This is easily the best team I’ve been old enough to remember. Really exciting times because I started following the team like crazy out of the lockout and drove to a bunch of games once I turned 16. I remember getting packages for $5 per ticket and going with a few friends. To watch the team go from the garbage on ice to finally being able to compete is extremely satisfying. Its like all the crazy fanhood is paying off.

I’m not a Huet basher, I think he’s good and will be more than good this coming season, but Belfour’s Vezina in ‘91 makes that team significantly better, I think, especially once you factor in that top D pairing. Great reminiscences, though, thanks. By way of comparison, here’s a youtube video I posted during the playoffs at one point, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZPP8imk-AQ.

Speaking of Belfour, you guys think we’ll retire his number? A lot of people might think of him as a Dallas Star, I guess, but he’s one of those Hawks-forever guys for me.

D. Hatcher

that’s all…

I hope you had the time of your life.
It’s been a long journey to say the least but I’m hopeful the time is right so I can finally rest the hawks61 username and replace it with a new one for this is the season the heartaches, the disappointments, and the frustrations could finally come to an end. The destination is in sight that is for sure. This is our year… which as a Hawks fan scares me a little for I’ve been disappointed far too many times to be filled with complete optimism that it’s forgone conclusion that the Hawks will reach the Conference Finals again, let alone the Stanley Cup Finals. The Hawks seem to have the essential parts necessary but once the season starts anything can happen.
As for the Hawks best chance…
I still think the 1989-1990 Blackhawks were the best suitors for the Cup since I became a fan of this organization back in 1988. This team was stacked with Belfour and Millen in net. The defence had (shoud be H.O.F.) Doug Wilson, Bob Murray, Dave Manson, Keith Brown, Trant Yawney, and Bobby McGill. The offence was explosive with the Savard-Larmer-Goulet line, followed by the Creighton-Thomas-Roenick line. The checking line of Troy Murray-Wayne Pressley (has left the building)-Graham was one of the best in the NHL and the 4th line consisted of Jocelyn Lemieux-Gilbert-Hudson was definitely an excellent energy line and was tough to play against. And if it wasn’t for the last hurrah of the Oilers dynasty the Stanley Cup would have been the Hawks for sure that season and maybe…just maybe… Savard never gets traded.
In both Game 7’s that playoff season we all knew that in Roenick there was something special for he basically stole the show in both games, especially in the first round against the North Stars when Savard got thrown out of the game late in the first with Hawks already trailing 1-0. But Roenick came to the rescue with 2 second period goals (one in which I still remember J.R. in the slot, waited a second, then picked the top corner on Casey with a slap shot).
The goal in Game 7 vs. the Blues where Roenick just went around Harold Snepsts like a rented mule and then deked Riendeau out of his pants to put the Hawks up 2-0 was one of his best basically making it ‘Game Over’ at that point en route to a 8-2 slaughter of the Blues.
That damn Messier…1990 looked all but ours up 2-1 in the series but then we all know he took over and the Hawks seemed to have no response and the rest was history.

at least to me, he hated playing for Keenan. He always considered himself a skill player and Keenan tried turning him into an energy player. Found that kind of interesting because it seemed Keenan loved Lemieux to this 11 year old observer (at the time).

I think the offense on this year’s team is greater than those in the 90’s. The defense, and the game in general now is far more offensively based, so it’s a tough comparison. Belfour in his prime trumps Huet anytime. All in all, there is quite a bit to be excited about, despite the sky falling and the cap plummeting.

on the ’95 team, Gerald Diduck was the 6th d-man. Also, not that it really matters, but Craven was the third center and Savard played wing on his line, if memory serves.

Different era, different rules. This current Hawks team would have been physically beat down playing against the early 90’s Hawks. On the otherhand, the current Hawks would skate around the early 90’s Hawks under the current rules. But as everyone has pointed out, the biggest difference is in net. That’s why i give the edge to the Early 90’s Hawks. With Eddie in net they would have a better chance of winning in the current NHL than the current Hawks winning back then.

For some reason, this article is giving me the urge to watch Swingers and skip to the part where J.R. does unspeakable acts to Wayne Gretzky.

I remember the team from 1970-1971 who lost to Montreal in the Cup finals. Us kids at the time thought the Hawks were going to win it all. The team had a lot of talent. They had Bobby and Dennis Hull, Stan Mikita, Pit Martin, Chico Maki, Cliff Koroll and Eric Nesterenko on offence. Keith Magnuson, Pat Stapleton, Bill White and Jerry Korab on defence and the best Hawks goaltender of all time – Tony-O. I know it was a different style of play back then, the team was very defensive minded, but I remember them as being fun to watch.

That being said, it was a different game – different rules. You know, when they played real hockey with real checking, and bleeding or causing bleeding were points of pride equal to points on the scoreboard.

Superior goaltending, solid defense, and Stuuuuuuuuuuuuuu for enforcement.

My favorite year ever as a fan, and it was that era that excited my son about hockey.

As an aside, I also liked the 88-89 team. Foley’s calls of CHEVRIER!!!!!!!! still resonate in my head. As a team that did not even make the playoffs until the last regular season game against the Leafs, they made it to the Conference finals against the eventual Cup winners, the Calgary Flames.

That 1991-1992 team was so much fun to watch, as well as the other years Keenan was here. I might be living in the past because it was a different game then, but you knew that every nite there was a chance to win. The style they played and the atmosphere in the Stadium was pure electricity. Roenick took me to the edge of my seat every time he jumped over the boards.

Thank goodness it seems like those times are back,

Saying that, the team that we’ll be watching this year has one of the best chances to give us some of the same thrills but with a more skilled twist. I am not too worried about Huet and without Khabibulin looking over his shoulder he should be ok. Also, everyone is one year older and Coach Q will be here for the start of camp, which will make things significanlty better.

The 91 team was a solid squad, and while it lacked a prolific scoring machine, it didn’t need it because it played at the stadium and games were usually low scoring affairs. That team would probably still be talked about more if it hadn’t laid an egg in the first round against the NorthStars (thank you Chelios and company for taking so many bad penalties, they just gave away the series to the Stars). That was a bad year for me, my grandfather was ill and at the Mayo Clinic and watching the Hawks self destruct was just compounding the Minnesota misery.

The ‘95 team was a beauty to watch at times. In the beginning they seemed to have so much offense. Roenick-Amonte, Murphy-Nicholls, and yes even Paul Ysebaert seemed to make the early games look like the Hawks had great chemistry. The pp on that team was unbelievable (of course the numbers may not bear that out over time, but they moved the puck and created opportunities quite often). It was quite a change from the defensive oriented team back at the stadium, and it foreshadowed in many ways what a fast offensive Hawk team (like today’s version) could be. Oh, and the UC was packed back then too. Then, the Hawks traded Ysebaert which I’ll always remember because D. Sutter made a point of saying to the media “the Hawks will never win the Cup because of Paul Ysebaert” (or something to that effect). it was kind of surprising but they felt they needed more grit and more Sutters (i.e Rich).

When JR. got hurt (a game I still have on vhs, poor viewing quality and all, that was the season). You’d be surprised how nonchalant the event seems today, even knowing now that it was bascially the end of the JR everyone knew and loved. Nevermind that Denis Savard who came over in a nice thank you from the Espositos in Tampa, played out of his frickin’ mind down the stretch and in the playoffs. For me, Savvy was one of the few players who showed up in the Detroit series. They added Diduck to that d-corps around the deadline that year and for my money that’s as good a d-corps as the Hawks have had top to bottom. It was also the beginnings of Eric Daze’s star-crossed injured career.

It’s too hard to compare across generations. I think the speed and finesse of today’s squad would be tough to stop. Then again the defense and goaltending of the 91 and 95 team would make it awfully difficult for today’s squad to operate and score. It would be a battle, and I don’t think today’s team would be able to walk over the pride and grit of guys like Jocelyn Lemiuex or Dirk Graham. I just hope this team does become the stuff of legends and lore, all of us have suffered long enough, we deserve to win the Cup, because as irrational as that sounds, long suffering fandoms deserve to win on occasion.

All I can say is that being a sports fan is like playing the slots in Vegus. I have been pumping my time and money into these machines for many years now. The 90 squad was like getting two cherries, sure you get a winning feeling, but then it’s gone. The 91 squad was Oranges to me, again with the winning feeling, but then it’s gone. The 05 team was all Bells, looks like a jackpot, but no quite there. Last year, I had two bars, and I could see the third coming by…. DOAH, Purple fruit thing!…
I just need to hit a jackpot. I think this machine is primed to payoff big, I can’t wait to pull the lever…