Lord Stanley Goes to Chicago

I had my TV time carved out tonight.  The Chicago Blackhawks were leading the Boston Bruins 3 games to 2 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  If the Hawks won, they win the championship.  If Boston wins, the series goes back to Chicago tied, and it's toss-up.

With 1:17 to go in the game, the series was heading back to Chicago, as Boston led in the game 2-1.  And then, in a stunning reversal, just 17 seconds later Chicago...had won the Stanley Cup!  In that span of time, Brian Bickell scored the tying goal with 1:16 to go in the game, and with 59 seconds left, Dave Bolland scored to put Chicago ahead.

It was a tremendous series.  Three of the six games went to overtime.  The first game went into triple-overtime.  Honestly, I thought Boston played slightly better, but that might have been because the games were so tense, your nerves see how well the other team is doing at your expense.

Though my preferences are the other major sports, and though my interest in hockey decreased as the NHL expanded, I grew up watching the Blackhawks and have great affection for them, most especially the classic 6-team league.  And since the Boston Bruins were part of that original 6-team league, it made watching the championship all the more a joy.

And how they won, in that 17-second span, with less than a minute to go, made it all the more memorable.

The Blackhawks began the season setting an NHL record by going 24 straight games scoring a point.  However, most commentators say that it would be a huge letdown if, after dong that, they didn't win the Stanley Cup.

It wasn't a huge letdown...