May 10, 2021: End Game

Monday night brought us the last Blackhawks game of the year. In a way, it summed up the whole season for the Hawks. They lost 5-4 in OT.

They started hot. OK, well, the Blackhawks didn’t exactly start the season off hot. In fact, they lost their first 4 games, but… after 28 games, or exactly half the season this year, the Hawks were 14-9-5… a lot better than I expected, that’s for sure; that was their high water mark for the year. Certainly felt like halfway into the season, the Blackhawks were legit contenders to make a surprise playoff appearance. After being up 2-0 last night vs Dallas in the first couple minutes, it certainly looked like they were on their way too.

And those goals… DeBrincat and Suter. Talk about a nice bounce back year, Brinksy Cat finished 3rd in the NHL in goals with 32!!! We needed that. In fact, I thought I heard he scored goals in the past 7 games; like my son in 3rd grade, getting 7 straight 100s on his tests, he finished strong! And then there’s the rookie, Pius Suter, whose name I had to learn early on after his career opening hat trick vs the Red Wings. Suter is just one of many rookies that played substantial time for the Hawks this year. Suter, like Hagel, Kurashev, Lankinen, and lately Kalynuk, all made significant contributions to the season that was here in 2021. There were like 10 rookies who scored their first goals this year for the Hawks; not sure if that number is right, but you get the picture. This Hawks team is young, and with a year under their belt, have to be better next year, right? Of course for the finale on Monday, the Hawks didn’t have Toews; they didn’t have Dach either. To think how the Hawks did this year, 24-25-7, in a shortened schedule, in a custom division stacked with some serious talent, without their Captain all year or the very promising 2nd year player for most of the year, not too bad, eh?

So the Stars kept battling back in this one, erasing not 1 but 2 two goal deficits. Speaking about the guys, how about the return of Vinnie? Nice goal in this one; I like that he’s back. I think this is one second run that will be better than the first. Yes, the Stars pelted Delia with shots on goal all game long, and eventually would take the win in OT. 50-23 shots on goal?!?! Look, our goaltending did better than expected this year too; Lankinen did great, and then ran out of gas. Subban was a good backup, and then Delia? Where the heck has he been all year? Anyways, I thought the goaltending would sink us, but like Foley said last night, the defense was our biggest weakness… again. Yes, we still have Keith, and yes, Seabrook is gone, and yes, our defense has gotten substantially younger just like the rest of our team, but man… they’ve got to be better as a unit. Too many times this year our goalies have been hung out to dry. It’s one thing expecting them to be serviceable, it’s another asking our trio of goaltenders to stand on their heads.

At the end of the day, regardless that the Hawks exceeded my expectations this year, it’s still disappointing to miss the playoffs, again. Certainly nothing to “put a bullet in my head” over, but surely a result that needs to change. So we’ll chalk this year up, but next year… next year the expectations will be a bit different. Next year the Hawks will be expected to be back in the second season. One guy I didn’t mention was Patrick Kane; although he didn’t make the score sheet on Monday night, he had another great year… he carried us there for a while. He’ll be looked at to lead the youthful Hawks, hopefully with his running mate Toews, and of course Keith, back into the Stanley Cup playoffs. With a draft and whole offseason ahead of us, and I believe some cap room, a couple key additions would really help too. So, goodbye for now Blackhawks; I’m taking the flag down. Thanks for a fun season; thanks for being better than I thought you would. Next year though… next year expectations will be a lot higher. 2022 Stanley Cup Champions!?!? Whoa, whoa… not that I wouldn’t be happy with that, but… Go Hawks!