No NHL team has won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles since the Detroit Red Wings accomplished the feat in 1997-1998. The defending champion Chicago Blackhawks aim to end that 15-year run with their second consecutive title this summer.
There is no trophy harder to win in team sports than the Stanley Cup. There is so much that goes into the 16 wins required to lift the fabled chalice. Lucky bounces, injuries, hot goalies, ragged beards and just plain old fashioned good fortune are all part of the successful formula required to win just one cup.
To string consecutive championship seasons requires a special kind of sorcery that the NHL hasn’t seen since Sergei Fedorov dazzled the hockey universe with his fancy white Nike skates. Until now. The Blackhawks are as talented top to bottom as any team in the league. While they may not win the NHL equivalent of the “nice personality” award, the President’s Trophy, they are certainly set up to contend for an encore of 2013, and their third in five years. Here are five reasons why they can do exactly that.
1.Plain, raw, nasty talent-One look at the Chicago roster could send shivers down the spine of the teams looking to defeat the reigning kings of the hockey mountain. They are absolutely loaded in every department. Offensively they can fill the net on any given night with four lines of talented scorers. The big guns hang on the top two lines and are basically an all-star team in black-white and red. Captain Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad and even Andrew Shaw lead the offensive charge.
2. Defense-The top two defensemen in the NHL right now might wear the Blackhawk logo on their sweater. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are the top defensive pairing for Chicago, neutralizing the opponents’ top line while providing tremendous offensive support of their own. Keith and Seabrook had alternated strong statistical seasons, but this year have lit it up on both ends of the ice. Beyond the starting duo, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Johnny Oduya, Nick Leddy and Sheldon Brookbank comprise arguably the most talented corps of defensemen in the NHL today.
3. Joel Quenneville-The boss behind the bench has long been respected as one of the top coaches in the league and seems to always pull the right strings for his talented crew.
He seems to get the most out of his team at all times and you will never see a Chicago player quit on the ice. The intensity of his furrowed brow and his legendary duster frame the scowling face of a leader who is rarely satisfied, but has players that will skate through a brick wall for him.
If the Blackhawks fall short of a repeat in 2014, it won’t be because they were outcoached.
4. Experience-I’ll spare you the following generic quotes:
-They know what it takes to win because they have been there before.
-It is their title to lose.
-The Blackhawks always seem to come up big when it counts the most.
-Chicago knows how to win big games.
-Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have really handsome beards.
So that last one is an obvious exaggeration and actually completely false, but you get the idea. They are clichés, but they also happen to be true. The maturity of a team that had won the title in 2010 really made the difference in the Final last season and will again be a strength when Chicago starts their 2014 quest.
5. Expectations-Or rather lack thereof. The focus of the NHL world will be on the darling Anaheim Ducks or the St. Louis Blues in the west. In the east Pittsburgh and Boston will take all the hype. Chicago has been elite all year, but seem to have flown under the radar almost because they were expected to be good. Ho-hum, the Hawks are winning a ton of games again. The players are aware that they aren’t getting the love from the mainstream media and certainly aren’t being hyped as a dynasty largely because no one on the team wears number 87. Truth be told, Chicago is capable of the type of run that the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders went on in the 1980’s.
Of course the smart money is on the rest of the field if you want to place odds on Chicago repeating as the champs, but don’t be surprised if they are still standing when the smoke clears. They are young, healthy and loaded at every position. Did I mention that they have been there before, win when it counts and know how to win big games?