These special players made winning the Stanley Cup possible

Editor's note: Tim Sassone has followed the Blackhawks since he was a kid sitting in the second balcony at Chicago Stadium. He became the Daily Herald's Hawks beat writer in 1988, and just five years ago he didn't think a Stanley Cup championship in Chicago was possible. But it is a reality thanks to the players on the ice. What makes them special? Tim explains.

Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs, but it could have been any number of Blackhawks earning that prestigious piece of hardware.

Duncan Keith averaged more than 28 minutes a game in the postseason, matched against the top lines of Nashville, Vancouver, San Jose and Philadelphia with partner Brent Seabrook, and had 17 points in 22 games.

Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien each had 11 goals.

Patrick Kane finished with 28 points, 1 behind Toews, and scored the biggest goal in franchise history in overtime in Game 6 of the Finals to give the Hawks the Stanley Cup.

Antti Niemi won 16 of 22 games and was the difference in the San Jose series.

Dave Bolland and Kris Versteeg checked their hearts out and shut down the Sedins, Joe Thornton, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.

There were heroes up and down the lineup and it all culminated in the Hawks' first Stanley Cup since 1961.

The forwards Jonathan Toews: He started the playoffs as Captain Serious and ended it as Captain Everything. Toews led the playoffs in scoring with 29 points, but that only tells part of the story of what he means on the ice. Toews won 60 percent of his faceoffs, and if they kept a statistic for percentage of battles won, he would be way past that. Toews was brilliant against Vancouver in the second round. With the series tied at 1-1 and the Hawks looking shaky, he had 3 assists in Game 3 at GM Place and a hat trick with 5 points in Game 4 - wins by the Hawks that changed the series and set the Hawks on a path to the Stanley Cup. Starting with Game 3 in Vancouver, the Hawks went 11-3 the rest of the playoffs. "Jonathan Toews is a special human bring," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said following the Game 6 Cup clincher Wednesday. Patrick Kane: All he did was score the 2 biggest goals of the playoffs - goals that now are part of Hawks legend. Who knows what might have happened if Kane hadn't scored short-handed with 14 seconds to play in Game 5 against Nashville in the first round to send the game to overtime for Marian Hossa to win? If the Hawks had lost that game they would have been down 3-2 to the Predators going to Nashville for Game 6. Kane's overtime goal at the Wachovia Center on Wednesday started the party and was the first Cup clincher in OT since 2000. Only Kane saw the puck slip through goalie Michael Leighton and lodge under the padding on the right side of the net. Hawks fans never will forget a leaping Kane flipping his gloves into the air and looking for a teammate to hug. "He's going to remember that goal for the rest of his life," Toews said.Patrick Sharp: Of his 11 goals, some of them were among the biggest scored in the playoffs. Sharp's short-handed goal in the third period of Game 2 against Vancouver was incredibly huge. The Hawks lost the series opener and trailed 2-1 in Game 2 when Sharp tied it, poking the puck loose at the Vancouver blue line and beating goalie Roberto Luongo on a backhander. Among Sharp's other clutch goals were his score in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at San Jose and his goal in Wednesday's Cup clincher that tied the game at 9:58 of the second period. Sharp showed in the playoffs why he is an elite player with 11 goals, 22 points and a plus-10 rating.Marian Hossa: He scored only 3 goals in 22 playoff games but had 15 points and was a plus-7. Hossa was dominating at times with the way he controlled the puck and worked especially well with Toews in Games 5 and 6 against the Flyers. "I don't know what to say about him," general manager Stan Bowman said. "He has an amazing work ethic and had a big impact on our team and not just in his play, but his approach to the game as a professional. He takes the game seriously, and it rubbed off on some of the young guys who saw how hard he worked." Hossa's overtime goal in Game 5 against Nashville in the first round might have been the biggest of his career and came moments after he left the penalty box for a five-minute boarding major near the end of regulation. Hossa finally won a Stanley Cup after reaching the Finals for the last three springs, falling short with Pittsburgh and Detroit. Dave Bolland: How good was his postseason? Not only did he have 8 goals and 16 points in 22 playoff games, his work as the Hawks' checking center made a difference in each of the four series. "The Rat" got under the skin of Daniel and Henrik Sedin so much in the second round that it rendered the Canucks' twins useless. Bolland got the best of Joe Thornton in the West finals and did the same to Mike Richards in the Finals. He had goals in five of the last eight playoff games as well. If players can build reputations in the playoffs then Bolland has stamped himself as the leading candidate for the 2010-11 Selke Trophy, which goes to the NHL's top defensive forwards.Dustin Byfuglien: He's now a household name around the NHL for what he did in the playoffs and one of the biggest stars the Hawks have based on how everyone reacted to him in Friday's parade. Byfuglien had some of the biggest goals of the playoffs with 5 of his 11 being game-winners. He owned the front of the net against Vancouver and San Jose, when he had goals in eight of 10 games. His hat trick in Game 3 at Vancouver was his best performance of the playoffs. Byfuglien had the game-winning goal in three of the four games against San Jose in the West finals, including his overtime tally in pivotal Game 3 at the United Center.Kris Versteeg: He opened the eyes of a lot of people who thought he was strictly a skill guy with his work on the checking line with Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd. Versteeg's two-way play was vital in the Hawks' success. He had 6 goals, 14 points and was plus-4 in the postseason. Versteeg also scored one of the more important goals of the playoff run in Game 2 against Vancouver when he snapped a 2-2 tie with 1:30 to play in regulation. Andrew Ladd: Now a two-time Stanley Cup champion, this is a guy all about the playoffs. As it turned out, Ladd fractured his left shoulder in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals and returned to play in the last three games of the Finals. "He battled through it and he's a Stanley Cup champion twice over so you can see he wanted to get back on the ice," Bowman said. Ladd scored a big goal in the Cup clincher in Game 6 that looked as if it might hold up to be the winner until the Flyers tied it late.Troy Brouwer: The big winger got better after a slow start to the playoffs. Brouwer's big moment of the postseason came in Game 1 of the Finals against Philadelphia when he scored 2 goals in the Hawks' 6-5 win.John Madden: His experience as a two-time Stanley Cup winner proved to be invaluable as the playoffs moved along. Madden accepted his role as fourth-line center and thrived in it, winning key faceoffs and chipping in during the latter staged of games when coach Joel Quenneville would have him on the ice. Madden's work as a penalty killer was consistent night after night.Tomas Kopecky: He played his best hockey as a Hawk in the Finals, getting a shot to go back in the lineup after Andrew Ladd got hurt. Kopecky played so well that he stayed in the lineup when Ladd returned and was rewarded with a first-line assignment with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. His defining moment of the playoffs came in Game 1 of the Finals when he scored with 11:35 to play in regulation, snapping a 5-5 tie and giving the Hawks the victory.Ben Eager: Like we've said, everyone chipped in to help win the Stanley Cup and Eager was no different. He scored 1 goal in the playoffs but it couldn't have been any bigger. It came in the second period of Game 2 against Philadelphia and held up as the winner in the Hawks' 2-1 victory.Adam Burish: The feisty winger appeared in 15 playoff games and didn't have a point, but his energy was important as the Hawks had a winning record with him in the lineup. Colin Fraser: He played in the first three games of the Nashville series, but his contributions down the stretch in the regular season helped get the Hawks on a winning roll going into the playoffs.Bryan Bickell: When Troy Brouwer struggled with his game early in the Nashville series, Bickell got into the lineup and responded with three solid games, going plus-4 with an assist.The defenseDuncan Keith: What a year this guy has had - Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal and in a few weeks he is the leading candidate to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman. While Toews won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, many believe Keith was just as deserving. He averaged more than 28 minutes a night in the playoffs and finished with 21 points. He became part of Hawks legend in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against San Jose when he was hit in the mouth by a puck and lost seven teeth but stayed in the game. "It's kind of taken on a life of it's own," Keith said. "All everybody wants to do is make me smile and make fun of me that way. I guess it's kind of funny that way and one of the stories of the playoffs." The Hawks trailed at the time 2-0 but came back to win 4-2 and complete the sweep of the Sharks. Keith finished that game having played 29:02 with an assist and 5 blocked shots. Keith plans to have his teeth fixed next Wednesday. "I'm looking forward to getting some nice teeth," he said. Brent Seabrook: He quietly had as good a playoff as any of the Hawks. When the dust had settled and the Cup was in his hands, Seabrook finished plus-8 with 11 points, 81 hits (second to Dustin Byfuglien's 99) and 51 blocked shots while averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time. Seabrook and Duncan Keith regularly were matched against the top lines of Nashville, Vancouver, San Jose and Philadelphia.Brian Campbell: His plus-11 led all the Hawks in the playoffs, but Campbell's biggest contribution came in the first round when he returned two weeks early from a broken collarbone in Game 4 against the Predators. The Hawks trailed the series 2-1 and Campbell returned because he said his team needed him to play. "It was a great boost to have Campbell come back in the Nashville series," Stan Bowman said. "For me, looking back on the playoffs, when he came back early because we needed him and because he wanted to be part of it, ever since that game, that was for me when our team started playing Blackhawks hockey again."Niklas Hjalmarsson: The 23-year-old Swede took his game to another level in the playoffs, finishing a plus-9 while getting 21 minutes of ice time per night. Hjalmarsson will be a restricted free agent and his case could be one of the most delicate for the Hawks going forward. Hjalmarsson is a No. 2 defenseman on most teams and there already has been speculation of a club possibly tendering him an offer sheet. Brent Sopel: Joel Quenneville turned to the 33-year-old veteran in some key situations and wasn't disappointed. Sopel averaged more minutes in the playoffs than he did during the regular season and was one of the Hawks' best penalty killers and shot blockers. Sopel's biggest moment came in overtime in Game 5 of the Nashville series when he was huge in killing Marian Hossa's major penalty that extended almost five minutes into overtime. Not only did Sopel help kill the major penalty, it was his dash down the ice with the puck that set up Hossa's winning goal to give the Hawks a 3-2 series lead. Nick Boynton: After sitting out the first 19 games of the playoffs as a healthy scratch, Boynton played the final three games of the Finals and gave Joel Quenneville some solid minutes with a physical edge. Boynton was on the ice when Patrick Kane scored in overtime in Game 6 to give the Hawks the Stanley Cup.Jordan Hendry: Gave Joel Quenneville six to seven dependable minutes a night in the games he played. Hendry played his best game in the clinching Game 6 of the Vancouver series when he saw 12 minutes of ice time and was plus-1.The goaliesAntti Niemi: It's an elite club - goalies that have won the Stanley Cup - but the first-year Finn now is a member. Niemi was sensational in the playoffs with a record of 16-6, making all the big saves when they were needed. Niemi was the difference in the San Jose series, outplaying Evgeni Nabokov and setting the tone for the series with huge efforts in Games 1 and 2 on the road at HP Pavilion. Twice in that series Niemi turned in 44-save performances, leading the Hawks to the sweep. He seized the No. 1 job in February and never let go. "Antti's been tremendous and I'm really proud of the way he came through," Stan Bowman said. "We believed in Antti internally all year long and it was nice to see now that everyone else can see what we saw. "You need to have that strength in goal. There's no team that succeeds that doesn't have a good goaltender because they give you chance to win the game every night."Cristobal Huet: The veteran played only one period in the playoffs and was really the forgotten Hawk since late March. But Huet was there for his teammates every day in practice, preparing to play if needed. His $5.6 million cap hit for the next two seasons makes it certain he won't be back, but at least he leaves with a Stanley Cup ring.a