Hawks must overcome danger from underdogs

Last spring, the underdogs won three of eight first-round series- and that's not counting eventual Stanley Cup champion Edmonton,which needed a sixth-game rally just to be around to knock offWinnipeg in seven.

Shocking, right?

No, merely true to form in the NHL, where the team that finishedwith the poorer regular-season record has won one-third, or 16 of 48,first-round series in the last six years.

If the Hawks - whom some Canadian experts think are the favoritemost likely to catch a first-round comeuppance - are still standingin two weeks, though, they just might do something no Hawk team hasdone since the spring of 1961 - skate around with the Stanley …