Purgatory, Plain and Simple
“I think God’s wrath and Purgatory are the only things keeping me on the straight and narrow. I like the idea of Purgatory. It’s like a cosmic do over.”
By Rich Lindbloom
Unfortunately, my mom broke her hip last week and required a hip replacement. At 86 years old, this is just another of a series of debilitating physical setbacks over the last few years. On a recent visit at the hospital, she told me she thought God was punishing her. I tried to reassure her that was not the case. In her weakened condition, I’m sure the devil is having a field day, filling her mind with doubt and fear. It’s hard to stand upon the Promises of God when you’re writhing in physical pain and mental anguish.
Somehow the subject of Purgatory came up. Personally, from my studies of God’s word, Purgatory seems to be a man made purification center, the cosmic do over. Although it certainly does try to address our inherent sinful nature with that of a Holy God. The two are highly incompatible. It’s as if we innately know we have to somehow try to pay for our transgressions, before we stand before the Creator of the universe on Judgment Day.
I told my sister about this conversation and she brought up a Soprano’s episode where Paulie Walnuts is grilling Christopher on his near death experience, and his alleged trip to hell. Tony quickly dismisses Christopher’s “dream” but Paulie can’t get it out of his mind. He asks him if the bouncer who sent him back had horns on his head. After determining that no one else in the place Christopher visited had horns on their head either, Paulie goes to another line of questioning.
“That place you visited, was it warm?” After Christopher says he wasn’t sure, Paulie breathes a sigh of relief. “Heat would have been the first thing you noticed. Hell is hot – that’s never been disputed by anybody. You didn’t go to hell, you went to Purgatory.”
Paulie goes on to give his calculations for how long he will have to abide in Purgatory during his purification process. At 50 years a piece for mortal sins and 25 years for venial sins, Paulie figures he’ll be holed up in Purgatory for 6,000 years. He takes solace in the fact that based on the length of eternity, 6,000 years is nothing.
So you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with Blackhawk hockey. Let’s just say if Paulie were a Blackhawk fan, his sentence might be commuted by a few thousand years. Plain and simple, the recent reacquisition of Daniel (Carbomb) Carcillo is Purgatory on earth to most of us.
I recall when the Hawks signed Carcillo in the 2011/12, my daughter asked me, “Dad, why would we sign him?” I couldn’t come up with a sane answer then, and I most certainly can’t come up with one now. I realize the price is right, (league minimum of $550,000/year). Yet with the abundance of talented forwards in Rockford, I can come up with no other explanation for Carcillo skating 4 minutes per night than Stan Bowman attempting to reduce his time in Purgatory.
Here are “Carbombs” lifetime NHL statistics;
390 games played
44 goals
48 assists
-19 +/- stat
1,179 penalty minutes (he lead the league in his rookie season with Phoenix with 324 PIM) Keep in mind he only has averaged about 10 minutes per game in the NHL, or the penalty total could be higher.
A whole lot of sandpaper (hard to calculate the effect of sandpaper with advanced metrics, eh?)
This will be his 9th NHL season.
In recent years when traded, Carcillo fetched 6th and 7th round draft picks from the Kings and Rangers. He failed to make the Penguin’s team this preseason. How he came to make the Hawks roster this season has to be considered the 8th Wonder of the World. (On a side note, how many of the 7 Wonders of the World can you name?)
This is not to say Danny does not have talent – seriously, who am I to be criticizing a player who is skating for his 9th NHL team. And it’s not like the Kings, Rangers and Hawks, (Danny’s last three stops), were exactly weak teams. No doubt he’s as hard nosed as they come, and will quickly come to the defense of his teammates. Supposedly, he’s a good locker room presence – although I’m not sure how many games are won in the locker room. But with the stable of stallions in the Big R, are you trying to tell me we don’t have a better option?
My favorite Carcillo moment was during a Blues game. Arch nemesis David Backes was trying to goad Tazer into a fight. (‘If you can’t beat them, beat them up” – the motto of the Blues) Carcillo barged into their post whistle negotiations with fists a flying. I’ll never forget the startled look on Backes’ face; it seemed to say “I didn’t want to fight you, this is between Toews and me.” I have to admit, there are times I like Carcillo.
If the truth be known, he hasn’t looked too bad while on the ice thus far this season. While he only played slightly over 4 minutes against the Stars, he skated almost 10 minutes versus the Sabres. He appears to be skating like every shift might result in a bus ticket to Rockford. It remains to be seen if he can keep up that intensity night after night in the grind that is the NHL schedule. At the very least, Carcillo appears to be an upgrade from B52. (For those of you keeping track, Brandon Bollig skated over 11 minutes for Calgary last night. He had an even +/- in a 1-4 loss to the Blues, with three crushing hits.)
The ultimate problem with Danny Boy will be the B-switch, intertwined somewhere in his rudimentary brain stem. B, for bad decision, that is. It seems like only a matter of time before the Carbomb train goes off the rails.
Corey Crawford has kept the Hawks on the rails the first two games of the season. In one of the Fantasy hockey leagues I’m in, I clicked on the message attached to Crawford. It noted he had an easy game against the Sabres, and should be a good Fantasy option because of all the offensive talent in front of him. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In the Hawks first two games, I believe Corey has stopped at least five uncontested breakaway’s. (That crap has to stop.) Not to mention the three stops in the shoot out against the Stars. (Although it appeared Seguin had Corey beat, but narrowly missed the post with an absolutely wicked wrister.) With the game tied at 2-2 in the second period against the Sabres, Cor-dawg stood tall, thwarting a number of Grade A chances. Zemgus Girgensons and Tyler Ennis were quite noticeable in this contest.
Corey has had to bail the Hawks out regularly, as the Hawks try to realign their defensive pairings now that we are Leddy-less. If we don’t batten down the hatches, the Hawks Achilles heel may be quickly exposed. Thus far, Corey has been supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. It’s a good thing because there have been times when his defensemen have been quite atrocious.
Perhaps watching teams get 2- 3 uncontested breakaways per game against the Hawks, not to mention the odd man breaks, may also reduce one’s time in Purgatory. I don’t know about you, but it’s making me mumble under my breath, “Oh shit,” a lot, as the Hawk defensemen get caught up ice.
I was quite concerned that Coach Q was trying to reduce our time in Purgatory also, basically rolling three lines and 4 defensemen against the Stars. The Hawks, and any NHL team for that matter, are going to be better playing 4 lines. Although, I certainly would not give the car keys to Rundblad or van Riemsdyk in crucial situations just yet. It seems Trevor spent a lot of time way to deep in our opponent’s zone. It does appear the 23 year old can skate!
Well it’s on to Calgary Wednesday night when they invade the UC. I’m sure all eyes will be on the former B52. Of course, our eyes will continue to scrutinize #13 for the Hawks with electron microscope intensity. Somehow, I could envision horns under both of those Bollig’s and Carcillo’s helmets. Hopefully, Carcillo, (who in my opinion is not a great pugilist), will not think he has to prove himself with the extracurricular activity aspect of hockey. If he keeps, playing aggressively, somewhat cleanly, on the edge-without going over it, Danny Boy may be with us for awhile.
For some reason unbeknownst to man, Stan Bowman has given Carbomb a Cosmic do over. On the positive side, any Hawk fan who believes in Purgatory will most certainly have his post life sentence commuted significantly. I’m thinking around 50 years off for every game Danny Boy plays in!
Other important stuff:
A list of the modern seven wonders of the world:
- The great pyramid of Giza
2. The hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro
4. The Great Wall of China
5. Machu Picchu – Peru
6. The Roman Colosseum
7. Patrick Kanes backhand
I heard Kaner has one of the least curved sticks in the league – think that has anything to do with his back hand?
Patrick Sharp has impressed in the first two games.
David Rundblad makes me very nervous.
Jamie Benn was knocking Blackhawk players around like a bowling ball taking out the 10 pin.
Antoine Roussel – douchebag extraordinaire. Someone needs to straighten that guy out.
Can Duncan Keith continue to skate on average of 28 minutes per night and have anything left in the tank when playoffs roll around next April.
Can we stop taking so many high sticking penalties?
How was Carcillo not voted one of the stars of the game on Saturday? (By the way, that’s an additional 100 years off your time in Purgatory when that happens.) I hate to say it, but Carbomb played very well vs. the Sabres.
Is it just me, or are these shrunken nets making it hard to tell if a puck when into the net, or not. At first I could have sworn Smith’s shot off the post went in.
Two down, Eighty to go.
Rich Lindbloom
