The 2015 Stanley Cup Champions

Tommie Lee
Jun 16, 2015
3 min read

As a fan, I like to think they won it for Stosh.

That’s Stan Mikita, the Great Captain, #21. He’s been in the news lately. His mind is rapidly skating away from him, his memories of his amazing career slashing left and right, like he used to when the chips were down, always just out of reach.

I’m not going to pretend to be enough of a sportswriter to give that story it’s due, especially since Chris Kuc did such an amazing job of it at the Chicago Tribune. It’s a beautiful piece of writing and you should read it. There were times this season when we were all convinced the Blackhawks didn’t have a prayer of winning 16 games in the playoffs. At times we shook our heads at the wafer-thin defense. We cringed when Corey Crawford went through a series of rough patches. We winced and called the season “over” when Patrick Kane’s collarbone went snickety-snap into the boards. And yet, Monday night, the Blackhawks got it done.

There are a lot of visuals the fans will take away from it, but there are two visuals we should take away from this, and I’ll save them for last.

Let’s start with Jonathon Toews, Captain Serious. He was a brilliant leader on the ice. He played like a tough guy twice his size and a finesse player at the same time. Incredible. There seems to be no end to the reserves of Overdrive Juice this guy has.

Patrick Kane had no goals in this series until he managed to net the insurance goal in the third period. Seeing his unique, cocky little goal celebration and knowing that barring a monumental disaster…this was the LAST period of the season. That was solid.

Teuvo Teravainen became a man before our very eyes in this Cup Final. Watching his game mature so quickly was a beautiful thing. I can’t wait to see what he does next season.

Marian Hossa kept removing his legs and putting on the legs of a 25 year-old with the hands of a veteran. I’ll never understand where that energy comes from at his age. Unreal. He’s my favorite player and even when he’s quiet on the scoreboard, he’s intimidating the opposition.

Kimmo Timonen. He was horrible for most of the postseason. He was the old man that didn’t pan out, a late defensive acquisition that underachieved. Now he’s a guy who had The Cup handed to him first by his Captain, a fitting end to a great career. Like Raymond Bourque, he made a move at the end of his career and it paid off with his first Cup. Bourque was the first to get The Cup from Captain “Super” Joe Sakic, too. I remember it well.

Brandon Saad. Duncan Keith. Hjalmarsson and Seabrook and even Versteeg. Where did these performances come from? They were amazing to watch. Clutch. Saad especially. Pay that man. Keep him here.

Patrick Sharp? Thanks for the memories. It’s time for you to go. You’ve been a disruption all year, you’ve under-performed since September…it’s just time.

Tampa’s Captain, Steven Stamkos. That guy couldn’t BUY a goal in this Final. He had one assist.

The Lightning were a lot more evenly matched than any of us assumed. We’re damn lucky this series didn’t go back to Florida. Damn lucky.

What I leave you with is this.

1) After all the hard shoves and physical checks and elbows and crashes and on and on…the Stanley Cup Champions skated over, with the rest of the team forming up in a line behind them, and they all shook hands with the runners-up.

This is why I love this game.

This, and 2) The day after LeBron James reminded us that he was “the best player in the world,” Patrick Kane told us “…this is all about the team.”

Is it October yet?

Go Hawks!