A little bit of Hockey Love

Well I received the suggestion that we need to talk about hockey more here at Shootouts to Sacrifices so I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about a sport that is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I try to watch games as much as possible but being in Iowa makes it difficult to do so but I'm going to talk about a few guys (players and a coach), who have caught my eye as I'm getting better acquainted with this sport.

Drew Doughty, D, Los Angeles Kings: I was able to watch a Kings-Blackhawks game recently and I came away really impressed with the way Doughty played. Again I don't know much about hockey right now, but seeing him fly all around the ice, setting up goals and blocking shots, I was real impressed. He's part of a young core in Los Angeles who are starting to play extremely well.

Ryan Miller, G, Buffalo Sabres: The Hawks didn't face Miller when they were in Buffalo last weekend, but I have seen a few highlights from Miller this year and I've been extremely impressed. His 93% save percentage and 1.83 Goals Against Average are tops in the league but it's even more impressive to see him on tape.

Joel Quenneville, Head Coach, Chicago Blackhawks: I credit the Hawks for getting me interested in hockey, they play an exciting style and have the ability to draw in casual fans. Most people will credit Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane with the turnaround, but without Coach Q, I don't think the Hawks would be where they are at. He likes to tinker with his lines and he seems to change things up as soon as the opponents start to catch on. After the 7-2 win against San Jose, Quenneville noticed that teams started playing considerably more conservative and changed up the lines to try to get better matchups that would allow the Hawks to score more. The result? A 4-0 win last night against Tampa Bay.

Well there's a little hockey love for the blog, it's not the best and certainly not the most informative but hopefully there will be an improvement.