I've seen the word "intimidation" used a couple of times as if all the Dallas Blackhawks will be doing is scaring the Kenora Thistles throughout the series. Intimidation is good stuff, and I certainly won't discourage the Thistles from playing scared, but intimidation is a product of pain. I'm not suggesting Toe Blake and Marcel Dionne are going to run away from the fight; I'm saying they're going to get hammered over and over and over again and that this will be the most miserable two weeks of their vertically-challeneged lives. To run away and be scared or to bow up and be motivated is entirely Elmer Lach's decision; I'm merely saying that he'll have lots of time to ponder it while he's picking himself up off the ice. Robinson, Pronger, Lanny, Boivin, Butch, Lemieux and MacLean will bring the lumber and simply wear Kenora out; the elbows and slashes are up to Pepe Lemieux, Hunter, Rat Linseman and Maddog Madden. And watch out for those d-men -- when you're 5'8, every hit's a high hit.
Notes From The Desk of Coach Hitchcock
--No immediate lineup changes for the series.
--Forward lines are going to roll pretty evenly. Expect the 4th line to get 12+ minutes a night and make an impact in all three zones.
--We're going to match Madden's line against Lach's. Madden can go stride-for-stride with Lach and Blake and MacLean's got the testosterone to lean on Toe. McPhee has the smarts to hang with Lafleur but nothing even resembling the speed, something that my two left-side defensemen (Robinson and Pronger) will probably be able to help out with.
--Dionne's line -- if he decides to show up to lead it -- will be matched by Broten, a nice skater with the all-around game to do a servicable job. I don't love the Bellows v Gillies matchup on paper, but I'll take my chances that it won't be goals from Gillies that tilt the series. Bellows' offense should help keep his little island buddy off balance a bit.
--Robinson and Pronger's pairs will get big time; expect both on the ice 25 minutes a night. We will lean on the Boivin-Johansson pair primarily for special teams.
--The scouting report on the Thistles is incomplete, but we think we're looking at a small(ish), skilled 1st d-pair and a pretty generic bottom 4, a very skilled, generally small group of top-6 forwards, and a bottom-6 that are all nice, but nothing we need to gameplan against. We see two goaltenders with marginal-to-poor puck-handling skills which we will try to exploit.
--The Hawks will be playing it close to the vest and will be dumping-and-chasing throughout.
--We don't have the super-skilled playmakers to do a lot of fancy work in the offensive zine, so we aren't even going to try it. The plan is get across the center-line, dump it cross-ice and soft where those goalies can't deal with it and then get on our horses and get the forecheck started. **concussions will happen here** Once we get control of the puck in the offensive zone, it's a jailbreak to the front of the net. Puck goes to the point, where a handful of booming slapshots are waiting. Once we throw it into the chaos, it's up to our forwards to dig for glory.
--In our own end, Bouchard, Pronger and Boivin will be statues in front of our own net, using their size, strength and generally bad tempers to keep interlopers away from Kenny Dryden. The others will be responsible for chasing pucks into the corner and playing the floating role. If that gets to be overwhelming, McPhee, MacLean, Linseman, Berenson, Broten and Madden are all more than willing to pitch in and win a fight in the corner for a loose puck.
--Tony Esposito will be responsible for mixing the Gatorade ('Cool Blue' flavor) and running the stereo in the locker room. In heavy rotation: Dallas bands Pantera, The Old 97's, Drowning Pool and Stevie Ray Vaughn.