Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks Thread!!!!!!

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This season, the Blackhawks were the absolute best team in the league according to a plurality, maybe even a majority, of statheads and scouts.

 

Next season, they'll be back in the pack among 6-8 teams that can be called Cup contenders. Woo!

[17 Seconds]

Timmonen pretty much confirms that the Flyers were gassed.

 

http://euroflyers.blogspot.com/

 

Timonen refused to blame goalie Michael Leighton.

 

"We lose as a team and we win as a team. Of course they could always get a shutout on their perfect day, but it didn't go like that this time. It's no use to blame anyone."

 

I find it funny how willing so many are to blame Leighton, considering he had about the 2nd best save percentage and goals against average in the playoffs, and it could be argued quite easily that he outplayed Niemi.

 

i think that would be a weak argument. leighton was flat out awful in the finals. niemi was average at worst, and stole game 2.

[Mark_R]

I just re-watched the final few minutes and the trophy presentations.

 

A few thoughts:

 

Marian Hossa absolutely deserved it. His signing was much maligned, and the shoulder injury made us all fear the worst. He is so smooth, so good in the corners digging at pucks and creating chances, almost by himself sometimes. We don't win the Cup without him, so much kudos to Hawks management for identifying an elite talent and taking the necessary measures to get him

 

 

Duncan Keith is a beast. He is some kind of tough.

 

Patrick Kane is going to be a 50 goal scorer in this league. He is too good with the puck in the offensive zone and with the elite level of talent playing around him, he is going to get his lanes. His stick handling is so good now, at the age of what, 21 (?) and he is going to become a more disciplined player and scorer and rip up the league in a nasty nasty way.

 

 

 

Last thought. Who cares about the future right now. We have just erased a lot of the past we all were desperate to forget. This team has been such a joy to watch in the playoffs and I am ecstatic at how they have represented Blackhawk hockey so proudly with their performance.

[17 Seconds]

the blackhawks won the stanley cup

[Guest]

Let's let this sink in.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with a dominating 16-6 record in the playoffs after statheads said they were the best team in the NHL all year, without once facing an elimination game.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with almost entirely homegrown talent as the core.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in an epic, high-scoring 6-game final in which all but one of the games were decided by one goal (excluding ENers) and the sixth was decided by two goals.

 

The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with the 15th overtime sudden-death Cup winner in history, scored by the face of the franchise.

 

Does it get better than this? I can't imagine how.

 

Winning at home would be better.

 

Winning in a game Game 7 would have been more exciting also, though I'm not sure if that is necessarily better.

[Magnetic Curses]

anybody see this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFuc4-ZpYJs&feature=player_embedded

[17 Seconds]

i'd like to formally state that in regards to the ongoing argument i had with kyle all regular season, he was right. i was wrong.

[UMFan83]

When was the first time you really legitimately thought the Hawks could actually win the Cup this year?

 

For me it was after destroying San Jose 7-2 in San Jose just before Thanksgiving. Before then, I knew they were good and they could be a contender, but after that moment it was like a lightbulb went off and I thought "wow, we really really could/should win this thing!" I went to bed that night dreaming of the Hawks winning the Cup...I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to force myself to think of something else because it was only November and so much had to happen between then and June. It is amazing everything that had to happen to get to this moment. All the highs and lows....a lifetime of memories.

 

 

BTW, the Cup is making its rounds around Chicago right now. I keep getting updates on Facebook from friends that are out and about and somehow ran into the Cup. One person said they saw it at Stanleys (Lincoln and Armitage). Another said it was at Market (Randolph and May). And the most recent update is that it was at Will's Bar (Wellington and Racine), and it was with a picture of Campbell, Madden and Burrish holding the Cup. I am told that it has since left though.

 

Edit: It was also at Harry Carey's where they passed the Cup around to fans, who got to drink out of it, as well as Tavern on Rush and Rockit downtown earlier in the day.

is tracking it, but they don't have anything about Will's...but I have a photo:

 

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/5243/dacup.jpg

 

And Toews at Ann Sather this morning:

 

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5485/toewsannsather.jpg

Edited June 11, 2010 by UMFan83

[Hairyducked Idiot]

i'd like to formally state that in regards to the ongoing argument i had with kyle all regular season, he was right. i was wrong.

 

I used up all that credit on the time between games 3 and 5.

 

I get a little back for calling for line changes after line 4 though.

[17 Seconds]

i can't stop watching the replay of toews handing hossa the cup. my little pet fear since right before the finals started was that hossa would have lose 3 straight cups. he became my favorite player this year and i knew how devastating it would be for him to lose 3 straight, not to mention the "curse of hossa" garbage that would grow larger. a couple days ago i was watching clips of the last 2 cup celebrations, and both times they showed hossa looking completely crushed on the bench as the other team hoisted the cup.

 

i love how he delayed for a few seconds as toews was handing it to him, then finally grabbed it. you can tell when some guys feel awkward holding the cup (especially on the road), and you can tell when guys get a full emotional release from that specific moment. you could tell hossa was having the moment of his life when he was hoisting it.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

When was the first time you really legitimately thought the Hawks could actually win the Cup this year?

 

The 7-2 win over San Jose is a good call. That capped off an 8-game winning streak.

[17 Seconds]

also loved emrick's line when they were in the pile posing for the pictures with the cup (always my favorite part of the celebration, btw).

 

"they played and sacrificed like this for a ring that will be so gaudy they won't wear it every day, and for their name to be on a trophy that they cannot keep. but they can keep this memory"

[Magnetic Curses]

also, you don't fully realize the signifance and the emotion that goes into the hoisting of the cup until it's your team doing it. i guarantee that no matter who wins the cup from here on out (so long as they're not playing the hawks), i will watch that ceremony and i will understand.

[bcl412]

When was the first time you really legitimately thought the Hawks could actually win the Cup this year?

 

For me it was after destroying San Jose 7-2 in San Jose just before Thanksgiving. Before then, I knew they were good and they could be a contender, but after that moment it was like a lightbulb went off and I thought "wow, we really really could/should win this thing!" I went to bed that night dreaming of the Hawks winning the Cup...I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had to force myself to think of something else because it was only November and so much had to happen between then and June. It is amazing everything that had to happen to get to this moment. All the highs and lows....a lifetime of memories.

 

 

BTW, the Cup is making its rounds around Chicago right now. I keep getting updates on Facebook from friends that are out and about and somehow ran into the Cup. One person said they saw it at Stanleys (Lincoln and Armitage). Another said it was at Market (Randolph and May). And the most recent update is that it was at Will's Bar (Wellington and Racine), and it was with a picture of Campbell, Madden and Burrish holding the Cup. I am told that it has since left though.

 

Edit: It was also at Harry Carey's where they passed the Cup around to fans, who got to drink out of it, as well as Tavern on Rush and Rockit downtown earlier in the day.

is tracking it, but they don't have anything about Will's...but I have a photo:

 

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/5243/dacup.jpg

 

And Toews at Ann Sather this morning:

 

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5485/toewsannsather.jpg

 

When we signed Hossa I thought we had a very very good shot.

[17 Seconds]

also, you don't fully realize the signifance and the emotion that goes into the hoisting of the cup until it's your team doing it. i guarantee that no matter who wins the cup from here on out (so long as they're not playing the hawks), i will watch that ceremony and i will understand.

 

and just imagine.... the hawks did it relatively "easily" by going 16-6, and never faced an elimination game. i can't even imagine how emotionally taxing it would be to go through 4 more tightly contested series, when you consider that this hawks run seemed ridiculously grueling as it is

 

i live in florida and my brother is an obsessive lightning fan, so i remember following the lightning's run in 04. they blew a heartbreaker in game 6 of the ECF, followed it up with a close win in game 7, then were one goal away from elimination in OT in game 6 on the road against calgary in the SCF, won that game, and then won another close one in game 7. i still remember marty st. louis crying in the locker room afterwards like he had just been through war.

 

so yeah, you never understand how emotionally taxing it is until you watch one of your teams go through all 4 series

[Magnetic Curses]

it just felt like we'd win a huge game by a slim margin, and then have to do it again a couple nights later, seemingly for an indefinite period of time this went on. no matter how many big games there were and no matter how many we won, there was always another one and another white-knuckler. that's just the way it felt. i can only imagine what the players were going through and how long of a journey it was for them.

[17 Seconds]

it feels like the nashville series was the previous season.

[Magnetic Curses]

oh, and when Roenick started talking about that kid he saw who was crying his eyes out as he left the ice after getting closed out by the pens, i nearly lost it.

 

i remember belfour smashing his stick against the boards before leaving the ice and being in disbelief that it was over. i wasn't the specific fan he was talking about, but that was me. roenick and chelios were like supermen to me, and i think roenick understands that he let a lot of people down and carries a lot of guilt and shame, not just for himself, but for chicago. he was our hero, our hockey god that failed.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

the blackhawks won the stanley cup

 

On a dramatic, overtime game winner by the face of the franchise, to cap off an epic six-game series of high-scoring, one-goal games.

:yahoo:

[SpongeWorthy]

What was the season long Kyle/dexter argument about?

[UMFan83]

Amazing that the Hawks finished off their season by winning 12 of their last 15 games. As the journey got tougher, they got stronger.

[17 Seconds]

oh, and when Roenick started talking about that kid he saw who was crying his eyes out as he left the ice after getting closed out by the pens, i nearly lost it.

 

and then milbury ruined it by being a dick

[17 Seconds]

What was the season long Kyle/dexter argument about?

 

basically about whether or not our 2-3 month sucktitude in the second half of the season was more than just a slump

[Hairyducked Idiot]

What was the season long Kyle/dexter argument about?

 

The heart of it was that dexter thought that the March swoon was a sign of something fundamentally flawed with the team and that we'd crash and burn in the playoffs, especially without a new goalie.

 

My contention was that slumps and streaks happen for no apparent reason, and that the March swoon was nothing more than a slump and had no bearing on whether we'd be slumping or streaking come playoff time. I also figured either Huet or Niemi was capable of going on a hot streak, although I was slightly more partial to Huet, and that even if they didn't the Hawks could outscore teams.

[17 Seconds]

the blackhawks won the stanley cup

 

On a dramatic, overtime game winner by the face of the franchise, to cap off an epic six-game series of high-scoring, one-goal games.

:yahoo:

 

after nearly being eliminated in the first round by a 7 seed, if not for a SH goal with seconds remaining and then an additional 4 minutes of PK in OT (if we go down 3-2 in that series, then the odds are that nashville would have won)

 

and after being embarrassed in game 1 of the second series, followed by going down 2-0 immediately in game 2.

 

seriously, i always forget about that. we looked COMPLETELY done when we went down 2-0 in game 2 of the vancouver series. i remember that's when i was watchin an online deef and could hear the announcers talking to each other during commercial breaks, saying stuff like "they are completely paralyzed", "they cant skate", and "i cant believe how lost they look"

 

and then they went 12-3