As the skates were laced up for the start of Wednesday
night’s Stanley Cup Finals, two facts boldly stood out. First, not since 1979 had both finalists been
from the National Hockey League’s original six franchises.
The second note is that, for the 43rd
straight season, the finals are devoid of The Blue Note!
Those two facts sort of go hand in hand. After all, 12 different teams that either
came into the league when St. Louis did in the 1967-68 season or entered
afterwards, have captured Stanley Cups.
Leading the way in those Cup winners are the Edmonton Oilers (5), the
New York Islanders (4), the Pittsburgh Penguins (3) and New Jersey Devils (3).
On this night, the Boston Bruins were led by two goals
and an assist by Milan Lucic to take a 3-1 lead. But the Chicago Blackhawks scored twice in
the third period to tie it 3-3 and send the game into overtime. After a thrilling first overtime that featured
great end to end play and outstanding goaltending by Chicago’s Corey Crawford
and Boston’s Tuukka Rask, another full 20-minute scoreless period
followed.
Finally, Andrew Shaw scored on a deflection at 12:08
of the third OT on the game’s 117th shot
as the Black Hawks escaped with a 4-3
win. It was the fifth longest game in
Stanley Cup Finals history and I’m exhausted!
Big time playoff magic vaulted those teams into this
year’s finals. Chicago not only solved
Los Angeles goalkeeper Jonathan Quick, but the Black Hawks actually put an end
to the Kings’ 15-game home win streak.
Of course, Chicago began the season by not losing any of its first 24
games in regulation time.
Meanwhile, Boston’s ride has been even more
miraculous! The Bruins rallied from a
4-1 deficit midway through the final period to tie Toronto before besting the
Maple Leafs in overtime of game seven!
Boston then swept a Pittsburgh team led by Sidney Crosby and Chris
Kunitz, holding the Penguins to just three goals.
Both teams had also suffered major Cup droughts until
recently. Chicago had not won the Cup
since 1961 when it was led by Hall of Famers Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Pierre
Pilote and Glenn Hall. Boston’s last title was the 1972 powerhouse squad
of Phil Esposito, Bobby Orr, John Bucyk and Ken Hodge.
Wait!!! That
was until the last few years. The Black
Hawks won it in 2010 and the Bruins triumphed the following year. But they are both back once again!
Meanwhile, the Blues have still never won it. St. Louis fans were spoiled the first three
seasons when the playoffs were set up to have the survivor from the expansion
Western Division face the winner from the Eastern Division’s original six. The Blues were twice swept by Montreal, then
again by Boston. They haven’t been to
the finals since!
What’s odd is that the City of St. Louis was not even
opting for an NHL team back then. The
Black Hawks and their owner William Wirtz not only owned the old St. Louis
Arena, but St. Louis also featured the St. Louis Braves, which was Chicago’s
top farm team. Serving as chairman of
the NHL’s Board of Governors, Wirtz convinced the other team owners to grant
St. Louis the sixth and final new franchise.
Did St. Louis sign a secret agreement with Chicago way
back then? After all, the goat curse has
kept the Chicago Cubs from winning the World Series since 1908, and the St.
Louis Blues are kind of akin to the Cubs of hockey!
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