May 11--Bryan Bickell was happy to have a couple of days away from the rink to plan wife Amanda's first Mother's Day. The Blackhawks winger also managed to find some time to cast a line into the water.
Captain Jonathan Toews enjoyed hanging out with friends during the Hawks' two days off following their sweep of the Wild in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As the first team to advance to the conference finals, the Hawks are taking advantage of the break between series to not only heal bumps and bruises associated with postseason hockey, but perhaps just as important, receive a mental rest.
"I took a day and went fishing for a couple of hours to get my mind off of hockey and spend time with my family," Bickell said. "It's nice to ... rest the body and not think about hockey for a couple of days."
The Hawks closed out the Wild on Thursday night and were off Friday and Saturday before returning to practice Sunday at Johnny's IceHouse West. Meanwhile, the three other series -- including the Ducks and Flames from which the Hawks' opponent in the Western Conference finals will emerge -- raged on.
"It's cool to let your guard down a little bit and enjoy some time with family and friends, a little social time away from the game," Toews said. "A lot of guys maybe have family and friends in town to come watch big playoff games. When we're not playing between series it's great for guys to really kick back and enjoy some time with those people."
The NHL won't begin the next round of the playoffs until every series is complete and that likely means the Hawks won't play Game 1 until Friday or Saturday. After six exhibition games, 82 regular-season contests and 10 postseason games, having time to relax figures to prove beneficial in the long run.
"(When) you get a couple days it's almost like ... you get hockey out of your brain," coach Joel Quenneville said. "Then you watch the games that night and all of a sudden that intensity comes back. But over the course of a playoff run you have some highs and lows and getting a break is definitely advantageous. You have to use it the right way and get excited when you come back on the ice like we did (Sunday)."
While the time off was nice, the Hawks wouldn't allow themselves to completely drop their guard. They would like to capitalize on the momentum gained by the sweep of the Wild. They never trailed in the series and were getting strong play in all facets of the game.
"To a certain degree you don't want to let your mind wander too much," Toews said. "When you have your sights set on your next opponent and you know when the date is, it's great to be able to snap back into it and know that a couple of days leading up to it you really need to be where you would be if it was a game day."
Added Bickell: "Now we're just starting from fresh and we're going to be playing a different team that is going to have different tendencies. That last series was a big test for us to play smart defensively and play check-first. We started off well and we kind of carried it through the series. I'm sure this next series will be a different task that way."
ckuc@tribpub.com
