CBC-Sports

Blackhawks showing swagger of a champion

December 1, 2009 06:33 PM | Posted by   Craig Simpson  

When the Chicago Blackhawks embarked on their six-game road tip on Nov. 18, coach Joel Quenneville felt his team needed at least seven of a possible 12 points to stay in the race for the Central Division lead.

Fast forward to Dec. 1, and the Blackhawks’ head honcho can relax a bit after his team secured a 4-1-1 record and put nine points in the bank. The Blackhawks now sit comfortably atop the Division, and are within striking distance of first overall in the league.

Start of a Cup run?

The Circus that annually takes over the United Center in late November forces the Hawks to take to the road every American Thanksgiving. This year the Hawks might end up looking back on this road trip as the beginning of their Stanley Cup run.

From the drop of the puck on this season, Chicago has looked like a very good team. But on their journey west through Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles, the Blackhawks looked like the best team in the NHL.

After going 4-0 on their last home stand, the Hawks took to the road and tore through Alberta, outscoring the Flames and Oilers 12-3, and then won a defensive battle 1-0 in Vancouver, before their offence exploded in San Jose in a convincing 7-2 victory against the NHL’s point leading team. They finished their trip with a loss in Anaheim and a shootout loss in LA. In all, they outscored their opponents 21-10, and played like a team that has a swagger and confidence of a champion.

Goaltending has shone

Their offence was explosive and balanced, with 12 different players scoring on the trip. Their defence was tight and stingy, allowing two or fewer goals in five of the six games. And their goaltending, which for many critics seemed to be the one area of weakness going into the season, has to be one of the real bright spots.

Cristobal Huet has flourished in the starting role, going 12-5-2 with an impressive 2.12 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. As a backup, Antti Niemi has been more than capable with a 4-1-1 record, a dazzling 1.85 GAA and .921 save percentage.

The Hawks are for real folks, and it couldn’t come at a better time.

This is a team and an organization that understands the clock is ticking on their window for success. With so many good young players who are quickly becoming superstars, there won’t be enough money to keep them all.

2009 playoff run a great lesson

While this most recent road trip may serve as a launching pad to their success this year, I think the experience that was gained last year in their playoff run to the Western Conference Final is what has pushed this young team to new heights.

With 17 games of playoff hockey under their belts, this core group of skilled youngsters learned how hard you have to play, and how disciplined you have to be to win come playoff time.

Much like the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the lessons the Hawks learned by losing to the Detroit Red Wings will help push them even further in this year’s post-season.

I know there is still a lot of regular-season hockey to be played, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that I expect to be spending quite a bit of time in April, May and June in the Windy City.

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