Blackhawks Will Play for The Stanley Cup For the First Time Since 1992

For the First time since 1992 years, the Chicago Blackhawks are back in the Stanley Cup Finals. They got there by completing the 4 game sweep of the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals last night by a score of 4-2. San Jose actually got on the board first in game 4, thanks to a 1st period goal from Logan Couture, his 4th of the playoffs. The Sharks then extended the lead to 2-0 thanks to a power play goal from Patrick Marleau, his 8th of the playoffs. Then the Hawks woke up and decided to start playing hockey again. The Hawks scored twice in the 2nd, the first goal coming from Brent Seabrook, and the 2nd coming from Dave Bolland, to tie the game at 2. Then all of a sudden, everything changed for the Hawks in the 3rd. Hawks have a power play with about 6 Minutes left in regulation. There is a wild scramble in front of the Sharks net and from out of nowhere Dustin Byfuglien is able to find a loose puck and pound it past fallen Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov. The goal gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead. Then with about 45 seconds left in the game Kris Versteeg added the empty netter to give the Hawks a 4-2 victory in the game and a 4 game sweep in the series. In this game 4 Nabokov made 23 saves on 26 shots, while his counterpart Antti Niemi stopped 16 of 18 shots that he faced.

Looking at this series from the perspective of the Sharks, this really does have to be disappointing. The team had a bit of a scare against the Avalanche in the first round before winning in 6, and then despite getting blasted in game 4 of the next round against the Red Wings 7-1, they were able to take down the 2 time defending West Champions in 5 games. Now they get swept by the Hawks in the Conference finals? That just doesnt seem right to me man. Through the first 2 rounds, the Sharks had everything going. Pavelski and Thorton and Heatley were all producing and were all having an impact. Then when the conference finals started, those 3 guys went AWOL and the only one who really seemed to show up besides Nabokov was Patrick Marleau. If the Sharks are gonna be a Cup winner any time soon, then they really need to take a look at what they have and they need to start making better business decisions and possibly consider getting rid of some players.

As far as the Hawks go, congratulations. The Blackhawks have not played for Lord Stanley's Cup since 1992 when they were beaten in 5 games by Mario and the Penguins. The Blackhawks this year are looking to end 2 curses. The first one is a team curse. That team curse is the fact that the Hawks have the longest drought in the NHL, having not won the Cup since their last Cup victory back in 1961! Sop the Hawks are looking to end that. Also the Hawks are trying to end the Curse of Marian Hossa:



The past 2 seasons have not been kind to Marion Hossa. Each of the past 2 Cup Finals Marion Hossa has played in, and each of the past 2 finals his team has come up on the short end of the stick. 2 Years ago he was playing in Pittsburgh, as they lost in 6 games to the Detroit Red Wings. Last year Hossa was playing for the Detroit Red Wings as they fell to Pittsburgh in 7 games. Will this season finally be the year Marion Hossa gets his name on the Cup? Only time will tell!