Chicago Blackhawks Win the Stanley Cup Final

Just to get into the NHL playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers needed a shootout win to end the regular season. In the Eastern Conference semifinals they fought off four elimination games as they beat Boston and historical odds to advance. However, in front of the ruckus Philadelphia fans pouring "Let's go Flyers" chants onto the ice, they could not fight off the Chicago Blackhawks in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals. And so the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, their first in 49 years. But the thrilling final, with moments of brilliant forechecking, nifty puck handling, and dramatic goals, ended in a most peculiar and anticlimactic way.

After the two teams battled three full periods to an even 3-3 score, overtime ensued. The extra period offered the same frantic pace that most of regulation saw, with both teams having several good chances, but the goaltenders prevailing. The Flyers fans stood anxiously as Blackhawk goalie Antti Niemi repeatedly turned away good Philadelphia opportunities. Gasps and groans, ohhs and ahhs emitted from the crowd as both teams barely missed on would-be game winners. The action continued into the fifth minute of the extra period when Blackhawk winger Patrick Kane fired a bad-angle shot at the Flyer goal that somehow found its way through the five-hole of goaltender Michael Leighton. Only Kane knew the puck had slid through the legs of the goalie and found the side of the net. There was no red light, no puck rattling in the back of the cage, no immediate reaction by fans or other players on the ice. The puck simply disappeared into the side of the goal as Leighton huddled in the corner of the net, perhaps thinking he was covering and the other players frantically searched for a loose puck. But Kane spread the word, the Blackhawk bench cleared, and soon the replay showed the television and Philadelphia crowd what Kane knew first- the Chicago Blackhawks, after 49 years of waiting, are Stanley Cup champions, once again.

Athletes everywhere will tell you it does not matter how anticlimactic it is, how ugly the game gets or how unglamorous the goal is: A win is a win. And a Stanley Cup win, is quite win.