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BREAKING NEWS – TRUMP TO CANCEL ELECTIONSDenise Williamson July 30, 2020 at 7:10 pm

Uncommon Sense

BREAKING NEWS – TRUMP TO CANCEL ELECTIONS

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BREAKING NEWS – TRUMP TO CANCEL ELECTIONSDenise Williamson July 30, 2020 at 7:10 pm Read More »

Game Post 7/30Sean Hollandon July 30, 2020 at 8:37 pm

Cubs Den

Game Post 7/30

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For Kamala Harris Her Time Will Likely Soon ArrivePaul M. Bankson July 30, 2020 at 11:09 pm

The Patriotic Dissenter

For Kamala Harris Her Time Will Likely Soon Arrive

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For Kamala Harris Her Time Will Likely Soon ArrivePaul M. Bankson July 30, 2020 at 11:09 pm Read More »

Flashback: David Byrne Live in Chicago, IL on June 17, 2004Bare1000on July 30, 2020 at 11:45 pm

Eye Tunes

Flashback: David Byrne Live in Chicago, IL on June 17, 2004

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Flashback: David Byrne Live in Chicago, IL on June 17, 2004Bare1000on July 30, 2020 at 11:45 pm Read More »

G Herbo uses his own journey toward healing to help Black youth treat their traumaAaron Allenon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am

G Herbo is launching a mental health initiative called "Swervin' Through Stress." - COURTESY THE ARTIST

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and Herbert Wright III–better known as rapper G Herbo–has a lot on his mind.

In February, Herb released his latest album, PTSD, which explores the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on his upbringing in Chicago. He was diagnosed with PTSD almost two years ago, and since then he’s become an outspoken advocate for accessible mental health resources, specifically in underserved Black communities.

Today Herb announced the launch of a multifaceted initiative called “Swervin’ Through Stress: Tools to Help Black Youth Navigate Mental Wellness.” It’s designed to provide therapeutic resources for young adults who have experienced trauma, and to raise public awareness about mental health issues. To get the initiative off the ground, Herb’s label, Machine Entertainment Group, has partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, music-streaming platform Audiomack, and Massachusetts-based InnoPsych, which works to connect POC with therapists of color.

“Swervin’ Through Stress is a project I put together to put 150 kids through therapy,” Herb says. “At their age, you never know how critical it can be to have someone to talk to–to have someone help you better yourself and your situation.”

Herb is offering free 12-week therapy sessions to Black youth ages 18 through 25, partially funded by proceeds from a T-shirt collaboration with local designer Don C, owner of Chicago streetwear staple RSVP Gallery (applications will be accepted beginning in September at swervinthroughstress.com). Working with NAMI, Herb’s team has also created a hotline for anyone who needs to talk to a professional: right now it’s operating Monday through Friday from 9 AM till 5 PM CST at 844-457-PTSD (7873), and emergency help is available 24/7 by texting NAMI to 741741.

Additionally, on Wednesday, July 29, Herb participated in a livestreamed panel on Twitch with fellow rap stars: City Girls, Saweetie, Wale, and NLE Choppa. Moderated by psychiatrist Jessica Clemons, it aimed to help destigmatize therapy for Black youth and encourage open dialogue about mental health.

In many ways, Herb’s crusade for emotional and mental wellness is uncharted territory in hip-hop. The genre is built upon machismo and toughness, and that’s especially true for artists known as gangster rappers–artists like Herb, whose lyrics largely consist of vivid depictions of life growing up in one of Chicago’s infamous red zones.

Lately, though, Herb has tapped into a new level of emotional honesty, spurred by the personal growth made possible through therapy. “Everything I do comes from my life experience,” he says. “I understood at an early age that even though my story is significant in its own way, other people could relate to it. But I was never motivated to be a voice [on PTSD] or a key focal point until I recognized I actually became a product of it. That was a direct result of being in the streets, losing people close to me.”

The fight to raise awareness about the effects of trauma on young Black people hits very close to home for Herb. Growing up in the South Shore neighborhood, in a disinvested area of the city commonly known as “Terror Town,” Herb was surrounded by drug addiction, violence, and the daily trauma of living in poverty. Herb says he witnessed his first murder when he was eight or nine years old, and even though his mother was there when it happened, he never really spoke with her about it–or with anyone else.

By his mid-teens, Herb had lost several friends and associates to gun violence in his neighborhood–premature death had become normal, even expected. In the ninth track on PTSD, “Gangbangin,” Herb raps, “I got a story to tell you, a memory vivid with niggas that died / I got so immune that I was confused and ain’t know if not I should cry.”

Feeling paralyzed by trauma in a world where everyone he knew was going through similar daily struggles and facing the same mental battles, Herb felt his only option was to suppress his emotions and adapt. “I feel like I really became a product of my environment,” he says. “I grew immune to it.”

The emotional stress resulting from this normalization of daily shoot-outs and near-death experiences heavily impacted the choices he made throughout his adolescence. Looking back, Herb attributes a lot of his early decision-making to the PTSD from which he silently suffered.

“Trust me, with PTSD, you make certain decisions based upon the way you feel and how you react to certain situations,” he says. “I couldn’t finish school because I had PTSD. I didn’t know I had PTSD, but I know I couldn’t graduate high school because I was in fear of somebody always trying to do something to me, trying to kill me. I was in fear of my life all the time, so I had to carry guns.”

Herb believes that life all comes down to the decisions you make as an individual, and his trauma-led choices pushed him further into the streets.

“I wanted to play basketball, I wanted to go D1. I wanted to go to school,” he says. “But I was afraid that someone might try to kill me while traveling there. So I ditched. Sometimes I would go to jail when I should’ve been in school. Sometimes I got shot at when I should’ve been in school.”

On the cover of PTSD, Herb holds a bleeding, bullet-riddled American flag, with faces of deceased friends and associates replacing the 50 stars. A common theme in his music is the sense of brotherhood he built with his neighborhood crew as they took losses and learned to survive the harsh east-side streets together, without older figures to protect or advise them. Without real mentorship or leadership structures in the community, they were forced to make adult decisions on their own. They operated on survival instinct, and coped with the massive amounts of trauma affecting them the best ways they knew how.

For Herb, coping meant turning to the most accessible and most socially acceptable method to escape his reality.

“I started to self-medicate and do drugs like crazy,” he says. “I was addicted to lean, I was addicted to Percocets, oxycodone pills . . . all these heavy substances at 15 years old. And it took a real big toll on me.”

His drug addiction took such a toll, in fact, that Herb eventually visited a Phoenix detox facility and participated in a 30-day retreat to get clean. After coming home from his first visit, he relapsed and had to complete a second stay.

Herb’s early music thoroughly documents the trauma he endured in the streets and his heavy drug use, but he says no one ever presented therapy or any type of professional help to him as an option. Today he feels that he would’ve been much better off if he’d been directed toward help earlier, or better yet, if youth in neighborhoods like his had regular access to those types of resources in the first place.

“You’d be surprised to see how many kids have absolutely no one to open up to to get insight on life,” he says. “And I feel like that’s unfair. So many kids have that and take it for granted. If I had someone to talk to at 14, 15, I would’ve made a lot better decisions for myself.”

Herb reached a turning point in his journey when he was arrested in February 2018 on a gun charge (along with two others) after being pulled over in the South Loop. Herb’s lawyer, while working on his defense, suggested that his client see a therapist to demonstrate his sincerity to the court–and to help him work through the trauma that led him to feel like he had to carry guns in the first place.

At first Herb thought the idea of venting to a stranger was ridiculous. He describes his therapist as a white woman in her 30s who had no familiarity with the world where Herb had learned to survive. But he says this cultural gap turned out to be useful, because it forced him to open up more candidly to better illustrate his point of view and allow her to understand the baggage he carries.

He remembers his first session as especially cathartic, and frequently mentions that he cracked his ID in half from anxiously fidgeting with it while venting.

“She was just listening that first therapy session. Honestly, she was psyched out by a lot of the stuff I was telling her,” Herb explains. “That’s why I ended up breaking my ID, just telling her so much stuff. You know it hits home talking about losing people who close to you.”

One trip turned to five, and five eventually turned into regular visits. As Herb began developing trust with his therapist, he shifted from recalling difficult memories to really analyzing how those experiences shaped the person he has become–and how they continue to affect the ways he navigates the relationships that mean the most to him.

“I would say 80 percent of my therapy sessions were about my son and being a long-distance father, living in another state as my son, controversies with me being an artist, stuff that I’ve been through throughout my journey,” he says. “Being an early father, making mistakes as an early father and trying to correct that.”

Herb insists that pinpointing harmful behaviors and toxic traits while reflecting on life through the eyes of a trusted, unbiased person has allowed him to work through his past deliberately, instead of simply trying to get high enough to avoid it. “Therapy helped because it was cool to get opinions and insight from someone who didn’t see life from the perspective that I saw it,” he says. “I’ve been through a lot at an early age, and we get desensitized by it. But I feel like therapy helped me in a way that made me able to help myself.”

As Herb continues to find solutions in his battles with his demons, he’s also been thinking a lot about creating solutions for kids who are growing up like he did and face similar poverty-related traumas.

“PTSD is not just related to having experienced violence–it’s a stress disorder,” he says. “It’s about reliving certain moments. People don’t come back from epidemics and recessions, when they’re not able to provide for their families for months and months. All that goes right back to PTSD.”

In 2018, Herb and his partners, including Joseph “JB” Bowden and Mikkey Halsted at Machine Entertainment Group, bought shuttered south-side school Anthony Overton Elementary to rehab and repurpose it as a multimedia lab and tech incubator, to provide sorely needed safe recreational spaces for inner-city kids. But Herb knows that the material resource gap is only half the battle. He considers individual healing and wellness resources to be just as important.


“Coming from where we come from, we don’t have nobody to open up to. We don’t have nobody to tell us that this stuff isn’t normal,” Herb says. “That’s why I’m doing this project, giving kids therapy. And it works hand in hand, because we have a facility to be able to put our resources back into the community, to give the kids a safe haven, and the opportunity to do things like Swervin’ Through Stress, to be able to do things like giveaways, have block parties, and give back to the community in any way possible. It’s a blessing, and I’m grateful to be a part of this. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”

Herb is determined to make these 150 kids just the beginning of his therapy program. He says the next goal will be 500 kids, and he hopes to keep expanding from there.

Are Herb’s childhood friends who came up in the streets with him following his lead and seeking professional help? He says they’re aware that he goes to therapy and that it has probably crossed their minds, but people have to want it for themselves–he doesn’t want to impose his life choices on others. He says everyone should try it at some point, though, because we all have repressed feelings to work through.

“I can’t tell you how your sessions would go, but I would recommend everybody to go through the process,” Herb says. “A lot of times, people don’t understand or realize it, but you hurt the people closest to you while suffering from this mental illness, because you think it’s normal and you try to react where you don’t let it affect you. But it’s OK to be emotional, it’s OK to be vulnerable. So you can just let it out as much as possible.” v

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G Herbo uses his own journey toward healing to help Black youth treat their traumaAaron Allenon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Fifty years ago, Trilogy brought the west coast’s countrified rock sound to ChicagoSteve Krakowon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am

sh_trilogy_web.jpg

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

These days Skip Griparis lives in Bolingbrook and is best known as a musical comedian–his highest-profile gig has probably been playing opposite Bob Uecker as a color commentator in the 1989 baseball comedy Major League and its 1994 sequel. But in 1970 he put out an album with a great band called Trilogy, and it deserves more ears.

Griparis was born in Joliet in 1948, and he grew up hearing his mother play classical music on an upright piano in their home. She was giving him lessons by the time he was five, and soon he started getting into early rock ‘n’ roll like Del Shannon, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley–the first single he bought was “Hound Dog”–as well as surf rock like the Ventures and R&B like Sam Cooke.

Griparis started on saxophone at age 13, and in 1963 he bought his first electric guitar–a “peppermint twist” Gretsch Corvette–from his uncle’s shop in Villa Park. Within the year he’d started his first band, the Aristocats, and he went on to play in the Telstars, State Prism, and the Boyz (though not the one that featured a young Rick Nielsen or the one that became well-loved local biker band the Boyzz).

The Boyz had evolved from the Jaguars, and included guitarist and singer Bob Wilson from that group; Griparis also knew guitarist and keyboardist Kevin “Mack” McCann from another local band called the Knights. Griparis met with Wilson and McCann in his basement to discuss forming a Joliet “supergroup,” and they named themselves the Crystal Tower. The band became a five-piece, though Bernie Pershey (drums, tabla) and Jim Branshaw (bass) functioned more like sidemen. The Crystal Tower played originals alongside covers by heroes such as Buffalo Springfield, Cream, and the Association, and they gigged all over the midwest–they opened for the Byrds at Chicago’s International Amphitheatre, for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in Indiana, and for Buddy Rich at the Young Adults Club in Frankfort, Illinois.

Not all their shows were so glamorous, though. “The Crystal Tower played a frat party in the basement of a Chicago Greek church,” Griparis remembers. “In the middle of a set, the house lights turn off, and there’s pandemonium while an old Greek lady yells, ‘Open dee light, open dee light!’ When the lights come back on, we can see that the pie-eating contest in front of us had become a pie-throwing melee, with pie covering all of us, our guitars, and our amps. This had obviously been planned by the frat boys. Disgusted, we packed up and left.”

The Crystal Tower secured management in the form of famed Mercury Records exec Robin McBride, who got them a weeklong gig at the Bitter End in New York City, supporting the legendary Dion DiMucci. But it didn’t turn out to be much of a stepping stone. “Dion was awesome, but we were paid $300 total, out of which we had to pay our hotel (we all stayed in one room) and travel,” Griparis says. “Plus some of our equipment got stolen from the basement of the club. Woo-hoo! We’re big-time now!”

In 1968, McBride also arranged for the Crystal Tower to record six songs in the Chicago studio of jingle producer Dick Marx (father of late-80s pop star Richard Marx). Nothing ever became of those tapes, but Griparis suspects other people managed to hear them somehow. “Two years later, Chicago releases ‘Make Me Smile,’ which seems to borrow heavily from my ‘Lost Ellen’ from the Crystal Tower sessions,” he says. “Coincidence?”

In late 1969 (or possibly early 1970) the Crystal Tower dissolved and regrouped as Trilogy, with Thom Richards replacing Branshaw on bass. They promptly recorded an album at RCA Studios in Chicago, adding acoustic tracks laid down at Ter-Mar Studios. Engineer Brian Christian and producer Pat McBride (from the New Colony Six) mixed it at RCA late at night, and Griparis was the only member who stuck around for that step. “Bob and Mack had taken off with two pretty girls,” he says. “I’m amazed that the mix was decent, given how exhausted we were.”

The sole Trilogy album, I’m Beginning to Feel It, came out in 1970, and it’s an excellent mix of harmonious and heady folk rock (“Three Blind Minds,” “The Royal Shut”) and heavy countrified rock (“I’m Beginning to Feel It,” “Thought #2 / Removing Myself”). It sounds a little like west-coast bands such as Moby Grape and CSNY, which made it stand out in Chicago. Mercury chose the title track and “Red Wine” as the first two singles, but the latter was promptly pulled from radio thanks to a national crackdown on songs referencing drugs or alcohol. The LP and the singles sank without a trace.

“Mercury Records hardly bothered to promote us,” Griparis says. “They were more interested in breaking Buddy Miles and Rod Stewart. Years later, Robin McBride told me, ‘We really blew it with you guys!'”

The band soon fell apart. Pershey had left right after the sessions, before the album even came out, moving to Minneapolis to join heavy psych act Lightning (formerly White Lightning, with members of the Litter). He was replaced for the remaining Trilogy gigs by Rick Barr, who now drums with the reconstituted version of the New Colony Six. Pershey would later move to Los Angeles and play in Olivia Newton-John’s band.

Wilson joined a string of groups in Nashville, and in 1999 he wrote lyrics for a few songs on Griparis’s first solo record, Love in Lincoln Park. He retired in 2012 from his job as principal at the Nashville School of the Arts, but he continues to gig in the cover band Timeline. McCann has worked for decades in hotel catering in Orange County, California.

Griparis joined Stronghold immediately after Trilogy split, then moved on to the New Colony Six, adding guitar and lead vocals to the original band’s final two singles between 1972 and ’74. In 1975 he also joined the Olivia Newton-John band, sticking with that gig till ’78, and the following year he backed Demis Roussos, formerly of Aphrodite’s Child.

In 1983 Griparis went solo, developing a musical comedy act that includes tons of impressions. He has a successful career to this day, and in one of his most popular shows he recounts the early history of rock by impersonating dozens of musicians from the 1940s through the ’60s–coming full circle back to the music he fell in love with as a kid. v

The radio version of the Secret History of Chicago Music airs on Outside the Loop on WGN Radio 720 AM, Saturdays at 6 AM with host Mike Stephen. Past shows are archived here.

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Fifty years ago, Trilogy brought the west coast’s countrified rock sound to ChicagoSteve Krakowon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace should not have a say on QB decisionPatrick Sheldonon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am

Chicago Bears (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears general manager will have a say in who starts at quarterback.

You know we are getting closer to Chicago Bears football when the team hosts its introductory training camp press conference. Well, that is precisely what took place on Wednesday morning, when the brain trust of general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy met the media.

Of course, the topic of the quarterback competition between Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles was top of mind for everyone. But as they discussed the process of evaluating those two signal-callers, one comment stood out. Pace indicated he would have a say in the determination. If true, that should concern fans, as he should not have a say in who starts.

Look, I get he’s the general manager and in theory, that person should have some input. However, having a “say” seems to imply he will influence the final decision. Here is why that is a terrible idea.

Chicago Bears GM has trouble evaluating QBs

For starters, he has demonstrated an inability to correctly evaluate the position. For starters, he brought in Mike Glennon, thinking he would be a legitimate starting quarterback to bridge the gap until Trubisky was ready. He was catastrophically wrong.

And while many others missed on the evaluation, he failed to see the transcendent potential of Patrick Mahomes and passed on the most polished quarterback in the draft, Deshaun Watson. In other words, he has trouble recognizing what a good quarterback looks like, so why should he have a say in telling the coach who is performing the best in practice? That evaluation should be Nagy’s and his staff.

Chicago Bears GM will struggle to be objective

In addition, it is hard to imagine Pace being completely objective in his evaluation. He figuratively pushed all of his chips in on Trubisky when he traded up to draft him. His struggle to become an above-average quarterback, and Mahomes’ and Watson’s ascension, has resulted in Pace taking a lot of heat for that move.

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With his wagon being firmly hitched to Trubisky’s star — not to mention his job security as well — it is no secret Pace would prefer Mitch to be the starter. He will do everything he can to make him the guy. That could include exerting influence over Nagy to make Mitch the starter even if he is not the better quarterback in camp.

The bottom line is whoever is the better performing quarterback in camp should be the starter. Whoever gives the Bears the best chance to win games, should line up under center. However, you can envision a scenario where Foles is better, but the gap is close enough that Pace gives the nod to Mitch because of all he has invested in the young quarterback. That would not only be disingenuous but would not be in the best interest of the team.

Next: Most logical replacement for Eddie Goldman

Hopefully, Pace’s voice in the decision-making process will be the quietest. But as we’ve seen with the Chicago Bulls’ head coaching situation — sometimes it’s good to still have friends in high places.

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Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace should not have a say on QB decisionPatrick Sheldonon July 30, 2020 at 11:00 am Read More »

Chicago Cubs: Three early observations of manager David RossBrandon Hinrichson July 30, 2020 at 12:00 pm

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Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

The Chicago Cubs are off to a nice start under rookie manager, David Ross.

One week into the baseball season has seen the Chicago Cubs riding high and mighty at the moment, given their fast start beating division-rivals Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds to jump into first place in the NL Central. It’s early though, but when pressed with just 60 regular-season games to make a playoff push, the Cubs, led by first-year manager David Ross, couldn’t have afforded to get off to a slow start in division play.

Of course, just because on paper the Cubs look good right now, it’s still way too early to make any definitive observations regarding how they will perform the rest of the way. After all, over the past few seasons, the Cubs have proven to regularly go on hot and cold stretches that’ll make even the most passionate fans want to pull their hair out at times no matter what month they’re playing in.

With that being said, there are already plenty of positives … and some negatives to take out of the team’s early performance. After getting off to a slow start, the Cubs’ bats have been alive and well for the most part, and that’s without Kris Bryant performing up to lofty standards thus far. Meanwhile, the Cubs’ starting rotation, minus Yu Darvish‘s first start, has pitched lights-out, putting a much-needed smile behind David Ross’s masked face. Too bad the same can hardly be said about the bullpen, which led by Craig Kimbrel, has put everyone on their toes, nervously praying that a seven-run lead in the later innings is enough to squeeze out a victory.

Ross’s performance as a first-year manager doesn’t go under the microscope either. Only a handful of games to work with, but here are three notable observations made. Note: these observations can easily change as Ross gains more experience under his belt.

Next: Observation 1

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Chicago Cubs: Three early observations of manager David RossBrandon Hinrichson July 30, 2020 at 12:00 pm Read More »

Notre Dame Football: Irish join ACC for 2020 seasonVincent Pariseon July 30, 2020 at 1:00 pm

Notre Dame Fighting Irish. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The Notre Dame Football program is going to officially be a part of the ACC for the 2020 season.

The Notre Dame Football team isn’t normally part of a conference. They do play a lot of their games against the ACC teams, but this year it is official. Notre Dame is going to be a part of their conference. It is going to be an 11-game schedule for the Irish that has 10 ACC opponents and one non-conference opponent. Each ACC team’s one non-conference opponent is going to reside in the same home state.

There will be no divisions in the ACC this year so the top two teams in the conference standings will play in the ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Notre Dame is eligible to play in this game as a temporary 15th member of the conference. As of right now, this only applies to the 2020 season.

A lot of fans have been calling for Notre Dame to join a conference anyway. They play one less game than a lot of the teams that play in a championship game so if they go undefeated, they are pretty much a lock to make the College Football Playoff without having to win a conference title.

The schedule is not out yet but the ACC claims that it will be done soon. It is going to be interesting to see who they draw and who their one non-conference game is. If they are able to have a good team this year, they could be one of the teams playing in the ACC title game with a chance to go to the college football playoff on the line.

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The crazy part of all of this is the fact that Notre Dame has agreed to share its revenue from it’s NBC TV deal with the rest of the ACC. That applies to this season as they will be a part of the conference. On the other hand, Notre Dame is eligible to play in the Orange Bowl if it doesn’t make the playoff and is eligible for selection. This is certainly something that changes the outlook of the season for the Irish. It is going to be interesting to see what this schedule looks like when it does come out.

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Notre Dame Football: Irish join ACC for 2020 seasonVincent Pariseon July 30, 2020 at 1:00 pm Read More »

Chicago Blackhawks: Lots to build on from Blues exhibitionVincent Pariseon July 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm

EDMONTON, ALBERTA - JULY 29: Jonathan Toews #19 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Brayden Schenn #10 of the St. Louis Blues prepare to battle for the opening face-off in an exhibition game prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on July 29, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
EDMONTON, ALBERTA – JULY 29: Jonathan Toews #19 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Brayden Schenn #10 of the St. Louis Blues prepare to battle for the opening face-off in an exhibition game prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on July 29, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

The Chicago Blackhawks played in their one exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues last night.

The Chicago Blackhawks finally got back into action on Wednesday night. It was a decent test against the St. Louis Blues. They are in the round-robin portion of the return to play so they aren’t in life or death mode yet and the Blackhawks absolutely needed to play well. That fact might have an impact on the game but it doesn’t matter. The Blackhawks came out and looked good in their only tune-up before they get going vs the Edmonton Oilers.

The line of Brandon Saad–Jonathan Toews–Dominik Kubalik was very good for Chicago. They are three big bodies ready to go and be impactful against a very quick and skilled Oilers team. They created the first goal of the game for either team in the second period and it was a thing of beauty. The hard work and battle of this line need to be there for the Hawks.

The Blackhawks were very bad in 2019-20 on the power play. They were one of the worst units in the league. At 15.2 percent, they ranked 28th in the league, and only Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, and Ottawa Senators were worse. Well, they scored two power-play goals in this one against the Blues.

The Blackhawks didn’t have a bad power play because they don’t have good players. They had a bad power play because they didn’t use the right players in the right spot. For some reason, in 2019-20 Jeremy Colliton didn’t use Dominik Kubalik on the power play with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Add Kirby Dach (who looks like a man now) to the net mouth, and you have yourself a pretty good power play. This unit scored twice and they need more against the Oilers if they want a chance to win.

Corey Crawford played half the game and was good. He wasn’t as tested as he is going to be once they have the Oilers on the other side but it was good to see him in the net and playing well. It can’t be overstated how important the goalies are to each side’s chances of winning the series.

Hot: The Blackhawks should be scared of Connor McDavid

There is a lot of work to be done but this was a good start. The Blues, despite the fact that this game meant way less to them than it did the Hawks, are a good team and the Hawks were able to capitalize. Some people don’t like Chicago’s chances vs Edmonton but this game could be an indicator of them pulling an upset. You can’t take stock in preseason, post-pause, pre-playoff, practice game against their bitter rival but you can be happy with the way a lot of people played.

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Chicago Blackhawks: Lots to build on from Blues exhibitionVincent Pariseon July 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm Read More »