Joe and Peter, Mike and Arnie, Stevie and Sergei, the list goes on of teams that have had a great 1-2 punch at centre to win them the Cup.
The Chicago Blackhawks could have the best 1-2 punch in history with Vincent Lecavalier and Joe Thornton.
They don't look at it like a competition. With the star studded line up in Chicago, everyone seems to have bought in to Coach Murray's system and is concentrating on the final goal.
Even guys like Martin Havlat and Patrick Marleau seem to be playing with a little obscurity, although Marleau leads the team in scoring.
"Well, I used to be a centre." laughed Marleau. "Playing with Lecavalier though, opens up so much ice, the points seem to come easier."
Neither of the two wants to take much credit for the Hawks hot start. "We don't have a number one line.' chuckled Thornton. "Call them 1a and 1b," Thornton, ever the team guy, said.
"Having Joe's creativity out there opens up a lot of things that you don't think about before you have a guy like him around," admitted Marleau. "It affects everybody out there. Playing with either of our two guys will make you better."
The hardest adjustment has been for guys like David Legwand. "For me now, it is a different role. As someone who has been counted on to put points on the board, I have a broader responsibility, including killing penalties, which I had never done before. Everyone likes to pot the odd goal, but when you are winning, the numbers don't seem to be that important."
So far everyone has bought into the system. "They have been terrific. The two of them have done everything asked of them....as well as the whole team. We had questions like every other team. You just hope it all comes together." said Head Coach Bryan Murray.
The GM tandem of Yee and Bachul didn't have much to add, including a lack of roster movements. "We talked to a few teams about different players, but there is no timetable on making any moves. When things are going well, you have the benefit of being patient."
A case can easily be made that Chicago's greatest players has been ex-Islander Lubomir Visnovsky, the team's third highest scorer with 3 goals and 13 points in 9 games with a team high 28 PIM and a leaguewide high +/- of +14. He leads all BRHL2 defensemen in points and is second among all players at any position in assists. He is also on an eight-game point streak. He simply has been dominant.
