Being a Russian must be a lot like being a Blackhawks fan: things are royally screwed up and have been for years, and for as long as anyone can remember there’s been a despot at the top. Yet in each case one’s natural allegiance is secure, because after all it’s the homeland (or home team), and–with the help of a little alcohol–the camaraderie of others in the same boat makes the state of affairs a lot less painful.
Some things, thank the gods, never change.
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The Hawks came home from a four-game road trip Saturday to begin a critical stretch of eight games out of the next ten at the United Center. These games were critical because the Hawks found themselves in ninth place in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League, in danger of missing the playoffs (now reserved for the top eight teams in each conference, a liberal 16 out of the total 25) for the first time in almost 30 years. They also were critical because the Hawks had a losing 11-17-3 home record, against 15-13-7 on the road. If they didn’t start performing better at the United Center, they wouldn’t make it.
Otherwise, the Hawks are an apathetic, clueless, apparently talentless bunch–breathing, skating testimony to the idea that the sport has overexpanded–and Wirtz gets a large portion of the blame. Goalie Ed Belfour and center-right wing Jeremy Roenick are both gone, the latest casualties in Wirtz’s 30-year war of attrition against high player salaries. Belfour was dealt earlier this season to the San Jose Sharks, and Roenick was traded last summer to the Phoenix Coyotes for Alexei Zhamnov, a once promising young player who now finds himself in danger of seeing his total points decline for the fourth straight season. Oddly enough, the Coyotes are newly arrived in Phoenix from Winnipeg, where they were the Jets–the same franchise Bobby Hull jumped to from the Hawks 25 years ago. Some things never change.
The Hawks’ power play: now there’s a subject for discussion. On Saturday the Hawks ran their streak of futility to 25 straight power plays without a goal, and they demonstrated that the streak was no fluke. The Hawks would get a man advantage, pin the other team down in the attack zone, and systematically pass from the left point to behind the net, out to the right point, then to the near boards down the right-hand side, to behind the net, and back out to the left point–all without taking a shot. The Hawks’ power play turns out to be the league’s best penalty-killing unit.
