From: scholvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Scholvin)
Subject: Hawks News 12-30
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 21:17:26 GMT

The Blackhawks scored five goals in the first period and held on to beat
the Red Wings 6-3 last night in Detroit, but the victory may turn out to
be very costly. Jocelyn Lemieux needed over 120 stitches to reattach his
lower lip after a cross check to the mouth by Konstantinov (no penalty
called!), and Bob Probert "fell" on Igor Kravchuk. Kravchuk
hyperextended his knee in the incident and left the stadium on crutches
after the game. No word on his condition at the moment; he was to be
examined back in Chicago today. These injuries, combined with the lower
back strain Steve Smith suffered on Sunday, place the Hawks in a bit of
a jam. More on this later.

Belfour was back in goal, and he is the reason the Hawks didn't find
themselves down about 3-0 in the first four minutes of the game. Detroit 
had the first eight shots on goal of the game, and seven of them were
point blank killer saves by the Eagle. He really put on a clinic. The
Hawks got back on their feet, and Sutter (Noonan) scored the first goal
at 4:14 on a two on one. Gilbert followed with his seventh (Graham,
Chelios) at 5:21. His line (with Ruuttu and Graham) was reunited after
being split up most of the weekend, and the results were excellent.
Kravchuk scored on a long slapper (Ruuttu, Gilbert) at 9:20 after some
outstanding forechecking by this line. Matteau scored a power play goal
(remember those?) at 13:30 (Sutter, Noonan), and Kravchuk scored his
second of the night, another power play tally, at 17:25 from Larmer and
Kucera. An incredible five goal outburst from the kind of guys you don't
expect a whole lot of offense from, and Detroit was clearly stunned.
Again, though, all of this was possible because of Belfour in the first
four minutes. If he lets in a goal or two, I could have seen the Hawks
go into the tank and lose 6-0.

Detroit got a big lift early in the second with two fast goals. Chiasson
scored on the power play at 1:23, and Ysebaert added an even strength
goal 22 seconds later. The crowd was in pandemonium and the Wings were
back in the game. The Hawks relaxed and went back to their defensive
game, and that was it in the period for scoring. There was an ugly
incident at 19:46 in the period, involving Marchment, Gallant, and
Carson. Gallant ended up getting tossed. I didn't see this part, maybe
the person who summarizes Detroit games will comment.

The Hawks chilled any remaining hopes of a valiant comeback for the
Wings by scoring on the power play caused by Gallant's outburst. Sutter
deflected a Chelios point shot at :23 (other assist to Kucera), and it
was 6-2 Hawks. Sheppard added a late score for the Wings. Another lovely
incident in this period was Probert's elbowing of Belfour. Those two do
*not* get along. Does super tough guy Probert like to beat up all the
145 pound goalies in the league, or just Belfour & Waite? I don't have
the, ah, privilege of seeing all of Detroit's games.

Editorial comment:
I'm as much for turning the other cheek as the next guy, especially when
you get a power play out of it. But there comes a point in a game, when
some worthless thug from the other team is attempting to injure one of
your productive players, that you have to send out some enforcement. All
you peaceniks out there can flame to /dev/null, but Darryl Sutter, IMO,
fucked up royal last night by keeping Grimson on the bench the whole
night. Kravchuk and Lemieux are both going to be out a long time. God
only knows what would happen (and someday, it just might) if Probert
injures Belfour. Detroit figured since they were out of it early that
they were going to leave with a (literal) pound of flesh, and Sutter let
them. He sent a message to the entire league: go ahead, beat up my team,
I don't care. I wonder what the reaction in Detroit would be if Grimson
went out there and cross-checked Yzerman in the mouth (not that I'm
comparing Lemieux to Yzerman :). I think I know: Probert would send a
counter-message to the Hawk bench via somebody's jawbone. Sutter dropped
the ball, establishing a dangerous precedent. Watch and see: the next
Hawks/Wings game will be a bloodbath, open season on
Roenick/Larmer/{Belfour|Waite}/Chelios, because thugs like Probert (and
others like him around the league) know they can pound on Blackhawk
players with impunity.

Oh, well. Smith will be out two weeks, Lemieux probably at least that
long (btw: the Hawks are sending a tape of Vlad the Impaler's
orthodontal handiwork to the league), and who knows about Kravchuk. With
Keith Brown slow to recover from his injury, the Hawks find themselves
suddenly very thin at the blue line. Next up: a new year's eve game
against the Lightning at the Stadium.

-- 
John Scholvin                           |  "Sometimes I wish I was Catholic
scholvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu            |   I don't know why"
echo Y | del c:\windows\*.*             |       -Cracker