Chicago's parade plans premature, but turn out to be necessary
As if a prominent mural located near a major Chicago highway depicting Jonathan Toews with the Stanley Cup wasn't enough bad karma, the city of Chicago took it one step further yesterday.
As if a prominent mural located near a major Chicago highway depicting Jonathan Toews with the Stanley Cup wasn't enough bad karma, the city of Chicago took it one step further yesterday.
WGN, a television and radio station in the Windy City, posted a note on its website saying the city already had mapped out and planned a Stanley Cup parade route for the Blackhawks.
There's only one problem: They hadn't won it yet. But alas, the Hawks took care of that final detail last night with their 4-3 overtime victory in Game 6 over the Flyers.
Philadelphia ran into the same karmic conundrum in February 2005 when parade details were leaked from Mayor Street's office during the Eagles' run to Super Bowl XXXIX.
According to WGN, Chicagoans planned to flood the loop tomorrow with a ticker-tape parade if the Blackhawks pulled out a win last night, and Monday if the Blackhawks let it slide to Game 7.
The run likely would be a mirror image of the Chicago White Sox's parade in 2005.
Both cities in a major sports championship usually map out a contingency plan for a win, but few let it leak out before it's actually won.
Another attendance mark
Another Stanley Cup final home game, another attendance record broken at the Wachovia Center.
The Flyers set a record for both attendance in a season (1,020,689) over 52 dates and attendance at a single game. Last night's crowd of 20,327 was the largest crowd ever for an NHL game in Pennsylvania, breaking a mark that had been smashed twice in this series alone.
Kick saves
The NHL has seen a huge increase in television viewership during the final series on NBC and Versus. Through the first five games, ratings were up 10 percent over last year and at their highest since 2002, when the NHL was featured on ESPN and ABC . . . Before last night's game, teams hosting a Game 6 when trailing 3-2 in the Stanley Cup final were 10-14 in that game. Only three of them (Pittsburgh in 2009, Montreal in 1971 and Detroit in 1950) went on to win the Stanley Cup in Game 7.