(no subject)
First off, new fic:
[Hockey RPF] this is my kingdom come
(Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Jonathan Toews/Various)
Or, Jonathan Toews' neck is a slut.
*
So the Blackhawks eked out a win vs. the Detroit Red Wings in Round 2 of the 2013 playoffs, after going down 3-1 in the series and winning all three elimination games after.
Toews was highly criticized, first of all for being unable to produce (1 goal, 5 assists in the entire playoffs so far; 0 goals and 3 assists prior to Game 5 of the series), and second of all for pretty much causing the Game 4 loss: he took three penalties in a row, and the Wings scored on the 2nd power play as a result. That point ended up being the difference-maker in the game. The Red Wings were up in his face the entire series and rarely getting called for it:
and his frustration boiled over in that game, I guess, to disastrous results.
Of course, it also led to him being comforted by Brent Seabrook in the penalty box after his 3rd penalty:
Clearly Seabs is magic, because not only did Toews stop taking unfortunate penalties, he scored a goal and two assists in the next two games.
So, um, the past two weeks have been kind of a roller coaster for me. *g* This might be the first time in his career that Toews has faced a significant amount of criticism; usually he has the reputation of doing so much outside of scoring that people are more lenient towards his point droughts than towards most other players. He continued to do so in this series, I think, but those Game 4 penalties had people latching on to him as a poor leader, an undisciplined player, a crybaby, etc. etc. I had to stop checking Tumblr for a little while so as not to die of tears and rage, cough.
He managed to turn it around after that, though, and although people are still harping on his dearth of points, at least I feel we've moved past the HE IS A TERRIBLE LEADER phase somewhat. Not entirely, of course; once something like this happens to an athlete, I don't think they ever outlive it entirely. Someone's bound to point to it ten years down the line as an example of why he sucks.
Vid version of Games 4 and 5:
(Also known as the Angsty Tazer Vid.)
(Redemption!)
The Hawks play the Kings next, which I'm super worried about. :/ The Kings are a dangerous team, and they've pretty much stated that they're going to continue trying to make Toews' life miserable for him. Fun times.
[Hockey RPF] this is my kingdom come
(Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews, Jonathan Toews/Various)
Or, Jonathan Toews' neck is a slut.
*
So the Blackhawks eked out a win vs. the Detroit Red Wings in Round 2 of the 2013 playoffs, after going down 3-1 in the series and winning all three elimination games after.
Toews was highly criticized, first of all for being unable to produce (1 goal, 5 assists in the entire playoffs so far; 0 goals and 3 assists prior to Game 5 of the series), and second of all for pretty much causing the Game 4 loss: he took three penalties in a row, and the Wings scored on the 2nd power play as a result. That point ended up being the difference-maker in the game. The Red Wings were up in his face the entire series and rarely getting called for it:
and his frustration boiled over in that game, I guess, to disastrous results.
Of course, it also led to him being comforted by Brent Seabrook in the penalty box after his 3rd penalty:
Clearly Seabs is magic, because not only did Toews stop taking unfortunate penalties, he scored a goal and two assists in the next two games.
So, um, the past two weeks have been kind of a roller coaster for me. *g* This might be the first time in his career that Toews has faced a significant amount of criticism; usually he has the reputation of doing so much outside of scoring that people are more lenient towards his point droughts than towards most other players. He continued to do so in this series, I think, but those Game 4 penalties had people latching on to him as a poor leader, an undisciplined player, a crybaby, etc. etc. I had to stop checking Tumblr for a little while so as not to die of tears and rage, cough.
He managed to turn it around after that, though, and although people are still harping on his dearth of points, at least I feel we've moved past the HE IS A TERRIBLE LEADER phase somewhat. Not entirely, of course; once something like this happens to an athlete, I don't think they ever outlive it entirely. Someone's bound to point to it ten years down the line as an example of why he sucks.
Vid version of Games 4 and 5:
Click to view(Also known as the Angsty Tazer Vid.)
(Redemption!)
The Hawks play the Kings next, which I'm super worried about. :/ The Kings are a dangerous team, and they've pretty much stated that they're going to continue trying to make Toews' life miserable for him. Fun times.