BlackHawks Beat Red WIngs in Shootout 4 to 3, Lead The NHL with 72 Points

  The Game Winner By Patrick Sharp, the Shootout Sharpshooter today!
Click pic above for NHL.com  Click here for Blackhawks.com  box scores

San Jose has 70 until their next game decision, leaving the Hawks leading the league for the afternoon at least! lol (standings before this afternoon's win)

This team is really going off the rails this year in a great way,  as they've really exploded on the scene leading the entire league for the first time since I can remember, actually going back to 1992 being the last time they appeared in the NHL finals, and aside from last year weren't even in the playoffs for seven years, that being in 2002...

So they've sucked for  a while,  but have come on strong since their founder, NHL oldtimer Dollar Bill Wirtz passed away in the last year, with his much more contemporary son taking the reigns and bringing the team into the new millennium, albeit nearly a decade too late!   A man who was so cheap he threw quarters around like manhole covers, and squeezed his nickels so tight the damn eagle would scream!

Hence the nickname "dollar Bill".

As a season ticket holder in the 80's,  we saw some great teams that were always getting beat by the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers of the day,  led by Hockey God Wayne Gretsky,  every time they (they Hawks) got close to Stanley and his Cup, so while decade was pretty good for fans like myself, it was also terribly frustrating.

Those Hawks teams had some greats of their own, with Chris Chelios,  Denis Savard, Al Secord, Daryl Sutter, Doug Wilson along with Bob Murray, and Tony O also known as Tony Esposito and others, and hockey fans know those names mean "old time kick ass hockey".

The 60's and 70's everyone into hockey and some who aren't knows these few guys; Stan Makita, Bobby Hull, Keith Magnason, Pit Martin and the list goes on and on.

On the contrary, this team is very young, and really great so far this year, as the game televised nationally today went through overtime with the Hawks finally securing the win in the 4th shootout round. What a great game for the country to see.

This should hopefully be a once in a lifetime year with these young men on the ice.

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