All this talk about the Bears and Bulls… what about the Blackhawks? For me personally, it’s been tough to find time to watch them; if we’re talking priority, certainly it’s Bears then Bulls then Blackhawks. After the offseason the Hawks had, I didn’t think this season would amount to a whole hell of a lot either. But don’t look now… the Hawks have won 4 in a row. I actually did watch them a little Tuesday night. I saw Kane’s goal, Toews’ empty netter, and heard some ridiculous stat that this is the first time the Hawks have won their first 3 home games since like 1983… seriously? Nicely done.
My wife messes with me when I want to watch them, like why do you want to watch them, they suck, or now, you’re jumping on the bandwagon since they’ve won a few… haha. Hey, I’ll be the first to admit, my Blackhawks authentic fan card took a hit growing up; in fact, I was never issued one. I never got to watch the Hawks on TV; we never had Sports Channel. When they started to get put on TV, finally, I started to watch them whenever I could; the fact that this coincided with the rise to the top of the NHL is not my fault… I would have watched them all those other years too; I still try to watch them today. But yes, the whole 4 wins in a row thing, has certainly got my attention. Considering I don’t know many of these guys out there, maybe I should start to get to know them… so here we go.
I want to start with the goalies. I know we got a goalie in a trade in the offseason with the Leafs; his name is Petr Mrazek. I also found out he is on the injured list now. Although he did get that first L of the year in Colorado, he also got the first W of the year in San Jose, and now, he’s out. So, who the heck is this Alex Stalock guy? Well, he is now your starting Blackhawks goalie, who has been in the crease for the last 3 wins. Let’s get to know him.
I’m not looking up books in the library or anything like that, but a quick check of his wikipedia page taught me a whole heck of a lot. First off, we signed him as a free agent this offseason. Secondly, he’s 35 years old. In 11 years in the NHL, he has played in 156 games. In fact, the first cool tidbit I read was about his first NHL appearance. On February 1, 2011, he replaced none other than Antti Niemi (he says no-no btw) in net for the San Jose Sharks. In fact there are a couple other Hawks connections; he got traded to the Leafs from the Sharks with Ben Smith; one of the returning players was Jeremy Morin. Small world out there. Reading more about this guy… He had a sliced nerve in the back of his knee when he was stepped on by a skate; that screwed him up for a while. He fought through another injury later in his career, as well as, dealing with after effects of COVID; guess he got it pretty bad. He played the majority of his career games with the Minnesota Wild, however, his last game before joining the Hawks was back with San Jose; he got one start last year, that’s it. And now, he wears the Indian Head sweater… Did the Hawks find a diamond in the rough here?
A quick peek at his performance this year. He is 3-1, with his only loss coming in Vegas, losing 1-0; not too shabby. He hasn’t been exactly lock down, but when he came in relief for Mrazek vs the Wings, he held them scoreless, leading to a Hawks win. He did give up 4 vs the Kraken and 2 Tuesday night vs the Panthers, but they were both Ws. I don’t know… pretty decent start if you ask me. Now with Mrazek out, looks like we’ll see plenty of Stalock, which may be a good thing. He’ll get his next chance on Thursday night at the UC vs the Oilers.
OK, I feel better. I learned a bit about our goalies. I will start to get to know the rest of the team as the season progresses, in between Bears and Bulls talk of course… and oh yeah, maybe some more bitching about the Cubs, seeing Schwarbs (and Castellanos) on the big stage for the Phils. I will try to tune in Thursday night though, to get to know HOW this team plays on the ice with my own two eyes. How about 5 in a row??? Go Hawks!!!
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