  Chicago Blackhawks' Duncan Keith celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers. (REUTERS/Shaun Best) |
PHILADELPHIA - When the soaring moment arrived, it was a year less three days from the last spring’s crushing defeat...and several agonizing, bizarre seconds.
Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa and the Chicago Blackhawks got their Stanley Cup; Hossa after a three-year odyssey and the ’Hawks after a 49-year year drought.
Hossa helped the ’Hawks end those years of empty springs Wednesday night with a 4-3 win at the Wachovia Center over the Philadelphia Flyers, giving the Blackhawks their fourth Stanley Cup and ending Hossa’s nomadic journey in search of Cup glory.
“This is unbelievable. I can’t describe it. When I held the Cup, so many things went through my mind,” said Hossa, who was the second ’Hawk to lift the Cup after captain Jonathan Toews. “So much hard work, so many games over the last three years. I finally got it. I’m so proud of these guys.”
“I thought he was a monster out there. You couldn’t get the puck off him,” said ’Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.
Hossa and the rest of the ’Hawks had to wait for a few seconds before realizing they had won the game and the Cup as a strange, delayed-reaction scene unfolded at the Wachovia Center.
A shot by ’Hawks forward Patrick Kane at 4:50 of the first overtime ended Game 6 with a goal almost no one but Kane saw go in the net. Kane’s shot from along the goal line slipped under the stick of crouching Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton and just inside the post, lodging under the pad inside the net.
“I saw it go right under his stick and through his legs,” said Kane. “I just threw a shot at the net. It was a lot like (Sidney) Crosby’s goal at the Olympics. I think I was the only one who saw it go in.”
There was confusion as the play continued, the players looking for the puck, Kane galloping to the other end of the ice in celebration.
It was a sweet moment for Hossa, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins two years ago by the Atlanta Thrashers at the trade deadline and lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the 2008 final.
He left the Penguins as a free agent to sign with the Wings only to see the Penguins comeback back from a 3-2 series deficit last year and win Game 7.
“I’m so happy to be on the other side now,” said Hossa, who said he plans to take the Cup back to his native Slovakia this summer.
“I’m going to put it in front of the apartment where I grew up and play some hockey with my friends,” he said.
In the end, the ’Hawks simply had too much for the Flyers, who made history with their comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the second round against the Boston Bruins, but couldn’t find a way to cope with the ’Hawks deep forward group. Chicago won despite not getting a goal in the final from Toews, whose strong performance in the first three rounds won him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.
Toews said he had made the decision to give the Cup to Hossa at the morning skate.
“He said to me, “I don’t want to talk too much about it, but if we win, I’m going to give it it you. I said, ‘That sounds great,’” said Hossa. “It shows his character. He knows what I went through.”
Now the ’Hawks, who have enjoyed a stunning rival which has seen them go from the depths of the league to its peak in about four years, will have something for which a couple of generations of hockey fans have been waiting for almost 50 years, a Stanley Cup parade.
“The party in Chicago,” said Quenneville, “is going to be all-world.”
