In a thrilling Game 6 that went into overtime to decide a winner, Chicago ended their nearly 50 year Stanley Cup drought.

Star forward Patrick Kane managed to just slip the puck past Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton 4:10 into the overtime period to put the score at 4-3 and hand hockey’s holy grail to Chicago for the first time in 49 years.  There was no goal light, but white jerseys flooded over the boards and onto the ice to congratulate Kane as the rest of the arena wasn’t quite aware what had happened.  After a quick review, there was no question Kane had scored the winning goal.  With heavy heads, Philadelphia accepted defeat and looked on as the ‘Hawks celebrated.  In an effort to boost spirits, the home crowd chanted ‘Let’s go Flyers’ as the team waited to shake hands with the 2010 Stanley Cup winners.

Captain Jonathan Toews, just 22 years old, became the second youngest captain to hoist the Cup.  He was also named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  After his victory lap, Toews immediately passed the Cup to veteran forward Marian Hossa who got to hoist the Cup for the first time in his 12 year career.

It was a fitting end to a hard fought series that went back and forth for both teams.  Philadelphia did a tremendous job in reaching the Finals as the constant underdog.  With a great effort from the entire team, they were even able to claw their way back from a two game deficit against the Blackhawks to keep themselves in the running.  Though, it wasn’t to be as Chicago’s dominating offense and Antti Niemi’s brilliance in the net were too much to handle.

That might be the end of another NHL season, but it’s not over for me.  Keep checking NHLBetsOnline for all of the latest offseason news.

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