It's playoff time BABY! AWW YEAH!

Well looky here......Hawks are in the playoffs!!  OH YEAH!  Talk about a miracle!  Minnesota Wild upset the Dallas Stars with a 4-3 win.  Yes Minny.....we do thank you!  If it wasn’t for you guys.....the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions wouldn’t have a chance to defend the Cup. 

We all know that in the post-season....it’s a whole another level.  Teams you think will move onto the next round don’t and teams you think wont do.  Happens everytime...that’s what I love most about it!  So let us look back at the 2010-2011 season for the Hawks briefly and then it’s onto are rivals in the first round.....Vancouver Canucks. 

Hawks ended the season with a 44-29-9 record with 97 points.  They were 13^th overall, 8^th in their conference, and 3^rd in their division.  It is interesting to know that in the Northwest Division, if it wasn’t for the Canucks.....no team in that division would have made the post-season.

Top leaders in each category for the Hawks

Points- 76 Toews

Goals-34 Sharp

Assists- 46 Kane

+/-  +28 Campbell   -13 Kopecky

PIM-72 Scott although Kopecky had the most minors at 30 (Tomas stay out of the box!)

S%-14.7 Bolland but he only played 61 compared to Brouwer 13.9 with 79 games

Total on ice-26:53 Keith

FO%- 56.7 Toews overall 8^th in the league with taking a total 1653 faceoffs 2^nd most in the league.....GO TAZER!

Hits-262 Brouwer

Blocked shots-166 Hjalmarsson

Givaways-83 Keith

Takeaways-93 Toews

So here’s a few awards that go out to the Hawks

MVP-Corey Crawford (should get a Calder nomination)

Best forward-Patrick Sharp (would have gotten a lot more goals if he wasn’t hurt....hmmm.....sounds familiar from a few seasons ago!)

Best defenseman-Brian Campbell (Been the most consistent and has the highest plus rating)

Best newbie-Nick Leddy (didn’t get to start the season with the Hawks, but pretty impressive for a rookie....although there are a few things you do need to work on but it’s your 1^st season so you get more lee-way)

Best veteran-Marty Turco (your leadership is amazing...the fact that Crawford took your spot and you have so much class that you took Crawford under your wing...couldn’t think of a better one for him!)

Now it’s time to add in our first round opponent.....the Vancouver Canucks.   The 1^st and 2^nd game is in Vancouver on Wednesday (13th) and Friday (15th).  3^rd and 4^th game will be in Chicago on Sunday (17^th) and Tuesday (19^th).  Guess whos going to the game on Sunday.....AWW YEAH!!!  My brother has hooked me up.....once again....an early birthday present.  This is the 3^rd post-season in a row that i’ve gone to vs. the Canucks.  CAN’T WAIT!  Should be VERY EXCITING! 

The Hawks were 2-2 vs. the Canucks this season.  We can’t really factor in the season (10-11') because Crawford only played one out of the four games.  In the game that he did play,  Hawks won 7-1 in Vancouver.  In the second period Toews and Brouwer scored 2:26 apart early in the 2^nd.  Seabrook and Sharp scored 1:47 apart late in the 2^nd to have Luongo pulled.  The other three games Turco played.  The Hawks went 2-1 (SO), 3-0 Canucks, and 4-3 Canucks. 

In the four games, Hawks averaged 3 goals per game while allowing 2.25 goals to be scored.  The special teams...Hawks were horrible....only scored once out of 20 times having a man-advantage.  When they were a man or two short, Canucks scored 5 times out of 16 chances....giving them a 31.25%. 

When you compare the two teams overall in the season.....Canucks pretty much dominate in each category.  They have the league leaders in points, assists, and wins with the Sedin twins dominating in the offensive play.  The Canucks did win the Presidents Trophy to have the most points in the league.  Im hoping they get the Presidents Trophy curse which a perfect example would be since the lockout (04-05’), 3 out of the 5 teams have been knocked out in the 1^st round, one lost in the 3^rd round and only one won the Cup.  The past two season 09’and 10’ they have lost in the 1^st round....lets hope the tradition keeps up....LOL! 

This is the 3^rd time that the Hawks face the Canucks in the post-season.  The past two (09’ and 10’) playoffs, the Hawks have come back from 1-0 deficits both times to win in six games. In both years they came back to win Game 6, including a 7-5 triumph in '09 and a 4-3 (OT) victory in '10.  Awww, the memories!

Anyways, playoffs will be starting soon and every team has a clean slate. Now it doesn’t matter what happen in the season....all that counts is each series.   The question is how far will the Hawks go.  Well if they play like they did on Friday vs. Wings....they will win the series.  If they play like they did on Sunday vs. Wings.....don’t see the Hawks lasting that long in the playoffs but who knows.....all i know is that IM EXCITED for the playoffs to start.  GO HAWKS!