Blackhawks Down (and almost out)
Posted in Professional Sports, The Quick Hook on March 30th, 2011 by Ian Paregol
With 6 games remaining in the regular season, the Chicago Blackhawks cling to the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, three points ahead of a Dallas Stars team which cleaned Chicago’s collective clocks on St. Paddy’s Day. Chicago wraps their season up with two games against central division rival Detroit which would surely relish knocking the defending champs out of the playoff picture. Should the Hawks – who days after the 2010 Stanley Cup awards ceremony were chopped up like a 2006 Honda Accord – fall short on their 2011 playoff bid, they will be just the 9th club since 1915 to fail to qualify for the post-season after winning the Lord Stanley’s Chalice the prior year. As true competition withers into league parity and dynasties dissolve in favor of bottom lines (even in the formerly immune NHL) it is interesting to note that there has not been a back-to-back Stanley Cup winner since the Red Wings in 1997-98 after decades of multi-year championships by the Canadians, Leafs, Flyers, Isles and Oilers.
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