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http://video.blackhawks.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id+833198
This past Sunday Chicago Blackhawks defense star, Brent Seabrook, brought the Stanley Cup to the South Delta Rec Center for the third time.
You might see some familiar faces in the video clip above.
Kudos to Brent for making it another special day for us hockey fans in South Delta.
It’s clear that Chicago Blackhawks Stan Bowman is not content to sit still with his line-up, pulling the trigger on a trade with the Dallas Stars that will see the Hawks give up one of their signature players, Patrick Sharp.
In exchange they did get a good defenseman – aggressive, fast skater with a great shot in Trevor Daley.
I think Bowman is not content to stay put believing – like many who saw this year’s cup run – that they lacked a bit on the back end with firepower to spare on the front end.
But losing Saad and Sharp means you give up a lot on the front end. Hmm.
Wonder who he has in the wings waiting to making his debut.
Tough to see Kevin Bieksa leave Canucks or the San Jose Sharks as he was someone who played way above his weight and was a real leader for the Canucks.
But after the play-offs last year against Calgary you could see the resignation on his face at times during the series. He had been on a run to the 7th game of a Stanley Cup Finals five years before – he knew what that looked like and what that felt like – and he just knew that this just wasn’t a team that would do it.
In feeling bad about his this move I am happy for him because I think he will benefit from a rejuvenation in California, in Anaheim, with a new team where he reunites with Ryan Kesler now with a legitimate chance to win the Stanley Cup once again.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=773088
Shocked to see Brandon Saad get moved from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Columbus Blue Jackets from the Hawks yesterday in a multi-player deal. Saad had a break-through season and is one of another of the role players that the Hawks seem to come up with year after year during their playoff runs — Byfuglien, Bolland, Bickel and Saad.
These are the voyages of the hockey team Blackhawks
It’s five year mission
To explore strange new mathematics
To seek out new talent
And new organizations
To boldly go where Bowman has gone before!
With their 2-1 win in Game 6 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals – a win over the upstart Tampa Bay Lightning – the Chicago Blackhawks sealed their 3rd Stanley Cup win in 6 years………and put themselves in that pantheon of some of the great teams of the past – Edmonton Oilers 1980s, Montreal Canadiens, 1970’s and the New York Islanders 70-80’s. You have to take into account that the Hawks did this in the modern era – one during which there was a salary cap the forces changes and re-configuration on teams.
But with a core group of players – Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Corey Crawford – the Blackhawks have cemented their legacy in the long history of the NHL.
There is no other sports championship like it. There is no sport that has better tradition than the NHL – the post-series handshake, the awarding of the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup trophies, the holding of the Cup over their heads, and, of course, the last picture – the entire organization – the team and the broader ‘team’ – coalescing at Centre Ice.
When you get your name on the Stanley Cup it stays there …well……as long as ‘forever’ will last. It is a piece of immortality that says ‘you made a difference’. It says you were part of ‘something greater than yourself ( Lebron – did you hear that?).
What makes it great …….is the struggle to get there. The fact that 29 other teams wanted to win. The fact that 700 other players wanted it too. The fact that these players would spend their whole hockey lives dreaming of the moment when they could hold it too. That a local kid – one who played in the same arenas my children play in – should win his third Cup – a solid and steadying force for a great team.
Made even more special by the fact that as Canadians we created and nurtured a game – a game such that a Finnish hockey player should make it his sole mission to win the Cup – seeing it as a capstone to his playing career. That young men from Sweden, from Russia, from Slovakia, from the United States, from the Czech Republic, from countries around the world…….would all give such sacrifice to win a $50 trophy donated by the Governor General of Canada some 100 years ago – that indeed should be a statement of pride for all Canadians.
Quite the marvel.
Ba-ba……ba, Ba-ba…ba………baaaaaa
Will see tonight, at the ‘Madhouse on Madison’ if the Blackhawks can summon up the emotional and physical energy necessary to eliminate the cinderalla-esque Tampa Bay Lightning.
If winning a Stanley cup means playing over your potential – exceeding the limits of what you thought you were capable – then surely the Lightning have shown that.
But you have to wonder now – with a banged up goalie, a one-armed Tyler Johnson – and a missing Nikita Kucherov – whether there is even anything in the tank.
Tonight I think we will hear from Toews and Kane……..and, of course the Fratellis!
For what it’s worth if the Hawks prevail…
Marian Hossa………….Conn Smythe. These are low scoring games and he has been excellent and a force at both ends of the ice. If they want to make a statement about the role that a Forward plays in playing defensive hockey then Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks would be it
In their first SuperBowl win Russell Wilson led the Seattle Seahawks to victory in an inspired way.
He took the question his father asked him – “Why not YOU Russell?”….and he turned it into “Why Not US?”
The genius of this approach was to identify the key issue that confronted the team, the organization, the city itself. It identified Fear of Success as the wall to overcome……..not the Fear of Failure. It spoke to a belief in one’s self, in one another on a team.
The Stanley Cup Finals see the Chicago Blackhawks down 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Golden State Warriors are down 2-1 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s an interesting study in contrasts.
I believe Golden State is in a much more perilous situation. They are being dominated by Lebron James who has scored more points in the first 3 games of an NBA Finals series than any other player in history. With Lebron there is no ‘Fear of Success’……he has been there before. In addition, there is no ‘Fear of Failure’……he has lost in a final series before. All I see is ‘willpower’, and belief in one another after losing two of their starters – Irving and Love.
Tampa Bay is a wonderful team. Great skill and speed and they play the game the way it was meant to be played. Steven Stamkos is one of the great leaders of the game. But can they manage their ‘Fear of Success’? Do they believe it themselves? The Blackhawks have won the cup twice before. They have been there. Is their pride so great that they ‘Fear Failure’? I don’t know but I doubt it given the success many of their players have had previously.
Should make for some great action in Game 4 of each series.
As always ……I look forward to being on the diamond at third base while all the games are being played! Ahem.
Hello Stanley Cup fans. Just make sure you grab yourself a 12-pack of beer for the next Stanley Cup Playoff game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning (in a bottle?) so that you too can play the
‘TIME & SPACE’ DRINKING GAME
Every time some hockey announcer – usually one who has really never played the game and latches on to the phrase to sound more erudite – says the words “time and space” ……you have to take a ‘swig’ of your beer!
Soon your basement will be a rollicking frat house as you and your buddies drink themselves silly.
Make sure you have access to a bathroom – or even a pail – so you when you feel sick to your stomach you too can close in on the pail – taking away “time and space”.
…the question that is.
Not sure if Pucksense nation caught Ryan Getzlaf’s comments after the Ducks 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks last night.
It was refreshing in that he admitted that the Ducks played “tight” and that he himself played poorly.
Wow!
What a sign of leadership.
Getzlaf was honest with the media, with the fans, with his teammates …….but most importantly, honest with himself.
It’s why he is one of the best players in the game today.
It’s also why they have a good chance at taking Game 7 of the series at Anaheim on Saturday night.
Batten down the hatches – its going to be a wild Duck ‘n’ Dagger extravaganza!
Watching a documentary on Connor McDavid on SportsNet last night.
Floating …dreaming ….as I saw a him in a uniform with a big circular crest with a big drop of lower- priced Oil at the top of the logo……ahhh!
But he actually had a Canadian Tire Jersey on and was doing some promotion for them.
I thought Johnny Toews had this gig?
You wonder if there will be room for both of them in the future. Are they going to phase out Mr. Clutch now that that ‘there’s a new kid in town’.
pucksense 