The 2022-2023 season is officially off and running. I don’t know about all of you, but man does it feel amazing having hockey back and yes, I mean that for the Hawks too, who as almost everyone predicted are off to a poor start.
Colorado 5 Chicago 2
They kicked things off in Colorado where I think the coolest moment of that game was the Avalanche players calling over Jack Johnson so he could be a part of the banner raising ceremony. After all he has been through over his career and off ice problems with his folks that was very cool to see him taking that all in.
Once the puck dropped, we got a firsthand look at why Colorado has a great chance to repeat as champions. They just out worked and overpowered the Hawks, and I must admit I loved watching Makar making Johnson look silly out there. With that being said, I feel the Hawks did a decent job weathering the storm. Here are a few takeaways from this game.
Mrazek
Mrazek played surprisingly well despite what the final score looked like. He only let up one goal 5 on 5 and 4 of the goals where tips that there wasn’t much he could do. I think this game could have gotten out of hand a lot faster if it wasn’t for his play in net
Toews
Seeing the captain get on the board in game one was an amazing site to see. Last season it took 26 games before he put on in the back of the net. On top of scoring the first goal of the Hawks season (which is also the first time he’s done that in his career), he led the team with 3 shots on goals and finished the night 10 of 14 in the faceoff dot. After years of being told he was washed up and his career is over, it was nice seeing 19 playing with some aggression out there. Let’s hope it holds up.
Vegas 1 Chicago 0
Back-to-back games are always tough, and I was extremely curious to see how this team was going to respond after a decent effort in Colorado. Coach Richardson made a few roster changes as Caleb Jones was activated off IR and took Regula’s spot and Reese Johnson took over Buddy Robinson. As for the game itself, again I was pleasantly surprised how this team showed up and performed. Here are a few takeaways from this game.
Stalock
Now Jack Johnson was a great off ice feel good story against Colorado. Stalock gets the award for on ice feel good story. Getting the start after there was concerns, he might not be able to play again, he absolutely stood on his head stopping 36 of 37 shots he faced. The team let him down a bit in the second allowing 18 shots on goal which saw the eventual game winner go in. He kept this team in it and gave them every chance to win this game. As the season goes on this is going to be a rare outcome but you have to give it up for Stalock and making a great first impression.
Coach Richardson
This season is only two games old and there is a lot of hockey left to be played. However, I truly am impressed by the way Coach Richardson is building his mindset of what Blackhawks hockey is going to be. Both games this team battled and stayed in each game much longer than anyone expected. After taking 6 penalties on Wednesday, they didn’t take another one well over halfway through the game. He got this team to adjust to be more of an offensive threat and they outshot Vegas 10-9 in the first and through two periods they passed the total amount of shots they had in game one. This team is playing more aggressive than Hawk teams in the past, they put up 41 hits on Thursday. I just am very pleased with how he has these guys buying into his mindset and it really gets you excited for what could happen once this team starts putting a competitive team out there.
Overall Opinion
I am pleasantly surprised by this team so far; they are nowhere near being a good team and it is so noticeable that even a new fan of the sport could tell you that. However, I really like that they are playing a tough game and making these teams work for what they get. If they can play this way all season that is perfectly fine by me. We just have to brace ourselves because the blowout, really bad hockey game is coming sooner than later.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a preview blog for the last game of this road trip.
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