Blackhawks On The Six

Chicago Blackhawks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For the Chicago Blackhawks, their number this season was six.  They are an Original Six NHL franchise (though Keith Olbermann of ESPN disputes that) who have now won six Stanley Cups in its history, three of them in the past six years.

It took the Hawks six games to clear the final hurdle against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with a 2-0 win at United Center in Chicago to take the series four games to two.  Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, who was named winner of the Conn Smythe trophy for being MVP of the playoffs, scored one goal each.

This was a tight series, with all but one game--the last one--being decided by one goal.   Corey Crawford of the Hawks and Ben Bishop of the Lightning were both solid in goal, though there were times when Bishop's on-ice behavior was so erratic that you wondered what was really going on with him.

Both teams' road to the finals were daunting, but no less doable.  The Blackhawks' Western Conference path went through the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks. (They benefited from not having to play the defending champion Los Angeles Kings, who missed the playoffs this year.)  Tampa Bay's Eastern Conference journey went through three of the Original Six teams--Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.  They couldn't get past the fourth.

There's no reason why the Chicago Blackhawks can't go for a seventh Stanley Cup--or more.  The core players of Kane, Keith, Jonathan Toews and others, along with coach Joel Quenneville, are all signed up for the next few years.  So don't be surprised if Lord Stanley's Cup continues to take up residence in the Windy City for the rest of this decade.