Top two teams meet in Western Conf. finals

Published 11:56 pm Saturday, May 15, 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif. — From early on this season, the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks seemed to be on a collision course toward the Western Conference final.

With 14 Olympians, seven gold medalists, two silver medal winners and plenty of other talented players, these two teams spent much of the season battling for the top spot in the conference.

“We played them four times and there was always a big buzz around those games,” Chicago forward Patrick Sharp said.

The buzz has only gotten bigger this week, with a berth in the Stanley Cup final on the line. The best-of-seven series opens today in San Jose, all because the Sharks beat the Blackhawks by one point for the top spot in the conference on the final weekend of the regular season.

This is just the sixth time since the current playoff format began in 1994 that the top two seeds have made it to the conference final.

“It’s going to be a great series,” Sharks center Joe Thornton said. “I think everybody, at least in our locker room, thought it’s going to come down to one of us in the conference final going to the final. It’s just going to be an exciting series. It’s going to be a lot of fun to play in.”

Both teams are eager to get this started. The Sharks will have had seven full days off since beating Detroit, while Chicago will have had a four-day break since dispatching Vancouver.

The Sharks geared up, backed off and picked up the pace again as they waited to find out when this series would open. The Blackhawks took a day off Friday to tour Alcatraz before returning to the ice Saturday.

“Both teams might come out a little sloppy, but I’m sure we’ll find our game pretty soon in the series,” Chicago forward Patrick Kane said. “I think it’s going to make for a great series. I think there’s a lot of great players.”