Well its that time of year again...Playoffs!! The Blackhawks have suprised yet again and have staked their place in the post season against another formidable foe... in fact its against their bitter division rivals...the Flames.
The two teams split their season series 3-3 with the Flames narrowly outscoring the Hawks 13-12. It would appear that it will once again come down to goaltending and the major question remains: "can Khabbibulin return to his playoff form of 3 seasons ago when he led the 8th seeded Hawks to the cup finals?".
Lets not forget to mention the abundance of talent on this Flames roster which greatly over powers the Hawks. The Blackhawks will have to rely on their gritty play to shut down the snipers on the loose in Atlanta. Not only that but the Hawks traded away two of their top playoff performers at the deadline. Lindros and Fedorov's numbers will greatly be missed for as long as the Hawks can survive in the post season. All these questions remain to be unanswered as this tale of David vs. Goliath begins to unfold.
The strong play of newly acquired centreman Jason Williams has been a welcomed suprise in Chicago and it will be needed ten-fold during the playoffs. Blackhawk coach Brian Sutter says the work ethic of this team is second to none and it will be the deciding factor in whether or not they advance. "No one can question why we are in the playoffs again....Yet again they told us we wouldn't be here but here we are. We have to come out every night and prove again and again why we are here. We aren't going to lay down and let them take this easily. If they want to move on, they're going to have to want it more than us and I'm telling you that isn't going to be an easy task."
Its shaping up to be an exciting series and as we all know, anything can happen in the TFHL playoffs. The action begins tomorrow in Atlanta. GO HAWKS GO!!!
The Blackhawk Reporter --- August 30th, 2005
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