Blackhawks just have to 'tough' it out

Much of the hockey discussion around here this week centered on whether the Blackhawks are soft.

Maybe this is just semantics, but the question should be whether they're tough.

Soft is an absolute as in soft, period; tough is relative as in tough enough.

Baseball players can be soft, and so maybe can be basketball players. But nobody in the NHL is soft.

It just seems that no player can play one shift of major-league hockey, or one series of major-league football for that matter, and be soft.

What reminded me of this Tuesday night? I went onto NHL.com while sitting in the United Center about 15 minutes before the Hawks' 2-0 victory over the Coyotes.

One of the "Top Headlines" read, "Board of Governors approves hit to head rule." No longer is it OK to apply "a lateral, back-pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted or the principal point of attack."

The NHL needed to put that in writing? Yes, it did.

Meanwhile, there was a story about Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby roughing it up with Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard as Monday night's game ended.

There also was the piece on the Canadiens, who lose Travis Moen after an opponent's skate blade inadvertently inflicted a wound requiring 50 stitches.

Some of the game's hazards are within the rules. Some are outside them. All are, well, hazardous.

The Hawks-Coyotes game started and soon Brent Seabrook was on the ice, five days after former teammate and friend James Wisniewski's malicious hit knocked him senseless at Anaheim.

Midway through the second period Seabrook blasted Phoenix's Vernon Fiddler into the boards. Fiddler got up menacingly, and Seabrook knocked him back onto his rump.

"Physical," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said of Seabrook. "He wasn't shy at all. It's not easy to come back from a head injury like that."

But that's what hockey players do.

"It felt great," Seabrook said of returning after missing a game. He added of the Fiddler play, "Simple - I just hit him."

Now, Seabrook aside, are the Hawks tough enough to maintain their first-place lead in the Western Conference?

They were against the Coyotes, showing up big in what head coach Joel Quenneville referred to as "the biggest game of the year."

Rookie goalie Antti Niemi was emotionally tough enough to end Phoenix's nine-game winning streak. The Hawks' defense was physically tough enough to protect him and a 2-goal lead for a change.

Overall they were mentally tough enough to shake a recent slump and win a game they needed by playing tight playoff hockey in a taut playoff atmosphere.

"It's a big win," Seabrook said.

The thing about the NHL, though, is that players have to keep proving they're tough enough because nobody they play will be soft.

Playoff opponents might try to rough up the Hawks more than Phoenix did, try to agitate them into the penalty box, try to disrupt their rhythm.

Until the Hawks win a Stanley Cup they'll have to keep demonstrating that they're tough enough.

You know, even if it's clear they aren't soft.

mimrem@dailyherald.com