With no regrets, Hawks have no worries

The '69 Cubs are the standard by which all other Chicago sports heartbreaks have been measured.

But for a hockey fan it was always the '71 Blackhawks, the nightmare that kept on giving, the one that would summon you in the middle of the night and offer the most special of horrors.

That club was filled with superstars, driven by Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, and guarded by Tony Esposito.

They had it all, not to mention a 2-0 series lead on Montreal in the Stanley Cup Finals. After a Game 5 victory to go up 3-2 in the series, the Hawks had two chances to finish off the hated Habs, and their rookie goaltender by the name of Ken Dryden.

The Hawks had the best team in hockey. They needed only to win a game. And after losing Game 6 by a goal, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in Game 7 at home.

It was over.

But ask anyone who lived through it and they'll tell you about Jacques Lemaire's shot from outside the blueline.

They'll describe for you the way Henri Richard went to his backhand near the left circle and walked around Keith Magnuson before beating Esposito for the game-winner.

Cubs fans remember the Mets and that black cat. For Hawks fans, it's Lemaire and Richard.

About 10 years ago, I found myself sitting near Magnuson in the dressing room after a charity game, and he couldn't have been happier to discuss the old days - until Richard's name was mentioned.

The blood drained from that familiar red face, and with a sad grin that masked the hurt he said he wished he had tripped Richard. Magnuson, who died a couple years later, said it was his deepest regret.

That's something for every Hawks player to understand right now and take with them on every shift of the Finals.

No regrets.

Magnuson said it as though the pain were as fresh 30 years later as it was the day it happened.

See, all those Hawks thought they had it won, and all those Hawks thought it would be the first of many Stanley Cups.

Instead, there were none.

The team that couldn't lose came back the next year and got swept by the Rangers in the semis.

Then Hull left for the WHA, and Mikita carried the Hawks to six games against the Canadiens in the '73 Finals, but they were in over their heads.

The ice was tilted and so was history. Montreal would win six titles in the 1970s, treating the Cup as a city chalice as Chicago cried in its beer.

And after '73, that was pretty much it for that vaunted club.

You wonder how different that decade would have been if they had won in '71. They probably would have won again in '72 - they still had the best team - and then Hull never would have left because the Wirtz family couldn't have let that happen to a team that just repeated.

That group might have won three or four Cups in the '70s. That's what they believed in 1971. It's what everyone in the NHL thought.

But they never won a thing, and you ask a Mikita or an Esposito today and they still can't believe their team came up empty.

And the wound is as gaping as it ever was.

No, nothing is guaranteed. Not the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, and not the future.

The Hawks have every right to win this series, and they should. You won't find too many people outside the city of Philadelphia who think the Flyers can win, just as in 1971 there wasn't a person outside Montreal who thought the best team in hockey - the Hawks - could lose.

But it happens, and the Flyers - guys like Chris Pronger and Mike Richards - are not coming here Saturday for a family picnic.

These are serious people here to do a serious job.

So if the Hawks let up, if they believe too much in the hype, they could face real danger.

In the last 49 years, that '71 club is probably the best team - 1 through 20 - the Hawks have put on the ice.

But the reality is what should have been never was for the Hawks of the '70s, a cautionary tale that serves as a genuine reminder for today.

The current Hawks know what's in their hands. They are the best team in hockey and they control their own destiny. They have within their grasp a chance to make this their year and maybe their decade.

They can erase a half-century of pain for Hawks fans.

As long as they remember that the best team only wins if it shows up and plays the best in 16 games.

Twelve down, four to go.

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.