Michael Peregrine: A look back at the Blackhawks' streak when Chicago was a true championship city
A decade ago this month, the Chicago Blackhawks completed an amazing streak of three Stanley Cup victories in five years. A well-coached, well-constructed team dominated a sport. Chicago was once again a true championship city — and proud of it.
Ten years later, it's fun to remember. The Blackhawks' extraordinary success captivated not only their fan base, but also the city. And while those emotions have laid dormant over the intervening years, Chicago's great spirit suggests that they can be readily rekindled.
The 2010 championship was the byproduct of the maturing Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, strong goaltending from Antti Niemi and the acquisition of Marian Hossa — all of which propelled the Blackhawks to a second-place finish in the overall standings. The team cut through the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup finals over the Philadelphia Flyers in six breathtakingly exciting games.
Three years later, the Blackhawks were back at it. In a strike-shortened season, stalwarts Kane and Toews combined with goalie Corey Crawford to lead the team to an overall first place finish. The Blackhawks prevailed through a brutal playoff schedule, including a full seven-game series against the Detroit Red Wings, to win the Stanley Cup in a six-game finals over the Boston Bruins.
The band got back together one more time in 2015. A team led again by Toews, Hossa and Duncan Keith escaped a hard-fought Western Conference Finals with the Anaheim Ducks to win the championship in six games over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So with three Stanley Cup championships in five years, Chicago was justifiably the hockey capital of the world. That was vividly underscored by the amazing turnout for each of the Blackhawks victory parades, which proceeded through the Loop to end in Grant Park.
Attendance at each of the three Blackhawks victory celebrations was estimated at 2 million. That's way more than the attendance at many of Chicago's most famous outdoor events. According to the Tribune, they rank in the top five highest-attended parades in Chicago, exceeded by the Apollo 11 rally, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's 1951 visit and, of course, the Cubs' 2016 World Series parade.
That's pretty surprising, given the relatively low national profile of hockey. Yet the numbers — estimated as they were — tell a story about civic pride and support. Yes, Blackhawks fans have always been a rabid bunch — the Standbys Club being a perfect example. But as recently as the three years before the streak began, the team averaged fewer than 13,000 fans per game.
So it's fair to ask where the 2 million parade attendees came from each year. That's a lot of people, and it's a safe bet that a large percentage of them weren't dyed-in-the-wool Blackhawks fans. It's a similarly safe bet that most of those in the parade crowds had never even been to a Blackhawks game (understandable, given the average ticket price).
To many of them, the 'blue line' was the 'L' route to O'Hare airport, not a stripe separating the zones on a hockey rink. The 'crease' was the ridge in Dad's suit pants, not the semicircular zone in front the net. And the 'penalty box' was a Forest Park tavern, not the bench where players wait out their infractions.
Sure, 'Kaner' was from Buffalo, New York, 'Tazer' was from Manitoba and 'Seabs' was from British Columbia. But to the 2 million, no matter; the Blackhawks were winners, and they were Chicago's own. And that's probably the real story of the championship streak. It sparked an explosive extension of that extraordinary local culture that summons Chicagoans to support their city in all of its activities. That includes a team composed of players from all over the globe, playing a sport subject to arcane rules that's super hard to watch on television.
It's a unique spirit, reflecting the 'I will' attitude that arose from the determination to rebuild the city after the Great Chicago Fire. It's a spirit reflected in Daniel Burnham's 'make no small plans' ambitions. It's a spirit that leaps from Carl Sandburg's description of Chicago as a 'city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.'
None of this is meant to ignore the ignominy of the 2010 off-ice scandal that still taints the team. There is individual pain that will last a lifetime. But it should be noted in fairness that some who were implicated have served a heavy penance and have earned their recent redemption.
Chicagoans are proud, spirited and resolute. As Burnham observed, they 'make big plans and aim high in hope and work.'
So Chicagoans can be excused when they celebrate — sometimes outrageously — the city's championship successes, whether they be athletic or academic, economic or engineering, scientific or social. It's the most fun to do so. And they're ready to do it again.
Michael Peregrine is a Chicago lawyer and lasting fan of 'the Scooter Line.'
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