Imrem: These Hawks never stop believing in themselves
The Blackhawks are a couple years removed from winning their most recent Stanley Cup, but they still have the hearts of champions.
Now the Hawks have a chance to play for another title after beating the Ducks 5-3 at Anaheim on Saturday night.
"Tonight we came out flying as a team," Hawks' captain Jonathan Toews said.
The Game 7 victory in the Western Conference finals delivered the Hawks into the Stanley Cup Final against the Lightning, beginning Wednesday night at Tampa.
The Lightning has a swagger of its own after winning three games in Madison Square Garden on the way to eliminating the Rangers in seven games of the Eastern finals.
The way Yahoo! Sports put it, the Lightning's attitude is "our kung fu is stronger than yours." The headline on the article read, "Swagger wins: How the Tampa Bay Lightning grew into champions."
Well, yeah, if winning the conference makes you a champion. The Hawks won't consider this a championship season unless they win the Stanley Cup.
The Hawks will be as comfortable in the Finals as James Bond is tied and gagged in a burning airplane hangar.
"The core has been through a lot of challenges and battles," Hawks' head coach Joel Quenneville said of his team.
There's no panic in the Hawks. They always have another gear to shift into. They look at big games as opportunities rather than pressure.
Toews is comfortable leading teammates into the fray. His teammates are comfortable following him into the same competition from which they emerged with Stanley Cups in 2010 and 2013. Quenneville is comfortable juggling line shifts to create favorable matchups for his best players.
It wasn't a coincidence that in this decisive Game 7, all the Hawks' goals and assists were registered by players that have won at least one championship.
The Hawks know how championships happen. Their minds can win them as long as their bodies have an ounce of energy left.
That doesn't mean the Hawks will win the Stanley Cup every year or even this year. It just means if they don't, they'll be a tough out.
It takes a stake to the heart to oust teams like the Blackhawks from the playoffs, like the stake the Kings drove into them last year in Game 7 of the Western finals.
The Hawks have been through it all, the good and the bad, a mix that prepares athletes for anything and everything.
That loss to L.A. hurt the Hawks last season, but the memory helped them against the Ducks this season.
"Everyone wanted to take this opportunity (against Anaheim) and not have the same feeling as last year," Patrick Kane said.
The Hawks' heart rate never races out of control. Emotions don't overwhelm them. Adversity doesn't discourage them.
No wonder the Hawks can give up three goals in 37 seconds and rally to win in double overtime. No wonder they can grind until 1:08 a.m. to win in triple overtime. No wonder they can trail 3-2 in the Anaheim series and calmly come back to win.
"We never stop believing in ourselves," Patrick Sharp said.
For two weeks the bigger Ducks tried to wear down the Hawks physically, but the Hawks wore down the Ducks mentally.
None of this guarantees that the Hawks are about to win another Stanley Cup because Tampa Bay presents a formidable challenge.
But the Lightning better beat the Hawks, because champions rarely beat themselves.
mimrem@dailyherald.com