Brian Woodyard's Final Thoughts

Fan Commentary, by Brian Woodyard
April 7, 2008

I am new to this site and with that in mind I will try not to offend but I need to get some things off of my chest.

I must say that after the promising season that the Hawks have had, I am certainly a re-invigorated fan. I haven't watched or even kept track of a full NHL season since before the lockout. This year I actually watched FULL games, not just highlights on ESPN. To put it in perspective, at the beginning of the season, I had no idea what had happened to Pat Foley! I had to search the NHL website archives to find out and boy was I fuming mad.

Anyway, for the most part, I was pretty impressed with what I saw from a few of the younger players and a couple of the older ones, too. I was also a bit disappointed with a couple as well. Namely, Marty Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin. I did see Havlat's performance when he came off the injured list, but the length of his health left much to be desired. As for the Bulin Wall, although he showed flashes of his former Stanley Cup winning self, he was inconsistent and I think lacked focus at points throughout the season. This is not to say that I think Patrick Lalime is the answer. Don't get me wrong, Lalime played very well this year and is probably one of the best back-up netminders in the NHL, but I doubt that they can bring Lord Stanley Cup to Chicago with Patrick Lalime in net for the duration.

As for the kids, I think, and sincerely hope, that we have a winning combo in Patrick Kane and Jonothan Toews for many years to come. And I don't think enough can be said about the way Dustin Byfuglien(I had to check out the team site for the correct spelling) has stepped up his game this year. He is not only a talented player, but he is a great physical presence on the ice and has so much energy. Cam Barker, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith and Jason Williams were a lot of fun to watch and huge congratulations to D.K. for making the all star game!

If you are wondering what we will do for leadership and experience if Martin Havlat leaves, you need to look no further than Patrick Sharp and Robert Lang. They may as well be the on-ice leadership with Havlat gone most of the year anyway.

So these are my opinions and I hope I didn't make too many people mad, seeing as how this is my first post. Take care and ejoy another Chicago Cubs baseball season!!

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