At last, the final stop of a 13-day, six-city trip. And it has been a successful trek for the Blackhawks not because of their superstars, but because of the role players such as James Black, Jeff Shantz and Steve Dubinsky.
They don’t come close to denting the top of the Hawks’ payroll, but they certainly have given the club a huge lift as it heads into Saturday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators 2-1-2 on their trip.
“Those guys know their roles obviously are not what Alex (Zhamnov), Krivo (Sergei Krivokrasov), (Eric) Daze and (Tony) Amonte’s are, but they take pride in helping the team,” coach Craig Hartsburg said.
And help they have. Shantz has two goals and five assists on the trip; Black has three goals and an assist; Dubinsky has three assists, including one on the game-winner in Vancouver, and he nearly scored the winner himself Thursday against Calgary.
“They check, cause turnovers,” Hartsburg said. “Those guys are as important to the hockey team as the top-end players.”
One of the top-end players, Gary Suter, has been playing like one. His goal in Thursday’s 2-2 tie at Calgary gave him three goals and three assists on the trip. He was quick to credit Black for his short-handed tally Thursday.
Black faked a slap shot (“I heard Tony (Amonte) on the bench yelling for me to shoot it,” he said), then slipped a sweet pass to Suter (“He was yelling for it all the way,” said Black), who hit the open net.
Theo who? The furor in Canada this week has been the buildup to Saturday’s announcement before the Hawks-Senators game of its hockey team for the Olympics. When asked his opinion of Theo Fleury’s chances of making the team, the Hawks’ Chris Chelios said: “I am not commenting on Theo Fleury. When I’m done with my career, I’ll comment on Theo Fleury.”
Another Oly hopeful: The Russian team has to name four more players to its squad by Monday, and there’s a good chance Krivokrasov might be one of them. He’s the Hawks’ second-leading scorer with eight goals and seven assists.
“Why not?” said Alex Zhamnov, already on the Russian team. “He’s playing well. I think he has a good chance to make the team. I hope he makes it.”
“It would be a dream to make the Olympic team,” Krivokrasov said. “I think I’ll make it. I play hard every game.”
Final-minute blues: Since goalie Jeff Hackett returned from a sprained ankle Nov. 10, the Hawks have been involved in five overtime games, including the last three. They’re 1-0-4 in those games, but they easily could have been 4-0-1. They got tied up in three of the games in the final 56 seconds, :08 and 1:20.
“I hope it doesn’t cost us (later in the season),” Hackett said. “It’s intensity, focus, preparation. There’s no excuse at all.”
“A lot of times this year we’ve been in real tight games where we haven’t been able to get the killer goal to put the other team down,” Suter said. “That’s what happened (Thursday). If we could have gotten the second goal to make it 2-0, that’s a huge goal.”
