HAWKS WIN!

Posted on | June 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

                                                      
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, my buddies and I lived and died with the fate of the Blackhawks.   When we were young, we would spend hours on the ice or out in the driveway, mimicking the moves of our favorite players, and echoing the radio calls of Pat Foley and Dale Tallon.

Throughout the eighties, the Blackhawks stubbornly refused to televise their games locally.  As a result, tickets to the old Chicago Stadium were a hot commodity.  Rarely did a birthday or Christmas go by when Hawks’ tickets were not at the top of my gift list.  I vividly remember celebrating my 13th birthday in my hand stitched Al Secord jersey (apparently, I fancied myself a power forward, despite the fact that I didn’t weigh 100 pounds until high school), watching my beloved Hawks battle Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers.   

The Hawks had a lot of great players through the years, from Tony Esposito to Doug Wilson, and from Dennis Savard to Jeremy Roenick, but they could never get that elusive Stanley Cup (which they last won in 1961).  It is for this reason that it was so much fun to watch the Hawks hoist the Cup last night in Philadelphia.  It was a celebration for generations of Chicago players and fans, and a giant release for a great hockey town. 

The feeling was best summed up by Jeremy Roenick, who happened to be doing the post-game show for NBC (see video below).  When he was asked for his thoughts, the scrappy forward who played 8 long years as the face of the Hawks became too choked up to talk.  ”It’s the Blackhawks, man…This is so unbelievable.”    It is unbelievable.  It is the Hawks, and finally, we can call them the Stanley Cup Champions.

Category: Chris Marks

Comments

One Response to “HAWKS WIN!”

  1. Mike Shaffer
    June 10th, 2010 @ 11:26 am

    I love your comment about generations…made me proud to share this moment with my boys, knowing that it may be an equal number of years before they are able to appreciate the same feeling! I hope that one day they are skating around pretending to be Toews or Kaner, or Seabrook or Keith (more Dad’s style).

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