Feb 01, 2012; Vancouver, B.C., CANADA; Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp (10) during the second period against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena. The Vancouver Canucks won 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

The EA Sports NHL14 Sweet 16 has been announced and Patrick Sharp is still in the running for the winning the cover.  In true Chicago fashion everyone should vote early and often so Sharp can continue to win matches and get on the NHL 14 cover. Click here to cast your ballot for Sharp.  Sharp’s Sweet 16 opponent is Columbus Blue Jacket Sergei Bobrovsky.  Here is the list of all the NHL players still in the running for the NHL 14 cover.

-Pavel Datsyuk vs Mike Fisher

-P.K. Subban vs Joffrey Lupul

-James van Riemsdyk vs Tyler Seguin

-Martin Brodeur vs Anze Kopitar

-Matt Duchene vs Taylor Hall

-Wayne Simmonds vs Evgeni Malkin

-John Tavares vs Evander Kane

What do you think of the EA NHL14 cover vote? Who would you be voting for if Patrick Sharp wasn’t still in the competition?

Vote Now  for Sharp! Don’t Wait!

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Feb 10, 2012; San Jose, CA, USA; Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville talks to his team during a time out against the San Jose Sharks during the third period at HP Pavilion. San Jose defeated Chicago 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Jason O. Watson-USA TODAY Sports

The Blackhawks are home Monday night against the Dallas Stars who are a possible first round matchup team.  The Stars traded their stars away and then strangely have played better winning 5 games in a row.  The Stars are in a fight for the #8 spot in the West.  The last time we saw the Stars the scoreboard read 8-1 in favor of the Blackhawks.  Corey Crawford pitched a shut out Sunday in St. Louis which only fueled the fire of the dreaded “goalie controversy”.

After the Blackhawks play Dallas they get three days off.  After their second longest rest period of the shortened season, the Hawks will finish the season with 6 games in 9 days.  The best part of clinching early is though these games have a playoff feel there isn’t the stress of losing and missing out on the playoffs like the ending of the past two season have felt.

Friday night brings the Predators and Bring your own pillow to the U.C. night.  The Hawks have shut out the Predators twice and usually bring a very boring defensive style to the rink. Pekka Rinne has played well as of late but the Hawks seemed to have solved him this year although he’s kept games a lot closer than they could have been.  The Predators will have to almost win out from this point forward to clinch a playoff spot so they should show signs of desperation at the United Center.

Another team circling the #8 spot in the West comes to the United Center in the way of the Phoenix Coyotes.  The Coyotes have picked up points in 8 out of their last 10 but lost a critical game against the Calgary Flames last week.  The Coyotes have not been very good away from their desert home going 5-9-6 on the road. Mike Smith has not stood on his head as much as he did last season but still leads the team in wins with 13 but his goals against is 2.60.  This will be the second straight night a desperate team wanting to make the playoffs visits the United Center.

The biggest thing for the Hawks during the last seven games is remaining healthy for the playoffs.  One thing to look for is if Drew LeBlanc will get on the ice this week after Joel Quenneville said there was a chance he would play before the end of the season.  Patrick Sharp didn’t play Sunday and is doubtful for Monday, I’m all for Sharp sitting out the rest of the season and returning for Game 1 of the playoffs if that’s what it takes for a healthy playoffs for Sharp.

What is your prediction for the Hawks this week?

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March 3, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya (27) listens to center Patrick Sharp (10) during the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

The news was just announced that Patrick Sharp will play tonight against the Minnesota Wild.

Patrick Sharp will play for #Blackhawks tonight vs. Wild.

— Chris Kuc (@ChrisKuc) April 9, 2013

 It was encouraging that Sharp made the trip to the Twins Cities, and now he returns to the lineup for the first time since March 6th when he injured his shoulder against the Colorado Avalanche.

#Blackhawks‘ Patrick Sharp: “Enough’s enough. I’m excited to be back.”

— Chris Kuc (@ChrisKuc) April 9, 2013

Sharp will enter the game still in 8th place in points on the Blackhawks roster with 18 (5 goals 13 assists) even though he has missed an entire month of action.  Having a healthy Sharp will be a huge deal for the Blackhawks on their march to the playoffs! Sharp still hasn’t had a hot goal streak so anything is possible in the next 3 weeks.

For the first time since opening day the Hawks are pretty much completely healthy, but being healthy for the post-season is a bigger deal and the great start has given the Hawks the time to get everyone healthy without rushing anyone back to the ice!

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January 6, 2012; Philadelphia, PA USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Jimmy Hayes (39) celebrates his goal against the Philadelphia Flyers during the first period of the game at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago Blackhawks’ star winger, Patrick Sharp suffered an apparent shoulder injury after a hit into the boards coutrtesy of Colorado Avalanche defenseman, Ryan O’byrne.  Sharp is expected to miss the next 3-4 weeks of the season, and to fill his spot on the roster, and in the lineup, the Blackhawks have called-up forward Jimmy Hayes from their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.  

Hayes isn’t the same type of player that Patrick Sharp is, so if you’re expecting him to come to Chicago to try to be a stand-in for Sharp, you’re mistaken. Hayes will try to play his role, which is that of a big-bodied power-forward, as opposed to the more finesse style of Patrick Sharp’s sniper mentality.  Hayes stands a very tall, 6-6 and weighs 221lbs.  Don’t assume that Hayes is oafish due to his advanced size.  Hayes’ posseses the skills and tools to be a top-6 forward, which is what he will be, as he will be playing on the second line alongside Dave Bolland and Patrick Kane.

While in Rockford, this season, Hayes has put up 22 goals and 17 assists, through 58 games.  Hopefully he can continue to be a uniquely skilled/sized player at the NHL level.  This won’t be his first go-around in the NHL, as he appeared in 31 games for the Blackhawks last season.  So, the initial jitters should be out of the way.  It will be interesting to see if he will be the recipient of the same good fortune through bad luck, much like Brandon Saad was when Daniel Carcillo was injured, earlier this season.

Best of luck to the Hawks and Jimmy!

Feb 25, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell (29) shoots the puck against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Happy 27th Birthday to Bryan Bickell,

Bickell has made a very big impact this season after a sophomore slump season last year. After scoring 17 goals in his rookie season, Bickell only scored 9 goals last year in 71 games with a -3 rating. Bickell after finding himself riding the pine found some life to his game in the playoffs and it has carried over this season, in only 25 games Bickell has 6 goals and 9 assists which is good news for Bickell’s agent since Bickell is in the last year of his contract.

Bickell is by far the greatest value on the roster this year, and the Hawks are going to need his good play the rest of the season. Bickell’s play earned him a shot at the 2nd line spot for the injured Patrick Sharp. Bickell looked lost at times but still found a way to put a puck in the net during last night’s 6-2 loss. Bickell also is the team leader in hits which was the biggest element of his game that was missing last season.

Happy Birthday and Keep hitting and scoring it’s the fact that all the Hawks on the roster play their role that they have started out so hot this year.

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Feb 22, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) shoots the puck against the San Jose Sharks during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Bad news on the injury front when Coach Quenneville announced that Patrick Sharp will be out three to four weeks with a  shoulder injury.  The only good news about the injury is that it doesn’t need surgery to repair the shoulder.  Sharp was injured when he got checked into the boards in the third period of the Avalanche game Wednesday night.

I assumed that Viktor Stalberg would slide up to fill Sharp’s skates on the second line with Dave Bolland and Patrick Kane, but Coach Q had other ideas and said that Bryan Bickell will get first shot at the spot.

The Hawks only roster move was to call Brandon Bollig back up from Rockford.

What do you think? Will Bickell be able to fill in for Sharp, and will it hurt the third line chemistry?  The Hawks depth has been shown off already during the first half of the season, but now it will be set for a real test without one of its top snipers for nearly a month!

Get Well soon Sharpie we will need you ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs!

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Mar 5, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) shoots the puck against the Minnesota Wild during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Sharp was injured in the third period last night and will not travel to Colorado for Friday’s rematch with the Colorado Avalanche.  Of all the Hawks with injury questions it looks like Sharp is hurt the worst.  Twitter is abuzz with how long  injury it is but speculation has Sharp’s upper body injury as a shoulder separation and to look for him to be out from 2-4 weeks.  Joel Quenneville in his post game remarks stated that although he expected Sharp to lose time, he didn’t think it looked like a season-ending injury.

Marian Hossa is making the flight to Denver and is expected to play at the Pepsi Center barring any set-backs between now and then.  It is still unclear why he didn’t make it to the bench on Wednesday night after taking the pre-game skate.

Paul Stastny will not be disciplined for his elbow to the head of Andrew Shaw!! Shaw will be on the flight to the Rockies and will more than likely be a game-time decision.  What do you think? Did Stastny deserve at least a hearing with the NHL today?

Lastly, Michael Frolik will not be on the team flight but will be joining the team Friday in Denver.  I’m not a Dr. or have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately or ever so I can’t tell you if he’s better but I suspect that if he is making the flight the flu has to at least be going away.

Three long unheard of days off await the Hawks after Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers let’s hope we can reach that milestone in the schedule without anymore injuries!

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Mar 1, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook (7) is congratulated by his teammates for scoring a goal for scoring the game winning goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during overtime at the United Center. The Blackhawks beat the Blue Jackets 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” Anonymous 

Back in the 1960’s there was a TV series called Mission Impossible. Not the Tom Cruise movies, although these were loosely based on the original TV series that took us on a journey every week with the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) team.

The IMF team faced different villains and different obstacles every week while trying to accomplish their mission. The IMF team was comprised of different operatives that possessed different skill sets that were needed to achieve success on their missions.

Although I don’t think it was ever revealed who the IMF really worked for it was implied it was some branch of the US government. The missions were most definitely black ops requiring the most skilled technicians.

Sounds a little familiar to Chicago Blackhawk fans doesn’t it? Every game that the Blackhawks play presents new challenges and obstacles to be overcome by the team. Each game you have no idea what particular set of skills will be needed or employed or what situation will arise to be overcome.  You never know whose shoulders the brunt of the mission will fall on. There is a different hero each time.

No one can dispute that this run that the Blackhawks are on is remarkable and probably they themselves did not think that what they are achieving would be possible. Then again it really isn’t all that surprising due to several factors.

Stan Bowman has assembled a team built around a core that already knows that the impossible is achievable and what it takes to succeed. Credit him with keeping the right members in the core and obtaining the right pieces to complement them.

Joel Quenneville has made adjustments this year and has righted some of the problems of the past two seasons. There is no question this year the team is more focused on the defense and playing as a team and supporting one another on ice. It is under Coach Q’s and his coaching teams’ constant reminder to the team of the mission at hand and keeping the team focused.

Then there is the almost flawless execution by the team on a game in and game out basis. Each team member has their specialty and skill sets that they know when to employ and which skills will work against which opponents.

Whether it is Jonathan Toews power rushes to the goal crease, Patrick Kane stickhandling wizardry that mesmerizes the opponent, Patrick Sharp’s snipping shots, Marian Hossa’s power moves or the teams defense which is operating with special forces like tactical precision the teams skill sets are evident. Every member of this team has specials skills which are too many to list.

The one common element each member has regardless of their skills is their ability to not only achieve the impossible, but to make it look fun and sometimes a little too easy.

Like everything, this will end sometime but until then each game is like a new exciting mission with an opponent looking to stop this team in an unknown script but with the same results – points to the Blackhawks and closer to achieving their goal.

Until the next game “Your mission, Jonny and team, should you decide to accept it, is…  Good luck, Jonny.” – 1

1 Intro used at the beginning of every Mission impossible show. Mission Impossible ran from 1966-1973 and was created by Bruce Gellar.

Feb 25, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) makes a pass against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

February was a pretty exciting month for the Chicago Blackhawks.  The Hawks broke the record for consecutive games to start the season without a regulation loss a record which continues to grow with each victory.

A couple of milestones went overlooked during the month both adding to Patrick Sharp’s resume.  On February 7 against the Phoenix Coyotes Sharp collected 3 assists which gave him 200 for his career.  For a guy known as a sniper Sharp still can pass the puck just as good as anyone else which is evident with him currently sitting 2nd on the team in assists with 11 only 3 assists behind current team leader Patrick Kane.

The second milestone for Sharp happened Monday night when Sharp assisted on Marian Hossa‘s overtime game winner for the 3-2 winner.  The assist gave Sharp 400 points for his career which puts him at 585th on the all-time points leader list.

Their is one milestone that Sharp wasn’t able to get into the month of February, but he should be able to squeeze into March.  Sharp is only 3 goals away from 200 goals for his career.  One thing missing from the Hawks great start has been a hot goal scoring streak from Sharp.  The Hawks have been extremely balanced this season and the record reflects that, but Sharp will be get hot history has proven that, and the Hawks will be the beneficiary.

Congrats on the two Milestone Sharpie and the one to come!!

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Mar 25, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) moves the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Hal Gill (75) during the first period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Sharp is coming off his second best season in his NHL career. His play last year was one of a dependable veteran, with a strong shot of youth (his hat-trick on November 25th against the Anaheim Ducks comes to mind.) At 31 years of age, he is entering into the prime of his career. He has exhibited quality leadership as an assistant Captain, especially in the absence of Jonathan Toews late last year.  At 6′ 1″, 199 lb, he is not easy to knock around, and that comes in very handy during the scrums in the corners and in front of the net. With arguably the best vision on the ‘Hawks, he has often shown the peace of mind to set up in the offensive zone when his window on the rush is closing.

What Coach Q and the rest of the Blackhawks are looking for in Sharpie is for his consistency over the past 2 years to continue.  In his 2011-2012 campaign, he amassed 69 points and 38 PIMs in 74 games. The year before that, in the same amount of games, he had 71 points, and the same penalty minutes. His positional play is a thing of beauty, and only something that comes with the amount of NHL experience that he has. Not once last year was I screaming at my TV about Sharp being out of place. He has a very cool head, and as long as Jiri Hudler doesn’t come around with another nasty slash, I would expect Sharp to be on the ice every game this season.

However, he will need to make a bigger impact in the playoffs this year. Besides his deflection goal in Game 2 of the Quarterfinal series against Phoenix, he did not show up at all in the 6-game series, which is unacceptable. If we want to see Blackhawks hockey in mid-June, we will need production from him.

With that being said, I’m putting his over/under at 19 goals, and 22 assists. Provided he stays healthy, I don’t think this should be a problem for him.

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