Hjalmarsson kisses the Cup at celebration parade (Getty Images/Jonathan Daniel)
It’s early Saturday evening, and it took me this long to shake the Stanley Cup hangover – as well as last night’s. It took a couple glasses of water, bottle of Gatorade, two Advil and some fast food to heal this wounded soldier. Three days later, I’m back at my keyboard and ready to write.
When Patrick Kane scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in overtime, I wasn’t too sure what just happened. Kane put the puck on the net, under Michael Leighton’s pads and it disappeared. Each player on the ice-surface (aside from Kane) was in suspended animation, waiting for the ref to make a call – any call. What took seconds in real time, felt like minutes. I still don’t know if the goal lights went on, or a call was made. I was in shock. Teams I like don’t win things.
When I woke up the next morning, I felt empty. The ten months of my life that were dedicated to the 2009-10 Blackhawk season came to an end. It would disturb most people how many hours of my day were spent watching, reading and writing about hockey. My girlfriend would love to argue she played second fiddle to the Blackhawks. I was a little bummed that I couldn’t get excited about playoff hockey. By the time I finished my morning coffee, the feeling left me.
The rest of the day was great. I couldn’t get enough of the videos, stories, pictures and the ingenious @wheresthecup Twitter account. Everyone I saw walking around the city seemed to have an extra bounce in their step, and donned something Blackhawks related. I stopped by a major sports merchandise outlet later in the day to pick up a gray Stanley Cup champions t-shirt. The four tables designated for them were picked clean of everything but XXL. I’m still without one.
Anyways, the size of crowd that made it downtown for the parade was amazing. Nearly two million people braved the humidity to gather along the parade route to congratulate the Blackhawks, and catch a glimpse of the Stanley Cup. Every demographic was represented in the crowd – young, old, black, white (you get the picture, right?). Unlike the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005, or Barack Obama’s Presidential election victory in 2008, this was something the whole city could celebrate together. And I think we needed it.
With the Cup returning to Chicago after a 49-year draught, Patrick Kane (or anyone else on this team) will never have to pick up his own beer tab in this town ever again. We learned that Cristobal Huet was finally good at something – opening and closing the bench door. Best of all, hockey is back in the Second City.
Commish. Gary Bettman presents Jonathan Toews with the Conn Smythe Trophy (Getty Images/Jim McIsaac)
Jonathan Toews was the first Chicago Blackhawk to win the Conn Smythe Trophy since it was introduced in the 1964-65 season. As you already know, the ‘Hawks won the Stanley Cup four years before in 1961. Ironically, the first recipient of the award was Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau – a player that Toews is often compared to.
The 22-year old captain of the Blackhawks keeps adding more hardware to the trophy shelf. Toews has two World Juniors Championship gold medals (2006, 2007), a World Champioships gold medal (2007), an Olympic gold medal (2010) and added a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy last night. He is the newest/youngest player to join the Triple Gold Club.
Team photo with the Stanley Cup (Getty Images/Jim McIsaac)
Patrick Kane ended the 49-year Stanley Cup drought in Chicago with his overtime goal, beating Michael Leighton. No horn sounded, no lights lit up. But Kane knew his shot was good. He streaked down the ice surface and into the arms of his goaltender, Antti Niemi, to begin the celebration.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to iterate how I feel right now, but…umm, pure joy would sum it up best.
A little over two years ago, then general manager Dale Tallon signed Antti Niemi, a 24-year old Finnish netminder, as an unrestricted free agent. That summer Cristobal Huet signed a lucrative four-year deal to help carry the goaltending with the oft injured Nikolai Khabibulin for the Blackhawks, so Antti Niemi was reassigned to Rockford, Illinois to play for the IceHogs, their AHL affiliate. It may not have been and ideal situation for Neimi, but the year he spent in Rockford getting acclimated to the North American style of ice hockey was beneficial to his development.
Khabibulin was not re-signed in the off-season, leaving an opening for Niemi to start the 2009-10 season in Chicago as Huet’s backup. He beat out Corey Crawford in training camp and shutout the Florida Panthers in his first start of the season. The Blackhawks’ brass never looked back.
Head coach Joel Quenneville became more confident with Niemi as the season progressed, and flirted with the idea of handing him the No. 1 job as Huet struggled down the stretch. On March 28th, Quenneville was tired of making subtle advances, and he went all-in. Antti Niemi was the guy the Blackhawks were going to battle with in the post-season, and Cristobal Huet was to ride the pine for the second year in a row. He has played all of 19 minutes and 56 seconds in relief of Niemi in the first game of the conference semi-final series against the Canucks since the move was made.
Niemi has been everything the Blackhawks needed him to be in the post-season. He boasts a 15-6 playoff record, and is one win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup in his rookie year. That is one win away from having his name mentioned in the same breath as Cam Ward (2006), Patrick Roy (1986) and Ken Dryden (1971) as other goalies who have taken their teams to the Promised Land in their rookie seasons. All three players mentioned won the Conn Smythe (post-season MVP) that season, and Antti Niemi is one of the Blackhawks in the running for the award this year.
Welcome to Red Rising’s fourth seasonal top ten prospect rankings at ranking the top ten prospects in the Blackhawks system. Age doesn’t factor into these rankings, only the number of games played at the NHL level. Skaters with more than 40 games played in the NHL and goalies with more than 20 appearances are exempt from the list. Swedish forward Marcus Kruger keeps climbing the list, and Brian Connelly cracks the top ten. Enjoy.
1. Kyle Beach (LW) – Beach had the best season of his junior career with the Spokane Cheifs in his last year of junior hockey eligibility. In 60 regular season games, he scored 52 goals and 34 assists (86 points), and in seven post-season games he scored seven goals with two assists before the Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs by the Portland Winterhawks. Beach joined the IceHogs when his WHL season was over, and played four regular season games and four post-season games. Of Rockford’s five playoff goals, Beach scored three. He has a real shot to make the team out of training camp, but will need to cut down on the penalties to be productive at the next level. (Previous Rank: 1)
2. Shawn Lalonde (D) – Lalonde will join the Blackhawks at some point next season, and has the speed and vision to be a dynamic blue-liner (see clip below). He led the Belleville Bulls in points this season at 56 in 58 games played with 13 goals. Nine of Lalonde’s goals happened on the power play. He joined the Blackhawks AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, when the Bulls’ season ended. In eight regular season games, Lalonde scored a goal and an assist with 11 penalty-minutes, but didn’t notch a point in three post-season games with the IceHogs. (Previous Rank: 2)
3. Dylan Olsen (D) – Making the jump from AJHL to the college ranks wasn’t a problem for big-bodied defenseman. Olsen scored one goal and helped on ten others in his freshman year at Minnesota-Duluth, and worked his way onto the first defensive pairing before the season was over. He should continue to see plenty of playing time with the Bulldogs, which of course will only aide his development. At best, Olsen is about two years away from getting his cup of coffee. (Previous Rank: 3)
4. Nick Leddy (D) – Leddy was selected by the Minnesota in the first round of the 2009 entry draft (16th overall) straight out of high school. His rights came over from the Wild with defenseman Kim Johnsson at the pre-Olympic trade deadline this year. Leddy finished his freshman season at Minnesota with three goals and eight assists in 30 games. Reports stated that the Wild began to sour on the defenseman because of the lack of offensive production. He skates well, but needs fill-out his 5’11” frame. If he pans out, Leddy is two or three years away from cracking an NHL roster. (Previous Rank: 4)
5. Marcus Kruger (C) – Kruger had quite the year in Sweden. He was a rookie of the year nominee in the SEL, and was selected to his national team for the World Junior Hockey Championship. The Swedes won bronze. The 20-year old possesses leadership qualities, and accumulated 31 points in 36 games in one of the better hockey leagues in the world. Kruger played a pivotal role in Djurgardens’ second place finish with ten points (three goals and seven assists) in 16 games. Impressive for a player drafted in the fifth round (149th overall) of the 2009 entry draft. It will be another year before he comes stateside. (Previous Rank: 7)
6. Akim Aliu (RW) – Aliu started the season in Rockford, but was reassigned to Toledo (Blackhawks’ ECHL affiliate) for his lack of on-ice production. He finished the year with the Toledo Walleye on a high note – scoring five goals with nine assists in 13 games. Aliu will rejoin the IceHogs out of training camp this fall, and should stay there for the season. He has the raw talent to be a top-six forward in the NHL one day, but Aliu will need to curb the attitude and temper if he ever wants to live up to his potential. (Previous Rank: 5)
7. Jack Skille (RW) – All you really need to know about the former first-round draft selection (7th overall) out of the University of Wisconsin is that he’s a bust at 23. That being said, Skille will be on the Blackhawks roster once training camp breaks this fall. (I felt like a broken record just then). He is a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and will be retained by the organization because he’ll come cheap. With the current state of the Blackhawks’ 2010-11 payroll, cheap is good. (Previous Rank: 6)
8. Brandon Pirri (C) – Like Dylan Olsen, Pirri’s transition from the junior ranks (OJHL) to a collegiate hockey program was seamless. He scored 11 goals with 32 assists in 39 games with the Engineers, and was second on the team with 43 points in his freshman season. The Blackhawks will want him to bulk up – which he’s been doing – and could play out his collegiate career at RPI. (Previous Rank: 9)
9. Billy Sweatt (LW) – In 39 games with the Tigers, Sweatt scored 15 goals with 33 points in his senior season at Colorado College, which was his best. He doesn’t have a professional contract, and wasn’t assigned to Rockford with the group of players whose junior or collegiate eligibility expired. If the Blackhawks don’t sign him his off-season, they will have to relinquish his rights. The fact that he has yet to sign probably the Blackhawks have soured on the second round draft pick. Sweatt’s greatest asset is his speed, but needs to improve in other areas of his game at the next level. (Previous Rank: 8)
10. Brian Connelly (D) – Connelly was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado College last spring, and played 78 games with the IceHogs this season. He was second among defenseman with 35 points in his first year in the AHL. Connelly is small for a defenseman (5’10” 167lbs.), but his skating and playmaking abilities supersede any short-comings (pun intended). He has the inside track to win a spot on the Blackhawks blue line out of training camp this fall. (Previous Rank: NR)
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