A Lesson in Momentum

A Lesson in Momentum

Momentum: There is no stat that measures this intangible force, it cant be seen, heard, smelled, or tasted, there is no way to quantify who has it and who doesn’t, but yet even the most staunch statisticians will admit to its existence.

            So that leaves us with todays lesson, what exactly is momentum? The best way to describe it is an immeasurable force. Momentum is not random, there is always something that sparks it, or causes it to change hands. Sometimes it is taken through performance, for instance Danny Green’s hot handedness from behind the arc during the middle of the NBA Finals, or sometimes its taken from outside of sports, like the Boston Strong movement that provided a spark to all of the professional teams from the city of Boston.

            However momentum cant be understood just by giving a loose definition, to truly understand momentum one must look deeper than just the surface, and notice the underlying factors that make up a game.

Last nights Stanley Cup Final is a great example. The Blackhawks led the Bruins 3-2 in the series. With elimination looming, the home team Bruins clearly had the momentum to start the game. It was evident in their play, from the opening puck drop they were on the offensive, pounding away in the corners, leaving everything on the ice. The Blackhawks were on their heels from the start, reeling from the pace set by the Bruins.

Before ten minutes had gone by the Bruins had their first goal. Bruins defenseman Tory Krug dives after and desperately slaps at the puck, keeping it within the blue line. Bruins center Chris Kelley takes control and passes to Daniel Paille, who flicks the puck towards the net, where it is knocked down by the glove of Tyler Seguin, and slid across the front of the crease to a waiting Kelley, who puts it by a helpless Corey Crawford. The desperation and physicality of Krug is a good example of the Bruins as a whole that game, driven and agressive. For almost the whole first period the Bruins were dominant, all the way up until about the very end of the period, when the first shift in momentum happened.

After making a bad pass in the neutral zone, which leads to a turnover, Chicago forward Andrew Shaw hustles back towards his goal, catching up with Boston’s Shawn Thorton. Shaw attempts to poke away the puck, but Thorton gets away a heavy-handed slap shot before he can. The puck deflects up, striking Shaw in the corner of his eye and cheek. He falls hard to the ice, where he skids several feet before coming to a halt inside of the Hawks blue line. This brings us to an important point in Momentum 101: Overcoming adversity is a surefire way to steal the momentum. As Shaw lay there on the ice, it would have been easy for him to call it a day. He was bleeding profusely from a gash beneath his eye and on his cheek, likely fractured his cheekbone, and possibly was concussed.

A bloody Andrew Shaw during a post game interview.
Shaw took a puck to the face late in the first period.

 No one would’ve blamed him for leaving the game to get some treatment. That thought never even crossed his mind. In fact after being asked about why he didn’t sit out he said “There has to be something seriously wrong with you to not play this game.” After about thirty seconds on the ice, Shaw got up, skated to the bench, and got his cuts looked after. You won’t see this play on any highlight reels, its not going to make big news, and wont make Shaw a star of the game, but the role his toughness played to the game is unarguable.

The Blackhawks seemed to come alive after Shaw’s injury. The toughness displayed by the team throughout the playoffs finally showed, and the period finished with a few good chances for the Hawks. The first period ended in a 1-0 Bruins lead.

When the second period started, you could tell that the momentum had shifted. The Blackhawks started to show even more toughness; captain Jonathan Toews began to play like a captain, even going into the corners with the likes of Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who stands almost a full foot taller than Toews. Just before the five-minute mark in the second period, Toews showed why he wears the C on his sweater. Toews won a neutral zone faceoff, and pushed the puck over to forward Michael Rozival, who poked the puck along the boards past an advancing Chara. Toews explodes out of the faceoff, and takes the puck on the right side just as it passes the blue line. Toews was alone on goal, and with a nifty leg kick and a flick of the wrist it was tied at one a piece.

The goal seemed to light a fire under the Bruins, and now both teams were playing with a remarkable amount of toughness. Both teams had spectacular chances to score throughout the second period, as the momentum flowed freely back and forth between the two teams. The third was much of the same, with chances coming from both sides. Halfway through the third and the game was still tied at one a piece. But shortly after, the Bruins constant pounding away finally paid dividends, from one of the best two-way lines in hockey, Kreici, Horton, and Lucic. After forcing a turnover behind Chicago’s net, Kreici sends the puck to the front, where Horton slaps it down and Lucic finishes the play, putting the puck on net where it deflects off of Crawford’s blocker, hits the inside of the post, then bounces off his back and in.

The score is 2-1, there is less than eight minutes left, and TD Gardens is absolutely erupting. Put yourself in the skates of a Blackhawk. The whole situation feels hopeless, right? Wrong. If you have followed the Blackhawks at all during these playoffs, you knew that this game was a long way from over, and the Hawks players knew it too.

This is another important part of understanding momentum. What creates momentum for whom? For some teams, this is a back breaker; the rest of the game is played with heads hung, preparing for game 7. However the Blackhawks are of a different mindset. They need the desperation, the seemingly impossible, to motivate them to play at their best. Take the series against the Detroit Red Wings. Down 3-1 in the series, the Hawks came back and won the series in game 7, something that no one but Hawks fans and players predicted. The Hawks are a “Never Say Die” kind of team, and they never did say die. With less than eight minutes left, the Hawks began to play like the team that set a record for most regular season games earning at least a point. They scratched, clawed, and fought for every puck, and never hung their heads.

With ninety seconds left, the Blackhawks pulled the goalie. Patrick Kane carried the puck across the Boston blue line, and fired at Boston goalie Tuuka Rask. Rask deflected the shot away to the corner where it was picked up by Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenburg, who slid it along the boards to Kreici. Kreici turned to send it up the boards, but the way was blocked by Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. Kreici is rocked by a hit from Toews, and the loose puck was picked up by Patrick Kane, who passed it into the corner to Toews, who then put the puck across the front of the crease to Chicago’s grinder forward Brian Bickell, who put it home between the legs of Rask.

Jonathan Toews leaps over Zdeno Chara after assisting
Brian Bickell's late 3rd period equalizer.

Talk about a momentum shift. The Bruins, who thought they had all the momentum, absolutely had the rug pulled out from under them. 70 seconds from forcing game 7 and they give up a goal! Momentum gone.

Now it was all Hawks, and they weren’t done yet. Right off of the faceoff, the Hawks dance around a deflated Bruins defense, Hawks forward Michael Frolik sends a slapshot to the goal, the rebound ends up at the feet of Chicago’s Kruger, who sends it back to O’Duya for the point slap shot. Frolik deflects the shot down, the rebound off of Rask’s pad lands directly in front of Hawk’s forward Dave Bolland. Wrist flick, glove toss, game over.

While it can shift countless times during one game, momentum is the immeasurable force that controls whether you’re lifting the Lord Stanley’s Cup, or walking to your locker room while another team celebrates on your ice. Momentum is the madness that keeps sports fans coming back game after game, year after year.