Start of Something Special (Part I)

Two years ago at this time, it was clear that Hawks were at the start of something special. Toews and Kane had both arrived, both had out-paced the hype, and in doing so, shed light on the fact that quietly the Hawks had put together some other key pieces as well. Players like Havlat, Keith, Seabrook, Sharp, Buff, and Wisniewski all were looking like legit NHL caliber players with their whole careers ahead, and a slew of prospects like Barker, Bolland, Versteeg, and HJ were knocking on the door.

But special is a relative term. At that point, special meant bringing the Hawks back into NHL relevancy. Given what had transpired since they parted ways with Roenick following the 1996 season, being relevant to hockey and the city of Chicago was a pretty special accomplishment.


Right now, I'm starting to think that what we're seeing right now is the start of something even more special - a Stanley Cup winner. One of my buddies had an opportunity to shake hands and take pictures with a few of the Hawks players after the Sharks win in San Jose a month ago. He said it was a bit weird, given that he was older that all but Huet and Madden. But I said that if this team did end up winning it all, he wouldn't think it was weird, he'd be pumped to have had a few minutes with one of the legendary teams in Chicago sports history.

Because that's how it works around here - if you win a title, you become a legend. Pretty much any player to be on a roster of a championship team is a well-known celebrity in this town. The most obvious example is the 85 Bears - most fans could even tell you the two Pro Bowl players who didn't even play that year because they held out (Al Harris and Todd Bell)! Run through all those Bulls championships and excepting a few one-year end-of-the-benchers (Joe Kleine, any one?), who wouldn't remember Jud Buechler and Scott Williams? Ask any Sox fan about Timo Perez or Pablo Ozuna and they'll light up with memories from 2005.


Of course there's a lot of season left and of course the playoffs are a season unto themselves. And of course injuries and hot or cold goalie play can change everything. But man, from what I've seen from these Hawks starting two years ago and progressing straight on through to last night, I'm really starting to believe that this team is gonna be legendary. And not "sometime in the next few years" - I mean this season.

Most of you probably just got really skeptical. That's how it works in Chicago - titles are such rare occurrences that we can't help but doubt they'll actually happen. Chicago teams just never are quite dominant enough, never quite able to avoid some pratfall along the way. And thus, even when a lot of signs point to the kind of team that just might be special, we're conditioned to be skeptical, to believe that someone else out there is superior or will catch better breaks.

Maybe it was the liberation of that 2005 Sox title, but I don't think that way anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a bit skeptical, but more in lines of the natural level any intelligent sports fan displays. It takes a lot of talent, a lot of execution, and a lot of luck to win any major title. But every single year in every single sport, some team does it. If the signs seem to suggest it, why shouldn't I truly believe it'll be my team, this year?


Well, I believe that the Hawks will do it, and they'll do it this year. I see how this Hawks team has dominated this year, all season long. Despite missing loads of good players to injuries, despite missteps from their goaltending. Whether they are at home or on the road, playing in back-to-back games, or most tellingly, facing a scrub team or a fellow Cup contender. Most nights the Hawks are out-shooting their opponents at near a two-to-one rate and controlling every aspect of the game.

Oddly enough, last night's loss probably did as much to convince me of how special this team is as any game I've seen the Hawks play. Remember, the Hawks are in the midst of a brutal stretch of schedule - two each versus heated rivals StL and Det, two against the red hot Preds, one each against Cup contenders Boston, San Jose, and New Jersey, and a road trip to Dallas, somewhere the Hawks have struggled... all in a single two and a half week stretch!

They're also coming off an emotional victory over the Wings (depleted roster or not, a home win against the Wings is always emotional). They're facing a highly talented and accomplished Sharks team out for serious vengeance after the embarrassment the Hawks subjected them to in San Jose. And they're missing their #2 center (Bolland), their top power play blueliner (Barker), one of their top PKers (Burish), and their top scoring 4th liner (Eager), while the Sharks are all but at full strength.

So what happened? The Hawks absolutely dominated the game. The Sharks didn't have a single sustained stretch in the Hawks zone until late in the third, against tired Hawks skaters, on a power play. On the other side, the Hawks peppered the San Jose net with 47 shots... and that only counts the ones that hit the goalie. Probably another 15-20 went flying just by the net on good opportunities.

In my eyes, the Hawks were a few lucky bounces, a timely Huet save, and a non-godlike performance from Nabakov away from absolutely destroying the Sharks for the second time this season. In fact, I thought the Hawks dominated the Sharks more last night than they did in that 7-2 blow victory in San Jose. I was at the UC - the entire game was spent either in the Sharks end or in harmless transition. If you didn't know the score or anything about the teams involved, watching the game for any extended period would have made you believe that the Hawks were a superpower and the Sharks an also-ran.

Well, I don't think the Sharks are an also-ran. I don't think they played bad last night. I really just think that this Hawks team is special. I think they've assembled a powerhouse that's near complete in every facet of the game. I think you've got an amazing mix of talent, grit, and execution. And I think you've got the most important factor in professional sports today - incredible hunger.

Top to bottom, only Madden and Kopecky have ever won a Cup. Only Hossa has ever been recognized as an elite player in the NHL. Every one else is hungry to make their mark, eager to show the absolute best hockey player they can be. And perfectly enough, they all seem to understand that the best way to do accomplish such is to do your part to make the team a winner.


Want numeric proof of how good this team is? Until last night, the Hawks were allowing 2 goals a game. No team since the Original Six Era has ever done that for a full season. So this team, through almost half the schedule, has been as good defensively as any team in a generation.

Now think about that - this is not a "defensive" team. They're not the old Devils trap teams, where the whole system is about defense. They're not a scrappy veteran team needing to sneak out a bunch of 2-1 and 1-0 games. This is one of the more potent offensive groups assembled today, with serious scoring punch on all four lines. They are aggressive offensively, sparked by a blue line group that loads up on assists and completed by a glut of impressive scoring options.

And yet somehow they are on pace to set records defensively. That's because they are just so incredibly talented and they are playing so incredibly well that literally anything is possible - even an offensive juggernaut rewriting the defensive record books.


Still not convinced? Check back in on Monday and I'll run through the Blackhawk roster, breaking down player-by-player exactly why you should shrug off years of Chicago-bred sports cynicism and start to believe in what we've got here. My friends, this team has the look of something special - a rare feat in these parts, but that's all the more reason we've got to enjoy every second of the ride.