After more than 1,000 regular season games and over 100 playoff contests, Kimmo Timonen finally raised the Stanley Cup.
It wasn’t the prettiest ride as he was a depth defenseman (and sometimes a healthy scratch) for the Chicago Blackhawks, but let’s go ahead and assume that the 40-year-old doesn’t really care about that after Chicago won it all in Game 6.
Witness the emotional moment when Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews handed the greatest trophy in sports to Timonen:
Check out Timonen’s interview with Pierre McGuire:
Kimmo: “It’s unbelievable,” he said on the ice. “Obviously, I’ve been dreaming of this the last 17 years..."
— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchRET) June 16, 2015
Here’s a great piece on Timonen’s long run of being on the wrong end of big games like these.
One way this moment was unique for fans: Chicago got to celebrate the Cup win on home ice. Watch fans count down the final seconds and the initial reaction below:
Finally, here’s footage of the handshake line: