

You are a useless turd. I will be praying to God that Corey Crawford will be the goalie next season. Unfortunately for us fans, that won’t happen. Why? Because you were signed for five years. Everytime you take the net, you are almost guaranteed to give up at least three goals.  Other than Brian Campbell, you are the only other person I hate the most on the team. There can be a pile of horse shit in front of the net and it could get more saves than you. Thanks for ruining whatever chance we had to get back into this series. Cristobal Huet you suck.

The picture below is something we have never seen in our lives as Bears fans: A quarterback on our team. This is what they look like. Weird huh? Now take a second to take it in. Now pray to God he doesn’t get hurt. For the best coverage of all things Bears, you all should check out the guys over at Fire Ron Turner. I also have their website link on the right side of the home page. Along with GenreBuster’s music site. Good stuff.

No “experts” are picking the Chicago Blackhawks to win this series against the Detroit Red Wings. That being said, they should at least put up a fight in this series that already has them down 1-0. Most fans were saying in the Vancouver series that if they just steal one of the first two games on the road, that home ice advantage will be taken away from the Canucks. The same goes for the Red Wings. I didn’t panic when they lost the first game but I was a bit concerned.

The defense was spotty at times and Khabibulin was getting attacked all game. He was making some great saves but I had the feeling he was going to give up some goals because Detroit was attacking him constantly. If you are going to say Khabibulin sucked then you can say the defense sucked with him. Turnovers were another problem. It seemed like Detroit was captatalizing on every oppurtunity they had off of a turnover. Too many of those lead to too many problems especially against a team like the Red Wings.

In order for the Blackhawks to win this series, they need to obviously win game two. If not, then start packing for the off season. Second, turnovers need to be limited. The one that stuck out was the puck going off Brent Seabrook’s stick that lead to the first goal. Last but not least, play defense. They cannot rely on the offense scoring all the time like they did against Calgary and Vancouver with Kippursoff and Luongo being in net respectively. Chris Osgood is very good. He made some incredible saves throughout  and I was surprised the Blackhawks scored two goals on him in game one.

Game two is Tuesday night.

The Cubs have kicked Houston around pretty well in two early series at Minute Maid Park, winning 4 of 5. The opener pits Randy Wells against Brian Moehler. Wells pitched well enough to keep his team in the game in Milwaukee, and Moehler is still looking for his first win.

The 31 year old rookie Scales is quickly getting alot of attention with his hot start. I saw the MLB Network interview with Harold Reynolds after his first ML home run, and this guy is enjoying the moment. It seems like the whole country is getting on this guys back and going for the ride. What a great story. With Ramirez out until around the All-Star break, Scales should see alot of playing time. I would put Fonty at 2b, and Scales at 3rd until Rammy gets back. Miles could bring a LOOGY in a trade.

The Blackhawks were two and a half minutes away from being down 3-1 against Vancouver. Then, Martin Havlat scores a goal to tie it and Andrew Ladd scores the winning tally early in overtime to even the series. Unbelievable.

Khabibulin has been shaky in net this series but he was lights out in game 4. Maybe this game will finally put him in a groove for the rest of the series. He needs to be solid because Roberto Luongo on the other side of the ice has pretty much been a wall in goal for the Canucks.

Back to Vancouver for game 5 Saturday night.

Sweet Sassy Molassey

I have not seen this video in years.

Well, the Chicago Bulls lost this series in seven games but it should not have came down to that. The Bulls should have won this series 4-1 if not for the refs fixing games but I am not going to go over that again.

However, the seventh game was one where the Bulls fell apart at every aspect of the game. Blown leads, dumb shots, no defense and stupid turnovers were the story of the season and in game seven, all of those factors came together in one. Ben Gordon was cold and everyone else just fell apart with him. Except for the third game, the series was a nail biter just about every step of the way.

This season at first was looking like a lost season. When the trade for Miller and Salmons happened, the Bulls started to come together. They got on a roll the last couple months of the season and got close to becoming the sixth seed in the playoffs. The team was on the rise.

There will be a lot of questions concerning the Bulls this off season. Ben Gordon is a question mark with a new contract. Luol Deng sucks and I still cannot believe he was given a new contract. Whether or not the Bulls trade for a legitimate post player will be a question mark. A possible trade of Kirk Hinrich might be discussed as well. Personally, I want him back for his defense.

One thing is for sure: This team will be good next year. Rose and Salmons will be a force. JoaKim Noah has shown that he wants to be on the floor and is ready to learn. With Tyrus Thomas, I do not want him on the team anymore and I am sure a lot of other fans think the same. This moron does one good thing then does two dumb things. Example? How about a really nice block on the defensive side then come down the court and take an 18 foot jump shot followed by not guarding the person he is suppose to be guarding. The guy has a ton of talent but does not have a brain.

The Bulls will be a good team next season but they have to get better on defense. That is what killed them in the playoffs. I am not sure Vinny Del Negro is the answer for head coach. The problem with finding another coach is that there are not many other good coaches available. The off-season is first up for this team. I do not think they will get anybody good out of the draft. So who knows. John Paxson has a lot of work to do.

Til next time.

– Fro Dog