The Bolts Go For A Final Home Win
from Stephen Whyno of the CP at TSN,
When the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup on home ice for the first time since before World War II, Jon Cooper could not bear to watch the joyful aftermath.
"I’m looking away from the whole thing," he said.
Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning had just lost the 2015 series in six games after their first trip to the final of what turned out to be three times in seven years. Even after winning it all in 2020, he vividly remembers the feeling of watching Chicago players celebrating the team's first Cup-clinching win on home ice since 1938.
“There’s that excruciating minute or two you have to afford the team to celebrate,” Cooper said. “I think that’s just a poignant moment in sports when that happens, out of respect, and then the respect the captain has on the winning team to rally his troops to get in the handshake line.”
That was captain Steven Stamkos' job last fall when Tampa Bay beat Dallas, even though he didn't play in the clinching game. If he and the Lightning finish off the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 Wednesday night or do it in Game 7, Stamkos should get the proper chance to rally his teammates, and they'd be the first team since Chicago to win the Cup at home.
continued...
Want the trending hockey news in your inbox daily?.
Just add your email, and we'll start sending you the most important hockey news of the day.
