No Way San Jose: Hawks to the Finals

For the first time in 18 years, the Chicago Blackhawks will play in the Stanley Cup Finals.  The Hawks won the Western Conference by beating San Jose, 4-2, which completed a series sweep.

The Blackhawks came back from a 2-0 depict, and stormed into the lead late in the game, and earned the Clarence Campbell Bowl, which is awarded to the champions of the Western Conference.

San Jose took an early two goal lead, courtesy of Logan Couture and a shorthanded goal from Patrick Marleau.  Evegeni Nabokov had the Blackhawks’ number for the first half of the game, but the Hawks quickly pulled it together, and didn’t look back.

It started when Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook found the net.  The United Center became crazy, and the fans could feel the momentum beginning to shift.

Late in the second period, the Hawks tied it up, courtesy of a Dave Bolland chip shot to the top corner of the net.

Both teams entered the locker room with two goals.  The score was even, but everything seemed to be on the Hawks’ side.

Nabokov shut many great Blackhawk scoring chances to start the third.  Finally, with just under six minutes left in the game, the man known as “Big Buff” came through big again.

Dustin Byfuglien scored what would be the game winning goal, and his Blackhawks took a 3-2 lead.

The goal for Byfuglien was his eighth of the playoffs, and his second straight game winning goal.  The Blackhawks largest player once again gave his team a big lift.

Goalie Antti Niemi was fantastic again, but he really took his game to another level in the closing minutes of the game, as he stopped everything that came his way.

Kris Versteeg finished the game with the (Chelsea) dagger, as he scored an empty netter from center ice.  After that, the party had already begun at the Madhouse on Madison.

The last time the Blackhawks played in the Stanley Cup Finals, they were led by names like Roenick, Chelios, Larmer, and Belfour.  This time, it’s Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Niemi among others.

The game ended in a celebration surrounding the Clarence Campbell Bowl.  The trophy is supposed to be handed over to the team captain, but Jonathon Toews refused to hoist the trophy, in respect of the superstition.  Toews is hoping to hoist a bigger trophy pretty soon.

Toews did admit after the game that the trophy was shiny.

Toews added his name to the stat sheet with an assist on Byfuglien’s third period goal.  That means that “Toewzer” has a point in 13 consecutive games.

The Blackhawks will now play the waiting game.  Philadelphia leads Montreal, 3-1 in their Eastern Conference Finals series.  The Hawks will have to wait for their opponent before any game dates will be set.

For now, the Hawks can enjoy their victory, rest their bodies, and even visit the dentist (Duncan Keith lost seven teeth in the game).  The Blackhawks will enjoy their Campbell Bowl, but they have their sights set on a different trophy.

You can follow us on Twitter: @RSHawksFlock or @ChrisEmma51

Big Buff Big Moment

Game three of the Western Conference Finals brought the usual news.  Same teams, same heroes, same story, just a different night.  Dustin Byfuglien’s overtime goal gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 win, and a 3-0 series lead.

Byfuglien scored with seven and a half minutes left in overtime.  After an errant shot hit the boards and was trickling towards the blue line, Brian Campbell managed to keep the puck in the zone.  That kept the scoring chance alive, and the Hawks would convert.

The puck went to Dave Bolland behind the net.  Bolland dished out to Byfuglien, and the big man delivered with the game winner.

The only reason the game made it to overtime was because of a crazy second and third period.

The game was scoreless after the first period, but San Jose struck first.  Patrick Marleau scored on a 5-3 power play, and gave his team the early lead.

The Blackhawks responded just three minutes later, when Patrick Sharp scored his seventh playoff goal.  The game was tied at one.

Then, the third period started.  The fun didn’t begin till late in the period.  Dave Bolland went on a breakaway toward the net.  With the crowd on their feet, and the chance to give his team the first lead of the night, Bolland scored.

The game was then put in the hand of Antti Niemi.  Niemi was spectacular again.  The 26 year old from Finland made 44 saves on 46 shots.  He was superman for the Blackhawks, but his only kryptonite was Patrick Marleau.

With his team down 2-1, Marleau delivered yet again.  Marleau tied the game at the 15:37 mark of the game, and the game was suddenly tied at two.

The goal gave Marleau his second-consecutive two goal game.  He has been the only Shark who has shown up for the series.

The game went to OT, and as you know by now, that was Byfuglien time.  Big Buff had just 17 goals in the entire regular season.  He already has seven playoff goals.

Ever since Byfuglien was put on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews, Buff has been spectacular.  His heroics include a hat trick in Vancouver and now this.

The only Blackhawk who has been hotter than Byfuglien is Jonathon Toews.  Toews finished the game with two assists, which means he has surpassed Stan Mikita’s playoff point record.  Toews now has 25 points in these playoffs, and chances are there are many more games to play.

The series resumes on Sunday afternoon, as the Blackhawks have a chance to wrap up the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.  The game will be held at the United Center, and you better believe the crowd will be loud.  The first puck drop is set for 2:00, and that game can be seen nationally on NBC.

Home Sweet Home?

Picture this:  You walk out of a tunnel.  You have your game face on.  There are 22,000 people screaming their lungs out for you to win.  Everybody loves you and is cheering for you.  One would think that is the perfect home ice advantage.

Thus has not been the case for the Blackhawks in the playoffs.  The United Center presents one of the best environments for a hockey game in the entire league.

Each game, a sold-out crowd packs the arena.  The Blackhawk faithful yell like crazy during the national anthem, dance and sing to Chelsea Dagger for each goal, and cheer on the Hawks.  Ever since the 2010 playoffs started, home has not been so sweet for the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks are just 3-3 at home for the postseason.  Two of those wins came in the final minutes of the game.  In those six games, the Blackhawks have been outscored 19-14.  During the regular season, the Blackhawks were 29-8-4.

The Blackhawks have become road warriors during the postseason.  Chicago is 7-1 on the road during the playoffs, and they are currently on a seven game road playoff winning streak, which ties a NHL Playoff record.  The most important of those seven wins are the last two, which came in San Jose.  Chicago leads the series 2-0 as they head back to the United Center.

When the Blackhawks return to the United Center on Friday, things will feel different.  The team will wake up at a hotel…for a home game.  They will travel as a team to the arena….for a home game.  Joel Quenneville might want to consider taking the big screen televisions out of the locker room to make it seem like a road locker room.  The Blackhawks are going all out to make it feel like a road trip.

The team is on a hot streak, and that carries over from their very long road trip.  The last time the Blackhawks lost was May 9^th, 12 days ago.  That also happens to be the last time they were home.

When the Hawks take their home ice on Friday, many questions will be answered.  If the Blackhawks want to take a 3-0 lead, they will have to overcome this unforeseen obstacle: A home game.

They’ll stay in a hotel, travel as a team to the United Center, and probably hope to hear boos as they enter this home ice.  As long as they leave the ice with a win and a 3-0 series lead, they’ll be happy in their home away from home.

In The Driver’s Seat

The Blackhawks did exactly what they had hoped to do in San Jose.  They beat the Sharks 4-2 on Tuesday, have taken a 2-0 lead in the series, and now can travel back to the United Center with a chance to potentially win the series.

The Hawks took down the San Jose Sharks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, and will take momentum back to their home ice at the Madhouse on Madison.

Midway through the first period, Chicago scored first, when Andrew Ladd tallied his second goal of the playoffs.

The play started when Kris Versteeg was thrown to the ice, and the puck went loose toward the Sharks’ offensive zone.  Versteeg recovered and knocked the puck back toward neutral ice.  Duncan Keith grabbed the loose puck, flipped it toward Andrew Ladd, and Ladd ripped a wrister past Evgeni Nabokov.  The Hawks quickly took a 1-0 lead.

Both teams settled in, and Antti Niemi continued his phenomenal play.  Midway through the second period, with the Blackhawks holding just a one goal lead, they took control of the game, and the series.

First, it was Dustin Byfuglien.  Ever since he was added to the same line as Kane and Toews, Big Buff has been red hot, and he continued to do so during Game 2.  Buff deflected a Patrick Kane shot into the back of the net, and gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Hungry for more, the Blackhawks captain delivered with another goal, and gave his team a 3-0 lead.  Toews scored as Duncan Keith ripped a slapshot toward the net, in which Toews tipped into the net.  Midway through the game, the Blackhawks had a 3-0 lead.

The Sharks’ star power was too silent for too long, and they finally broke through.  Joe Thornton dished a quick one timer to Patrick Marleau, and Marleau put it past Antti Niemi.  The Sharks reenergized their home crowd, and cut the Chicago lead to two goals.

The play of the night came courtesy of Marian Hossa.  As the Sharks skated behind their own net, Hossa made a steal, skated toward the blue line, and then he found Troy Brouwer.  Brouwer ripped a shot past Nabokov, and the Hawks took a 4-1 lead.

The Sharks would tally a late goal as Patrick Marleau scored his second of the game, but it was too little to late by that time.

Antti Niemi was fantastic again.  Niemi stopped 25 of 27 shots in the Blackhawk win, but the offense gave him everything he needed.

Physical play overshadowed the final period of the game, as the Blackhawks continued to pound at the Sharks.  Dave Bolland and San Jose star Joe Thornton continued to battle throughout the game.

Tensions finally came full circle as with 16 seconds remaining; all five players for each team had a full melee with Bolland and Thornton in the middle of it.

The fight showed frustration from San Jose, and gave the Hawks the opportunity to get their last laughs in.

After a grueling pair of games, the Sharks and Blackhawks will travel to Chicago for Game 3 of the series.

The Blackhawks haven’t played at the United Center since May 9^th, when they lost to Vancouver.  The Blackhawks have become road warriors with a seven game road winning streak, which ties a playoff record.  However, the Hawks can end the series and advance to the finals in the next two games at home.

The two teams will take Wednesday and Thursday off before playing again on Friday night.  That game is set for 7:00 from the Madhouse on Madison, and can be seen on Versus.

It’s okay to be a bandwagoner

With great success comes great popularity.  We see it all the time.  Everybody wants to root for a winner, while at the same time; nobody wants to root for a loser.

The dictionary defines a “bandwagon” as “a party, cause, movement, etc., that by its mass appeal or strength readily attracts many followers.”

When a team begins to have great success, fans will jump on the bandwagon and become a fan.

Such has been the case with the Chicago Blackhawks.  The 2009-2010 Blackhawks have had one of the greatest seasons in franchise history.  With that great success, the United Center has been packed for each home game with a standing room only crowd.

For the majority of the regular season, the Blackhawks occupied the top spot in the Western Conference.  They have been one of the best teams in the NHL, and without a doubt one of the most exciting teams to watch in hockey.

The bottom line is

, the Blackhawks are a fun team to be a fan of.  Ever since names like Toews and Kane entered the picture, things drastically for the Blackhawks, as they found immediate success, and gradually gained popularity.

But what about before that?  Before both Toews, Kane, and other key members of the current Hawks suited up in the Indian sweater for the first time, things were very different at the United Center.

The place that is once again known as the Madhouse on Madison resembled a funeral home.  The Blackhawks were a perennial bottom dweller in the Western Conference standings, and they consistently struggled in front of sparse crowds.

The Blackhawks are now one of the most popular teams in all of hockey.  The Indian head is stronger than ever, as the Blackhawks brand has continued to grow.  However, it took a dramatic turnaround to make the franchise successful.

If you have been to a game at the UC this season, you may notice a very interesting line on a pregame video.  It says, “Hockey never left Chicago, but it sure is back!”  That statement could not be truer.

Success was driven away from Chicago, much of that is due to poor management.  From 1997-2007, hockey in Chicago was simply irrelevant.  Chicago sports fans didn’t pay attention to the Blackhawks.  The team did not make the playoffs during that span (the 04-05 season was cancelled due to a lockout).

Fans were given zero reason to root for the Blackhawks, because the franchise was so poorly run.  The team showed no potential and no hope for the future.  This was true both on and off the ice.

Just a few years ago, the Blackhawks were voted the worst franchise in all of professional sports by ESPN the Magazine.  Attendance was way down, ticket prices were high, relationships between the front office and fans was very poor, and the team only had half of their games broadcasted on television.

Things were going great for the Blackhawks for the early part of the 90’s.

The Blackhawks had been one of the top dogs in hockey for a long period of time.  In the 70’s, 80’s, and especially in the early 90’s, the Hawks were the talk of the town.  The old Chicago Stadium was packed for every game.  The packed crowd roared for every game as fans cheered on star players like Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour, and Denis Savard.

The Blackhawks had arguably the best environment in hockey.  Nothing was better than seeing a game at Chicago Stadium, and watching the Blackhawks make the playoffs.

Things quickly changed for the Blackhawks organization.  Those superstar players were run out of town, and the Blackhawks’ streak of 24 straight playoff appearances came to a stunning end in 1995.

From that point on, the Blackhawks made the playoffs just once in the next 10 seasons.  The roar of the crowd was left in the site of old Chicago Stadium, which was torn down in 1994.  The success did not transfer over to the newly erected United Center.  Things weren’t the same.

The Blackhawks became irrelevant in the hockey world.  Much of that was to blame on owner Bill Wirtz.

Wirtz took over as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1966.  During his 41 years as owner of the Blackhawks, the team did not win one Stanley Cup.

Wirtz was a major part of running those afore mentioned star players out of Chicago.  The star players left the Chicago ice, and were sent elsewhere in the NHL.  Wirtz severely fractured relationships with the Blackhawks’ fan base by sending away fan favorites like Roenick and others.

The final straw with Wirtz came with his policy of not broadcasting Blackhawk home games.  Wirtz was loyal to his season ticket holders, and refused to let fans watch the home games on television.  This policy was aimed at attracting larger crowds to the United Center, but all it did was shrink popularity.

Nobody wanted to watch the Blackhawks.  Overtime, the AHL Chicago Wolves drew in larger crowds than the NHL Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks were once one of the most popular and beloved franchises in all of hockey.  They soon became an afterthought.

The newly built United Center was not packed like it is today.  Drawing 15,000 fans was a rarity.

Frankly, there was no reason to go to a Blackhawks game.  If you were looking to watch hockey’s best players, you’d have to hope the Hawks were playing somebody good.  Most fans couldn’t tell you who played on the team.  Players who came to Chicago weren’t in town for long.  Most were quickly sent out of town.

Also, the only time a Blackhawk fan could watch a home game is when they played in front of a national audience, which was a rarity.

The Blackhawks were a joke at the time.  They weren’t winning, they weren’t bringing any excitement, and the Madhouse on Madison was definitely not a madhouse.

With these terrible decisions and bad policies in place, the Blackhawks fan base turned their back on a team they once loved and embraced.  Frankly, there was no reason to be excited about the Blackhawks.

How could you blame people who turned their back on the Blackhawks?  The team was being run by an owner who didn’t care about the fans, and showed little respect for the franchise that was once a prominent member of the league.

When Rocky Wirtz took over for his late father, things quickly changed.  The team had star power with young names like Kane, Toews, Keith, and others.

The franchise also began to experiment with broadcasting home games on television, which needless to say has been a huge success, and has been a huge factor in the Blackhawks’ increase in popularity.

If you consider yourself a “bandwagon” fan, it’s ok.  It’s good to have you back.  The Blackhawks are back, and are once again a winner, and the franchise is stronger than ever.  Hockey never left Chicago, but it sure is back!

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