Blackhawks streak a blessing
When fans most needed post- lockout salve, Chicago delivered
Emerging from another bitter labour impasse, with credibility at an all- time low and fan mistrust reaching toxic levels, the National Hockey League needed something, anything, to recapture imagination.
Something to put the stench of millionaires squabbling with billionaires in the past, to provide hockey- watchers and fence- sitters alike something with which to be spellbound.
And, voila!, in marched the Chicago Blackhawks.
Unlike the last ownership-mandated work stoppage, this time there would be no curious rule changes — shootouts, smaller neutral zone, team icing the puck not permitted to change — to catch the fancy of a fan base increasingly disgusted by a sense of wanton betrayal and latent avarice.
As if on cue, the ’ Hawks stepped up and filled the crucial void.
Their compelling consecutive-games- from- the- start- of-a-season point streak lasted 24 outings, 21 of those wins, beginning on the road Jan. 19 with a 5- 2 victory against the reigning Stanley Cup champion L. A. Kings at Staples Center and ending March 8 against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
In between, they won big, and they won dramatically. They paraded out more heroes — Corey Crawford, Ray Emery, Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, etc., etc. — than Stan Lee and the cartooning gang at Marvel.
“We’re all watching,” admitted Michael Cammalleri of the Calgary Flames as the run reached 20 games. “Every day when you check the scores, the first one you search for is Chicago’s. Did they win again? Did they keep the streak alive?
“That’s what everyone’s asking.”
The perfect salve for a ruptured fan/ league relationship.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” lauded Chicago coach Joel Quenneville the night the streak ended in Denver. “From start to finish, they found different ways of winning, night in and night out. To contribute to something that hasn’t been done, it’s a great feather in our cap.
The ’ Hawks weren’t the only storyline. As promised, given the congestion of the reduced 48- game schedule, points were hellish to come by, OTs and shootouts plentiful.
A year ago, if your memory’s a little fuzzy, we only had Sid the Kid to marvel at for 22 games due to ongoing concussion issues. This year, fit as fiddle, Mr. Crosby’s back on track to land the Art Ross Trophy for the first time since ’ 0607, stockpiling 45 points for Pittsburgh.
Other worthy first- half Hart Trophy candidates: Kane, Toews, Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf and Tampa triggerman Steven Stamkos.
Among the Jack Adams frontrunners: Quenneville, Bruce Boudreau of Anaheim and Montreal’s Michel Therrien.
Old powers outside of the 312 area code also began to reemerge. The 2006- 2007 Stanley Cup champion Ducks, 13th in the West and a massive 15 points wide of a playoff berth a year ago, may have been unfairly lost in the record- setting hue of the ’ Hawks, but over the summer, mimicking their state rivals, GM Bob Murray assembled a bigger, stronger, more Kings- like group and the Ducks responded by ripping off a 17- 3- 3 start, while re- signing captain Getzlaf to an eight- year, $ 66- million deal.
Every bit as extraordinary as Anaheim’s amazing turnaround has been the resurrection of the Canadiens. One new GM, Marc Bergevin, one recycled coach, Michel Therrien, throw in a couple of star- spangled kids, Brendan Gallagher and Alex Galchenyuk, and a healthy Andrei Markov and up off the mat you go from 15th in the East and the third- lowest point total in the league, to first in the East and the third- highest points total.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes went above and beyond expectations, as well.
Among the disappointments, count the Washington Capitals and, to a lesser degree, budding Cup contenders Philadelphia, St. Louis and Vancouver. For many, the still- teething Edmonton Oilers rate high, if not at the top, of the flop list. This promised to be the year it all came together in the Alberta capital. Yet the Big Oil Drop seems no closer to maturation now than a year or two ago, and they find themselves fighting to stay out of the Western Conference basement.
Among the emerging individual stars, Ducks’ 30- year- old ‘ rookie’ goaltender Viktor Fasth, late of AIK Sweden, qualifies as the most unlikely. His 10- 1 record, 1.92 GAA and .929 save percentage have provided workhorse Jonas Hiller with an enviable complement. The Sergei Makarov rule prevents Fasth, at 30, from lifting the Calder Trophy, but that battle has already been joined by Tampa’s Cory Conacher, Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau, Oiler D- man Justin Schultz, L. A. blueliner Jake Muzzin and the Montreal kids.
Proving nothing lasts forever, the Sabres handed Lindy Ruff, the league’s longest- serving active head coach, a one- way bus ticket out of Buffalo, ending a 16- year marriage. Proving that nothing is unsalvageable, Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo are, at last glance, anyway, coexisting quite nicely in Vancouver.
But over the first half, out of the ashes of yet more wilfully childish labour bickering, one thing stands out: The Blackhawks, and the incredible run that more than anything helped a skeptical public put 113 days of acrimony in the past.