The Chicago Blackhawks are the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions. The Hawks are a great team and they deserve the cup. They combined talent and depth with a champion’s determination to win. Quite frankly, they remind me a lot of the Penguins from last year.
The Hawks win also means that the three year Marian Hossa odyssey has finally ended. Three years, three teams, three Stanley Cup finals; that’s quite a run for anybody. In Chicago and nationally the story was one of Hossa triumphing over personal adversity to finally win the Cup. That’s one perspective of it.
The perspective from the Burgh is quite a bit different. Hossa remains reviled by Pittsburgh fans. It’s somewhat amazing that a player who spent barely 4 months in the Burgh and quite honestly did everything asked of him while he was there is so hated. And yet there is no doubt that’s the case. I was reminded of that when I saw people seriously posing the question, what is worse, the Goons winning the cup or Hossa?
For the record, any Penguin fan who even has to think about this question should be required to attend extensive sports rehab. Do you want to live in a world where the Orange and Black Goon squad is carrying the Stanley Cup? DO YOU ??? I can think of nothing that engenders more hatred in Pittsburgh sports fans than that team, with the possible exception of a certain loud mouthed, ugly Russian and his merry band of soft, one dimensional cronies in our nation’s capital.
Anyway, back to Maid Marian.
This is a guy who by all accounts is a great teammate, works hard at both ends of the ice, is incredibly skilled and seems to genuinely care about winning. The fact that he’s been on three straight teams that went to the finals can not be a complete coincidence. I still say that without Hossa, the Pens are lucky to get out of the second round in 2008.
So how does a guy like that end up getting booed every time he touches the puck…in THREE cities? For those who missed it, Hossa did what was previously considered impossible and actually angered Nashville fans earlier in the playoffs. He took some nameless, faceless Predator out with a hit from behind but somehow did not get a game misconduct.
The situation was classic Hossa, at least of the last few years. He took a horrible penalty that nearly derailed his team’s championship hopes. In one of the truly amazing moments of this year’s playoffs, the Hawks tied the game up while shorthanded in the final 15 seconds. And then he scores the winning goal in overtime which by the way was the only time he made an appearance of significance in the goal column this entire post season.
So now he’s regularly booed in three cities, one of which does not even like hockey.
On top of that we can add:
· Losing the Stanley Cup finals two straight years. Losing the second year to the team you bolted after the first year for the team you lost to the first year (if you followed that).
· Losing the semi-final game at the Olympics after just missing out on a last second, goal mouth scramble.
· Blowing out his knee during the world junior championships.
· Nearly blinding Bryan Berard on an innocent follow through play with his stick.
· Playing three years in Atlanta.
I realize it’s hard to engender too much sympathy for a guy making $60 Million but if it was possible, Hossa would seem a reasonable candidate.
On top of that, and scoring just three goals in the playoffs, Hossa nearly torpedoed that Hawks again Wednesday night. His second period give away resulted in a breakaway that Antti Niemi thwarted. And did you happen to notice who was standing right in front of the net when the Goons tied the game at 3? Is Hossa morphing in to Ryan Whitney?
Actually, he seems to be morphing into John Madden. I heard Doc and Edzo talk at length during game 6 about Hossa’s defensive play and hustle. Maybe the Hawks could have saved $6 Million and just signed another hard working checking line forward. I think Madden and Hossa had the same number of goals in the post season.
See the point? Maybe as Pens fans we should stop hating this guy and feel sorry for him. Until he finally lifted that Cup Wednesday night, he’d had a rough run.
There are also a couple of interesting ironies about the whole hating Hossa agenda we have in the Burgh:
--In the long run, the Pens were better off without him. There is no way they could support three forwards making a combined $24 Million per year. If Hossa signs, say goodbye to Orpik, Staal, and maybe even Fleury.
--I still think that Hossa’s primary reason for bolting the Burgh was that he did not want to play for Michel Therrien anymore. In his mind, he probably thought he was being diplomatic by saying; I want to go to Detroit to win the Stanley Cup which sounds a lot better than, “I don’t want that crazy French guy screaming at me anymore.”
--The Pens won the Stanley cup…without him…and beat him in the process.
Again, these are all reasons we probably should be thanking him for leaving, rather than turning him into the microwavable Barry Bonds. I mean it took us just 4 months of Hossa to build up the same level of hatred we had for Bonds after 8 years. And Hossa is a nice guy whose head has not mysteriously grown 3 sizes in the last decade.
Honestly, I was fine with Hossa leaving for most of last season; compelled by the logical positions I’ve taken above. And then I saw him in that gruesome red uniform standing between the Pens and the cup and logic went out the window. It hit home right there what was happening and that he could have just as easily taken one year, $7 Million in the Burgh. I succumbed to the same irrational hatred that had engulfed the rest of Penguin nation. And I celebrated his loss as much as I did Detroit’s.
As a result, throughout his maiden voyage with the Hawks, Hossa and I had an uneasy coexistence. I rooted for the Hawks and simply tried to ignore him in the process. Honestly, it was not that difficult. He missed two months with a shoulder injury and was never really a huge offensive presence.
There was one potentially awkward moment at a home game against Dallas. Hossa had a chance to win the game in a shoot out which I admit put me in a truly precarious position. Emily notes that I had a look of intense fear on my face. Alas in keeping with the season long theme he missed the net and somebody else bailed out the Hawks.
Other than that, I barely noticed him for 8 months.
So what changed in the last two weeks? Maybe I’m a new man since my wedding. Or maybe, I just wanted the Hawks to win and was not ready for a Stanley Cup parade down Broad Street (especially after a hugely disappointing Penguin flame out). Either way, somewhere in that time I went from aggressively promoting my disdain for Hossa to rooting for the guy (at least in the team context). Somewhere I went from being angry that he shunned the Penguins to being angry that he had 200 scoring chances and never finished.
I guess you could say we bonded through adversity. He was struggling to score; I was struggling to deal with the image of Chris Pronger carrying the Stanley Cup. We had a common goal. I’m not saying I learned to love the guy but at least I was no longer subconsciously hoping he would fail.
For the record, I stand by my criticism of his performance. It’s ok for Max Talbot to work hard at both ends of the rink and not score. That’s his role. When Hossa scores 3 goals in 22 playoff games, that’s not right. Truth be told, had Hossa played to his full ability last year, the Dead Wings might have beaten the Pens two straight years. That’s another reason we probably should not hate him so much, he helped the Pens win.
So in the end, I’m grudgingly willing to forgive Hossa for his sins against the Penguins. Mind you I’m not starting the Hossa fan club in Chicago and you will never see me wearing his jersey but I think I can now peacefully coexist with him in the windy city. That’s quite a bit of progress from last summer when I went from gloating over his loss to the Pens to uncontrolled angst over his signing with the Hawks. Besides, he’s only here 11 more years.
As for other Penguin fans, I can’t really tell you what to do. I suggest letting go of your Hossa hatred. There are much better targets including Ovechkin and pretty much every player in the eastern part of the state. Be like me. I’ve moved on and I am no longer angry about Hossa bailing on the Pens and/or slapping the organization and the entire city of Pittsburgh in the face with his insulting, I want to go somewhere I can win the cup comments.
Yes, I’ve completely moved on.
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