Not So Sweet Home Chicago

I’d like to begin today in the world of baseball. Big shout out to A’s pitcher Dallas Braden for making Alex Rodriguez eat some crow. Braden pitched the nineteenth perfect game in MLB history this afternoon against the Rays. A few weeks back Braden was infuriated by A-Rod when he cut across the pitcher’s mound on his way back to the dugout. The ensuing war of words led A-Rod to tell one reporter, “Can we stop talking about this, it’s time for this guy’s 15 minutes of fame to be over.” Well guess what A-Rod, that ‘guy’ just did something more impressive than anything you’ve done in your career to date. You’re still one of the greatest to ever lace ‘em up but today is Braden’s day to shine.

With that digression out of my mind, let’s get back to why I’m really here, the Blackhawks. Tough loss to stomach tonight because there’s really nothing to say about what took place. The Canucks played a disciplined game and their goaltender showed that maybe he is worth 10 million dollars a year. I thought the Hawks compete level was there, it just didn’t pan out into what the city was looking for. I want to take this opportunity to share my general thoughts on what needs to change if the Hawks are planning on going to San Jose on business rather than vacation.

1. Niemi needs to be stronger in net. The overflow of Hawks goals in the previous 2 games has been a bigger story then what Niemi has given up. With this series beginning to tighten up I’d like to see Niemi show more composure in net. Bieksa’s goal tonight was pretty soft, even when considering that he was on a partial breakaway. If Niemi would have slid to his post and stood tall he would have made an easy pad save. Instead he turned to Jello and gave away a pretty easy tuck in.

2. The Hawks need to shoot the puck. There were numerous times tonight when I was screaming for the shot but instead saw a turnover because of a forced pass. Put the puck on net and bury the rebounds.

3. Learn how to win at home. When watching their Hawks on the road, the fans have been treated to 60 minutes of effort. It seems as though when playing at home the Hawks like to give some shifts to the fans. The cheers from the Madhouse faithful often cause the Hawks to ease up. The Hawks dominate the play for a sustained period of time, don’t earn any goals for their effort, and then give up a weak goal on the other end. If they can maintain focus for a few more shifts maybe they can score, resulting in a two goal swing from the situation I just described.

That’s all that’s on my mind for now, I will be sure to let you readers know if anything else pops into my head.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!