Andrew Desjardins stood on the ice in happy disbelief, thrilled at the final result but also a little exhausted by what it took to get here.
“The amount of work that’s put in to getting to this is just hard to imagine,” said Desjardins, who had played no more than 11 playoff games in any year before playing 21 with the Blackhawks. “When you’ve never done it, you don’t even understand how much work it is to get here. It feels amazing right now.”
For the newest Blackhawks, such as Desjardins, Antoine Vermette and Teuvo Teravainen, there was a sense of awe to go along with the celebration after the Blackhawks claimed their third Stanley Cup in the past six seasons.