The Champs are back!

After last year’s strike-shortened season, its hard to believe the Blackhawks will open their 2013-2014 season tomorrow night at the United Center. But nobody in Chicago is complaining. The Blackhawks will raise their Stanley Cup Championship banner into the United Center rafters, and the quest to repeat will officially begin. Coming off their championship season, Blackhawks management took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” technique into the offseason, using most of their off-season moves to retain the cup winning team from last season. And why not? After starting the year with a record-setting 24 games without a regulation loss streak and finishing it as Stanley Cup champions, its clear they did something right. But lets not forget, much of the Blackhawks’ success came from their depth. And with the losses of Michael Frolik, Viktor Stalberg, and Dave Bolland, that depth took a hit. But the organization has proven that they can find guys to surround their core – the question will be, is this the right group of guys?

Repeating is more difficult in the NHL than any other league – the last team to repeat being the ’97-’98 Red Wings. So its hard to go into this season with those expectations. They are not going to go 24 games without a regulation loss. They may not win their division, even with Detroit moving to the East. But this team still has a shot, because they have the most talented, dangerous duo in hockey.

To me, you need to build on the steps forward they made last year, particularly from Corey Crawford. Craw earned his payday after last season, but it is important to note he got a lot of help during the regular season from backup Ray Emery, who left for Philadelphia. Nikolai Khabibulin, making his return to the Blackhawks, is a bit old and will not be able to split starts in the regular season with Crawford. We are going to need to see Crawford become the consistent everyday starter that we saw many great flashes of in last year’s playoffs. You also need to see steps forward from Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad – both played MAJOR roles in propelling the Blackhawks to the championship last season, and we need to see them become regular contributors this season.

Even though it is really, really tough to repeat, I think the Blackhawks have a legitimate shot. If anything, they need to worry about the hungry, improved teams around them. The Penguins got a raw deal last year with the Crosby injury, the Bruins are still a major threat, the Red Wings pushed the Hawks to the brink last year and could not be a potential Stanley Cup opponent, and the Blues could be their new toughest division opponent. The Blackhawks will NEED to stay healthy, particularly Kane, Toews and Crawford. I think this team will be able to score (so a healthy dose of Chelsea Dagger), and if they can stay on the ice, protect the goal and kill the penalty with consistency, they have a real shot.

And the way I see it, they’ll need to figure out how to share Grant Park this summer with the Bulls….

17 Seconds and then….Glory.

I hope you didn’t blink. Milan Lucic had just scored at the 12:11 mark of the third period, a goal which seemed to be the backbreaker that would be sending us to a Game 7. I hope you didn’t blink. With under two minutes left, Jonathan Toews made an incredible pass to Bryan Bickell to tie the game. Suddenly hope was restored. We would make it to overtime for the 4th time this series, where the Blackhawks had already won two of the previous three overtime games. I hope you didn’t blink. 17 seconds later, Dave Bolland made history in what had already been an historic season for the Blackhawks. They were less than a minute away from their second cup in four years. In 17 seconds, they went from heartbreaking loss, to Stanley Cup glory. I really hope you didn’t blink.

It was an historic season for the Chicago Blackhawks, coming off two disappointing first round playoff exits in a row. They started and finished their season in record-breaking fashion. They began by starting the strike-shortened season by going 24 consecutive games without a regulation loss, and ended the season with the record for the shortest span between game-tying and Stanley Cup-clinching goals, as well as the latest cup-clinching goal in regulation. And to make it even sweeter, which team had previously held both of those playoff records? The Boston Bruins.

And how appropriate that the game-winning goal was made by Dave Bolland, only his 3rd of the playoffs. All year the Blackhawks were defined by their depth. All four lines were a threat to score. Corey Crawford answered all of his critics who questioned whether or not he could be an every day goaltender, and now he’s a Stanley Cup Champion. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who both went through their share of slumps in the playoffs, came up big in the final two games. And to think, only a month ago, this was the same team that was down 3-1 to the Red Wings and on the brink of elimination. But from that point, the Blackhawks went on to win 11 of their final 14 playoff games.

It was an incredible end to an incredible season. And for all of us Chicago sports fans, really soak this one in. The Cubs and White Sox are both in the middle of miserable seasons and long-term rebuilds. The Bulls are still awaiting the return of their star, all while still figuring out how to surround him with the right guys to make them true contenders. The Bears are about to enter a new coaching regime with their 4th offensive coordinator in the Jay Cutler era and an aging defense playing for the first time in this decade without Brian Urlacher. Since the Bulls’ last title in 1998, Chicago’s major sports teams have only been world champions three times, two of them by the Blackhawks. So lets celebrate this one all summer long. The Stanley Cup is back in Chicago.

Time for Playoff….Mullets?

In 2007, the New England Patriots had a record breaking regular season, finishing 16-0. Who won the Super Bowl that year? The New York Giants.

Record-breaking win streaks. The President’s Cup. For the Blackhawks, all of that goes out the window tonight as they take the ice for Game 1 of the NHL Playoffs against the Minnesota Wild.

In a statistic and record-obsessed world, none of it matters unless you get the one that matters – the one we’ll always remember – a world championship. The Blackhawks now have a chance to cap off their amazing strike-shortened season with a run at the Stanley Cup – an honor they’ve fallen short of ever since they brought it home to Chicago in 2010. And while many of the supporting characters have been replaced, the Blackhawks core has remained in tact, and has a chance to return the team to glory after 2 straight disappointing seasons. 

The Wild don’t appear to be much of a threat to the Blackhawks run, and if this season has taught us anything, the Hawks will not play down to their competition. They will come out attacking and finish off this series as quickly and convincingly as possible. The Wild don’t appear to be much of a threat to the Blackhawks, and as long as they continue the dominent play we’ve come accustomed to seeing in the regular season, and as long as Corey Crawford returns to early-season form as he likely will be the full time starter with Ray Emery injured, this series shouldn’t go more than 4-5 games. And it is a great opportunity to show that the Blackhawks are for real, that they are truly the best team in the NHL, and that they will not be satisfied until they are hoisting the Stanley Cup Trophy. Because if they don’t win it all, how memorable will their record-setting start in a strike-shortened season that will always be accompanied with an asterisk next to it?