The Blackhawks' Second Quarter: The glass is more than half full

It's rather hard not to be dreaming big when I consider how well the Blackhawks have been playing so far. Currently, their 29-10-3 record is the best in the league and only San Jose has equaled the 61 points the team has accumulated thus far. So with a team that "can pretty much fart two goals a night," what in the world could possibly concern me at this point?

Well, I'm fairly confident that the same thing that's of issue to me now will also be my foremost concern when the third quarter of the season ends on Valentine's Day: the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Chicago will be sending six players to the Olympics, and while I certainly enjoy watching the international competition, the fear of a possible injury looms large for me. True, the Detroit Red Wings still won a Stanley Cup after sending a fairly large chunk of their roster to Olympic Games of the past, but there's something about the idea of a Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews suffering a season-ending injury during an otherwise meaningless game that would just be so ... Chicago.

Still, that somewhat reasonable anxiety of mine is about the only one I have these days. I suppose there's still some debate in these parts about the team's goaltending situation, what with the thought of being able to move Cristobal Huet's giant contract and simply have Antti Niemi get in between the pipes more often. Neither of these guys has ever won a playoff series, and that's something I'm sure I'll see others use as logic for picking against the Hawks come playoff time. But both goalies have had their ups more often than their downs. And while I would say that Huet's poor outings get more attention than the lackluster performances Niemi has had (and there have been a few), I can't really begin to toy too much with the idea of moving Huet and making Niemi the No. 1 when Corey Crawford or any other prospect is hardly ripping up the minors.

Again, the Olympics remain a somewhat daunting hurdle from my perspective. I could care less who wins what medal. My only concern is that all six Blackhawks competing return to the regular season without any damage. If indeed the Olympics come and go without issue, then it will indeed be time to see if maybe there can be a favorable move made (*cough* Campbell *cough*) before the deadline, but it would strike me as unwise to pull the trigger on any deal until it's more certain that the roster's health is intact.

As far as memorable games in the second quarter of the season, the 7-2 pounding of the Sharks in Hossa's debut with the team was certainly a helluva lot of fun to watch, and shutting out Detroit 3-0 both at the U.C. and in Motown was pretty sweet as well (I don't care that they were banged up ... victories over the Red Wings are still victories). But for one reason or another, the victory over the Boston Bruins one week before Christmas was a real thriller. I can only assume that it was because the game was small example of the fight the usually undersized Hawks gave to one of the league's larger and more physical teams, although Captain Serious actually dropped the gloves in the game that officially marked the halfway point recently.

The team will have an eight-game road trip in the middle of this month before playing four of their six February games on home ice before the break for the Olympics. And you're almost certain to hear a lot of complaining about the schedule, seeing as the team closest to the Hawks in the Central—the Nashville Predators—won't be playing against Chicago for the rest of the year (unless it's the playoffs).

Overall, there remains more reason to be optimistic than not about the Blackhawks so far this year. Now I just hope that they can maintain the pace that they've set so far, as talk of a Stanley Cup coming to the Windy City is no longer just wishful thinking.