For all the chaos that explodes the moment a team wins the Stanley Cup, with sticks and gloves and bodies flying in every direction, there is a contrasting serenity behind the scenes. Lord Stanley’s mug gets the white-glove treatment. It is handled with extreme care—polished and repolished and repolished yet again. When Phil Pritchard and Craig Campbell of the Hockey Hall of Fame carry the trophy onto the ice for presentation each spring, they walk carefully and allow anticipation to build.
Not so the night of June 15.
I was standing in the Zamboni tunnel behind the visitors’ net at United Center after the celebration started, and it struck me how unusual it was to see Campbell go rushing past with the Stanley Cup cradled in his arms. But his harried manner was understandable.
Outside, Chicago was being hit by a massive thunderstorm that caused significant flooding and closed roads. The city was a mess. Even with a police escort, and despite occasionally hitting dangerous speeds given the conditions, it took hours to get the trophy from a suburban hotel to the arena. The Stanley Cup was late for its own party. "Mother Nature was not a hockey fan tonight," said Pritchard.
After waiting 77 years to clinch a championship in front of their home fans, the Blackhawks hardly seemed to mind. What was another 15 minutes? If anything, it allowed the weight of the accomplishment to sink in.
Winning the Stanley Cup three times in six seasons was not supposed to happen in the NHL’s salary-cap era, and it ensured that these Blackhawks will forever be referred to as a dynasty. The celebration that followed their six-game series win over Tampa Bay was different than the two that came before it. There were kids everywhere—some running around the ice, others held in the arms of their fathers, the smallest few plopped in the bowl of the Stanley Cup for photo ops. It was a tangible reminder of how a great team had grown up and grown a little older together.
Changes have since been made to the protocol to ensure history isn’t repeated. NHL security, rather than the Cup keepers themselves, will have the trophy on days it can be won, and you can be sure it’ll be inside the arena hours before puck drop.
A little bit of tradition has been lost. It had to be.
What’s most important to remember about the 2015 Stanley Cup Final is that the trophy arrived eventually, and that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman presented it to Jonathan Toews at centre ice shortly after the Blackhawks captain had thrown his gloves in the air and embraced teammates. It was a familiar scene.
