Its Hockey Time

Ever since Adam and I first had the idea for this site I have been wanting to do an article on the Blackhawks, and well, that day has finally come.

I know it was a big weekend in football with the conference title match-ups being set, the Bears hiring an offensive position coach before an offensive coordinator (seriously Lovie?? who does that?), and the unfortunate passing of Gaines Adams, and those are all things that I will get to this week, but after this weekend and the season the ‘Hawks have had I think they’ve earned a little press.

For those of you that weren’t paying attention, and I know most of you probably weren’t, the Blackhawks started an eight game road trip this weekend with two exciting wins (when was the last time you could say that about a Chicago team).  Saturday afternoon they got into a shootout with Columbus and managed to come away with a 6-5 victory.  The goal tending was a little suspect in this one and the ‘Hawks were down 2 goals in the third period before the offensive exploded and carried them to the win.

And yesterday’s game against the rival Redwings was even better.  The Blackhawks had 1 goal leads on three seperate occasions only to have the Redwings come back and tie each time.  Backup rookie goaltender Antti Niemi was fantastic in this game.  He made a number of outstanding saves, including four in the overtime period to send the game to a shootout.  The shootout was tied at 2 after three rounds and in round 4 Niemi made another outstanding save and Patrick Sharpe fired a shot past the ear of Redwing goaltender Jimmy Howard to give the ‘Hawks the win.

I’ve been accused by some people (Adam) of jumping on the ‘Hawks bandwagon only because they are good, and you know what, that’s pretty much true.  I wanted no part of the NHL before last season’s playoffs.  But this team is really good and they are exciting to watch.  I watch every game I can now and I love it.  I’ve gone from a bandwagon jumper to a huge fan of this team and the entire league.  Hockey is a fun game to watch and this is a fun team.  Not only do they have the NHL’s best record, but they are loaded with really young talent, most of which is locked up to long term contracts, so they will continue to be one of the league’s best teams for years to come.

Lets face, this is Chicago’s best chance at getting a championship.  And after suffering through another miserable Bears season, its nice to watch a team like this and follow an organization that really has things going in the right direction.  So to all of you non-hockey fans out there I have one thing to say: There is plenty of room on the bandwagon so get on while you can, its going to be a great season.