From: scholvin@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Scholvin)
Subject: Hawks News 12-21
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 22:18:32 GMT

Wow, lotsa Hawks news!  I couldn't post the last few days, so there's a lot to
catch up on.

On Thursday, the Hawks trounced Winnipeg 5-1 at the Stadium. The game was
never in question, with Stephane Matteau scoring 59 seconds in. The Hawks
never looked back. Belfour was solid in goal, although he wasn't tested often.
The Jets appeared uninterested in playing the physical game the Hawks favor,
shying away from the corners and avoiding open ice contact. As a result, the
Hawks players had an extra second to make the pass or shot, and the net
result was reflected in the score. There are a bunch of talented folks on that
Jet team, but they have a adapt a bit better to the North American game if
this is typical of how they play. I can't recall exactly who scored the rest
of the Hawks goals, and I don't have a paper with me. I'm pretty sure Brent
Sutter had at least one.

After the game, Darryl Sutter *ripped* the team in the papers. He accused them
of playing sloppy, lazy hockey, and said something to the effect of "it's a
good thing it was Winnipeg we played that way," which I understand the
Winnipeg media and fans aren't enthralled about. I think he was blowing smoke,
trying to pump them up to avoid a letdown against the struggling Flyers on
Saturday.

It didn't work. The Hawks missed their wake up call for the early game, and
were beaten 3-1. The game was slow-paced and basically really boring. You
could tell it was going to be a long day by the way the Flyers scored their
first goal. Philly dumped it in, and Chelios went back to play it. He sort of
nonchalanted his clearing pass, which was picked off deep in the Hawks' zone.
I forget who the Flyer player was, but he took the puck from Chelly, took a
stride, and fired it past a shocked Waite who had no chance at a save. Waite
was stunned by Chelios' lapse: he had the look of a child who'd just been
informed that there is no Santa Claus. 

Chelios then proceeded to lose his mind, taking some stupid penalties and
ultimately getting a misconduct after yapping at the ref & linesmen. He
punched the camera in the walkway down to the dressing room as he left the
ice, much to the delight of the fans there. This was the ugly Chelios of the
'91 playoffs against Minnesota, and I hope that after this outburst he has
it out of his system.

Lindros was back for the Flyers, and he appears 100% healthy. He picked up an
assist, and laid some *monster* hits out there, notably on Gilbert. The guy is
a house on skates. Kravchuk scored the lone goal for the Hawks in the second
period on the power play. Waite played fairly well in goal, having no chance
on the first goal, the third goal being an empty netter. 

The loss ended the Hawks' five game winning streak, but apparently put them in
a bad mood for Sunday's outing agains the Stars back at the Stadium. Belfour
and the Hawks shut them out 4-0. The shutout was Belfour's fourth and the
team's sixth, worlds ahead of anyone else in the league right now. This was a
grand example of team defense, with Smith playing one of the best defensive
games I've ever seen, especially since they played with five defensemen most
of the night after Marchment was assessed a highly questionable instigator
game misconduct for fighting. On the few occasions where there was a defensive
lapse, Belfour was sensational. Graham opened the scoring in the first period
after some considerable mucking around in front of the Minnesota net. Larmer
tallied in the second on the power play on a slapper from the deep slot that
Casey appeared to get his glove on, and maybe should have stopped.

Most encouraging was Rob Brown scoring his first of the year in the third on a
rebound, and Brian Noonan rounding it out with a score late. These two need to
start producing ASAP, or they may find themselves in some other cities. Brown
can be given more slack, since he's only dressed for eleven games, and he does
have seven points. Noonan, for some reason, is rarely scratched. He's only
bagged a couple goals this year, and this is a guy who everyone *knows* can
score in bunches. Why he doesn't is a mystery.

The search for a left wing to skate with Roenick and Larmer continues. In the
last three games, I've seen Hudson, Lemieux, Gilbert, and Brown take their
chances. I think Sutter ought to stick with Brown, or un-mothball Goulet.
Lemieux and Gilbert are major parts of this team, but neither is the finesse
guy that needs to play with those two All Star caliber scorers. Hudson appears
to be clueless altogether these days, most at home on a line with Stu Grimson
where scoring a goal would be a wondrous surprise.

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