from Barry Rozner of the Chicago Daily-Herald,

There was the compact schedule after the lockout last year. The ferocious pace of the playoffs. The deep run. The Cup victory. The shortest summer of all time. The fast camp. Another compact schedule because of the Olympics. The Olympic tournament. The busy schedule to the finish. And now three more rounds of playoffs.

The amount of emotional energy necessary to continue this run is even tougher than the physical part, which is obviously brutal, and if the Hawks' tank is finally on empty, no one could blame them.

Asked if his team was tired, Joel Quenneville said Monday, "No, not at all. I think something like that we would feel it. You would see it. I'm not giving in to that one."

It's the right answer. A coach can never offer his team an excuse, but Quenneville is no fool. He knows his team is on fumes, and since the 18-minute mark of Period 2 in Game 2 the Hawks have been outscored 15-5, with the number of mental mistakes increasing with each passing game.

Can they muster one more comeback? They did play a strong third period Monday, but it might not be up to the Hawks.

They have played with fire the last two years, continually getting into dangerous spots, and they may have finally run into the team that burns them.

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