After a decade without reaching the playoffs, the hope has returned to the Chicago Blackhawks team and fans; with a victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, the Blackhawks are on the road to win the Stanley Cup final, but first they have to face either Anaheim Mighty Ducks or their all time rival, Detroit Red Wings.

This season has been great for the Blackhawks; they have been winning most of the games and the team is really connected with the winning goal that they are trying to achieve this season for the first time in ten years.

The changes on the team had been done by owner Rocky Wirtz, who took the lead of the team after his father, Blackhawks’ long time owner, died in 2007. He did some extraordinary changes in the team and the marketing that changed the way the team had of seeing things. He hired John McDonough to be the team’s president and after that, they decided to put the home games back in television, something that his father didn’t want to do for years. He brought back some hockey stars as ambassadors to the team like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, which was a great marketing strategy since then the United Center started to welcome more fans, when a couple of years back it just filled up a half.

They also signed some rookie players that had become the support of the team. Last year they drafted rookie of the year forward Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, who is now the captain of the team just at the age of 21. With these two acquisitions they started a process in which the team has been improving, but still they missed last year’s playoffs. In the offseason they signed goaltender Cristobal Huet for four years and defenseman Brian Campbell for eight years, which has been considered one of the best decisions made by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Another change that the Blackhawks did to improve the team was when they fired Coach Denis Savard and was replaced by Joel Quenneville, a veteran with plenty of experience in the game. The Blackhawks were right on hiring Quenneville; he actually set a discipline and a structure that made possible for the team to be in the playoffs this year.

“They’re going to be good for a long time,” Left wing from the Vancouver Canucks Daniel Sedin said, “You look at their young guys and its unbelievable skill. Overall, that won them the series. Three lines can score on a regular basis and we couldn’t keep up.”

Even though Chicago had only ten players with a postseason experience at the beginning of the playoffs, they were good enough and proved that they are in the final four for a reason. Now they are just eight victories away from the first Stanley Cup title since 1961 and the fourth one on the team’s history.

About the Author

About the Author Audrey Nolan has been a prominent writer on daily National Hockey League reviews, sports news and sports betting industry updates for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.