Campbell Leads Blackhawks to Stanley Cup
Published on June 10, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Rochester Americans News Release
(Rochester, NY)... After 49 long years, the Chicago Blackhawks' quest for the Stanley Cup became complete late Wednesday night when Patrick Kane's game-winning goal 4:06 into overtime lifted the Blackhawks to victory as the team captured its first championship since 1961. Kane, who can now add Stanley Cup champion on his resume next to being an Olympic Silver medalist, broke a 3-3 tie that stunned former Amerk goaltender Michael Leighton and the rest of the Philadelphia Flyers in what turned out to be one of the most anticlimactic finales in the history of the Stanley Cup.
For several Blackhawks players, it was the first time to hoist hockey's grandest prize on the sport's biggest stage. Among those was defenseman Brian Campbell, who started his professional career with the Rochester Americans before becoming a permanent fixture in the National Hockey League.
Campbell just completed his sixth straight playoff appearance and second with the Blackhawks, scoring one goal and assisting on four others in 19 games to help return Lord Stanley's Cup back to Chicago for the first time in nearly five decades. It was also Campbell's first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, the farthest he's gone in the playoffs for the first time since the 2006 postseason, where he and the Buffalo Sabres fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite appearing in just 68 games during the regular season due to injury, Campbell collected 38 points (7+31) and 18 penalty minutes.
"Soupy" is coming off his most productive season in 2008-09 in the NHL, having captured career-bests with 45 assists and 52 points to finish as Chicago's top scoring defenseman, good enough for fifth overall on the team. Originally a sixth-round selection (156th overall) of the Buffalo Sabres in the 1997 Entry Draft, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound blueliner played three seasons (1999-02) in Rochester, registering 95 points (11+84) and 59 penalty minutes in 177 career games. Despite helping Rochester reach the Calder Cup Finals as rookie in 1999-00, Campbell posted his best season as an Amerk during the 2001-02 campaign, scoring two goals and 35 assists in 45 games. His 95 points still rank 25th among all-time Amerks defensemen.
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