Imrem: Blackhawks win Game 1 - as it should be

The Lightning has been in the NHL since 1992, won a Stanley Cup in 2004 and is an excellent team this season.

Still, the Stanley Cup Final is missing something compared to the two others the Blackhawks were in recently.

In fact, it says here that it would be embarrassing for the Hawks to lose the NHL title to a team from Tampa Bay, of all places.

The hockey gods wouldn't, couldn't, shouldn't allow that to happen, would they, could they, should they?

The Hawks made that possibility more remote by rallying late in the third period Wednesday night for a 2-1 victory in Game 1 at Tampa.

"We got better as the game went on," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It turned out to be a great third period."

The Hawks sort of teased the Lightning until Teuvo Teravainen scored with 6:32 left and Antoine Vermette added the winner 2 minutes later.

The outcome was almost inevitable, like ice water reaching its rightful level.

Hockey is a Chicago birthright and a Tampa Bay passing fancy, right?

The Hawks-Lightning just doesn't have that nasty, hostile, Northern feel to it, which is a hockey elitist thing to say but a sincere sentiment just the same.

No offense intended, Tampa Bay, but what are you doing with an NHL franchise anyway? Isn't this like the North Pole having a Major League Baseball team?

OK, truth be told, offense was intended.

The Hawks won the 2010 championship in Philadelphia and the 2013 championship in Boston.

Now, those are traditional sports venues, legitimate sports venues, formidable sports venues.

Tampa Bay?

We won't utter insults like, "Lightning fans couldn't spell I-C-E if you spotted them the 'I' and the 'E.'"

Seriously, though, does anyone think the Stanley Cup Final should be contested in the tropics?

If nothing else, this series makes the case for continuing to worship the NHL's Original Six.

Sure, a hockey fan would have to be nearly 60 years old to realize the NHL had only six teams until 1967.

Not a single player in this Stanley Cup Final was alive when the league was comprised of only the Original Six.

Those were the good old days in hockey, when the NHL consisted of Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Boston and Detroit.

You'll notice that Tampa Bay isn't on that list, nor are other hockey-come-latelies like Anaheim, Columbus and Nashville.

Tampa Bay is the issue here so let's stick to that franchise, certainly a worthy opponent for the Hawks.

The Lightning has reason to brag that it beat the Wings, Canadiens and Rangers this postseason and would complete a rare Grand Slam of Original Six teams by beating the Hawks.

But just when the Lightning deserves praise, its management makes the franchise appear to be a last outpost deep in the boondocks.

Heavily chronicled has it been that the Lightning enacted policies to prevent Hawks' fans from getting tickets to the games in Tampa and from wearing Hawks' colors in certain areas of Amalie Arena.

That's the definition of bush league, isn't it?

You can't imagine an Original Six franchise having to concoct silly measures to create a home-ice advantage.

So wouldn't it be a shame if one of the Original Six like the Hawks lost to one of the Subsequent 24 like the Lightning?

There's less of a chance of that happening after the Hawks snatched home-ice advantage in Game 1.

mimrem@dailyherald.com