One Goal Achieved

In 2010, I finished a swim between the third period and overtime of a hockey game played in Philadelphia and got out in time to see confusion from everyone except Patrick Kane as the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years. In 2013, I watched much of a sixth game played in Boston with Kristen at her parents' house, left late in the third period, and got to listen to 17 seconds before making it home in time to watch the final minute. In 2015, Kristen and I went out to hopefully watch history unfold... And it didn't disappoint.

Victory lap by @kkmitzel moments ago #ONEGOAL #LetsGoHawks @NHLBlackhawks pic.twitter.com/YvCBDMUCsk

— Lucas Mitzel (@northsider89) June 16, 2015

Two months ago 16 teams began a journey for a legendary trophy. I went round by round and somehow only missed a single series prediction (Rangers over Caps) while getting to watch a lot of great hockey. Of course, like the last one, it wasn't easy.

There are, of course, plenty of moments that I'll end up throwing together into a YouTube playlist from this run. The classless policies of the Nashville Predators' ticket office drew the ire of Chicago, and they overcame a 3-0 first period deficit to win deep into the night. After Crawford got benched for the second time, concern rose, but the Hawks took care of business at home, including Brent Seabrook adding to his legend of overtime heroics. Finally, Crawford came back to relieve Scott Darling in a Game 6 clincher and the Hawks showed Nashville how a real hockey franchise operates. Hearing from Minnesota Wild fans sing the eternal praises of their deadline hero Devan Dubnyk did cause some concern, and yet the Hawks made it look like child's play. Then there were the Ducks. I kept it civil with KTLA's Tim Lynn, their helicopter reporter and avid Duck fan, even after the chaos of a bad Game 1 loss. I slept through the end of Game 2, missing out on Andrew Shaw's audition for the Chicago Fire and Marcus Kruger's heroics. I stayed up late for Game 4 to see deadline deal Antoine Vermette become a hero in Game 4. After losing a game in a series tied 2-2 for the first time in the era, I watched the Game 6 onslaught in the second period, and the total domination in Game 7 to send the goons Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler home sad.

This Tampa series though... man. I knew they were fast, and I figured they'd look insurmountable at times, but holy crap. They're a good hockey team. I wouldn't be surprised to see them win a Cup in the next couple years. They have a lot of firepower, good defense, and a good goaltender. Like Nashville though, I didn't like their ticket policies either, so there's a sense of justice in this win. Even so, what a series. Kristen went to bed early on the night of Game 1, but I stayed up to watch Teravainen and Vermette steal the Game 1 win. Games 2 and 3 were frustrating as the Hawks gave up third period goals to drop both, but Crawford was phenomenal in the final three games, and the Hawks' offense did just enough.

Last night though was fantastic. I was feeling it all day; I didn't want to get overconfident, but this Hawks team knows how to close out a series, and they had a chance to win on home ice. They didn't waste it. Crawford was absolutely phenomenal, but the bar was on edge all evening until finally Keith broke through.

People felt better, but with as tight a series as this was, we were all still nervous as the third period moved on. Time moves agonizingly slow in situations like this, but it felt so much better once Showtime broke through for the insurance tally.

Kristen couldn't have been happier. I've mentioned on here that she's not much of a sports nut, but the Hawks are the exception. That made last night all the more worth it. We got to celebrate, do a victory lap together around the bar with the Cup when time expired, and I feel like we were the most popular people in the bar afterwards, as everyone wanted to take a picture with our inflatable Cup. Kristen joked that we should have charged a dollar to everyone who wanted one.

These are the experiences you remember and take with you for a long time. And now, the morning after, the city continues to celebrate not just a championship... but a dynasty.

That last point is a little tricky, and in my running-on-four-hours-of-sleep state, needed a little thinking. The argument could go that calling this Hawks team a dynasty cheapens the word. That may be true, but sports have changed in the last few decades. The NHL has a salary cap now, and it's impossible to keep together full groups like the old Canadiens, the early 80's Islanders, or Gretzky's Oilers. Factoring that in, this Hawks team has to be a modern dynasty. The Red Wings had a "three Cups in six years" stretch, but the salary cap didn't exist yet. Now that it does, we've seen what's happened to the Hawks following their first two Cups and what is almost certain to happen after this one. To lost so many pieces of your team, and still be back year after year is amazing. This is a dynasty. And the best part? It's only just beginning.