Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews displays the Stanley Cup during Friday's parade. (Phil Velasquez/Tribune)
Staff report
As red parade buses carrying the Blackhawks started rolling Friday, chants of
"Let's go Hawks! Let's go Hawks" echoed down Michigan Avenue.
"It means everything to me," said Rodolfo Frias of Chicago. "History is being made and I've got a front row seat to it."
The crowd erupted in cheers as Duncan Keith with his toothless grin passed by. They pulled out their cell phones and digital cameras and screamed at the top of their lungs: "We love you!"
Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews rode in the last double-decker bus, hoisting the Stanley Cup to a constant chorus of whoops and squeals as confetti rained down.
"With respect to the Stanley Cup, it's home, and it's the place we want it to stay," Hawks owner Rocky Wirtz said from the podium at the victory rally. "Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and we'll see you again."
Coach Joel Quenneville said, "The Cup is here, and we'd love it to stay here a little longer."
The city's Mayor's Office of Special Events and the city's Office of
Emergency Management and Communications estimated the crowd at the
rally and along the parade at around 2 million.
"I didn't know there were this many people in Chicago," Toews told the crowd.
Keith, who lost seven teeth in a game against the Sharks, drew a roar from the crowd by asking, "Does anyone know a good dentist, by the way? Thanks for coming, we're having an awesome time right now."
Winger Patrick Kane, who scored the Cup-winning goal in Game 6, acknowledged a couple of his off-ice incidents, saying he would "try to keep my shirt on all summer" and "For all the cab drivers out there, I love you."
When the last of the buses passed along the parade route, crowds along the
streets poured into the street and followed, screaming and waving large
Blackhawks flags. Police officers on horses lined up in front of them
to keep them at a distance from the buses. Police barriers also lined
Michigan Avenue.
A number of people had to be treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration, according to fire officials.
As early as 3:30 a.m., they came. Fans clad in Blackhawks jerseys, waving Blackhawks flags, wearing Blackhawks hats.
For so many who weren't in Philadelphia to witness what is now being referred to as simply "The Kane goal," today's parade was their chance to thank the team that brought Chicago together.
And were they ever thankful.
A sea of red and black lined Washington Street as far as the eye could see. Every few minutes, with no warning or reason at all, someone would scream "Go Blackhawks" and hundreds of voices would bounce off the buildings and reverberate inside individual ear drums.The Hawks' success has inspired many fans to paint their faces, many
more to express their love with hand-drawn signs, and Jose Castillo,
33, to become an object of desire: the Stanley Cup.
On Thursday night, the unemployed resident spent a couple of hours reconfiguring a Tin Man costume from Halloween into hockey's Holy Grail.
Wearing
a flimsy, gray cloth jumpsuit from his days working at a hospital, a
cardboard breast plate and a lamp shade wrapped in tin foil, Castillo
personified the NHL trophy.
"I always wanted to follow hockey
growing up but the Hawks ownership made that really difficult,"
Castillo said. "Now, I love it."
It seemed everyone wanted
Castillo's picture. "I've taken a lot of photos," he said. "Every time
I turn around somebody wants to pose with me."
Friday's celebration may be sweet redemption for long-suffering Hawks
fans, but it was a bittersweet moment for equally long-suffering Cubs
fans like Brianna Delaney, 23.
"If this were a Cubs championship
rally, it'd be 10 times bigger," said Delaney, who watched the parade
decked out in a Cubs' hat, T-shirt and sweat pants.
Don't
misunderstand her, Delaney said. She's proud of the Hawks and happy for
their fans. It's just that somewhere in the back of her mind she can't
help but imagine what a Cubs World Series championship parade through
downtown Chicago might look like.
"It would be craziness," she said. "Way crazier than this."
More than a century after the Cubs last title, Delaney is still waiting.
Jerry Kowalczyk rode the train in from Sugar Grove before sunrise this morning to nab one of the first spots at Wacker and Washington.
"The guys," he said pointing to his two daughters planted on the sidewalk next to him "might never see one of these again."
Kowalczyk's dad, as passionate Blackhawks fan as they come, died last month.
"I wish he stayed alive for this," he said fighting back tears. "But I know my girls will remember it."
Nearby, Charleen Anomanni, of St. Charles, stood in a bedazzled Blackhawks tank next to her son 11-year-old son Michael. Her family had spent the night in Chicago to guarantee front-row seats. "I dreamt this would happen," she said. "I hoped and I thought about it."
She also put some thought into her spot selection, right outside the McDonald's that opened bright and early and swarming with Egg McMuffin and bathroom traffic.
"We're women," said friend Rachel Beavan with a chuckle. "We think about those things."
Beavan, who tied her blue Cubs sweatshirt around her waist to display a much more appropriate Blackhawks T-shirt, said she was around in 1986 to see the Bears victory parade.
"After that, I said I'd never do it again, but here I am."
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad to see such a strong community. The parade was fantastic! My son is a huge basketball fan, and plays for his highschool. They actually just won some Basketball uniforms from http://www.allensportswear.com/basketball/
I love the Blackhawks , thanks for the great season and wonderful memories to win the Stanley Cup this year finally! History has been made! Give thumb up to Niemi though he was a big pull for the team ending up winning.
Congratulations Blackhawks , enjoy your summer see you again in October! Love you.......
To all Blackhawks fans: First of all, congratulations! Secondly, I see there that there are already classless Flyers fans (what other kind are there?) trolling here to try to rain on your victory parade. Ignore them, they are in denial. Philly fans are under the impression that the only way that they can lose is because of missed calls, slop goals, and a league-wide conspiracy against them. They are, without a doubt, the worst fans in hockey. Have a great year with the Cup, I would love to see Kane drive though downtown Philly in a limo holding the Cup high through the sunroof. Enjoy!
Congratulations to Chicago on the Blackhawks Stanley Cup victory! Aside form being a big fan of Kane, Hossa, Toews, Byfuglien, and many other Hawks, I am a die hard Penguins fan. Your victory over the Philthdelphia Cryers made your victory twice as sweet for me. Enjoy your run with the cup, and again congratulations to all the Hawks and their fans!
Longtime Bruins fan from New England here. Just wanted to stop by and say Congrats to the Blackhawks, their fans and the City of Chicago. You have a terrific hockey team and I'm sure you're stoked.
Now send some love Boston's way as the Celtics take on the Lakers.
THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT FANS IN THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD - CHICAGO.
2 MILLION PLUS PEOPLE DOWNTOWN FOR THE RALLY.
NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER.
TOTALLY A CLASS ACT.
GO HAWKS.....
Seriously, you get on a Chicago news website and start talking smack? Really? I'm glad I'm not that insecure. Philly is a lot dirtier than Chicago btw, according to the recent rankings.
Hey you philly fans quit your whining your just pissed off cause you got beat by a quicker, faster, more talented team- period. Hawks were on a mission- to win the cup. let's hope for a repeat very soon I hear your city has a peculiar smell anyway. Chicago Rocks!!
I tell ya. America really is in love with some lame sports. Take Golf for Example. You don't need to be athletic to play golf. You just need to be someone who is out of shape, boring, comatose or cheats on his wife. I only golf to swear, drink and laugh. Another joke is tennis. Talk about Boring. My god. Dick Enberg thinks it is the cats meow because he is glad to get a job even though he does not know the difference anymore between a shovel and a snowshoe. They ya got nascar. Drop a bag of skittles in the toilet and flush. There you have it. Nascar. Then you have UFC and MMA and WWE. All about the same BS. Football is king in America. Baseball and Basketball are about even in 2nd and hockey is about the level of soccer. Hockey has probably become a major american sport after the olympics and NHL Finals this year. We'll see if they can stay there.
SO the Chicago fans beat up and pummeled a cop at the parade huh? Guess you fans really are garbage. Father son teams beating managers etc......Hey Hawk fans hope you kept the new tags on your Hawk jerseys. 30day return policy right? LOL City of dirtbags.
what kind of idiot would celebrate a sport whose popularity lies somewhere between indoor soccer and arena football...stay classless shiiitcago
They're CRAZY if they're saying that there was 2 million people. Absloutely nutso. At MOST 300,000. There's nowhere near the sidewalk space to accomodate 2 million people from W. Washington & N. Wacker to N. Michigan & E. Wacker.
Hey LookedBeat, did you ever finish Highschool or did you skip all your math and reading courses? There was just over 2 million people at the parade.... why don't you find something else to bitch about?
How do I get that Blackhawks theme song out of my head?!? Duh da dut da duh dut dha duh dut ...
LookedBeat - what are you on? 2 million showed up HERE, in Chicago!
If I were Toews I would be ashamed to hold the cup as he did nothing to help win the series. Give it to Kane, he is the one with a great foot that enabled the kick in at the end.
Hey guys, Bears -80´s , Bulls - 90´s , then ...., 2010 fwd here come´s the Hawks, gonna dominate the rink, mature kids
if they stick togather with good management, they gonna be the hochey bulls of the- 10´s, with a record a season like this one, Chicago Black Hawks just started.... from a swede Chicago loving fan since -71
My first time of 60 stops in that great Chigagoland, my first taste of Cgo was Sam´s seafoood bar by the water front , I´ve sen Cgo grove and prosper since ,take care of that lovely city friends. Madhouse by the way was the old stadium , noise I´ve ever experienced since Jimi H played Gothenburg Sweden mid -60´s , Chicago I love U
Congratulations Blackhawks fans everywhere! Check out this video from chicago's CRIMINO... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5clHtKNxUU
Kaner's may have been a "lucky goal," but so was Hartnell's in the third to tie it. Let's face it. The winner is the team who scores more goals. There are no "quality points" in hockey.
I can't believe people actually went to see this "parade" what is the point in that?
Poor Philly fan, just keep making excuses for your team losing, you can keep Leighton we have the Cup.
Let's hope it doesn't take another 50 years for this team to win another, we won't get 7th seeds with no goalies every year in the Finals.
Now Flyers fans are blaming it on "a lucky goal". It's over...they lost. Maybe a better goaltender would have made the save. Lord Stanley's Cup is home in Chicago! Go Hawks!
Sturdley on June 11, 2010 2:41 PM
Hey Flyersfan, I wouldn't use the adjective proud to describe you, but "lucky goal?" I suppose the puck just left Kane's stick on its own?
____________________
Guys like this make it hard to be a Hawks fan in this town. I'm betting his first ever game was last week.
Clueless.....
Hey Flyersfan, I wouldn't use the adjective proud to describe you, but "lucky goal?" I suppose the puck just left Kane's stick on its own? Perhaps you've played the game? I didn't think so. The Flyers did play well in the playoffs and were a worthy opponent. You, however, dishonor them with your imbecilic comment.
Just a lucky goal in the overtime to win the game. Flyer's put up a great fight. Very proud of them. Let's Go Flyer's you'll always be #1 in my heart.
I was down there today and there had to be at least 100 thousand fans there going crazy. It was great.
Go Hawks
JOD - Don't know what you were watching or listening to but clearly not what the rest of us did.
This was an awesome event. 2 MILLION people and no problems. Well done, Fans. Well done, Chicago.
idc on June 11, 2010 1:30 PM
What kind of dork goes to a rally? Now that's pathetic.
You would probably.
What kind of dork goes to a rally? Now that's pathetic.
I agree! What a bimbo. This is about the Hawks dear. Not the loser Cubs!
Leave it to a trixie to dwell on the Cubs on a great day like today, and for the trib to report it.
Fantastic rally and parade. Awesome, just like the Grant Park rallies for all the Bulls championships. Chicago sure knows how to party. I love it. Congrats to the champs!!
Hey JOD, if you have listened to any of the interviews by Rocky Wirtz, John McDonough, Stan Bowman... they have all to a man, over and over again, given more than ample credit to Tallon and Savard for all their efforts and their contributions. What more do you want for them to say? Remove your hands from your ears, stop hiding in a hole, and enjoy this championship!!! Who knows when we'll do this again.
I hope you will be celebrating after this summer too when the Hawks will have to re-tool themselves completely for salary cap reasons because of Tallon's "contributions." He made some great decisions, made some horrible decisions. Stan Bowman is reaping the benefits of Tallon's successes now but he's gonna have to spend the entire summer cleaning up Tallon's failures.
It's a shame the Hawks didn't have the decency to acknowledge Dale Tallon or Denis Savard for their contributions.
Early reports have the crowd estimated at 2.5 billion people.