As the Blackhawks are one win away from winning the Stanley Cup for the third time since '10, team Chair ROCKY WIRTZ has "reached a level of stardom likelier for someone in actual skates and pads," and "nearly everyone traces" the team's rise to Wirtz' ascent, according to Monica Davey of the N.Y. TIMES. Wirtz "watched silently for decades" as his father, BILL, and grandfather, ARTHUR, "made decisions about the team." Wirtz said of arguing with his father, "It’s like going against City Hall. He was the boss. He had the keys. Why argue with him?" He added, "He’d be very excited, and he would not have agreed with a thing we’ve done" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/15). In Chicago, Mike North wrote the Blackhawks from top to bottom are a "model we wish other franchises in Chicago could emulate." There are "no issues," and the results "speak for themselves -- two Stanley Cups in the last five years and poised to win a third." Some winning teams "are dysfunctional, but that doesn't apply to the Hawks" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 6/12).
THUNDER STRUCK: In Tampa, John Romano reported when Lightning Owner JEFF VINIK's wife, PENNY, invited relatives to Saturday's Stanley Cup Final Game 5 against the Blackhawks, he "made sure they were made aware that there is to be no idle chit chat while the puck is in play." Vinik watches hockey "the same way he watched the stock market in a previous life" -- "intensely." Lightning CEO TOD LEIWEKE said of Vinik, "He's so polite, so low key, he would never say anything about it, but I figured out pretty quickly that the guy just wanted to watch the game in peace. He doesn't pretend to know more than he does. He doesn't walk around like some hockey expert. He just approaches hockey games the same way he does everything else: He studies." Vinik: "I'm elated when we win, and I'm pained and feel sorrow when we lose. But it's just part of my personality that I'm not going to be jumping up and down or yelling" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6/14).
