ONCE IN A LIFETIME
This is it. What we've waited for.There are people who have been waiting almost 5 decades. There are others who have been waiting 5 minutes. Doesn't matter.
Not today.
On this week's PUCKCAST,. I put forth the notion that we may very well be entering into the "Golden Age" of Blackhawks hockey. The 3 previous Hawks' cup wins had come with the Hawks not finishing first. They just got hot at the right time.
This year was different. They finished first in the Central Division for the first time. They missed finishing first overall in the Western Conference by one point. Despite that, they had the best Vegas odds of any team not based in Washington DC to win the Cup. This coming off the previous season, when they learned what it took to be a Champion from the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals. That's 7 playoff series in 2 years. This isn't a fluke team.
But winning it again? Is it possible?
Sure, anything is possible. Patrick Kane is 21, Jonathan Toews is 22. There's a lot of youth on this team. There was also a lot of youth on the last Blackhawks' team to win the Cup.
Know what? None of that means anything today. Today isn't a day for worrying.
Neither is tomorrow.
Enjoy this Stanley Cup championship, as it may very well be the only one you'll ever get. There are players who slugged it out all through their lives without experiencing it. With all the old jokes told about me, until last night I had never drawn a breath while the Chicago Blackhawks were Stanley Cup champions - I was born in the fall of 1962. Just a few blocks from the Stadium. Less than 5 years later, late in the 1966-67 season, I went inside that same Stadium for the first time. Even before I knew anything more than fights and goals, I loved saying the names...Mikita. Chico Maki. Nesterenko. What can I say? Then, as now, I was easily amused.
As CT said last night, it's been a pleasure sharing this whole experience with you readers and commenters, and a privilege to share this site with CT. There are better and smarter sites out there, but I hope we at least have made you guys laugh and have a good time on this ride.
So before you go all meatball and start in about any of that other crap (Niemi/Huet, salary cap, free agency, possible loss of assistant coaches, etc.) Enjoy this. Everything else no longer matters. All the Blackhawks in the last 49 years who had to leave Chicago before they could win the Stanley Cup, not even that matters today. This is like having your birthday, Christmas, and getting laid for the first time all wrapped into one - and only Jesus got the real deal.
This may be the only one of these you'll ever get in your life. And if it isn't, you'll never get one that comes after waiting 49 years again.
If you don't appreciate how rare an experience this is, let Jeremy Roenick remind you:
Posted by Forklift at 6/10/2010 4:27 PM 
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, 2010 Stanley Cup Finals
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions Jeremy Roenick 2010 Stanley Cup Finals
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, 2010 Stanley Cup Finals
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions Jeremy Roenick 2010 Stanley Cup Finals
Agree. Agree. Agree.
I grew up with Roenick, Chelios and Belfour. Then Amonte, Daze...Arnasson...Borque...etc.
I am really glad for you Fork. And you are right about us maybe never seeing this again. I am going to enjoy it to the fullest.
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Fork, I truly enjoy this site. You,CT and my paizon Dave Morris and fans here know the game and taught me alot. Even though I've played hockey and been a die-hard Hawks fan since 1980 at 7 yrs. old and still have my first Doug Wilson jersey. I feel like a kid again with the way i feel about this team. So you will never hear any negative remarks from me again. Can't wait for the parade tomorrow
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I wrote about my feelings last night.
I've been with this site from the start...I've had some disagreements, gone off on some rants, and I've celebrated glorious wins.
It was nice to come to a site that didn't take itself so damn seriously...but still gave out solid hockey insight.
I can't tell you how I felt last night...watching the Blackhawks, OUR BLACKHAWKS dance around; realizing that they had just won the Stanley Cup.
It was surreal.
Not just the ending of the game...but to see people dancing on the ice with the indian head sweater on...just crazy.
Too odd.
This is the only sport where the championship doesn't feel complete until the first guy on your squad lifts the cup.
When Toews grabbed it, I got all messy.
And when JR talked to my generation...I lost it.
I've been a fan since Troy Murray's strip and score on the final day of 1989's regular season...what a wait.
Thank you so much Hockeenight.
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As always Fork, you know how to articulate what it means to be a Hawks fan.
CT is right. You are the brains of the organization.
I guess that makes him the looks?
I was a season ticket holder from the time they opened the new building until 2001. At that point, I got fed up with overpaid, over-the-hill free agents, lackluster drafts, and a disinterested ownership and turned in my tickets (not to mention Mrs. Denrizz and a little rizz coming into the picture). I was in hockey wilderness for a long-time.
Finally, this team rekindled all that made me love hockey. Speed, toughness, and dedication. CT turned me on to this site and it is the first site I log onto after every game (hopefully work doesnt track my web usage too closely).
I watched a lot of Hawks games when the team when for a couple of years in the 80s they might have been the second best team in the NHL to the Cup finalist to the team that was just a hair behind Detroit and Colorado.
Their time is now. They seized it. While it is damn hard to repeat, as long as their core stays in tack and they can draft as well as they have been, it won't be 49 years for another.
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I like to think of myself as the liver and spleen of Hockeenight.
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I followed this team since the days of Savard, Larmer, Secord, etc. I was brutally disappointed in 1992, but hoped that with some additions the Hawks would win the Cup. Of course that didn't happen and Dollar Bill practically drove me away.
I started coming back when Rocky took over and rediscovered my love for the Hawks. None of the other stuff matters the salary cap, who is coming or going, etc. The Hawks went all in and got the Cup. Nobody can ever take that away.
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Geez, gang...I feel like the Geritol Kid here with all you young'uns.
Just kidding.
But seriously, Fork has nailed it.
Enjoying this now, all the memories come rushing back, and I'm that little kid in Canada skating down the rink in the back yard, pretending to be my one or all of my hockey heroes.
When you're six years old, Bobby Hull seems like a god.
The TV images were like shadows...but when The Golden Jet wound up behind his own goal, and rocketed down the ice before unleashing the missile off his blade, it gave me chills.
He was everything a hockey player is supposed to be.
I remember Foster Hewitt and his nasal drawl..."Bobby Hull picks up the puck behind his net...he's coming down the left side...he shoots...he SCORES!!!"
I was captivated by the faces of his teammates on the tiny, blurry pictures in the center of the plastic coins we collected in packages of Shirriff's Luscious Jelly Dessert. I collected them, but always some extra Tod Sloans for some reason.
To me, the Black Hawks were always larger than life. As a boy, I didn't know any other reason to follow them than that they were magical to me.
That was all that mattered.
I didn't care if other kids wanted to follow the crowd who rooted for the Habs or the Leafs.
I never gave up my favorites to root for the so-called 'home town' team...because that team, in my view, had nothing to do with Senators of old...it was just a creation of some business men who cared more about money than sport.
I have never followed the crowd.
Anyway, when you choose your loyalties, you stay with them.
It's been a great half century.
Anybody can say they're a fan of a team that wins every year. It takes courage to be loyal to a team through its ups and downs.
The Blackhawks are a proud tribe...no matter what.
Always have been. Always will be.
And now they are Champions again.
As they should be.
Thanks to all of you.
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...and when somebody tries to rain on your parade, just remember...your heroes are The Champions now. Theirs aren't.
Here Come The Hawks. The Mighty Blackhawks.
Be loud. Be proud. And be noble. Like a Champion.
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I can tell you are older...you used the old separation of 'Black Hawks' earlier. Nice.
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Dave is not older. He's better.
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I don't even know what that means denrizz? He's better?
Of course he is! he's dave morris!
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With all due humility, Mr Rizzo and Mr Noce are always right.
If we do not strive to be better, what are we, but mere meatballs in the Stew of Life?
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Better with age Like a fine wine.
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Like MD 20/20?
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I was thinking Thunderbird.
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