The Vig

Which Hawks team shows up tonight? With Jason Nissen reffing, I hope they’re prepared to get punched in the mouth. A lot. If the game gets out of hand late, look for a line brawl. It’s Nissen’s specialty.
-As the Hawks skated just before the puck was dropped, Chris Francis stood in one spot and high fived every teammate as they skated by. Some of them had semi-elaborate knucks and bumps. It was positively Standishian. Somebody give him a letter!
-Magnusson is a freaking monster. 6′8″ 250. Second on the team with 91 PIM. His 8 points is better than all but one Winter Hawk defensemen.
-We’re 7 minutes in and the Hawks look as listless as last night. Gabriel turned the puck over in his own zone again. White stopped a pretty decent PG chance.
-10 minutes in, shots are 9-3 PG. The Hawks are ALL standing around waiting for someone to take charge of the game.
-I see Sokol listed on the line-up, but he’s not on the press line-up. Is he gone? He’s got all the skill, but he needs to gain some maturity.
-White turns away Morgan MacLean on a breakaway. a simple little poke check is all it took as MacLean never quite had control.
-Cyr stones King point blank with 2:30 on the clock. Portland is generating the odd chance, but they’ve got no space.
-PG has tic-tac-toed through the neutral zone with ease a few times now. At some point they’re gonna spring free. Gabriel will probably be the guy they skate by.
-PG ices the puck twice in a row. They’re looking for a home run pass with Gabriel on the ice. They’ve very narrowly missed it.
-The period ends with PG on the power play. They’ll have 1:16 remaining when we pick it back up in the second.
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I added a plug-in to my blog software which finally allows me to blog from my cell phone. We’ll see how this goes.

The Hawks are currently down 2-0 to the rival Seattle Thunderbirds halfway through the first period. As bad as things look now, it’s not nearly as bad as Katie Harmon’s national anthem. If you’re planning to hit the Sheraton tonight, might I suggest finding alternate plans.

First Intermission: The Hawks have crawled back into the match, scoring a goal at the end of their second power play. This is probably the biggest crowd of the year so far. They’re a lively bunch, roaring to life for big hits.

Second Intermission: The Birds scored early in the second period on a seeing-eye shot from the blueline. The Hawks were gassed by the end of the period. Despite the disparity on the scoreboard, somehow they’re leading in shots 26-25. The Hawks will need to score early in the next period if they have any hope of winning. While they did mount a serious late game comeback earlier in the season, I don’t see it tonight. If the Hawks are down by two or more goals with less than five minutes to go, the desire to fight may prove too powerful.

Early third period: Tristan King(!) drops the mitts and gets his ass kicked about two minutes in. Thirty seconds later, Chris Francis buries a shot from right out front.  3-2 Birds. We have a hockey game.

No sooner did I hit *publish* than Bud Halloway buries a rebound on the power play. Damn.

Underschute scores with about three minutes to go. The crowd goes nuts. The Hawks get a few more chances before Seattle scores a minute or so later. They just added an empty net goal for insurance. 6-3 Birds. Now is the time on Sprockets wheb we fight!

End of the game: It’s New Years Eve and there’s no fights? Well, there was the one. But beyond that, Seattle was just the better, more physical team tonight. When, oh WHEN! will Ryan Kerr return?

Post Script:  As I packed up after the game, I watched as a Portland fan who I’ve seen for years lit into the Seattle broadcasters for being homers and disrespecting Mucha.  The guys laughed at him and wished him a good night.  Good on ‘em, I say.  The Hawks just got their asses kicked, and now fans want respect?  Please.  Take your whoopin’ and go home.

That said, I’ve always thought the Hawks organization has been too deferential to the Birds.  For example a few years back, the Hawks beat Seattle in a close one at the Rose Garden.  When it came time to hand out the three stars, Andy handed the first star to a T-Bird.  The guy may have been the best player on the ice, but the Hawks won the game.  Why not throw an extra little forearm while your rival is down?  If the same thing had happened in Key Arena, you can bet a Bird would have been #1.  And, had the Hawks beat Everett, a Hawk would have been #1.  It’s just a game within the game, I suppose.

The Winter Hawks this week named Matt Bardsley as Director of Player Personnel. The press release touted Bardsley’s role in recruiting Dubinsky and Gaustad and “discovering” Chris Francis and Aaron McGill. It went on to tout Bardsley’s scouting record up and down the west coast.

That’s freaking great. The guy has “discovered” a grand total of 11 points for the Hawks this season. And he’s going to go beat the bushes for even more.  Woo hoo!

Here’s a fun question: What became of Jack Donovan’s great pipeline of talent from Dallas TX? Does anyone else remember him putting on the hockey helmet at Claudia’s back in 2006 and telling us he was going to use his contacts to bring great players in from Texas? 18 months after the grand pronouncement, how many players on the protected list hail from the Lone Star State? I’ll go ahead and set the over-under line at 1/2. I’ll take the under.

How goes Canadian scouting? Where were the Hawks on Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Evan Pighin, Jamie Benn, Todd Kennedy, Garry Nunn, and Matt Cumming?  Is there any other talent in the BCHL who might be worth a look?  The SJHL?  Anyone?  I can’t believe there aren’t Junior A players available today who couldn’t make an impact on this roster.  But no. we’re going to head back down to Vegas and LA and try and find the next Cepek.  I don’t get it.

So whatever, J2.  You two keep trying to reinvent the wheel while dwindling numbers of fans watch another season go up in smoke.