How Sweet It Was, How Swede It Is

Tommie Lee
Jun 12, 2014
3 min read

Before I really even get started, let me state the obvious. As I write this Game 4 is about to start for this year’s Stanley Cup Final…and I usually watch the Cup no matter who’s playing.

But not tonight. It totally sucks when you’re team isn’t playing for the hardware because they lost a Game 7 in the 3rd Round. It causes actual, measurable mental anguish to do so. I watched Game 1 and a bit of Game 2 but that’s been it.

It’s also difficult to watch the Cup Final when it’s more one-sided than a North Korean election. The Rangers look like children out there right now, and the Kings are just a brutal machine on the ice. If LA loses Game 4 tonight it’s probably because they want to skate the Cup at the Staples Center, in front of their own fans (most of whom are still wondering when Kobe will go in).

Okay. Enough about the living and the on life-support. Let’s go back to the recently deceased.

Our Blackhawks had plenty to say in their recent season-wrapping press conference. Here are some of the highlights, from one fan’s perspective:

Lord Stanley Bowman singled out Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw as players who had strong seasons they can both grow on. I agree completely. The Saadfather especially stepped it up down the stretch and in the postseason. Plus, every time Shaw hit the ice…I couldn’t wait to see who he was going to piss off on the other team. There was always someone. And he usually accomplished it with style and panache. And the occasional assist or goal.
Bowman said he’s not looking to make wholesale changes. We all know some changes are coming, and he acknowledged that. Bowman is smart enough to know that the team has been successful and could use a few tweaks to get stronger at the weak places, but doesn’t need to be messed with. We can trust in that family name. The Bowmans know Hockey, and he’s a chip off the old block.
Bowman also said getting Kane and The Captain locked down with new contracts is a priority, and that Leddy and Morin have made great progress. He said Ben Smith was patient and showed us all what we hoped to see from him. Again, I can’t quibble with any of that.
No real timeline has been placed on Teuvo Teravainen, who continues to develop at a nice pace after what Bowman called a “short audition after a long season” in Finland. Bowman also made it sound like we might actually have found our backup in Raanta, who also seems enthusiastic about sticking around.
Kane said he and Toews love it in Chicago, and that the loss to the Kings should make them hungrier for next year. Pretty much everyone on the team echoed that sentiment when they had their turn on the mic, including Handzus. Mighty ‘Zus said he intends to play next season. I believe he’ll be 93 years old.
Finally, Captain Toews said that the team is realistic about how competitive the division and conference are, and that they have improvements to make. Again, as a fan…I agree.

What improvements can we look forward to? Well, step one appears to have already happened with the signing of Swedish forward Dennis Rasmussen. The 23-year-old agreed to a one-year deal this week. He had a busy season in the Swedish Hockey League, racking up 40 points (16 of them goals) in 52 games. He was also a big part of the Bronze Medal-winning Swedish team at the 2014 World Championships, and did the same for Sweden in the 2010 World Juniors.

Plus…let’s be honest…his name looks like a good, sturdy hockey name. It’ll look awesome on a red Blackhawks sweater. And it begs for a cool nickname like “Razz.” You know how important our cool nicknames are to us.

Sigh. I lied about not watching Game 4. The 2-0 lead is on the board already for New York, so I expect LA to score shortly. It’s time to see which Criminal Minds rerun is on tonight, and wish there was more Hockey on the immediate horizon. Is it October yet?

Go Hawks.

– Tommie