Another thought... When will we hold Toews accountable for this lack of intensity?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

You don't normally post in the Hawks area, do you? Just seemed like my statement touched a nerve or something. Guess I misread that.

I will see if I can't break out my crazy side more often for your enjoyment

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm bored, and I actually watched most of the game tonight. Caused me to wander into this section.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Fatigue, injuries, trying to pace themselves. Honestly, it would be no big deal in most years, but it's concerning when there are four teams ahead of them that just aren't losing games this year (especially the Avs, who should be losing a good deal of the games they're winning). Now they're looking at not even having home ice in the first round.

Bollig has actually had a pretty good season as a physical fourth-liner without the fighting fixation. They do miss Frolik, and by extension a highly effective penalty kill unit that allowed them to commit occasional fouls when necessary. They probably would have been better off keeping Frolik and not bothering with Versteeg, in hindsight.


Never. Between his accomplishments and the fact that he's a stoic Canadian, nothing concerning leadership will ever be his fault. Even Toews himself dogs it for weeks at a time and coasts on reputation, to say nothing of the fact that Suter and Zetterberg both nullified him completely in the first half of the playoffs. At least he's scoring as of late.

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Toews has been their best forward ( as he almost always should be) since the Olympics. He does disappear for a couple weeks from time to time which is puzzling but at least he busts it defensively at all times. Its not totally his fault as he's paired with excrement a lot of times it seems but Kane has been noticeably absent last 30 games or so too. Lets not let him off the hook if we are going after Toews . Its pretty apparent that when their top 4 are not on their games, ( Kane, Toews, Hoss, Sharp) they struggle. Sharp has stopped putting pucks in the net as well. Do I think they are going to win it all? No. I don't discount that they cant but things don't seem to be breaking their way this year for whatever reason. That being said when they are on their game, nobody can play with them. Period. Its just a matter of IF they can be on their game when the playoffs hit. I think they are going to be tough out for whoever beats them, not a 4 or 5 game series even if its Colorado or St Louis. Hell they've outshot Colorado every time this year and its not like St Louis has been blowing them out.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The thing about Colorado is that there's no reason why they should still be doing what they're doing, and yet they keep doing it. It's not that they're bad, just that they're not this good. They're due to regress to the mean, and hard, but sometimes those that are supposed to do that never do (think Phoenix), and that concerns me. The other concern is that they just might have the blueprint and the personnel to really fuck with the Hawks: whereas Phoenix was just about blocking shots and waiting for something to break their way, the Avs are getting in the way of every pass and shot and then actively counterattacking. They've been a pain in the ass for three seasons now by just spazzing out like this: they've won, what, three games in the last three years against eight losses? Woof.

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I wouldn't judge the Blackhawks chance winning the cup based on the performance of other teams in the regular season.

The playoffs come down to matchups, strong goaltending and one or more role-players having an out-of-their-mind playoff run. With their style and skill, I think they can matchup strongly with any team. Last year, Crawford didn't shit the entire bed, just a shart or two on one side of it. Bickell played out of his mind. If those happen again come May, they will win a cup. The problem is, until that point and time, no one knows if they will win a cup or not. Hell, I was pessimistic of them winning the cup right up to the buzzer of both Stanley Cup wins.

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For Kane, I think it's his line. I don't think Handzus is good and it slows Kane down. The 3rd person on it like Versteeg doesn't help either. Could be frustration or maybe his Grandfather's death has had an effect on him too. He has been slumpy in past years too though.

You said, I can't figure out why there's no intensity. I don't really know why either. I think there has been a lot of sloppy play. Lots of turnovers, then they just kind of stand there, and skake out. Last year and in 2010, down 1 or 2 goals I expected them to come back and win or felt they had a chance. I don't feel that way this year, in fact when they are up 1 or 2 I expect them to lose in ot or a shootout. Maybe that is the difference - they are losing those ot games they used to win. Why that is, I'm not sure. Goal tending?