Here's why there's bad blood between Hawks and Canucks

Not since their nasty encounters with the Minnesota North Stars have the Blackhawks had a rivalry as explosive as the one they have going with the Vancouver Canucks.

While once it was the names of Ciccarelli, Plett, Churla and McRae that boiled the blood of the Hawks and their fans, now it's Kesler, Bieksa, O'Brien and Burrows, to name just a few of the Canucks who figure to become household names in Chicago over the next two weeks.

The focus might be to look ahead to the second-round Stanley Cup series between the Hawks and Canucks set to start Saturday night at the United Center, but it's impossible to ignore how the two teams have become such bitter enemies.

The brawl

All this bad blood started on March 29 of 2008-09 season at the UC, when Dustin Byfuglien plowed into Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo early in the third period of a game the Hawks were losing 3-0.

All heck proceeded to break loose.

Ben Eager fought Kevin Bieksa, Brent Seabrook tangled with Shane O'Brian, and Duncan Keith threw down with Alex Burrows - with Burrows grabbing Keith's hair at one point in their scrap.

"That's never happened to me before. It was pretty blatant," Keith said afterwards.

"That was stupid, the way he pulled Dunc's hair," Adam Burish said. "There's no place for that."

The playoffs

Rivalries, at least the great ones with the deep-rooted dislike, are built in the playoffs.

The Hawks and North Stars met in the postseason six times from 1982 through 1992, and they often were wars. This is the second year in a row the Hawks and Canucks will get it on in the second round.

"Last year's playoff, the rivalry was definitely created them," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "The rivalry gets captivated by a playoff series. Fighting each other for six games, fighting for positioning, fighting for wins, fighting for loose pucks creates that animosity towards one another. It grows and all of a sudden you see them next year and it's there.

"This is back-to-back years and we know its only going to get to a different level."

That playoff series last May featured trash talking, such as Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell intimating Patrick Kane wasn't a good player 5-on-5; and the Canucks claiming cheap shots were delivered by Andrew Ladd on Ryan Kesler and Ben Eager on Rick Rypien.

The series ended in a memorable Game 6 at the UC when Kane got a hat trick in a 7-5 Hawks win. All 3 of his goals came 5-on-5.

Said Kane: "Anytime you get a wake-up call from old Willie Mitchell - he made some comments that really fired me up."

The hit

Jonathan Toews had the puck in the neutral zone looking right on Oct. 21 of this season at the UC when Willie Mitchell came out of the penalty box from the left and creamed the Hawks' captain with a shoulder-to-jaw hit.

Toews, who struggled just to get to the bench, suffered a concussion that would keep him sidelined for the next six games.

"It was a clean hit," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said after the game.

Toews begrudgingly called it a good hit when he returned but added he thought any hit to the head, clean or not, deserved a penalty.

Mitchell is now out himself with a concussion and likely will miss the series.

Ladd vs. Kesler

Ryan Kesler still hadn't forgotten that hit from Andrew Ladd in the playoffs that broke his nose when the two teams played Jan. 23 at GM Place.

Just moments after the opening faceoff, Ladd and Kesler went into the boards and the gloves came off. Ladd ended the bout quickly with one punch to Kesler's face, with the Canucks' center then wrestling Ladd to the ice.

After Vancouver's 5-1 win, Kesler went off on Ladd.

"He's a coward. He'll always be a coward," Kesler said. "At least he was man enough to hit me when I was looking this time."

The next day Ladd and his Hawks teammates laughed off Kesler's remarks

"He took a shot, then pretty much threw me down," Ladd said. "It didn't seem like he wanted to fight anymore. He was talking a lot before (the fight) and wasn't saying much after that."

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