RAISE THE ROOF
Hawks revisit championship season one more time, then fall short against Rangers
They relived it all, one last time — Scott Darling’s relief heroics, Corey Crawford’s second-round redemption, Andrew Shaw’s disallowed headbutt goal, Jonathan Toews’ Ducks-defiance and Duncan Keith’s Stanley Cup-clincher — necks craning and smiles widening as they watched along on the scoreboard high above. More than 22,000 glowing wristbands glittered in the stands as radio man John Wiedeman’s voice pitched higher and higher with each goal, each overtime, each victory.
The Blackhawks’ sixth Stanley Cup — the third in six seasons for this generation — was undeniably their toughest, and since it was won on home ice, it might have been the sweetest. On Wednesday night, the Hawks commemorated it in perpetuity with one more massive banner in the rafters.
It was a heck of a run and a heck of a ride.
And it doesn’t mean a heck of a lot anymore.
“To watch the banner go up is pretty awesome,” Jonathan Toews said before the game. “You realize how big it is and all of a sudden it gets all the way up there and it just looks like a tiny little thing. The whole night will be special, but enjoy it while it lasts because once it’s over, then the puck drops and the new season starts.”
The Hawks had only 103 seconds to bask in the past before the New York Rangers slapped them back into the present with a quick goal and an eventual 3-2 party-pooping victory in the season opener Wednesday night. The Hawks near- ly rallied from 3-1 down to tie it, but Patrick Kane’s jab-in of a Toews rebound under Henrik Lundqvist’s right pad in the final minute was waved off because the whistle had blown. A replay review was “inconclusive.” Joel Quenneville simply said the whistle was “quick.”
“It’s one of those plays that could probably go eitherway, whether the ref blows the whistle or not,” said Kane, who was loudly cheered in his first regular-season game since becoming the subject of a police investigation in Western New York. “Not going to complain about it.”
Of the last six teams to win the Stanley Cup, five have now lost on their banner-raising night — the Hawks being both the exception (2013-14) and the rule (2010-11).
While the night was about hon- oring the immediate past, it also offered some glimpses of the immediate future. On the plus side, Russian phenom Artemi Panarin scored the first goal of his NHL career, and Teuvo Teravainen scored, too. The 23-year-old Panarin and 21-year-old Teravainen comprise the Hawks’ next wave of gifted offensive talents, and it was a smashing start.
On the negative side, the Hawks’ most obvious concern entering the season — defensive depth — was glaring. The third pairing of Trevor Daley and Trevor van Riemsdyk were on the ice for two goals, and David Rundblad, paired with Brent Seabrook on his off (left) side, struggled mightily. Quenneville said after the game that Viktor Svedberg would be recalled Thursday and will play Friday against the New York Islanders.
So all in all, call it a bittersweet night. It was less than four months ago that the Hawks threw their gloves in the air and mobbed Corey Crawford at one end of the rink, celebrating their third championship in six seasons. Celebrations like that— and the oneWednesday — never get old.
“It’ll be nice to reflect,” Quenneville said before the game. “But then let’s turn the switch.”
And that, of course, is the hard part. The summerlong celebration is over. The long road to the next banner-raising is only beginning.
Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus.