Chicago Blackhawks Duncan Keith celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Blackhawks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 to win the NHL Stanley Cup Final hockey series in Philadelphia.SHAUN BEST
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews: "Oh my God. It's like that commercial. I'm speechless. This team put on one heck of a run. We knew from day one of this season we had the potential to do it. And to realize our goal, it's an amazing feeling."
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on knowing when the puck went in: "I heard the sound. It was a funny sound. Nobody knew where the puck was. Kaner thought it was in. Video guy came out, he knew it was in the net. And I think the guys knew. That's why they celebrated. I didn't know for sure when I saw the net lift and I saw the puck in the back, I said okay, the party is on."
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette: "I'm very proud -- like I said before, I'm proud of our team and the way we compete. The way we played, the way we never quit. We never gave up. They kept fighting."
Winning goal scorer Patrick Kane on the start to his season after he was arrested in the summer: "It didn't start off very good back in August. But I think sometimes you know you go through those kind of things as a young kid. You can really learn from them and try to better yourself as a person and as an athlete too. Yeah, there was ups and downs."
Toews on giving the Cup to Marian Hossa first: "We talked about it very, very briefly this morning. Didn't want to get overexcited or think too much of the end result, but mentioned it to him this morning to be ready, that if we did happen to hoist it tonight, that Duncan and Sharpy both agreed that he should be the first guy after myself to grab it. You know, it's special for him. And I can't imagine being a part of three long seasons like that and to win one finally. It's amazing for all of us. But especially for him too for sure."
Toews on talking to Flyers captain Mike Richards in the handshake line: "I just told him to keep his head up. He played like a champion, and he's obviously an incredible guy, an incredible leader. It's tough for anybody to come this close, and looking at the comeback they had against Boston and the injuries they had over the year, I think he was obviously right in the middle of all that adversity and helped that team battle through that. You have to give him a lot of credit for what he did. Just wanted to show my respect for him and what he accomplished. They were a tough team. Obviously a great competitor."
Richards on coming so close and coming up short: "It hurts a lot. It was a good learning experience for us. I mean, you have to take out of it what it takes to win. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. Unfortunately it wasn't enough."
Toews, again: "There's so many great things about winning a Stanley Cup. This is it. This is the best feeling you can ever get playing hockey, and I just can't believe it's happening."
Quenneville, again: "I think the party in Chicago is going to be all-world. Everybody is excited. We had a lot of fans here today and tonight. That support is much appreciated. The city is going to be very excited when we get back. We're going to have fun with it. We'll have a couple -- we'll have plenty of time to sort outgoing into the summer and going into this next season. But it's been a long time. I think we should enjoy it for a while and then go from there."