RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Chicago Blackhawks kicked off their 2014-2015 season in October with a shootout victory against the Dallas Stars and never looked back, taking their fans and the City of Chicago on a thrilling ride to the franchise's sixth Stanley Cup, including a remarkable three in the past six years; and
WHEREAS, The many highlights of the Hawks's regular season included a January 20th victory over the Arizona Coyotes, a game notable for superstar Patrick Kane's 200th career goal; a 1-0 victory on March 18th over the formidable New York Rangers, where first-year goaltender Scott Darling made 25 saves to earn his first career shutout; and a 4-1 triumph over the defending-champion Los Angeles Kings on March 30th, a contest where back-to-back goals from defensemen Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson propelled the home team to victory; and
WHEREAS, In the 2015 All-Star Game, Blackhawk players filled five of the six spots determined by fan vote, with honors going to goalie Corey Crawford, defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, and forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane; and
WHEREAS, At season's end, the Hawks's Corey Crawford shared the William M. Jennings Trophy with Montreal Canadiens goalkeeper Carey Price, each having allowed a league-low 189 goals during the regular schedule; and
WHEREAS, The Blackhawks survived a hard-fought first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators, prevailing by a tally of four games to two; and
WHEREAS, In the second round, the Hawks evoked memories of their 2013 championship run by making quick work of the Minnesota Wild, requiring only the minimum of four games to earn a date with the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Finals; and
WHEREAS, The Blackhawks-Ducks series was truly one of the most thrilling in NHL history, with the teams trading victories — including the Hawks's epic three-overtime, one-hour, fifty-six minute, twelve-second win in Game Three, the longest contest in team history — until Chicago finally punched its ticket to the championship round with a 5-3 road win in Game Seven; and
WHEREAS, In the Stanley Cup Finals, the Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning treated hockey fans to a pulse-pounding display of never-take-your-eyes-off-the-ice hockey, battling through the first five games in such an evenly matched fashion that neither team led for even a moment by more than a single goal; and
WHEREAS, Game Six was one for the ages, with the Blackhawks prevailing 2-0 on goals by Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane, the latter on a beautifully executed string of passes from Brandon Saad and Brad Richards; and
WHEREAS, This Stanley Cup, the first on the Hawks's home ice since 1938, left fans with the indelible images of the mighty defenseman Duncan Keith hoisting the Conn Smythe Trophy as the unanimous choice for playoff MVP, and the 40-year-old Finnish legend Kimmo Timonen at long last kissing the Cup in the final game of his long and illustrious NHL career; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this seventeenth day of June, 2015, do hereby congratulate the Blackhawks players, their first-class coach, Joel Quenneville, and his assistants, and the team's management and support personnel on winning the 122nd Stanley Cup Championship; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Chicago Blackhawks as a sign of our esteem and good wishes.
2