Stanley Cup Hat Trick for Hawks

By Jim den Hollander

Midwesthockey.info  Editor

In the early summer of 2010 the Chicago Blackhawks ended a 49-year drought, marching the Stanley Cup Down Madison for the first time since JFK led the nation.

The team certainly schooled itself on that experience and this past week Jonathan Toews found himself snatching the grail from Commisioner Bettman for the third time in six seasons.

The Hawks were the long Midwest pro team to finish with a championship season as the Grand Rapids Griffins, The Red Wings’ top feeder squad and the Toledo Walleye, the Hawks’ own ECHL ‘farm’ both fell off in the semi-final rounds of their respective playoff runs.

The Hawks have clearly learned from the experience that while a chance at the Cup can be squandered with a poor start to the season or a lapse in December, the Cup can NOT be won at that point. The Hawks were a tough opponent all season long, but may not appeared a championship team at those points either.

The Hawks had home ice in only the second round of the post season, that coming as both the third and fourth seeds captured wins in the opening rounds of the Central Division. In that opening round, the Hawks eliminated the Nashville Predators in a great six game series while the Minnesota Wild — all but out of playoff contention with a month to go in the season, continued a great finish to the regular season with a first round upset against the Division leading St. Louis Blues.

The Wild and Hawks also met in the Central Division finale last season and it was a classic six game series. This season, the series was equally as intense, but ultimately went to the Hawks in four straight.

The key challenge came in the Western Conference Championship series as the Hawks outlasted Anaheim in an awesome seven game series, that at the start they appeared to have no right challenging in.

The Ducks pushed the Hawks aside 4-1 in the opening 4-1 and the final score actually flattered the Hawks. But the Hawks never surrendered, Marcus Kruger scoring the winner in the third overtime game in game two and Antoine Vermette in double overtime in Game 4. The Hawks fought back from deficits of 1-0., 2-1 and 3-2 in the series, then captured the clincher 5-3 in enemy territory.

In the Cup Final, the Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford who watched some of the opening round games from the Hawks’ bench, stepped up when he had to, allowing just two goals in the final three games and allowing two goals for the Hawks to stand up as enough for wins in all three of those games.

While shutting down or taking games lightly could be a brutal mistake for any team at any point during the season, the Hawks have clearly learned to pace their approach — like a marathon runner who eases up on some of the earlier miles and makes sure they still have something in the tank for the gruelling miles at the end.

Now the concern for the Hawks, as it always seems to be in their Stanley Cup Championship seasons — is how to keep a good think going.. The team will certainly not be able to fit all of its key players under the salary cap for the upcoming season, so with just over three months until the league drops the puck on a new season, the Hawks will remain in the headlines throughout the summer.

But that’s another story.