PHILADELPHIA -- About an hour after he first raised the Stanley Cup over his head, the captain of the Chicago Blackhawks went back for more.
Skating through a mob of teammates, family, friends and media at center ice, Jonathan Toews lifted hockey's holy grail again. It wasn't yet time to leave the ice. It wasn't yet time to turn the page on June 9, 2010.
"I don't even want to take my equipment off," Toews said. "I want this moment to last forever."
It was a moment that was a long time coming for a hard-suffering Original Six fan base. Patrick Kane's overtime goal 4:06 into overtime Wednesday night gave Chicago a 4-3 win over Philadelphia and ensured hockey's longest Cup drought didn't reach a half-century. The Cubs are still on the clock, but the Hawks are off the hook.
"I think the party in Chicago is going to be all-world," said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville.
His team is all-world. The salary cap will clench its teeth on the ridiculous depth the Hawks had this season. But for 2009-10, it was all about winning.
On Oct. 1 in Helsinki, Finland, we distinctly remember a conversation with Toews when he talked about the Cup expectations for his youthful team and the challenges that lay ahead.
"The biggest thing last year was our hard work and our hunger to win," Toews told ESPN.com eight months ago. "If we keep that this year and we learn from our mistakes from what happened last year, I think the sky's the limit for what we can do as a team."
