Editorial: Savor another Cup championship run

It may seem - especially to the youngest of fans - that the Blackhawks will always have a shot at the Stanley Cup. Three Stanley Cup Final appearances in six years will do that.

But to Chicago fans not used to such regular championship feats (the '90s Bulls notwithstanding) a championship appearance is one to savor. After all, before the 2010 Stanley Cup championship season, fans had waited 39 years to see the Cup hoisted aloft by a Blackhawks captain.

It's been almost 30 years for a Bears championship. Over a century for the Cubs. Even Sox (10 years) and Bulls fans (17) have been waiting quite a while for a repeat chance at glory.

The hopeful want to think positive and believe this will be the norm for years to come for the Hawks. And with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in their prime, that is not just wishful thinking. But the realists see the salary cap leading to a break up as early as this summer of parts of the core that have made the Hawks who they are the past seven years.

So savor every moment tonight and over the next couple weeks. If you have children, remind them that this is special and that this team is special.

Tell them to look at the determination in Toews' eyes. The mad skills Kane has with the stick. The ageless toughness of a Marian Hossa. The speed of a young Brandon Saad. And the scrappiness of an Andrew Shaw.

Tell them how Corey Crawford overcame a shaky playoff start and a legion of doubters to get a second shot at a Cup. How Kane battled back from an injury just in time for the playoff run during what could have been an MVP season. How a kid from Finland and a midseason pickup from Phoenix both shook off being scratched one game in the Western Conference Finals only to be stars in the next.

The players have dealt with the tragic death of their equipment manager and some off-ice questions of character involving one of their stars by banding together as a team, not fracturing.

That's all just in one season. Imagine seven years (they've reached the conference finals five of the last seven years) of focusing on the prize and building what Daily Herald columnist Barry Rozner says is the greatest team in the salary cap era.

"That's dreaming in color times 10," said Coach Joel Quenneville, when asked if he thought the Hawks would be so good, so long. "The core has been through a lot of the challenges and battles. It was still a very young team at that time. I was fortunate to come in here with a team that was sitting on go, They keep going."

How long they will keep going is the big question. But that's a question to answer later.

Now it's go time for the Cup!