TheThirdManIn ~ Radio ~ SHOW ARCHIVE "Interview: STEVE LUDZIK"~ August 23, 2010 ~ *NEW AUDIO* Download Former Blackhawk (1981-89), IHL/NHL coach and author of "Been There Done That" buy @ Ludzy.com * You may need to update Flash & Shockwave apps to listen to shows on this web site. Get Flash Player at Adobe.com CLICK THE PLAYER BELOW TO LISTEN HERE.
As we've done prior to each playoff series, I joined Sam Fels of SecondCityHockey.com and The Committed Indian, John & Bob (or is it Bob & John?) from the Fifth Feather and Jeff Bartl of the site BlackhawkUp.com for a panel discussion of the upcoming Blackhawks-Philadelphia Flyers STANLEY CUP FINAL series match up. Have at it after the jump.....
It all happens at such incredible speed in the NHL; be advised, don't blink an eye. The Tribune has done a tremendous job capturing the euphoria of the fans reactions to those moments in pictures. I love studying them, looking at all the ecstatic expressions as fans celebrate that moment when the puck crosses the goal line. Last Saturday on page 3, a photographer for the Tribune captured a fleeting moment - a moment before the moment so to speak. Big Buff is skating away in exaltation a nanosecond after his Darth Maul lethal laser. A stunned Nabokov appears to be in a state of disbelief. However, truly the heart of the picture is on the other side of the plexi-glass, that thin veil that separates us from our red clad warriors.
The puck has already hit the roof of the net, yet it appears that only about 6 people in the crowd at this point have realized what has just happened. A man in a white shirt gets it - he's already signaling for a touch down! The girl two rows directly below him is in the incipient stages of a Mt. Saint Helen's eruption. The guy in row 3 about 4 seats over seems to be saying, "Did I just see what I thought I saw? Another girl, with a white Hossa sweater, two seats in from the stairs about row 7 is clearly ahead of the curve!
The player largely responsible for the pandemonium that is a moment away is largely hidden by a stunned Douglas Murray. (On the bright side, Murray won't have to miss any more hair styling appointments.) Look closely to Murray's right, you can make out a 36 on the left arm of the player affectionately known as The Rat. David Bolland's nickname is about to be changed with a new surname, one that involves a coronation - KING DAVID.
Be sure to join myself and the "Superstar" tomorrow night, Thursday May 27th, at 8pm [central] over at Blog Talk Radio for another all-new TTMI~Radio including the returning and ever-popular "Email From A Dope" segment.
Gm1 - Sat May 29 - at CHICAGO - 7pm - NBC, CBC, RDS
Gm2 - Mon May 31 - at CHICAGO - 7pm - NBC, CBC, RDS
Gm3 - Wed June 2 - at PHILADELPHIA - 7pm - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Gm4 - Fri June 4 - at PHILADELPHIA - 7pm - VERSUS, CBC, RDS
* Gm5 - Sun June 6 - at CHICAGO - 7pm - NBC, CBC, RDS * If Necessary
* Gm6 - Wed June 9 - at PHILADELPHIA - 7pm - NBC, CBC, RDS * If Necessary
* Gm7 - Fri June 11 - at CHICAGO - 7pm - NBC, CBC, RDS * If Necessary
All Times Central
-- A few notes:
Saturday will mark the Blackhawks' 100th consecutive "Sell Out" at the United Center. That streak spans back to the end of the 2007-08 season, 3-30-08 vs Columbus (20,885) up to this coming Saturday. The last announced non-sellout at United Center came back March 23, 2008 against the St. Louis Blues (19,146) for a Sunday matinee 4-3 overtime Hawks' victory. Of course, quite a few of those "sell outs" near the tail end of the Denis Savard era and early in '08-09 were slightly exaggerated and many saw noticeable gaps in the seating area, but whatever. Honesty and marketing sometimes don't jive.
Over those 99th-straight UC sell outs, the Hawks are averaging 21,700 fans in numbers.
In the 2009 playoffs (8 games), the Hawks averaged 22,616 in announced attendance.
So far during the 2010 post season, they've averaged 22,198. The elimination in seats in sections 312 and 329 over last summer's UC renovations to make room for new view bars at concourse level knocked out nearly 800 seats, which is partly the reason for the dip in attendance.
- The last time the Flyers were in town, Boxing Day 2008, they were quickly trounced by the Hawks 5-1 before a crowd of 22,712, which was proclaimed to be the largest regular season crowd in team history at the time. Even though that's a lie too. The 12-26-2008 game ranks 2nd all-time for the Hawks inside the United Center during the regular season and 3rd overall.
At approximately 4:55 Tuesday afternoon, one of my co-workers hollered over to me, "Hey Lindbloom, come over and look at this!" A good friend of his, Eric, who has a toddler, found himself in quite a quandary. Rather than have me try to put it into words, I've copied the e-mail;
"Callum has been wearing red Blackhawk PJ's on game nights since the playoffs began. I think the Hawks are 5-1 when wearing said PJ's. The PJ's are getting a little snug, so I ordered a new larger pair of White Blackhawk PJ's."
Do I....? A) Squeeze him into the lucky Red PJ's for hopefully a few more weeks? B) Switch now to the new, more comfortable Whites and risk a new streak? C) What color Callum's PJ's are have absolutely no bearing on any NHL playoff game. Without hesitation we all advised Eric to jam, cram or if need be, slam the kid into them, periodically checking to make sure his blood and air supply are not hindered, too much. Twenty years from now the toddler we'll realize the important contribution he made when the Hawks hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup! There's a possibility Callum's PJ's could end up in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The Third Man In~Radio "TTMI & HockeeNight.com Drop the Gloves" Wednesday May 19, 2010 ~ 8pm (central) [original air] Right-Click Here to Download this show
Terrific show tonight with our friends from the unimpeachable Hockee Night web site. An hour and forty-two minutes flew by tonight with CT and "the Forklift." When you're done with this show, you can check out their latest podcast from this past Sunday night, post Sharks-Hawks Game 1, with the SB Nation Sharks' site Fear The Fin. You can also track the Forklift's random musings and latest "Kyle Wellwood is Fat" jokes on Twitter.
- Do Blackhawks fans "deserve" a championship? - Them Crooked Vultures & the greatness of John Paul Jones - An odd place to see your 1st authentic Brent Sopel Hawks' sweater - Differenciating Marian Hossa hit on Dan Hamhuis from Ovechkin's on #51 - Hypocracy in officiating & upholding the NHL Rule Book - How officials are affecting outcomes of games by their direct & indirect actions - CT defends his resentment of the movie The Tooth Fairy - Taking the reader's polls - Superstar steps out - His bold prediction - Versteeg-Pavelski - Doppelgangers - Bolland vs Thornton - Hawks' concern in that match up - Suggestions for Q, line tweaking before a Hawks' loss - Marian Hossa on the verge of a breakout? - Adam Burish theatrics - Nabokov's weakness - Sending Blackhawks farmhands to Flyer country - 36 + 32 + 5 making themselves easy to deal - Serious questions about the Edzo assignment - Then Block & Hockeenight duke it out over the following: Dany Heatley jokes Fork calling Chris Block "an idiot" on a Hockeenight podcast Pierre McGuire being "creepy" The greatness of Mick McGeough The weirdness of Pat Foley
- All this and more: Why universal love and no "hate" for #19 - SCH readers and The Bottom Lounge "Fun Booth" - SixtiesCity.com, Do the Hitch-Hiker & "Doing The Block" - Cosmos & Sex in the City - Wasting far too much time (and paper) analyzing Fork's Twitter - Dissing James Wisniewski til 4 in the morning - HockeeNight's viral marketing campaign - And Chris Block suggests "It's BonerTime~!"
All that & all the "uh's" and "Ya Know's" you can expect when men come together to discuss the puck. We never did come around to Fork and Block's differing opinions over Alain Vigneault's coaching performance in the most recent conference semi-final. Nor did we mention Eddie Olczyk's brilliant remark speculating 25 year old Joe Pavelski recalled the career of one Ox Baker or review the HBO Sports documentary Broad Street Bullies, which in my view was disappointing in spots and underwhelming overall. We'll hit the latter on our next show, which will be to be determined, but sometime later this weekend.
Messrs. CT and "the Forklift" from the incendiary "Puck Cast" program and HockeeNight.com will join myself at 8pm (central time) tomorrow night, Wednesday May 19th, for the next edition of TheThirdManIn~Radio.
We'll lean on the Forklift's significant wealth of knowledge on a number of topics. Most notably the 1994 NY Rangers, hockey facial hair, bad Kyle Wellwood jokes and groovy 60's pop band Freddie and the Dreamers. But we'll also analyze games 1 and 2 of the current Sharks-Blackhawks series while also looking ahead to Game 3 at the United Center this Friday night.
More pertinently, we'll get to the bottom of the Forklift-Chris Block Internet wars and why the two seemingly can't agree on anything these days.
It is sure to be a fantastic hour-plus full of CT's witty interludes, Fork's show-stopping one-liners, 70 & 80's pro wrestling discussion and someone is liable to be drunk by the time the show is over. Parental advisory for this one.
"Dude, your boy friends wearing teal!" - Sam Fels penned that line in one of his top ten things not to like about the Sharks last season. It's one of those lines that emit a silent chuckle in our politically correct world. The color teal was a huge fashion success a few years back, but somehow I don't think you'd find it in Randy "Macho Man" Savage's closet. It reminded me of a moment not to long ago when I was picking out the colors for my daughter's softball uniform. As I recall, the 3 options on colors when it came to my choice were dark green, yellow or teal. Teal would have been my last choice but on a whim I asked one of the ladies coaching what she thought the girls would like before going with my gut - dark green.
Both ladies I talked to without hesitation said, "Teal!", as if I was some sort of Neanderthal. My wife and daughter echoed the ladies choice when I got home, quite astonished that I even had to ask for advice. Which leads me to the conclusion, a manly man did not design the Sharks uniform. No doubt Shawn and Gus from the sitcom Psych would have no problem deducing that the Shark sweater was designed by a very gay man in San Francisco. They can slap as many sharks as they want on the sweater, it still reeks of pusillanimity. Mack the Knife has left the building.
Scarlet billows began to spread early in Sunday's affair. "Gentle" Ben Eager tried to knock everything he saw in teal into the middle of next week. Had he played more than 6 minutes someone would have ended up in the hospital. Rumor had it after the game the Bay City Rollers were asking him if he knew how to roller skate. When questioned afterwards Bennie said, "I just want to pet the soft bunnies." Playing opposite of Eag's has to be a lot like yanking out nose hairs - while necessary, it's just not something that you look forward too. Actually, the other two nozzles that made the Sharks life miserable, Madden and Burr-dog, combined with Eags for some very productive shifts. I know I'm not the only one, don't you just love it when this line scores! Sunday, this line proved to be a lot more than 3 pretty faces. Sometimes I think the best part of Adam's game is after the whistle blows in our opponent's crease. "C'mon, I dare ya; I double dog dare ya to hit me in the face!" Burr-dog's the name - agitation's the game.
The PGA shows a commercial that illustrates just how good professional golfers are. You get the feeling after watching the highlights that they're throwing darts, not playing golf. The commercial ends with the exclamation, "These guys are good!" After observing Sami Salo add an intense new insight to the phrase, "fighting through the pain," perhaps the NHL should come up with a new slogan - "These guys are tough!" When Duncan Keith's (who you gonna call? Ball Busters.) bunker buster brought Salo to his knees, there were two chances he would be dressing for Tuesdays game in Vancouver - slim and none. Playing over 19 minutes in that condition, deserves the Canadian Medal of Honor or knighthood or whatever it is they do in British Columbia . (Maybe a cold plunge in the pools by the freezing waterfalls of Strathcona Prov. Park.)
Salo, who makes over $3.5 million/year, could have easily taken a pass on game six. No one would have questioned his manhood, or sudden lack thereof. He came off for a shift in the first period and was wincing in obvious pain. Even Adam Burish called the area a "no fly zone." If Sami were to sing Chuck Berry's classic "My Ding a Ling," he'd be hitting all the high notes! There's only one way to describe Salo's effort - "Now that's Hockey."
As we did for Rounds One and Two, Sam Fels of Second City Hockey and The Committed Indian; John and Bob from the Fifth Feather and myself got together to chime in on the Western Conference Finals matchup between the Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. Enjoy.
Who is your player of the series against Vancouver ?
Fifth Feather: Though he sleepwalked through a couple games during the series - including the stink bomb that was Game 5 - Dustin Byfuglien's Game 3 was one for the ages. In fact, at the time, we called it the best game by any Blackhawk all season - and we still hadn't felt its full effects yet.
Byfuglien's performance in Game 3 not only gave the Hawks a game lead in the series, it very directly led to Vancouver's Game 4 combustion, in which the Canucks took selfish turns at roughing Big Buff. The silly penalties led to a four-power-play-goal performance from the Hawks and ultimately a two-game lead in the series. After that, it wasn't if, but when.
Sam Fels: Because I'm a contrarian, I won't go with Buff even though he turned it all on its head. I'll go with Kris Versteeg, who had huge goals in Games 2, 3, and 6, and generally skated his ass off in intelligent ways. That last fact alone pretty much caused me a stroke out of shock. With the improved play of his linemates, this gave the Hawks three lines that could hurt, and I don't think another team can boast that .
Block: From a Hawks' perspective, it's undoubtedly Jonathan Toews. The Captain was every bit Roberto Luongo's aggressor as Dustin Byfuglien was, minus the dumb penalties in Game 3 that quite easily could've flipped the series in an entirely different direction. The "Captain Serious" shtick is a tired act, but Toews' fierce intensity led the way in all three road victories. All things considered though, the story of the series was Luongo. Dominant in the opener and Game 5 at the United Center , when he was on and kept his focus, the Hawks stood no chance. Even with an injury-depleted defense in front of him, Luongo still gave Nuck Nation reason to believe he could win the series with minimal help. But then someone gave Dustin Byfuglien purpose and Luongo became Dan Cloutier again. Even more distressing was Luongo's resistance to accept any of the blame for the ousting post-series. Vancouver has more than a few problems, but their core has no spirit.
After two rounds, are you more or less of a believer in Antti Niemi?
Fifth Feather: It's been one of our themes all year, but goaltending is funny. We spent the better part of the first six months of the season trying to make Huet-believers out of Hawk fans - principally because we weren't quite sure whether we could trust the odd looking Finnish guy with ironing boards for leg pads sitting on the bench.
But, in the end, the Hawks have one thing going for them: it's almost impossible to accurately predict goaltender performance in this league, and often times goalies who are rookies, relative unknowns and/or historically poor performers have as good a chance at succeeding in the playoffs as proven veterans. So, yeah, we're Antti Niemi believers.
Another thing every fan should do: watch other playoff games and critique the goaltenders' performance like they were your own goalie; you'll see that "soft" goals are actually fairly commonplace for even the league's strongest netminders.
Sam Fels: Probably about the same, and as the Feather said, goaltending just hasn't been as important this season as it's the highest scoring postseason in 10 years (unless you're the bleu, blanc, and rouge of course). He still gives up a softie here and there, and he looks awkward as all hell. I fear the more talented Sharks shooters will be zeroing in on the areas above his hunched shoulders that only Christian Ehrhoff was able to find Vancouver. But he was strong when the Hawks needed him to be, and there's no reason to think he won't be now.
Block: Niemi's been bad. He's been good. He's flirted with great a period or two. What he hasn't been to this point is Luongo Game 4 or 6 awful. The Sharks big line will make him look silly at times and we will get another brief glimpse of the Cristobal Huet Experience quickly ahead. It's probably to Niemi's advantage he didn't see San Jose during the regular season. Huet was in net all four matches, and went 3-1 with two victories coming by way of the four-on-four overtime. The bottom line is Niemi has been no more or less efficient than Nikolai Khabibulin was last spring and he wasn't the reason the Hawks were deflated by the Red Wings. If this continues, slightly above average will be good enough to give the Hawks' offense enough rope win the series. That said, the Hawks don't miss Khabibulin and from what we've seen so far, there's no reason to bet the house on Niemi at the negotiating table this summer either.
Looking ahead, what scares you most about the Sharks?
Fifth Feather: Well, their top five players are scary, to say the least. Though Joe Thornton usually goes away this time of year, he's still 6'3" and one of the league's best centers; Patrick Marleau and Danny Heatley can flat out score; though Joe Pavelski looks exactly like Kris Verseeg when the two of them have beards on, he's writing himself a nice little playoff story; and Dan Boyle is one of the league's best defensemen. After that, things get a little thin for the Sha-arks, but it's certainly a nice start. It also means the Hawks will have match-up problems with someone - either Thornton or Pavelski - and defensemen not named (or nicknamed) Keith, Seabrook or Ham Sandwich will play meaningful minutes in their own end; they'll have to make the best of them.
Sam Fels: Size. The Sharks Top-6 is massive. And the Hawks were retarded with teams pinning them behind their net against Nashville. This is the Sharks game. They love to dump it in and then work behind the net to create, and the smallish Hawks d-men are going to have to be awfully smart. But every time they try and move the puck quickly, some thing tends to go wrong, and against this team they cannot be turning it over in their own zone. That said, there's still an excellent chance that it's only Pavelski-Clowe-Setoguchi who cause these problems. Marleau and Speed Racer may be waiting for Thornton to hit them with a centering pass, while he's gone back to "waiting for my paycheck" playoff form we've come to know and love.
Block: If Jumbo Joe Thornton is finally tired of hearing criticisms and blame (and rightfully so) for San Jose 's playoff woes of recent years past, he can become a dangerous man. When Thornton chooses to play with purpose, he dominants stretches and sometimes games as he did in games 3 and 5 in the Detroit series. Though, to get past Chicago , he'll need to find those types of efforts at least four times. Thornton typically plays well against the Hawks, while linemates Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley have run hot and cold against Chicago during their careers. If Thornton is on, those three can dominate and dictate the outcome here. Keith is susceptible to wingers with speed to the outside (he's still spinning from the move Heatley put on him back on Dec 22nd) and Marleau has plenty of that. Simply put, if the Hawks can shut the Thornton line down, they'll win the series. Sharp and Hossa SHOULD cancel out the Pavelski-Clowe-Setoguchi line and the Hawks' third and fourth lines are superior to the Sharks'. The Thornton draw is an assignment for Toews. Bolland is too small, and as good as he was in the Vancouver series, Bolland and Versteeg should never be exceeding or equaling Toews, Kane and Hossa in total ice time. If that trend continues, we'll for sure know what's been in Q's water bottle all this time.
Prediction for the Conference Finals:
Fifth Feather: Last season, we all knew what was in store for the Hawks leading into the Conference Finals: they were going to lose. This year, it's a much different story. Sure, the Sharks were the Western Conference's best team during the regular season, but their playoff troubles are well chronicled; they also don't have the depth and playoff experience last years Wings' had. It feels very, very weird to say, but ... if it's not the Hawks in the Stanley Cup Finals, I'll be surprised. Let's take 'em in six.
Sam Fels: Well, if the Hawks can keep Pavelski in his current form (1 assist in his last three), and shift the pressure to Jumbo Joe -- who'll be wearing Captain Marvel all series and probably won't like it, they win this. I think that's what probably happens I don't believe Nabokov can win you a series, and he's just as capable of Niemi of losing you a game along the way. The Sharks defense is much bigger and better than Vancouver's, the Hawks won't get a red carpet to the crease. But other than Boyle they're not the swiftest, either. Too much depth for the Hawks against a team that has a marvelous Top-6, but only grinders after that. Hawks in 6.
Block: Blackhawks in six. I see no reason to believe the trend of the Hawks being mentally unprepared and outcoached in a series' opener changing. Jonathan Toews engineers a split out west and then the Hawks take a 3-1 series lead on their home ice in two games that will give you asthma if you don't already have it. Sharks put forth their best effort and blow away the Hawks in Game 5 before the Hawks dispose of them and celebrate their first Stanley Cup Final in 18 years and second in 37 at the UC after Game 6. There will be no more than four arrests, but Q will be released the next morning without bond. And the Hawks and Habs will meet in the Finals, a rematch 37 years in the making and the two cities will vie for the title of most drunken chaos and destruction it can inflict on their own city and neighbors for no other reason than the outcome of a frivolous sports game. Chicago doesn't stand a chance. I'd hope.
Finally. Bob and John, will you just admit you married each other this past weekend? And how much are you paying these poor women to be your beards?
Fifth Feather: As John and I are legally one, it would be impossible for us to marry ourselves. We have lawyers working on that, though.
Sam Fels: It is 2010, and this is Chicago. If ever there was a time that a gay, hockey-blogging couple could be out of the closet, it's now. But I'd hate for those girls to lose what must be exorbitant salaries.
Block: I don't know much about John or Bob. Neither do I know the lure or hunger for another man's flesh. However, I have been to one too many Second City Hockey Road Watches to know McClure cannot ever be trusted around duct tape, a pair of C-clamps, tiger balm and a sybian. Not a good scene.
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