The Blackhawks prospects were on the ice on Saturday night. And, in case you missed it, Connor Bedard scored three times. I want to start this morning’s thoughts with some love for Joe Brand and Charlie Roumeliotis for doing a terrific job on the call of the game with somewhat limited circumstances. No stats, no over-the-top production quality. Just two guys with microphones talking about a hockey game in a converted department store… with a generational talent making his quasi-professional debut. They were terrific. Stick taps to them.
Thinking back to last night’s game is easy because Bedard Bedard Bedard, but he wasn’t the only guy on the ice and he was far from the only one to look good. So some additional thoughts about the game that took place around Bedard’s hat trick:
Drew Commesso pitched a shutout last night (props to both Joe and Charlie for not caring about the jinx and saying it). And he didn’t have a pedestrian night on his way to allowing a doughnut to the Blues’ prospects. He looked really good. He’s been a bit of a polarizing prospect over the past couple years; some scouts love him, others aren’t high on him, and the middle road seems to be that he’ll be an NHL goaltender someday and has the ability to be really good. Well, last night he was really good. He spent a lot of time in recent months working on his off-ice regimen to better prepare him for the pro game. I’m excited to see how this season goes for him and last night was a strong start.
With all of the injuries he dealt with last year, I was intrigued to see how Paul Ludwinski looked in game action. When I spoke with him after practice earlier this week he said he feels great; his legs are back at 100 percent and his upper body feels stronger after focusing on that part of his workouts while rehabbing an ankle sprain. Last night he looked fast and his skill stood out. On a line with Samuel Savoie, they were all over the puck. And apparently coach Anders Sorensen has a nickname for the two of them.
One of the other names brought up by Sorensen, and rightfully so, was Wyatt Kaiser. The Blackhawks put a “C” on his chest for this weekend as the guy with the most NHL experience on the roster. But we’ve talked all week about not only him having the opportunity to show the organization that he’s as good as he looked in a brief glimpse at the NHL level last year, but also to grab an NHL roster spot. He’s been so impressive in this week’s practices and carried that over to his game performance last night. Kaiser was calm and handled every situation like a guy who had NHL experience last night. There’s a lot of skill in his game, but there’s also a maturity that’s showing itself on every shift.
What did Sorensen think about Bedard’s performance?
“It’s special, for sure. He looked dangerous every time he was on the ice.”
Charlie noticed something and included it in his postgame thoughts that also stood out to me. There are still, somehow, people complaining about the Blackhawks’ perceived lack of size. Yes, Bedard is a haircut under 5-10. But did you watch the game last night? Or look at the heights and weights on the roster for this week? Here’s what Charlie noticed: “The Blues had only two skaters that measured in at above 6-foot-2. The Blackhawks had nine, four of which were defensemen. There was a noticeable size difference.” Hello!
I also really liked what I saw from Martin Misiak, Colton Dach, Gavin Hayes and Kevin Korchinski. Louis Crevier isn’t talked about much/at all but he’s enormous and plays the right side. There’s an opportunity for him here and he had a nice night including the first goal of the game.
As a reminder, you can watch the Blackhawks vs. Wild game on the this afternoon at 3 PM CT. We should find out soon if Bedard will play. I would hope they give the other forwards who made the trip a look and let him rest on his hat trick and stay healthy for NHL training camp.
Here are your viewing options for football while waiting for hockey:
