On to the Finals!

The Blackhawks beat San Jose yesterday afternoon by a score of 4 to 2, swept the series, and will be favored in the Stanley Cup finals against either Montreal or, more probably, Philadelphia.

Buffy scored the game-winner yet again.

The Sharks- one of the NHL's best teams- did not deserve the humiliation of being swept. But as one of the San Jose sportswriters conceded the other day, the Hawks are simply a better team- and, what is even more important in the playoffs, a team that's jelling at precisely the right time.

Rookie goalie Antti Niemi, "the Finnish Fortress," has played like Martin Brodeur or Jacques Plante or Terry Sawchuck or Glenn Hall in their prime. And he was supposed to be the weak link.

The Hawks are a deep, balanced team that is peaking as it goes into the Finals. If they are a better team than San Jose- and they are- they're better by several orders of magnitude than either the Canadiens or the Flyers. But both of those teams have been playing 'way, 'way over their heads since the playoffs began, and the cliche is right (which is generally, of course, the reason why cliches are cliches to begin with): anything can happen in a short series.

Trying not to get my hopes up too high. But you'd better believe I'm savoring the moment. It's been 49 years in coming.