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.
The Blackhawks and Sharks are only a month and a half into the 2009-2010 NHL season, but Sunday night's matchup had all the skill, power and intensity of a Stanley Cup playoff game. And if this game is any indication, these two current division leaders could have one epic series battle.
The opening goal of the game was scored by the most improbable of lines. Jordan Hendry, playing wing on the fourth line with Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ebbett scratched, worked the puck out of the corner and passed it back to Brent Sopel at the right point. Sopel fired a warning flare of a shot, but this effort beat Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Bryan Bickell, called up from Rockford before the game, played an intrigal part of the goal on his first shift of the game. Bickell, who earns his paycheck in front of the net, streaked in front of Nabokov and screened the goaltender from seeing Sopel's shot. The early play of Bickell forced Joel Quenneville to take notice; soon there after, Bickell was moved up to play wing with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The goal was Sopel's first of the season and 42nd of his 533 game NHL career.
The Hawks' lead would not last long. Dany Heatley scored the equalizing tally ten minutes later. Taking a backhand pass from Joe Thorton at the goalline, Heatley fired his remarkable wristshot from the top of the right wing circle. Cristobal Huet stood little chance against the elite shot of Heatley.
While the Hawks lead didn't last long, the tie evaporated and then the deficit exacerbated far faster.
Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke might not want to hear it, but apparently his new acquisition, Phil Kessel, cannot win a game by himself. Friday night, Kessel tried to do just that, and his opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks, won 3-2.
Kessel had two goals worthy of a military marksman, but was unsupported by his teammates, who could not best Blackaawks' netminder Cristobal Huet, who made 29 saves.
The Blackhawks dominated the game's first two periods against the team with the second lowest point total in the NHL. Patrick Kane scored three minutes into the game, when the forechecking winger lifted the stick of Luke Schenn. With his newfound possession, Kane fired a wristshot from in front of the right wing post of Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala's net, pinpointing the puck into the upper right corner, over Toskala's flailing glove. Kane's goal came after an icing call against the Maple Leafs, incurred when Matt Stajan dumped the puck just shy of center. The tired Leafs had to stay on the ice and Kane never conceded a line change, even though the Leafs won the subsequent defensive zone faceoff.
Ten minutes later, John Madden and Duncan Keith made the score 2-0. After Madden won an offensive zone faceoff, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook went d-to-d, with Keith taking a shot from the center point. In traffic, Madden slapped his stick down on the puck, barely deflecting Keith's shot with the heel of his stick. Toskala was unable to react to the low shot's change in trajectory, and it beat his left leg-pad before he could close the gate.
The Blackhawks put Dave Bolland on Injured Reserve Thursday, and the Ontarian center won't be back until the Olympics. That means that Bolland's replacement on the second line cannot be just a quick fix - he has to be a player capable of maintaining the Blackhawks' goal of Stanley Cup contention for half of the NHL season.
While by virtue of replacing him, Bolland's replacement will not be as qualified, but the Hawks need a player who can appear as such in big games. Is that second-line center on the Blackhawks roster? The front-office brass and coaching staff intend to find out.
As of now the Blackhawks have three main options to replace Bolland. The cases for each are made below:
SUBJECT A: Andrew Ebbett
Andrew Ebbett might be the best half a million dollars the Blackhawks have spent all year. A waiver wire pickup from the Anaheim Ducks (or as I will call them until the day I die, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim), Ebbett was expected to be a breakout player in Southern California in 2009-2010, but was given the boot when the Ducks signed Saku Koivu. Too small to fill the physical roles the Ducks' third and forth lines exhibit, Ebbett was put on waivers. The Ducks hoped that Ebbett would go unclaimed and they could have him on their ECHL affiliate Bakersfield, or possibly loan him to an AHL team. (The Ducks' have no AHL affiliation this season.) That was a pipe dream. With a paltry contract, wing/center ability and defensive skills, Ebbett was a great catch. The Blackhawks, at the time of claiming Ebbett, were still unsure about Dave Bolland's back. A $$487,000 insurance policy was taken out, in the 5-foot-9 form of the former Michigan Wolverine.
Can Ebbett cut it? At this point, all we know is that Ebbett will get the first chance to impress. Is Ebbett a solution in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Unlikely. But when you play a different team every night, and some are good, some not so good, well, you can afford a bit of talent drop off. In two games thus far playing center in Bolland's absence, Ebbett hasn't stood out. While that's not a positive, it's hardly a negative. Ebbett is a smart hockey player, he is an above average passer, the more comfortable he becomes with his role the better he will play, and the more he wills stick out, in a good way. The first choice might be the correct choice when it comes to replacing Bolland.
SUBJECT B: Kris Versteeg
Kris Versteeg is not a center - he is a winger, and a damn good winger at that. But that's not to say that Versteeg couldn't play center, nor does it mean he would not be a good center. Joel Quenneville experimented early on with Versteeg at center when Bolland went down, that experiment lasted one period. The argument could be made that the sample size was far too small for Versteeg to be eliminated as a viable candidate.
Faceoffs are an important part of a center's skills. 50%+ centers are hard to find, and Versteeg isn't one of those players. Neither is Dave Bolland, and believe it or not, Versteeg had a better faceoff percentage than Bolland last season (124/266 46.6% for Versteeg 522/1177 44.4% for Bolland.) By that same token Troy Brouwer is also a better center than Bolland, but you have to understand what you lost when you try to replace it.
Bolland was a solid defensive forward and could play on the penalty kill. Versteeg is both. Bolland is a plus distributer of the puck; while we don't know if Versteeg can do the same from the center position, he certainly is a nifty passer from the wing position.
All in all, it's hard to discern between Bolland and Versteeg, and that's why the Hawks would be best off with 32 at centerman.
SUBJECT C: Patrick Sharp
The Blackhawks have done it before, they could do it again. Last off-season the Blackhawks traded Robert Lang to the Montreal Canadiens, leaving a gaping hole at the second line center position. That hole was filled by Patrick Sharp, and no that has nothing to do with the sexiest athlete contest Sharp is currently in.
The Hawks saw unprecedented success with Sharp at center. Last season's nine game winning streak? Sharp was at center. He flourished in the role as well. (His FO% was also better than Bolland's, to boot). And mind you, he complained that he would be better suited for the wing, but Sharp has $3.9 million to go home and complain to. If Sharp can do it, so can Versteeg, but why not go with a tactic that is tried and true? If its about winning, Sharp has the best resume of the bunch.
So who do you think is the Blackhawks' best option to replace Bolland? Lend me your thoughts (I could use them...) post a comment or @reply me on twitter, username:dkurtenbach
From Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Mike Russo, in his wrap-up about last night's 3-2 Wild victory over the visiting Dallas Stars.
When things are going south, positive imagery is often a big help.
When Marian Gaborik would slump, he'd watch Gaborik highlights to get his mojo back.
In an attempt to revive the real Martin Havlat, the Wild winger sat alone in front of a television watching some of his goals from last season's career year in Chicago.
Even though he didn't score during Saturday's 3-2 victory over Dallas, Havlat was a much more confident, motivated player. He skated well, shot the puck and schooled defenders.
"It's not the start I wanted, or we wanted as a team. We win together and lose together," said Havlat, who has one goal and six assists in 14 games. "But individually, this is probably the worst start I ever had, so it can only get better. I just have to keep working and sooner or later it'll start coming."
If you recall, in Patrick Kane's rookie year, Denis Savard, at the time head coach of the Blackhawks, forced Kane to sit with him and watch a highlight package of Denis Savard's career apparently as a dual motivational/educational tool meant to re-invigorate Kane's play. Kane sat patiently and politely but even then was inconspicuously rolling his eyes at the inexperienced head coach.
Tuesday November 3, 2009 edition of The Third Man In ~ Radio "Figuratively, Literally B-Scrooging Halloween"
** Remember, TTMI ~ Radio returns LIVE on Thursday night at 10:30pm central for a special Blackhawks Post-Game show immediately following the Hawks-Coyotes game in Glendale, Arizona. In commemoration, we'll be auctioning off the rights to TheThirdManIn.com. We'll be taking your phone calls and emails, all while providing our special brand of "expert" analysis you've come to expect on The Third Man In ~ Radio. And, I'll explain to all why Adrian Dater is an ass clown. Should be a fun show~!
In case you missed it or weren't able to join us live, Thursday night's post-game radio show is available now both here in the player on this site and over at our show page - BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
The Blackhawks managed to lose to a Nashville team who had scored just five goals in four previous home games coming into Thursday's contest, and a Predators' bunch who played the night before in St. Paul, Minnesota. It wasn't pretty and we went over it on the show as well as previewed the Hawks matchup with the Montreal Canadiens tonight at the UC.
We'll be back on Tuesday night in our regular time, 8pm central at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn and we'll also be doing a post-game show next Thursday night at 10:30pm, immediately following the Blackhawks-Coyotes game in Glendale, Arizona. Listen live or call-in and voice your opinion on those and any of our shows by dialing the number listed on the show page during the live broadcast.
As mentioned during this show, Chris Block and "the Superstar" will return this coming Thursday night at 9:30, after the Blackhawks-Predators game in Nashville, for our inaugural Blackhawks Post-Game Show. Breaking down the Hawks/Preds with our special brand of hard-hitting analysis and also looking ahead to Friday night's big match up at United Center between the Blackhawks and Les Habitants~! We'll see how this works out. We'll be taking some listener phone calls and live post-game reactions on the call-in line listed on the show page the night of the show. We hope you can join us for a solid-hour of Blackhawks discussion this Thursday, October 29th, from 9:30 to 10:30 central time.
If you can't be with us live Thursday night, the show will be available as always in the archives at Blog Talk, this web site and also on ITunes.
And we'll return in our regular time slot next Tuesday night at 8pm, hopefully with a guest. At least that's the plan. That guest isn't aware of this plan, so I suppose it's not much of one at this juncture? Well, that's how things run around here at the moment. Enjoy the show.
The Third Man In ~ Radio ~ "The Stalk, Karaoke & No Digits" Tuesday October 20, 2009
What's the scuffle on this week's show?
-- Thoughts and events from the weekend -- Drunk tweeting -- An epic fail in the "hope I don't offend anybody" department -- Picking up married women and large black men -- Arm and arm with 350 pound black man for an hour Friday night singing Karaoke -- The duo - doooo - Isaac Hayes, Huey Lewis and the News and a cover of Brown Sugar~! -- Dancing with married women -- Insulting their husbands on the radio while they listen -- (Chris Block grows increasingly cranky during one part of the email segment and insults more) -- Finding Superman in the United Center parking lot Saturday night -- Co-host Wad gets grief for spending Sweetest day with Block at the UC and sees his wife "weasle" her way into their twosome for Saturday night's loss to the Dallas Stars. -- Block stalks a poor young lass on the "sweetheart day", gets a closer look at her nice "lips" -- Blows his cover, surrenders the entire operation, yet comes across, in his words, as "endearing" -- But does he get the digits? Does pepper spray figure into this story? -- Something good going on? Hawks 2nd-best team in Western Conference -- Hammering fans for booing Cristobal Huet on Saturday night. -- Hammering "Q" for benching Huet vs Khabi and Edmonton -- Hammering "Q" for being "Q" -- Block blows another starting goaltending predicition for Wed's game with the Canucks -- A plug for the sponsors -- Another fouled up scoreboard update -- Yuk Yuk stories -- Web site update, more ranting -- Insulting everybody -- Inner meaning behind last Committed Indian column? -- Would you do Kane for Ilya Kovalchuk? -- Wayne Gretzky (in his prime in today's game) debate with an emailer. -- Comparing 1980's hockey to today -- Sleeping with The Great One -- A plug for HockeeNight.com's 50th PuckCast this coming Sunday night on TalkShoe.com -- All this and much, much more....
Join Chris Block and whomever joins him as co-host next Tuesday night at 8pm at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn to listen live or call in and participate in the show. Or as always you can listen to all the archives both at the BlogTalkRadio TTMI Showpage or on this site both on the front page or in the archives beginning late Tuesday evening following the live show.
I noticed tonight Block has entitiled next week's show "The Mellow Out." This is unusual but does this indicate remorse for calling certain email critics "Fucks" tonight? We shall see (or is it hear? I'm in college. I should know). Good night and Enjoy.
I've signed up to provide a weekly Blackhawks column for the hockey page over at Fadoo.ca, the online home of Toronto sports radio station Fan590's Bob McCown.
You can check out my first article, which since this was a last minute thing is actually my column about me and Patrick Kane from Monday night's Committed Indian, a piece that was pretty well received and evidentally somewhat controversial as well. My next column will go up over the weekend sometime. The version on Fadoo is slightly altered and swept of vulgarities, a Committed Indian staple, and in hindsight reads a bit better. So if you missed Monday's Indian, you can check it out now over at Fadoo.ca.
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