Puck drops at 11AM on Friday 10/2/09 !
Dude, I’m tellin ya………….
I know exactly where I will be tomorrow, Friday 10/2/09, at 11AM.
I’ll be at that favorite wings bar I’ve touted here previously when they open at 11:00 to watch the Blackhawks season opener live from Finland. If anyone wants to join me, that’s Time Out West sports bar in Hanover Park, IL. Of course, it’s a little easier for me than most since I still find myself in-between jobs at the moment. So I have some freetime to do things like that. No money….but freetime.
But honestly, I’m really excited because the truth of the matter is that the Chicago Blackhawks are the best team in Chicago. In two short years since that old bastard Bill Wirtz kicked it, they have made just about every move correctly. And the result is that they are better than the Sox, Cubs, Bears, and even the young Derrick Rose-led Bulls. This is the team from Chicago most likely to contend for the championship of their sport. Plain and simple.
They hired a great head man when they swooped in and lured John McDonough away from the Cubs. And although when I first heard the news that they fired coach Denis Savard and replaced him with Joel Quenneville, I was against it and wondered why? But it was a great move that I fully appreciate now as one beyond my hockey expertise. They made nice with ex-Hawk legends Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Bobby Hull. And Denis Savard is still a respected and valued man in the organization.
Most of all, they put their home games on TV for the first time in my life and brought back the best play-by-play man in hockey in Pat Foley.
So then it boils down to the team itself. And we have the best young team in hockey along with the Pittsburgh Penguins. While I have mentioned the double-standard that celebrities get in our justice system and railed against Patrick Kane’s recent assault on a cab driver—and his subsequent kid-glove treatment ——I am glad he is available to take the ice tomorrow morning. That’s where I get a little two-faced.
My biggest concerns are that we are without the services of free-agent signee Marian Hossa….who is one of my favorite players in hockey……as well as Adam Burish, for several weeks each. Burish is actually out for several months. That will hurt big-time. When Hossa was in Atlanta teaming with (my favorite player) Ilya Kovalchuk, they were the best offensive tandem in the league. Now Hossa gets to elevate the game of our younger guys.
I expect this team to be in the conference finals at a minimum. This team takes me back to the early 1990s when I was in my early 20s and my friends, all of our girlfriends, and I would meet at some local watering holes and watch as many games as they would televise back then. We had guys like Jeremy Roenick, Eddie Belfour, and Chris Chelios in their primes and a bunch of other cool players that did exactly what their roles demanded of them. Players like Bryan Marchment, Jocelyn Lemieux, and Dirk Graham. Hell, we even had a young goalie fighting for playing time named Dominik Hasek. You know…..the future Hall of Famer?
It was a sweet time to be surrounded by your buddies throwing down coldies and watching the Hawks run over people. If we lost back then, we usually started a nasty little brawl in the 3rd period or after the game to make sure the other team remembered us. Pure Chicago.
Today’s team doesn’t get into fights as much as we did back then or in the Bob Probert days…but these guys are FAST !!!! That’s perhaps the most exciting element of this year’s team versus 1992. In the finals that year, we lost to a Pittsburgh team that had dazzling skaters/players like Mario Lemieux and a young Jaromir Jagr. Some of the goals those guys scored were so unbelievable that all you could do was shake your head and come to the realization that Pittsburgh just might be the only team in the league better than us.
Now today’s Blackhawks team has similar players. Our skaters are so fast and so talented that they win without pounding the shit out of the opponent. We do still have some scrappers—-you have to. But Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Jonathon Toews, and Hossa are a nice group of high-flyers. The ironic thing is that after a down period of their own, the Pittsburgh Penguins are back with the same formula they had in 1992. They are the defending champs and led by elite studs like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Incredible talent over there.
I can see a Blackhawks vs Penguins finals match-up just like in 1992. But this time, our boys will come out on top. We don’t rely on brawn as much as we used to as a franchise. Now we have a lot more skill players. That will be the difference.
I’ve seen a SuperBowl champ (’85 Bears), several NBA Chamionships (da Bulls), and even a deceptive World Series title (2005 WhiteSox).
This is the year that I believe the Blackhawks might deliver the long-awaited Stanley Cup to make my sporting life complete. Even if they don’t do it this year, this team will be really good for the next 6-8 years with the youth that we have.
It’s the best damn team in Chicago.