Blackhawks win their first playoff series since 1996

Heh, I had no idea about that until now. I do remember their last playoff series in 2002 with Tony Amonte and Brian Sutter as the coach. Unfortunately it wasn't too long after the end of this season that Amonte would be traded away and Sutter (who I never thought of as a bad coach) would be off the bench when the Hawks returned after the season long NHL lockout.

Anyway here's more about last night's victory from the Tribune:

The Blackhawks captured their first postseason series victory since 1996 with a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 6 of the Western Conference quarterfinals Monday night. The Hawks took the best-of-seven series four games to two and finished off the Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledome for the first win by a road team in the series.

Dustin Byfuglien had a goal and two assists, Patrick Kane had a goal and assist and Adam Burish and Brian Campbell also scored to propel the Hawks and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the victory. It was the fourth consecutive season the Flames have been eliminated in the first round.

The Hawks will next face the Vancouver Canucks in the conference semifinals.

I'm sure that there are some Hawks fans who would paint that as "Dollar Bill" Wirtz' fault. He was very willing to let go of good talent and let novices coach the team.

Now under new management since his untimely demise in 2007 we see where the Hawks are going. I'm not sure they're going to win the Stanley Cup this year, but excited that the team is doing great in the playoffs. I look forward to the next round.