Seventeen seconds of hockey lightning, and Chicago has another sports championship.
But this return of Lord Stanley’s Cup to the Windy City area is special, don’t you think?
With all due respect to football, baseball, and even basketball, winning pro hockey’s Holy Grail is, in my view, most difficult and daunting challenge in professional athletics. The Stanley Cup champs are scarred and exhausted almost beyond belief.
This year’s Blackhawks played 24 postseason games after a shortened regular season of 48 games. They won 16 of them. Winning the Cup is an endurance contest, marathon, and bouncing back from adversity challenge, all rolled into one.
Other sports demand a lot from champions, but the NHL demands more. The NHL had more formidable teams competing for a championship this year than I have ever seen in any other sports postseason.
The Hawks came from behind in two of the three series, and in more than half-a-dozen games.
It was their second Cup title in the last four years and their fifth in history. The 2013 team was built in three seasons by Hawks management, after the 2010 championship team was decimated by salary caps and free agency.
As a native of Minnesota, where hockey is huge and the annual state high school tournament draws crowds comparable to those of many NHL teams, I am a big hockey fan. I love the Sox, Cubs, Bears and Bulls, but I am most emotional when the Blackhawks are playing.
We have all read how Coach Q pushed all the right buttons, and how Toews, Bickell, Shaw, Handzus, and Hossa played hurt. The Hawks struggled all regular season to achieve home ice advantage then won the Cup in a road game. Just like they did in 2010.
But I’m a student of sports. Have been all my life. I analyze everything, especially big victories, championships, and impressive individual performances. How did these Blackhawks win?
Sure, they were deep offensively, with four lines of relatively equal strength. Sure, they were a highly skilled penalty-killing team. Sure, they had speed and quickness. Sure, they had elite offensive stars in Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, and Bickell. Sure, they had eight players who were 2010 champions and knew what it took to do it again. Sure, they had a great coach with whom they developed a strong camaraderie. And sure, they had Corey Crawford, who has emerged as an elite goalie.
But what was the margin that made the difference in these 2013 Blackhawks?
I believe they won with their hearts and attitudes more than with their sticks and shots. They won with intangibles that aren’t always visible on the ice.
They won because they were resilient. They never lost faith in their ability to deal with and recover from adversity. They never let a mistake cost them a game. They did not blink against a 3-1 deficit against Detroit and a 2-1 deficit in Boston. They never lost faith in each other. They never condemned a teammate for a mistake; they lifted him up with a big play or goal.
They won with persistence. They translated the cliche “keep plugging away” into brilliant plays.
They won by taking the other team’s best punch (usually literally) and getting up and flying around the ice again and again.
They won by not panicking and turning to knee-jerk, makeshift responses. They won because they played their game and used their talents consistently, no matter the score. They won because they knew they could – a short word for that is confidence. They won by trusting each other, their coaches, and their own experience.
In short, they won with their heads and hearts first then with their sticks, skates, shots, and playbook. They won on the road and at home. They won with focus, discipline, and poise. They won with a “Hoosiers” mentality, which told them that the nets, rink, and blue lines were in the same places and the same sizes in Detroit, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles as they were in the United Center.
They won by finding a way to play their absolute best when the going was toughest. The 17-second rally in game 6 proved this. Down a goal and the Bruins soaring to a win behind hostile, roaring fans and huge momentum, the Hawks soared to the NHL mountain top with two of the most memorable offensive plays in Chicago sports history.
The Bears 1986 Super Bowl win was one-sided and unexciting. Michael Jordan thrilled us all with his dominance, and the 2005 Sox dazzled with many big plays. But the difference between winning and losing in hockey is measured in inches and split seconds. And the bounce of a pocket-sized piece of rubber.
Yes, this Hawks title is special, don’t you think? Thanks and way to go, Blackhawks.
