brinoch

Total handball there by Bornstein. Youch. Got lucky.

That's a weak PK call. Total dive. Bornstein grabbed him, but barely.

And, yeah, that was a nice drive by Torres. Quality.

That was a red in the Confederations Cup this summer.

Clearly not, since they won more events than any other nation. Now, if you meant hosers, that's another story.

Since I have irrational man-love for Toews, I'd just like to point out that he has 7 assists and is a +9. He's tied for the Canadian lead in points and leads in +/- by 3.

That was an awesome game. Marred only because it was on MSNBC and in non-HD.

Sopel is glacial. Niemi was really great tonight. His rebound control broke down a few times, but he made those saves, too. That's, I think, the thing that Niemi really needs to work on. But he's a very good goalie already. Mason also played a heck of a game.

Huet has been very good so far tonight. Bailed the Hawks d out at least three times.

You meeting up with the Second City group?

Toews just would not be denied. He willed that play. Hossa ... just wow.

I'm just pissed off about the last 2 Bulls games and then turning on the game and seeing them give up 3 straight goals in 10 minutes. None of my posts have any logic and I'm looking to start a fight with my illogical posting. http://www.geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/gear-diary-picard-facepalm-500x328.jpg

Christ, this thread is getting as bad on game days as Cubs game day threads.

how was that huet's fault? Because it went through his legs, stfu it was deflected. watch more hockey. No kidding. None of those goals were Huet's fault. Stop blaming the goalie for Eager's stupid penalty and poor defensive play.

Wow. What a bomb.

I'm with kujay on this one. I don't want to see him moved; I'm a big fan of Ladd, and I really want to see him on a line with Madden. Ladd is an excellent fore/backchecker, and to me, is more valuable than Buff or Versteeg. In trying to see if I could find anything out, I checked the Blackhawks' site, and they have listed on the injury report with a "lower body injury. missed practice Tue.; should play vs. STL." FWIW. http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=47391&navid=DL|CHI|home

I will admit that I'm beginning to develop some excitement about Martz as the OC. His responses, particularly about the OL, are really spot-on.

Yes, and I watch every game as well. I think he's been fine and better than last season's Khabi (particularly playoff Khabi) -- thus an apt demonstration of the subjective nature of the eye. Without an objective standard measuring scoring chance quality, there's no way to say to resolve a disagreement like this. Hockey statistics are far, far behind baseball's in measuring the game (though they are making strides). Your opinion has as much weight as mine when it comes to watching a game and drawing conclusions. The reason that I bring up playoff Khabi is because people (not you) were just talking about how the Hawks won't make it out of the first or second round because of the goaltending situation. Khabi was fine, but not great last season in the playoffs. The Hawks did just fine. I don't really care that you defended Huet last year -- though you may recall that I did as well -- my point is that he has been a very good goalie this year. Like any other goalie, he gives up terrible, soft goals sometimes. Sometimes he makes great saves, and contrary to what you seem to think, he's made quite a few very, very good saves. Generally, the Hawks defense tends to smother an opponent and leaves them with fewer shots on goal -- they give up the least in the league. But the chances that they do give up, based on the aggressive stretch and puck possession game, tend to lead to a lot of 2 on 1's and 3 on 2's. Huet's two problems as a goalie are that he doesn't move laterally all that well, and he is inconsistent with his rebound control (though much better than Niemi). When passes get through on an odd man rush, they tend to end up in the back of the net. With respect to him losing sight of the puck, that's a direct consequence of the Hawks aggressively trying to block shots. Complaining constantly about the goaltending situation, particularly after a loss in which the goalie played well and the defense didn't is meatball-ish. Huet is playing well right now, after a stretch of not playing well. Which followed an extended streak of excellent play. Which followed a really crappy stretch in October. Huet's definitely deserved criticism at points during the season, but not right now.

yeah, no. that's not true at all. you must only be looking at GAA average, which is a product of the rest of the team. 2009-2010 hawks save percentage- .906 (17th in NHL) 2008-2009 hawks save percentage- .911 (7th in NHL) the hawks main goalie last year (khabi) was legitimately good/great. huet is the primary goalie this year, and he has not been good. So is save percentage. There's no way to gauge the quality of chances. And, by the way, based on your metric, Khabi was terrible in the playoffs (.898 save percentage / 2.93 GAA). Huet has been good. This hate against him has become absolutely ridiculous. He's struggled at a couple points this year, but calling most every goal scored on him as soft when often he has almost no chance is, frankly, meatball-ish. What could Huet have done last night on those goals?

Huet/Niemi are better this year than Khabibulin/Huet last year. Every time the 'Hawks lose a game, there's a ton of complaining about Huet or the goaltending. It's fine, and it certainly wasn't the reason the Hawks lost last night. Huet played well. The defense was terrible, with repeated turnovers in the zone. Focus on that, rather than the goalies. ;;

They'll get theirs. Just wait.

I don't think Detroit will be the 8. I think they will be more like the 5 or 6. I think the Preds and Flames will struggle in the post-Olympic schedule.

YES!!!

Where was the tripping call there?

We've been awful at clearing tonight. Yep. It's really annoying. The Sharks are aggressively forechecking, and they are covering the long pass well. Need to build up from the back instead of playing long pass.