NHL-Weather makes impatient Chicago wait a while for Stanley Cup

By Michael Hirtzer CHICAGO, June 15 (Reuters) - Chicago Blackhawks fans waited 77 years for their team to win the Stanley Cup on home ice, and then had to wait just a little bit longer, thanks to an inclement weather. Torrential rains and a rare tornado warning, with a funnel cloud spotted just south of the city, almost prevented the Cup from reaching the United Center, where the Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning four games to two on Monday. By the time Patrick Kane scored a goal with five minutes remaining in the third period to put the Blackhawks up 2-0, the fans' chants of "We want the Cup" were reaching a fever pitch. But the so-called 'Keeper of the Cup' Philip Pritchard was stuck in traffic. Even after the final buzzer sounded and the Blackhawks were celebrating on the ice, the Cup still had yet to arrive. Pritchard, who travels with the Cup at all times, earlier posted a picture on Twitter of the trophy going through airport security and another picture of the Cup and the Conn Smythe trophy, given to the series' most valuable player, after he polished them in his hotel room. He said he does not take the Cup to the arena until it he is certain a team will win it. This time, he needed a police escort, then rushed through the basement of the United Center with a harried look on his face as security guards yelled for people to make way. "It was havoc on the roads tonight but we made it, thanks to the Chicago police. The roads are flooded out there," Pritchard said on the ice after the game. It was worth the wait for Kimmo Timonen, a defender acquired late in the season by the Blackhawks. Timonen, who was on the Philadelphia Flyers when they fell to the Blackhawks in the Finals in 2010, won the Cup for the first and last time. Playing only sparingly in this series, he will now retire. He was the first to hold the Cup after Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews handed to him. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Timonen said on the ice after the game. "I'm 40 years old, so just I'm happy and relieved that this is it." "It's just a feeling you can't get." (Additional reporting by Nick Carey; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)