Patrick raises Kane, and the Hawks raise the Cup

When Mush March scored the overtime goal that won the Stanley Cup for the Blackhawks in 1938, they didn't present the Hawks with the Cup. The Toronto Maple Leafs were so highly favored that nobody took the chances of the Hawks winning that night seriously, so they didn't bother having it in the building.

Last night, when Patrick Kane scored the overtime goal that won the 2010 Cup for the Hawks before the biggest television audience to see an NHL game in 36 years, the Cup was duly presented. They just didn't turn on the goal light. Everybody but Kane himself, it seems, momentarily lost track of the puck, and only he realized that it was in the net.

Macht nichts, as my grandmother would have said. The forty-nine year wait is over, and the Chicago Blackhawks are again the world champions of professional hockey.

My dad saw three Blackhawk Stanley Cups. By that standard, I still have one to look forward to. Actually, despite the fact that the Hawks will have to dump some key personnel this summer to get under the salary cap, this Hawks team may well win more than one or two more. There are some promising youngsters in the pipe to take the place of whoever has to go, and the Bowmans successfully managed to maneuver Detroit's roster so as to keep the Wings under the cap during their recent run. Hopefully they'll be able to do the same for the Hawks.

In the meantime, if people in heaven are allowed any clue of what's happening here on earth, my Dad- who was there for the Hawks' Cupless Cup victory in 1938- is sipping celestial champagne right now, perhaps with old Mush himself, and with Johnny Gottselig, the man who did back in 1934 what March did in 1938 and Kane did last night. And Mom is probably just as happy about her Hawks' triumph, even though she wasn't much for the bubbly. She and Dad courted in the First Balcony at Chicago Stadium.

Chicago, the only city in the last quarter century which has had a world champion in all four major professional sports, will be holding a parade for its Stanley Cup champs tomorrow. Regrettably, I'm in exile here in Des Moines. It would be an even better day than most to be back home.

Ok.... one more time!