We Hate Them...But at Least Respect Them

[RedFX 48]

Okay, we know the situation with these two teams. One one hand, you have the Blackhawks: The blood-sworn enemy of the Wings. The team that our former pal Marian Hossa spurned us for. And whose fans aren't exactly keen on containing their feelings for our franchise and our city. On the other hand, you have the Philadelphia Flyers: Home of such classy individuals as Daniel Carcillo, Scott Hartnell, and ****** McBag (Chris Pronger). And whose fans.....we'll....you know. So for many like me, at first glance these Finals appear to be a gag-fest. And no matter who ends up winning it all, many will walk away with the sickly feeling of seeing someone like Pronger or Hossa lifting the Cup.

But despite everything I've ever been taught as a hockey fan, I can't help feeling content about this matchup. For me, both teams have shown they deserve to be here, and they deserve to win it all. And on a personal level, I respect what each team has done to get here.

The Flyers road here is well documented. For them to put up a big performance on the last day of season just to QUALIFY for the playoffs is a big enough deal. But this year may go down as one of the most storied playoff performances in NHL history. The story in the Boston series will do that alone, but before that, they manhandled the Division Champions, and then dominated another upstart team in the Conference Finals. All this despite losing their starting goalie, leading scorer, and top penalty-kill man for most of the playoffs.

For the Blackhawks, they way the organization has rebuilt both on and off the ice keeps reminding me of another down on it's luck Original Six team in the Late 80's to Mid 90's....Everyone mentions throwing money at Hossa and Campbell. But when you look at the majority of the team's talent, they've been grown and brought up within the organization: both the marquee picks like Kane and Toews, but also later picks like Byufuglein, Bolland, Brouwer, etc. We all know that the Sharks have had a bad history of playoff collapses in the past. But they were still a top-tier team, and for the Hawks to be that dominant against them in the Conference Finals is extremely impressive.

So overall, I, like many others here, will probably die a little inside if I see Pronger lifting another cup or a lifelong hated franchise finally revive itself. But I think while a lot us dislike much of these two teams, I think each still deserve respect for what they've done to get to this point.