Putting a Stamp on the Dynasty
The Chicago Blackhawks can officially call themselves a dynasty after taking out the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals.
There have always been dynasties in the major sports and all have ruled their own decade whether it be the Montreal Canadiens of the ‘70s, the Islanders of the early ‘80s, or the Oilers of the late ‘80s.
Since that Oiler dynasty though there has been a lack of true dynasties for the last few decades.
There have been plenty of very good teams and teams that have won multiple Stanley Cups but many ended at two Cups before rebuilding and winning their third years later.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won in 1991 and 1992 but never won again with the same group and took their next Cup in 2009 with Sidney Crosby leading the way.
The Detroit Red Wings took home the cup in 1997 and 1998 then took their third in 2002 after a brief rebuild of the team.
Since then there have been no repeat winners of the Stanley Cup and until recently nobody that looked to challenge the potential dynasty tag.
That was until the 2012-13 season when the Chicago Blackhawks won their second Cup in four seasons.
In 2009-10 the Blackhawks had won the Cup with a fairly young team but had to unload a lot of talent due to cap restrictions.
That lead to a rebuild that many saw as another, once promising, team falling short of putting together anything lasting.
In 2013 they proved everyone wrong by winning their second cup and they immediately became the team to watch for in the future.
They were favourites in 2013-14 but the other team looking to claim the 2010s as their own, the Los Angeles Kings, took their second cup in three years.
It seemed that maybe the Blackhawks couldn’t get their third Cup and truly be considered a major dynasty and that thought continued throughout the 2014-15 season.
They were not as dominate as they had been in the past and they struggled to keep pace in the Central Division.
Yet they still made the playoffs and for a team that had been through the battle and grind of the playoffs a chance was all they needed.
They moved through the Nashville Predators thanks in large part to the decision to use Scott Darling when Corey Crawford struggled at the start of the series.
They then swept the Minnesota Wild and moved into a tight final against the Anaheim Ducks who had been dominant through their run.
After seven games the Blackhawks came out on top in a series that showed what experience can do when they get in trouble in series.
They met another team that had looked great so far in the playoffs and went through their own seven game war in the East to find their way.
It was a series between a team looking to win their third cup in six seasons against a team, in the Lightning, that had not won a cup in over a decade.
Two teams on opposite ends of the experience spectrum were ready to fight for the Cup and throughout the series between the two it was impossible to see who had the upper hand.
There were moments from either side where it seemed like they had the better team as they started to press their opponent.
That only lent itself to the next game where the opposite happened and the other team took the upper hand.
There were games where the better team lost and games where one team looked completely out of contention.
As they continued to fight the Lightning went ahead after three games but that is where the Blackhawks ended it all.
They took Games 4, 5, and 6 ending the Lightning’s hopes of earning a Stanley Cup and taking their third cup in six seasons.
It was not the best performance out of the Blackhawks as they really did struggle at times to get goals and get in a groove.
It may not have been pretty but the Blackhawks got it done in the end and took home yet another Stanley Cup.
Their third cup in six years can lay some serious claim to the dynasty title and a claim to owning the 2010s as the new dynasty.
They have been one of the most successful teams in the 2010s and that continued this year with another championship.
Whether they can win another anytime soon is unknown as they will need to rebuild the team through the off-season with the cap becoming a serious concern for management.
The same team won’t be on the ice next year but the Blackhawks have gone through that before when they rebuilt in 2010.
That rebuild led to two years without a championship but they came back stronger than ever.
They are a team with the experience of a rebuild in 2010 that led to two years without a championship before dominating the 2012-13 season.
They are the new dynasty but what comes next is a mystery as they celebrate another championship in what has become the new NHL title town.
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