Blackhawks: 7 year anniversary of 2013 Stanley Cup Win

It’s been seven years to the day since the Chicago Blackhawks won their second of three Stanley Cups during the 2010s.

The fact that it’s been seven years since the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins for the 2013 Stanley Cup is crazy. That year was one of the most interesting, most fun seasons to date. I don’t know if any other season will ever compete with that.

For starters, I believe the 2013 Blackhawks were the best hockey team of all time. They started the season off 21-0-3, with the majority of those games being on the road. Ray Emery only lost one game as a starter in net and Corey Crawford finally showed that he could win in the playoffs.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews showed that they can come back from back-to-back first-round exits and lead teams. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook played very clutch hockey during that whole season, and Marian Hossa came off of a career-threatening injury to add great depth for their playoff run.

The coolest thing from the 2013 team was how much depth they had at every position. All four lines were solid, with all of them stepping up at different times. The three defensive pairings were solid. Most importantly, they had two solid goalies.

After going 36-7-5 in the regular season, the Blackhawks went into the playoffs with the home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. After knocking off the Minnesota Wild in five games, the Blackhawks found their match in their last Western Conference Semi-Final matchup ever in rival Detroit Red Wings. After falling down 3-1 in the series, Chicago battled back, with Brent Seabrook scoring the most clutch goal to that point of the season.

After winning Game 7 in Chicago, the Blackhawks ran through the L.A. Kings, winning the series in five. That would set them up with a must-see matchup against the Boston Bruins.

The Bruins and Blackhawks went back and forth, with Game 1 ending in overtime. Games 2 and 3 would go Boston’s way, with them taking a 2-1 lead in the series. In Game 4, Seabrook scored an overtime game-winning goal to tie the series going back to Chicago.

Game 5 was a 3-1 victory for the Blackhawks, with Jonathan Toews missing the whole third period due to injury. That was the story going into Game 6, whether Toews would play and if he did, how effective would he be.

In Game 6, Toews tied the game in the second period, along with assisting on the second goal of the game with 1:16 remaining in the third period from Bryan Bickell‘s goal. 17 seconds after Bickell’s goal, Dave Bolland would score to take a 3-2 lead in the game.

Those two goals in 17 seconds were fitting to end an amazing season. The 2013 Blackhawks are my favorite Blackhawks’ team ever. They were an amazing group of guys who gelled well together.

It’s just crazy it’s already been seven years since the end of that season.