The Hawks' season ends... in hope and with heads held high

The Blackhawks- who remain the heir apparent to the NHL's Western Conference- will not be displacing the aging Detroit Red Wings as the conference representatives in the Stanley Cup Finals this year. A 2-1 overtime defeat at the hands of Detroit tonight assured that.

But tonight's result only delays the inevitable. Simply making the playoffs and winning one series would have made this season a success for the resurgent Hawks. To get to the conference finals is more than any of us hoped for at the beginning of the season.

This defeat is relatively easy to take. Detroit should enjoy it while they can. The youngest team in the NHL- my Blackhawks- are already among the league's elite, and will be contending for Stanley Cups for the next decade.

This is a moment, not for disappointment- who actually believed that the Hawks would win the Cup this year, anyway?- but for pride, and a sense of eager expectation for October and the next season.

And for the decade of glory to come.

I grew up rooting for the Hawks to grab Lord Stanley's mug springtime after springtime, and it's a tradition I'm glad to have back. It's been much too long.

One more thought: Watching hockey on TV is a poor substitute for either being there in person- or, failing that, listening on the radio. That's the way I followed the Hawks in all those playoffs of my youth.

It was a joy doing so again, over the internet.