Wallace has seen a little bit of a resurgence in popularity recently thanks to a newly produced video based around his speech “This is Water” given to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon. The video is a great piece of life advice given by Wallace, though quite depressing given his suicide in 2005 after a battle with depression.

While it’s hardly cause for panic or tearing one’s hair out (if you’re unlike me and have any), Detroit was the far better team today. At times, it felt as if the Hawks felt as if it would be as easy as it was in Game 1 for the final 40 minutes. However, that completely discounts that they’re playing the DETROIT RED WINGS. While it’s something you can’t quantify, no matter the talent or speed deficit, the players on that team do come with a bathtub of pride and are not simply going to let anyone have their way.

Yeah, I know. That speaks to a “flatness.” But that’s a component today. The Hawks were just simply not working as hard as Detroit, who made it clear they knew they had to have this game (which they did). The Hawks didn’t match that. That’s not the whole reason they lost today, but it’s definitely part of it.

But there are certainly tangible and structural things we can point to. Detroit was much more focused on closing off the neutral zone than they were in Game 1. Not by getting more people on the blue line per se, but by being much more passionate in their backcheck. The Hawks couldn’t carry the puck through the land between the lines without someone right on their back eliminating decision time.

So they couldn’t carry the puck in as easily, but seemed reluctant to get the puck deep and get it back. They just didn’t get pressure on a Wings D that is always good for a few turnovers. And whatever battles they did engage in, they lost. Just have to be better there.

But there are some warts that the Hawks have gotten away with before that got at least a little exposed today.

-The first being that Brent Seabrook has been a turd all season. Sure, his indecision only cost them the 4th goal, and he led the team in hits if you’re into that. But quite simply, he can’t get there right now. Think the Wings and eventually the Kings or Sharks won’t key on that? You’re very wrong.

-Hjalmarsson had a howler. It might be his first one of the season. It happens.

-Once again, it gets exposed that Sharp, Kane, and Handzus can get so easily pinned in their own zone. And unless Sharp plays out of his skin, they don’t have much of a forecheck.

-On that end, even though he had the one goal Kane didn’t have a very good game. The past few games he just doesn’t seem to want to get engaged. Sharp has been taking on two defenders on the boards, and Kane routinely is standing outside of that waiting for Sharp to win that battle. At some point, it doesn’t matter what size you are. Get in there and come out with it.

-While we’re talking about this, Brandon Saad has struggled with the upped fastball in the playoffs. He certainly wouldn’t be the first rookie to do so. Remember, he’s had a full season, with half an AHL campaign under his belt. Maybe he’s hitting a wall? It really should only be one or two more games before a change should be considered. But what would be that change. You can’t move Bickell. Sharp and Saad swap?

-And on that line, once again we have a game where Jonathan Toews didn’t have an impact. The tweets and other coverage point to the physical nature of his handling by Henrik Zetterberg. But at some point, Toews is just going to have to break through. It’s seven games now. He’s been fine, maybe even good this playoff run. But don’t we count on a little more than that?

-In a game where the Hawks needed more straight-line play and forecheck, I think it’s delightful that one of their best forwards at executing same was eating popcorn in the pressbox to prove a point that’s already been proven so we could have a dumb penalty from Carcillo and nothing else.

-Wasn’t that one game respite from uncaring Dave Bolland nice on Wednesday? I wish it lasted longer than one game.

-I have to say, I criticize him more than anyone who doesn’t write for this blog, but I’ve been impressed by Quenneville’s tone for this whole spring. No blaming anyone else, no making excuses, just pointing the finger where it has to go. But soon, it’s his responsibility to make sure that finger can’t be pointed at all.

It’s just one. I expected this effort from the Wings at The Joe, a little surprised it came here. But I expect the Hawks to come out slobbering on Monday, and if they do the Wings still don’t have an answer. And the last time Scum beat the Hawks in 3 periods in Detroit was 2010. So that building will hold no fear for the Hawks.

It’s only one. Let’s all breathe.

Game Time: 12:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CBC, NBC/ The Loop 97.9FM
It’s So Cold In The D: Winging it in Motown, Abel to Yzerman

After a pretty much textbook victory on Wednesday, the Blackhawks are simply going to look to do it all over again this afternoon. It makes writing these previews pretty difficult when all you have to say is… 60 more minutes of that again, please.

Both teams used the first period of Game 1 to get re-acquainted with each other and headed to the first intermission with an even score. While the score remained even in the second, the feel of the game was vastly different. The Hawks were clearly outplaying Scum. The three goals in the third period just seemed like they were a given.

So if anything, the Hawks biggest goal for the game will simply be to not remove their foot from the gas pedal. If the Hawks keep their game up, there’s simply no way for Scum to take 4 victories from them in 6 games but there’s no chance Detroit will just roll over and die. If they’re waiting to throw their best punch, this will have to be the game to do it.

The question for Babcock will be if that best punch means he keeps Datsyuk and Zetts on the same line as he did in the third period. As we guessed, the pair remained on separate lines for the first 40 of Game 1 but were joined up in the third as the Wings were looking for an extra spark. While that plan certainly makes sense, it didn’t pan out exactly like Babcock wanted. Datsyuk was held without a shot on net, both were held without any points. They’re both too good to be held pointless for much longer. The Hawks focus has to remain on shutting these two down because, as we’ve pointed out, there isn’t much behind them right now. Franzen is good for an annoying goal or two and Cleary certainly will make you see red but that doesn’t exactly count as the depth needed to skate with the Hawks. Jimmy Howard was fairly spectacular in the first match up and he’ll need to stand on his head again if Scum play in front of him the same way.

As for the men of four feathers, well.. play it again, Sam. The only question coming into the game was if we’d see the return of Stalberg or not but word just came down via the twitter that Vik will once again be watching the game from the press box. The line up will remain the same and I expect Q to continue his confidence in simply rolling four lines and letting them all wear down the Wings. Staying out of the box (attn: Andrew Shaw) will once again be crucial as this streak of killing penalties will have to end at some point (I mean.. it has to, right?).

I would expect to see a little bit more from Dave Bolland… and yes, I know we’ve been saying that all year. His 11:36 TOI is about 5 minutes under his average for the regular season but being his first game back, Q likely wasn’t looking to push the limits. His faceoff numbers were an improvement but anything is better than sending Kruger out there again.

So the game plan is simple. Watch the last 40 minutes of Game 1 and repeat. Scum aren’t going to make this an easy series but it’s going to take their absolute best combined with a pretty mediocre showing from Chicago to make this a long series.

Let’s Go Hawks

In the past decade or, it seems that if there is some manner of science fiction/fantasy/comic book adaptation for film, there has been one man it’s been imperative to cast. And it is with that kiwi actor Karl Urban is presented.

After working his early career pretty strictly out of New Zealand, Urban has grown into something of a go-to guy for bankable nerd franchises for international audiences. From The Chronicles of Riddick,  to the title role in last year’s Dredd, which was far more accurate (and bloodier) to the original Judge Dredd comics than the Sly Stallone version ever even thought about being, Urban’s been everywhere. And as of this weekend, he can be found once again playing the venerable Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the latest Star Trek feature. And though those roles called for him to be clean shaven, he occasionally wears an immaculately maintained 5 o’clock shadow caliber beard away from the screen, and his most widely known role to date had him with a full sandy blonde beard. That role of course being Eomer, son of Eomund, brother to Eowyn, third marshal of the Riddermark, and nephew to Theoden King.

]]> http://thecommittedindian.com/beard-of-the-day-may-18-karl-urban/feed/ 2 http://thecommittedindian.com/beard-of-the-day-may-17-nick-offerman/ http://thecommittedindian.com/beard-of-the-day-may-17-nick-offerman/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 15:12:12 +0000 McClure http://thecommittedindian.com/?p=4387 Continue reading →]]>

With The Office at long last bidding farewell last night, its natural successor to the NBC Comedy Throne (such as it is these days) figures to be Parks and Recreation, both in tone and in its bloodlines. And though one of the stars of Parks & Rec, Nick Offerman, is immaculately mustachioed on the show, away from it he sports as rugged a full beard as one could imagine. And with both Paul MacLean and Joel Quenneville earning Jack Adams nominations today, this seems like the best way to pay tribute to both of their dusters as well as our daily beard requirements.

A native of western suburban Minooka, Offerman toiled in the Chicago improv scene for quite a while, getting occasional bit parts in both TV and film (The George Lopez Show, Wristcutters: A Love Story) before landing a role seemingly tailored for him specifically, Ron Swanson, head of the parks department on Parks & Rec. Defined both by his mustache and completely inflexible and arbitrary moral code, (which inspired content for this site), as well as a penchant for manly activities such as woodworking and whiskey, by all accounts, the character Offerman plays is not all that different from the man himself. The bearded Offerman even has his own functioning wood shop, with handcrafted items you can actually purchase made by a real-life celebrity and burgeoning facial hair legend.

Luck be a Lady Byng: TSN

Kruger sees room for improvement: Chicago Tribune

Sharp is slaying all-comers: Daily Herald

Legit or Bad officiating: PuckDaddy

Detroit will stay Datsyukian: Sportsnet.CA

68 might be done: Backhand Shelf

This is such an odd award, much like the Norris has become or the Gold Glove award in baseball has been (which is why Darwin Barney’s win last year was really a surprise). Because the true defensive centers really get no attention. Jay McClement is one who does excellent work, but he doesn’t score a lot so there’s almost no chance he’ll be considered. Gregory Campbell is another. You get the idea. So in order to win a defensive award, you really do have to score to get noticed.

Another weird facet of this award is it’s handed exclusively to centers. Part of that is faceoffs have become such a huge consideration for it, which is understandable if not always a true measure. But hockey doesn’t have as many stats as baseball and in as many categories, so there’s just less to look at to judge on.

So what do you judge it on? Do you look at the quality of competition that a forward has faced and come out ahead of? That’s one way for sure. How does Toews stack up to the other finalists and other forwards in that sense? He’s faced tougher competition that the other two, clocking in at a .086 GA/60 Quality of Competition, good for 14th hardest in the league amongst forwards. Dats was 18th at .079, and Bergeron wasn’t even in the top 30. If you’re curious, Jamie Benn faced the hardest overall in the league, followed by Andrew Ladd and Zach Parise.

Next, obviously the amount of goals against would be something you’d want to know about. If you go by goals-against per 60 minutes on the ice, Dats leaps ahead of Toews, 1.41 to 1.70 (11th and 22nd in the league, respectively). However, Bergeron tops them both at 4th in the league at 1.20. Funny, this category overall is led by three Hawks with Shaw 3rd, Hossa 2nd, and…..wait for it….Viktor Stalberg first.

What do you conclude from that? First, obviously, is that the Hawks were pretty much Mossat-level defensively this year (BREAKING NEWS!). Does Toews’s defensive rep benefit from that or is he one of the causes? Probably both. But it’s hard to decipher.

Penalty killing, of course, is another category voters like to use. Bergeron again leads this category amongst the finalists, 4th with a 2.77 GA/60 while shorthanded. Toews is 14th at 3.65. Dats isn’t even in the top 30. This was led by Van Riemsdyk of Toronto.

Both Bergeron and Toews have ridiculous faceoff numbers, at 1-2 in the league with Bergeron leading at 62.1. Both were just as good shorthanded. Still, the number it’s hard to get past is that Bergeron was on the ice for all of 17 goals against all season. No matter how flawed of a stat that is, it’s pretty impressive. Bergeron was also 2nd in CORSI per 60 among forwards, and isn’t the best defense just keeping the puck?

It’s hard to deduce that, because really what these three do best is actually just keep the puck away from whoever they’re playing. You could argue that’s not exactly being defensive, but it’s also the surest way to make sure the other team isn’t scoring.

I feel like you could make an excellent case for Hossa for this award, as the eye-test tells you what he’s capable of defensively. But he doesn’t take draws, and a forward’s responsibilities defensively mostly have to do with covering point-men. That seems unfair, and I’m sure there are a lot of wingers who should be considered if Hossa was. Ladd, Justin Williams, and if not now then soon Gabriel Landeskog come immediately to mind.

In the end, though I think Toews is the better overall player than Bergeron (who is still underrated by far too many people), the Boston center probably should just edge out Captain Marvel. But because of Toews’s more notice due to his offense, I wonder if he will.