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Chicago Blackhawks 6, Boston Bruins 5. That would be the goal totals for the two participants in the Stanley Cup Finals for the entire series (which many predicted would go seven games), no? No. That’s the score of Game 4 Wednesday night (June 19) in Boston. Oh. The Hawks had five goals total in the first three games of the series. So?
Elena Carvell apears ready for Game 5. Credit: Don Bersano / Bersano Photography
So the best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 with each team losing a game on home ice. Meaning it’s the same as if the Hawks won the first two and lost the next two. Except, of course, the Hawks are much better off having won the most recent contest because … because someone thinks it’s meaningful. Each game is different. Each game has pressure. After Game 5 Saturday at the United Center, one team will be on the brink of capturing the crown, while the other will be one defeat away from going home to ponder what might have been.
The Game 4 victory was the third overtime game of the series. Meaning? Meaning fans paying premium prices to view in person are getting closer to their money’s worth than if the games were to have ended in regulation time. Also meaning television viewers are spending more time in front of a screen than they had envisioned.
All in all, entertaining. And for the participants in the game itself, tiring. Brent Seabrook scored the game-winner at 9:51 into the extra period. The Hawks had early leads that evaporated. For details, kindly go somewhere that covers the games in greater detail. After all, the cast and crew around here is nothing if not superficial. And proud of it. We tend to focus on things such as the Ice Crew members, models in Hawks and/or Bruins attire, etc. Add happy to do so. In fact, thanks to the wonders of modern technology (and thanks to photographer Don Bersano, who emailed the accompanying image late in the game), we have a picture of Elena Carvell in an outfit that should appeal to Hawks fans — and other folks, too.
Does it get any better than this? Well, if you’re an NBA fan, it does. Game 7 is Thursday in Miami with the Heat trying to repeat as champions and the San Antonio Spurs standing in the way. And something says there is greater mass appeal — in Chicago and elsewhere in the United States — in the NBA than the NHL. Which doesn’t mean the Stanley Cup is less entertaining to hockey fans. Merely fewer of them.
Speaking of mass appeal, the Hawks’ success has been music to the ears (as well as eyes and hearts, etc.) of a wide range of folks. Included is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of music director Riccardo Muti. A reliable source informs that Muti first was encouraged to perform “Chelsea Dagger” — the tune the Hawks play at the United Center after they score a goal — three years ago (you may recall the Hawks winning the Stanley Cup in 2010). Apparently genius cannot be rushed. Better late than never. As always, the highbrows around here are happy to provide a CSO musical interlude. The rest of us are happy to provide the Fratellis music video for the tune:
There always is room around here for video featuring one of our favorite females, April Rose. So here goes:
If it’s Thursday (and chances of that seem pretty good that it is, especially because yesterday was Wednesday — provided that today is June 20 or a subsequent Thursday), then it is time for another edition of “Sports & Torts” at noon Central time with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris.
The guests for the June 20 interview program are Mike Ditka (a man who needs no introduction but we will give “Da Coach” one anyway in honor of his career as a tight end and coach with a Super Bowl championship from the 1985 Chicago Bears) and Curley Culp (the former defensive lineman who is a 2013 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee).
If you are unable to tune in for the live show, it will become available on podcast at Talkzone.com later in the day.
And here is where we go for our daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks ever so much to the hard-working — no, not hardly working — editorial and video staffs at elliottharris.com and their approach to defining “gratuitous”):
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