Come To Think Of It...Blackhawks Meet the New Boss - Same as the Old Boss

There is very good and then there is great. The Chicago Blackhawks have been playing very good this season, but they just had their team record nine-game winning streak snapped by the great Detroit Red Wings in front of a full house at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The Hawks dominated the game early, outshooting Detroit 12-1, but couldn't score against Ty Conklin, who made 36 saves in his fifth straight start in place of Chris Osgood, who is battling a groin strain. The Wings won the game 4-0 in the 700th lifetime meeting between the division rivals.

It has been an exciting time to be a hockey fan in Chicago as one of the NHL's original six franchises is heading back to where they belong. They achieved respectability last year, winning more than they lost. Yet they again failed to make the playoffs.

But after a slow start this season, they fired their coach, Denis Savard, and brought in a veteran, Joel Quenneville, with an edict that it was clearly time to win now.  And win they have done.

At 20-6-7 entering tonight's fray, the second place Hawks had outscored their opponents 40-12 over the last nine wins.

Ah, but the first place Red Wings are in first place for a reason.  Now sitting at 24-7-5, the mighty Wings have beaten the Hawks all three times they have met this season. And they did so without six-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom, who sat out with a sore ankle.

This game was but a warm-up for the 2009 Winter Classic between these same two teams, to be held at Wrigley Field. That highly anticipated outdoor match will be held on New Years Day.

The Hawks have certainly come a long way, selling out every game, and reintroducing itself to a generation that has welcomed the return of former stars like Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita back to good graces with the team.

And the next generation of Hawks fans are being formed by having the home games once again on television, something not allowed while Bill Wirtz was alive.

Still, meet the new boss, same as the old boss. For now anyway. Yes, the Red Wings showed us just how far we need to go to be considered championship caliber. But we won't get fooled again; come to think of it, we're only a year or two away from battling for Lord Stanley's Cup, you can take that to the bank.