Three years ago the Anaheim Ducks really eased my pain. This year the Ducks missed the playoffs, but it didn't really matter, since they won the Stanley Cup in 2007, and I have the souvenir shirt that my talented engraving daughter gave me back then, to remind me.Today, miracle of miracles, June 9, 2010, the Chicago Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup as the best team in the National Hockey League. A member of the "original six" teams prior to a major league expansion that doubled the league's size in 1967, the Black Hawks had not won the Cup since 1961, a time when I was six years old and could not remember.
In the mid 1960s I grew to love the Hawks, particularly their glamour boy left winger, Bobby Hull, AKA, Robert Marvin Hull. Hull was possibly the most exciting hockey player on the planet at the time, and his middle name was the same as my first name. He had already reached the magical 50 goal plateau and would end up surpassing that total three times during the decade, with season totals of 54, 58 and 52. The Hawks had some other exciting stars too, but they couldn't seem to duplicate their 1961 success again during the 1960s.
It was tough enough beating the Montreal Canadiens, but on seasons when the Hawks managed to beat or avoid the Flying Frenchmen, then they could not get by either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Detroit Red Wings. Sadly, in 1968 Chicago's fortunes reached an all time low when they finished sixth among the original six, and out of the playoffs. A magazine article at the time, analyzing the "mighty" Hawks firepower, queried: "How Could They Ever Finish Last?"
However, the next season, some miracles happened. Tony Esposito arrived from Montreal, recorded 15 shutouts in goal, and won rookie of the year honours. The team rallied from their deplorable previous year's finish and put 45 wins and 99 points on the board. They were tied for first with the newly mighty Boston Bruins, but took first place on a tie breaker. Detroit finished third with 95 points, and the New York Rangers and Montreal were battling it out for fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on the final day of the regular season. It would prove to be a bizarre turn of events that day.
The Rangers entered their final game against the Red Wings two points behind Montreal. The league office decreed that if there was a tie in the standings, the first tie breaker would be goals scored. The Rangers were 5 goals behind Montreal prior to the game, so needed to beat Detroit by a lot. As it turned out, New York took an early lead in the game and were well on their way to winning over a Red Wings team that had already clinched third place when, early in the third period the Rangers pulled their goalie for a sixth attacker. New York went on to pot a few extra goals and finally won the game 9-5. This meant that they were up 4 goals on Montreal in a tie breaker, if the Canadiens lost to Chicago that same Sunday, later in the evening.
I listened to the Hawks-Habs game on radio that night. Montreal managed to score a pair of goals in the first two periods, but Chicago held a commanding 5-2 lead early in the third period, and were dominating the play. Montreal's chances of victory were now slim, so they had no choice but to pull their goalie and try to score some more goals in an attempt to beat the Rangers in a tie breaker. Montreal needed 2 goals to tie New York and three to win the last playoff spot, and any further goals by Chicago were irrelevant to them.
Alas, things only got worse for Montreal. The Black Hawks scored five more times, all into the empty net, while Montreal scored none, and lost the game 10-2, missing the playoffs for the first time in decades. I was pumped up for the first place Hawks who went on to dispose of Detroit in 4 straight games by identical scores of 4-2, then I was demoralized when the Bruins eliminated my Hawks in the semifinals. It just wasn't supposed to end this way. My only consolation was that Montreal didn't win the Stanley Cup again.
In 1971 the Hawks were off to the Western Conference where they managed to knock off the Rangers during the crossover semifinal series. The rest of the final series with its untimely end is summarized in the June 7, 2007 blog entry.
Now, 39 years later, the Chicago Black Hawks have not been my favourite team for a very long time. However, when I sensed that this might be their night, those sorrowful feelings from long ago came back to mind and I could feel the excitement returning. When Patrick Kane scored the surprise winner in overtime, I felt a sense of release from those feelings of pain 4 decades ago when the Hawks came so close to fulfilling my dream, but just came up short.
I didn't watch all of game 6 tonight. I had no control over the TV remote, as I was visiting at my wife's aunt and uncle's house, with their daughter and nephew, and with my wife and my daughter. Most, if not all, of us somewhat interested hockey fans were cheering for the Hawks, although a couple of us were indifferent to the game and the outcome. One was cheering against the Philadelphia Flyers because of the way they treated Darryl Sittler, back in the early 1980s, by trading the veteran player to Detroit after only a few weeks with the Flyers. I honestly couldn't figure out how that was in any way relevant to the present team some 3 decades later.
When Kane shot a low, slow one from the right near circle that somehow scooted past goalie Leighton on the short side, and Kane skated around the net and past his bench, accelerating wildly, I looked and looked, then exploded off the couch and leapt three times across the living room, pumping my fist. No one else in the room had really been watching closely since it was still relatively early in overtime. It was a special time. Black Hawks sweaters embracing. A scene not seen in nearly a half century.
For me it was especially sweet. What a difference for that sad 16 year old boy brought to tears by his disappointment in 1971. Instead of viciously kicking the old white footstool in frustration at the final horn, and heading out onto the grass, I watch Patrick Kane shoot from an impossible angle, raise his arms as he circles the Philadelphia net, then skate past his bench as a flood of white jerseys pours onto the ice. There is a beautiful lawn outside, but my eyes are glued to the television screen, as I do my own flying acts in celebration.
The Chicago Black Hawks finally capture that elusive 4th Stanley Cup. Oh joy! The pain is finally gone. No more crying on the lawn.
