Psst. Are we allowed to talk hockey here?
You remember hockey. It’s the other winter sport in Chicago. Been played here for 70 years, not that you would know it if you’ve checked the obituaries lately.
Since when should 5,000 empty seats for the Blackhawks’ Wednesday night playoff opener against the largely unknown Calgary Flames constitute the death knell for a game that’s still quite healthy, thank you? But, that’s the way it usually is with hockey. Love it or bash it. Or, when in doubt, bury it.
Strangely, however, the United Center didn’t seem like a graveyard Friday night for Game 2 of this Stanley Cup round. The place wasn’t full, but all those people who had no place else to go showed up in good throat, and if it wasn’t a work of art, the game was serviceable. The Hawks beat Calgary 3-0 to take a 2-0 lead in this tournament, which means they’re infinitely better off than last year, when they dropped both home games against the Maple Leafs.
The Hawks were shipped off to Toronto in body bags, but you remember what happened. On second thought, maybe you don’t. After all, hockey doesn’t matter in this city. You know the routine. There are only 20,000 hockey fans in Chicago. This is a recorded announcement. The United Center is so crowded for hockey, Yogi, nobody goes there anymore.
Well, here’s the truth. The Hawks are being compared with the Bulls, and that’s a flagrant foul. The Bulls are enjoying a season for the ages, and they’ve got the most electric athlete on the planet in Michael Jordan.
The Bulls transcend sport. They’re the lead story on the 10 o’clock news, ahead of the real world. The Hawks as co-tenants of the United Center is like sharing a penthouse with a rock group. When room service arrives, you have to signal for a fair catch and hope you get a bone.
But even if nobody cares, you have to play, and the Hawks did Friday night. The Flames had a bit more jump than in Game 1, and they dressed eight defensemen. It wasn’t end-to-end action, but efficiency counts.
Gary Suter scored late in the first-period powerplay against Rick (Luciano) Tabaracci, the new Flames netminder who stoned Joe Murphy early. Then it got real noisy when Jeremy Roenick and Jeff Shantz clicked in the middle period.
The Flames could have made matters more interesting, but two of their best chances belonged to Sandy McCarthy, not famous for soft hands. Pierre Page, Calgary’s angry coach, issued a post-game gag order for his players, preventing us from asking McCarthy why he was even on the power play.
Page is annoyed that Dollar Bill Wirtz, the Hawks’ owner, blasted referees recently without reprisal from the NHL. This is no time for Page to appoint himself acting commissioner, but at least Wirtz can rest easily. His power base isn’t eroded, after all, and we’ll let you know if and when McCarthy hits the net in this series.
Then again, in time you might want to see for yourself. You need radar to find the Hawks on TV, which is wrong. And this franchise didn’t write the manual on Marketing 101. But the Hawks are halfway to advancing against a more identifiable foe, with mighty Detroit possibly on the horizon.
The best thing the Hawks can do is polish off the Calgarys with a minimum degree of difficulty. A game not played in April is energy saved for May. The Flames don’t match up with the Hawks, but it’s early.
Of course, it’s also only hockey. The Bulls are kings, the Cubs are in first place, and the Bears are about to draft for Super Bowl XXXI.
So, the Hawks just sit there, like brown shoes with a tuxedo, like ham sandwiches at a banquet. But Ed Belfour is picking up where he left off last spring–was there ever any doubt who’s the No. 1 goalie here?–and if the Hawks keep winning, then all those people who supposedly don’t care about hockey in Chicago could have a real problem.
Tickets.