Stanley Cup comes to Wrigley Field

There was a championship celebration at Wrigley Field on Sunday night – though not the one Chicago Cubs fans are looking for.

Three days after ending their 49-year championship drought, the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks paraded the Cup around Wrigley to enormous cheers during a ceremony before the Cubs' game against the crosstown White Sox.

The Blackhawks, who hadn’t won a championship since 1961, hoisted the Cup, passed it among themselves, and high-fived fans as they made their way around the “Friendly Confines.” The pro-Cubs crowd roared when Hawks coach Joel Quenneville held up the Cup behind home plate -- and booed when he passed it off to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

Though it was the longest current championship drought in the NHL, the Hawks’ struggles paled before the Cubs’ 102-year run without winning the World Series – something they haven’t done since 1908.

Blackhawks president and longtime Cubs marketing executive John McDonough threw out the ceremonial first pitch -- and bounced it. Jim Cornelison, who sings the national anthem before Hawks games, got drowned out by cheering fans at Wrigley – just as he does at the United Center -- as he performed the anthem.

Material from wire services was used in this report

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