Cup unites all at Wrigley Field
The Blackhawks keep doing things nobody's done in a long time around these parts.
First, it was winning the Stanley Cup.
On Sunday, the Hawks brought the Cubs and the White Sox together, quite literally.
In an electrically charged pregame ceremony at Wrigley Field, the Blackhawks made a triumphant entrance onto Wrigley Field with Lord Stanley's Cup.
Among the many highlights of the show was a team photo of the Hawks, who were joined on the pitcher's mound by both Cubs and White Sox players.
The Hawks entered through the right-field gate and began their victory lap by parading the Cup before the bleacher fans in right and left fields as "Chelsea Dagger" played over the loud speaker.
The Hawks made a turn at the left-field foul line, with a few high-fiving fans along the wall. Cubs players were ready to greet them near the third-base dugout, with former Cubs president John McDonough - now the president of the Hawks- being greeted warmly.
Coach Joel Quenneville had the Cup, and he brought it from the third-base side of the field over near the first-base dugout, where the White Sox were eagerly awaiting. Sox manager Ozzie Guillen got the Cup and was roundly booed by the Cubs fans.
Fittingly, McDonough threw out the ceremonial first pitch with Cubs pitcher and avid hockey fan Ryan Dempster receiving. Dempster then got to hoist the Cup.
Both teams then rushed the mound to have their photos taken with the champs and the Cup.
The Blackhawks then lined up along the first-base line for the national anthem. Jim Cornelison, who belts out a stirring rendition of the anthem at the United Center before Hawks games, did the same at Wrigley before 40,456 cheering fans.
Hawks winger Patrick Sharp then slid into second base, bringing the house down again before the Hawks passed the Cup from player to player on their way out.
"This crowd is awesome," Sharp said. "That national anthem was pretty neat, just like a Blackhawks game. It's amazing to see how happy people are getting around town, especially when they see that Cup.
"I knew it would be exciting, but I had no idea it would be like this. It's been an absolute circus everywhere we've gone, and everyone wants to celebrate with us. That's the best part about it."
"It's something you dream of all along," said Patrick Kane, who scored the overtime game-winner in Game 6 at Philadelphia.
The night was capped with the Hawks leading the crowd in the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. Sharp, Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith did the honors, with the Cup.
After singing, they flipped Cubs caps and Blackhawks sweaters into the crowd.