CHICAGO -- From the early stages of the 2009-10 season, the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks seemed almost destined to meet for the right to play for hockey's ultimate prize. Destiny has become reality as they wait for the league to announce the date of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at HP Pavilion.
The Hawks and Sharks were the elite teams of the West, engaged in a dogfight to see who would finish on top of the standings once the dust settled on the regular season. During the first two rounds of the postseason they methodically went about their respective business and now are set for a showdown.
The Sharks dispatched the Avalanche and Red Wings in the first two rounds and have been waiting for the Hawks, who after eliminating the Predators in Round 1 advanced with a hard-fought series win over the Canucks, capped by a 5-1 victory Tuesday night in Game 6 in Vancouver.
The sweat from their previous effort was still dripping from their playoff beards when the Hawks began focusing on their next task.
"It's exciting now you get to move on to the next round," winger Patrick Kane said. "It's a huge goal of yours ever since you're a little kid to try to reach that goal of trying to win the Stanley Cup and this puts us one step closer."
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That step will be a formidable one as the Sharks held off the Hawks by one point to claim the No. 1 seed and home-ice advantage. The Sharks boast a top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley and have the depth to back it up with a group of talented forwards, strong defensemen and a top goaltender in Evgeni Nabokov.
"They're really good," Kane said. "They have probably the top two lines in the league if you look at them. If you look at our team we have a lot of depth, but their two lines up there are pretty special and (Joe) Pavelski's on fire too. It's exciting."
The Hawks are excited about their own team, which came together to win three consecutive games in the hostile environment of Vancouver, helping bolster their already soaring confidence.
"It's very high, but I think we're maintaining a great balance of confidence and being realistic with ourselves, knowing we can't just go out there and do whatever we want and expect to score easy goals and win games," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We really have to keep ourselves grounded and work hard for that success."
Starting on the road for Games 1 and 2 as opposed to at the United Center, where the Hawks have been a pedestrian 3-3 during the postseason, doesn't figure to bother them too much.
"We prepare the same way for every game," veteran center John Madden said. "A lot of people make a huge deal out of the fact we haven't won at home regularly in the playoffs and we're a little perplexed about that as well. Now we start on the road so our goal is to get one and if we get one, go for two and go from there. You have an opportunity no matter if you're playing in their building or your own building. We'll be ready."
In the four regular season meetings, the Hawks won three, which at this point provides little more than the knowledge the Sharks can be beaten. This is the first postseason series between the teams.
"It's going to be a good matchup," Hawks winger Dustin Byfuglien said. It's going to be a battle. We're going to have our mind set and be ready to go right from the drop of the first puck."
