Where there's a way, Hawks will it

Anyone who's ever lived it will testify to the fact that hockey is not a game of free will.

There are those who are imposed upon, and those who impose.

The former are impostors.

The latter are your 2010 Chicago Blackhawks, Western Conference champions.

And that title will stand for only a couple of weeks, until they finish what they started some nine months ago.

A Stanley Cup is now within sight for a young group too unimpressed to grasp the magnitude of 12 postseason conference victories.

Unaware of how difficult it is to sweep a San Jose Sharks team that played the Hawks even in every contest and in every way except in net, the Hawks merely dispatched a veteran-laden group Sunday afternoon with a come-from-be- hind 4-2 victory at the UC.

When it was over, with the rafters shaking violently from the thunder of two decades' pent-up frustration, captain Jonathan Toews stood next to the Clarence Campbell Bowl with his arm tucked to his side, careful while pictures were taken to make certain he didn't so much as breathe on it.

Touching it is considered bad luck, but that is something these Hawks should not fear, because when it's your year, it's merely that, and little can be done to stop it.

Since Nashville's Martin Erat handed the Hawks a gift in Game 5 of the opening round, when the Hawks had every right to lose the game and maybe even the series, the Hawks are 10-2 and getting all the bounces.

That matters only if you take advantage, something the Hawks have become champs at doing regularly.

"That's the truth," said two-time Stanley Cup winner John Madden. "You don't win three rounds in the postseason without some bounces going your way and getting some breaks.

"We're getting some luck on our side, but we're also making our own breaks. You have to do both. I saw that in (New) Jersey. Anyone who tells you different is lying."

The Hawks won a pair of 2-goal games against San Jose and the others by a goal each, and to a man the Hawks were aware of how different this series could have been.

"It didn't feel like any sweep I've been a part of," Madden said. "Every game could have been different. That's a great team over there."

Over there was down the hall beneath the stands in the UC, where the Sharks were respectful of the club that took them out, refusing to make excuses.

"Every game was close. Every game was winnable. But we didn't win, so that doesn't matter at all," said Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle, himself a Cup winner with Tampa in 2004. "It seemed like 1 goal would have made the difference and put us over the top so many times in the series, but it just didn't happen.

"They won. We Lost. That's all that matters."

The Hawks allowed the Sharks 7 goals in four games, and with their goaltender unable to make a big save when it mattered, that simply wasn't enough offense for San Jose.

"It's a pretty frustrating feeling right now, to say the least," said 40-year-old Rob Blake, who helped Colorado win it all in 2001. "I feel like we could have won any game in this series, that we competed with them in every game.

"But you tip your cap to them. They were more poised than us, and they capitalized on their chances. We didn't. They're a really good team and they deserve to be going to the Finals.''

For one of the few times in the last dozen games, one bounce did go against the Hawks, a terrible one off Duncan Keith's face that cost him seven teeth and the Hawks a short-handed goal.

That gave San Jose a 2-0 lead 7:35 into the second, but the Sharks couldn't get that all-important third goal past Antti Niemi, who made 3 big saves to keep the Hawks within a pair.

"There's a lot of guys here who have played in big games at one level or another," Madden said. "They know to stay calm and stick with the plan. You don't let one bad bounce shake you up."

So the Hawks scored the next 4, including an empty-netter, and if you subtract that finally tally, the Hawks outscored San Jose by only 5 goals in four games, and won in large part because of their goaltender.

"It's kind of amazing that I'm here playing these games,'' Niemi said with a smile. "I didn't even have a job when this season started and now we're in the Stanley Cup (Finals).

"It's a long way to here from the start of the season. But it's good we get to play more hockey."

The Hawks get to play at least four more games, and the way they've played the last two weeks you wouldn't be shocked if that's all it took to wrap up the big prize.

"We're not here for the ride," said a stern-faced Toews postgame, sweat dripping from a furled brow. "You don't work all year to get to the playoffs. You don't work all year to get to the Finals.

"You work all year to win the Stanley Cup. There's a long way to go before anyone's won anything around here."

And with that, Toews got up and walked away from the media throng, unwilling to discuss a time when he might be able to smile.

It is his way, and he knows no other.

It is also his will.

Something the San Jose Sharks will not soon forget.