Hidden Goal Wins Stanley Cup for Chicago

Image via Wikipedia

The Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime in Game 6.  The winning goal, scored by Patrick Kane, wasn't caught right away until somebody noticed that the puck leaked through the Flyers' netminder and into the goal.  Video confirmed it, and the Blackhawk players started dancing around the Wachovia Center ice with the Cup.

This was not your typical National Hockey League final.  There was lots of scoring in the six-game series.  The goaltending wasn't as scintillating as it usually is.  The Flyers' Chris Pronger made a habit of stealing the Blackhawks' final game pucks, only to see the favor returned when a Chicago newspaper put out a poster-sized image of him suggesting that he played like a girl.  That probably went over real well with the women's ice hockey teams who competed at the Olympics in Vancouver a few months ago.

The Flyers deserve credit for the surprising run they had during the playoffs, highlighted by being only the third team to come from behind a 3-0 deficit to win their series.  Which is what happened when they defeated the Boston Bruins in an earlier round.  This would not have been possible, however, had they not scored the winning goal in a shootout against the New York Rangers on the final day of the regular season just to get into the playoffs.

The Blackhawks have been one of the best teams in the NHL all season, with contributions from Kane, Jonathan Toews, Martin Hossa and Dustin Byfuglien.  That's quite a contrast to a few seasons ago when the Hawks were so bad, you couldn't give away a ticket to a game at United Center.  Now, in winning the Stanley Cup, the Windy City cheers and former player Jeremy Roenick, who was an analyst for NBC during the playoffs, was brought to tears.

Like we said, the Blackhawks and their fans have waited since 1961 to hoist the Cup.  That was back when John Kennedy was President, and Bobby Hull, Glenn Hall and Stan Mikita roamed the ice of Chicago Stadium.  Forty-nine years later, under another Democratic president, the wait is over.  Now it's the Toronto Maple Leafs' turn.  They haven't won the Cup since 1967, which happens to be the final year of the six-team NHL before that league started expanding.