Chicago Sun-Times - Chicago Blackhawks: Stanleys Return: A look back at the Blackhawks streak, season and incredible playoff run

STANLEYS RETURN

A look back at the streak,
regular season and
incredible playoff run

Editor in Chief: Jim Kirk

Managing Editor: Craig Newman

Deputy Managing Editor - Digital Products: Catherine Lanucha

Deputy Managing Editor - News/Sports: Chris De Luca

Associate Editor Features & Innovation: Linda Bergstrom

Asst. Managing Editor - Administration: Nancy Stuenkel

Edited by Tracy Maple

Produced by Sam Kirkland

Cover image by The Associated Press

Compiled from stories by Mark Lazerus, Adam Jahns, Mark Potash, Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander

Get continuing coverage of the Blackhawks at SunTimes.com

Copyright (c) 2013 by Chicago Sun-Times

350 N. Orleans St., 10th Floor

Chicago, IL 60654

312-321-3000

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-0-9895930-2-1

Contents

Foreword by Mark Lazerus

S urrounded by a throng of reporters and cameras typically only seen late in the playoffs, not late in February, Patrick Kane surveyed the circus that had engulfed the Blackhawks dressing room and tried to put it all in perspective.

Nobodys going to remember this if we dont finish strong, Kane said.

He was right, of course. Epic regular seasons fade into the dustbin of history, while championships live on forever. But at the same time, even if the Hawks hadnt spent a hot and humid late-June night parading the Stanley Cup around the TD Garden ice, champions for the second time in four seasons, it would have been awfully hard to forget the 2013 season anytime soon.

The lockout dragging through Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years. The hastily put-together five-day training camp. The blistering march through the first half of the regular season without a loss in regulation or overtime an NHL-record 21-0-3 start (the losses all in the gimmicky shootout) that launched the Hawks onto the cover of Sports Illustrated and hockey back into the American consciousness after the lengthy lockout. The second-half cruise to the Presidents Trophy. The gut-check comeback against the hated Detroit Red Wings in the second round. The dethroning of the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference final, capped by Kanes hat trick in the decisive Game 5. And then the epic, overtime-laden showdown with the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final a hotly anticipated Original Six matchup that somehow managed to exceed the considerable hype.

The 2013 season was the year Corey Crawford took the next step, putting his previous playoff disappointments behind him and emerging as a big-game goalie. It was the year Kane matured on and off the ice, becoming a more well-rounded player and staying out of trouble as he emerged as a leader in a dressing room full of them. It was the year Bryan Bickell and Andrew Shaw and Brandon Saad became playoff veterans, and the year Kane and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook and Joel Quenneville cemented their status as all-time Chicago icons, two-time champions in a city that doesnt forget.

A season that began with the endless drudgery of secret boardroom meetings ended with record television ratings the league could have only dreamed about. Back when Kane was in that crowded room, shaking his head at the media circus, Sports Illustrated was proclaiming the Blackhawks the high-flying, entertaining, star-powered, mighty Blackhawks as the team that saved hockey from itself. But in Chicago, itll be remembered as the team that laid a second cornerstone of a budding dynasty, and further ingrained the sport in the hearts and minds of its suddenly hockey-mad citizens.

Maybe Kane was right. Maybe it all would have been different had the Bruins, not the Hawks, hoisted the Stanley Cup after all this. It doesnt matter now, though. The Hawks are champions once again, and their memorable march to the title wont soon be forgotten.

REGULAR SEASON: A LOCKOUT, A STREAK AND A PRESIDENTS TROPHY

Regular season had a little bit of everything

By Mark Potash

I t was the season that almost wasnt.

A predictable lockout turned into a dangerous game of chicken between the National Hockey League and NHL Players Association that extended past one deadline after another and into January when half of the regular season was supposed to be completed.

To be honest with you, I didnt think [the lockout] would make it into October, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. Then after that, I didnt think the lockout would last until November, then December and it just kept going. Once it got past Christmas-time, I was like, You know what? I really thought they had so much motivation to do whatever the heck they wanted to, that they actually might cancel the season.

It almost came to that. On Sunday, Jan. 6 five days before the NHL would have cancelled the season, the two sides reached a preliminary settlement on a 10-year collective bargaining agreement. The key bargaining point was an agreement on a 50-50 split of revenue, which had been 57-43 in favor of the players in 2011-12.

When the agreement was ratified six days later, the 119-day lockout left the 2012-13 season in tatters and hard feelings on the part of the players, according to Toews, who spoke his mind upon returning to Chicago for preseason workouts at Johnnys Ice House West on Madison Street.

Its more of a relief [than excitement], Toews said. Were excited to get back in front of our fans and just be together on a daily basis. But the realistic thing that kind of sets in is: Did it really have to go this far? Did we really have to miss over three months. Its an unfortunate thing.

Asked if it would be a challenge to get over any lingering animosity toward the league, Toews delivered a sermon that resonated throughout the NHL.

I think there is definitely some resentment, just from the fact that there wasnt a whole lot of trust, Toews said. There wasnt a whole lot of give-and-take these past couple of months. I just hope that now that we have a deal, we dont want to talk about that type of thing too much.

But I think the thing that we can learn from it is that both sides need to have that mutual understanding, that mutual respect where they need to work hard together for the fans and for the good of the game, not just arguing over who makes more money or who takes this or who takes that.

There are some things you can take away from that. Its frustrating that not everything is as simple as it should be. But hopefully this is something that for now kind of has hurt our game a little bit, but in the long run and decades from now, is going to make it one of the best leagues in the world. We know its the best sport. Hopefully in the long run this is going to help everybody.

The lockout forced the NHL into an abbreviated 48-game schedule in which each team would play only within its own conference during the regular season.

The Blackhawks were coming off a disappointing 2011-12 season in which they finished sixth in the Western Conference and lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The series took a turn after forward Marian Hossa suffered a concussion when Coyotes hit-man Raffi Torres left his feet for a vicious blindside check in Game 3.

But the Hawks entered the 2012-13 season in good shape. Hossa had extra time to recover from his injuries. Patrick Kane, Bryan Bickell, Viktor Stalberg, Michal Rozsival and Michal Frolik played in Europe during the lockout.