Niemi, Carr celebrated momentous wins in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - Paying a visit to the Wells Fargo Center brings back championship memories aplenty for Antti Niemi and Daniel Carr.

On June 9, 2010, Niemi capped off a remarkable playoff run in his first full season in the NHL ranks, backstopping the Chicago Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup title in 49 years.
Admittedly, though, when Patrick Kane scored the series-clinching goal at the 4:06 mark of overtime in Game 6 and made a bee-line towards Niemi to celebrate, the Finnish netminder wasn't prepared to jump for joy just yet.
"I didn't see the puck go in, but I hoped it went in," cracked Niemi, in reference to Kane's decisive marker that caught everyone but the Blackhawks' No. 88 by surprise at the time. "I just wasn't sure and I didn't want to start celebrating and getting ahead of myself. Having to go back and play after that would have been tough. When the coaches were on the ice celebrating, then I knew that it was in."

Video review clearly showed that the puck beat Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton on the short-side, but it happened so quickly - and from such a sharp angle along the goal line - that Niemi couldn't tell that Kane had settled the score.
"The more I think about it, the more I start remembering," said Niemi, who has only played one game in the City of Brotherly Love since claiming hockey's top prize there seven-and-a-half years ago, picking up a win on October 20, 2015 while still a member of the Dallas Stars. "That was something special, something unexpected. We had a great season, great playoffs, great team, great everything. It was hard to realize that day, the next day, week or even two weeks later that we actually did it."
But, they did, earning the decisive victory at a building that was anything but hospitable to them earlier in the series when they dropped Game 3 and Game 4 on South Broad St.
The 34-year-old Vantaa native did his best to keep the Flyers' faithful from getting him off his game when the Blackhawks had a chance to finally close things out in enemy territory.
"It was almost hostile towards us and our fans. All those signs that people had," mentioned Niemi. "I didn't really look at them until the series was over."

It's safe to say that Carr didn't have to deal with that same hostility when his Union College Dutchmen went up against the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in the NCAA Frozen Four title game on April 12, 2014.
And, when it was all over, the Sherwood Park, AB native had officially closed out his collegiate career on a high note in a 7-4 win over one of the most prolific programs in the United States.
Besting Boston College in the national semifinals two days earlier was no small accomplishment either.
"We just had something that those teams didn't. We might not have been as talented throughout our whole lineup as those guys were, but we played so much more of a team game. It was something special," said Carr, reflecting upon the accomplishment of helping his school earn its first-ever men's hockey crown. "The way our team came together, I don't even really have words for it. It was unbelievable."

As for his favorite moments from that memorable night in Southeastern Pennsylvania… One, in particular, really stands out.
"By the time my senior year came around, our senior class was down to five. It was a convenient number, because our coach put all five of us on the ice to end the game. There was about a minute left and we were up by three at the time," recalled Carr, who was then a teammate of current Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. "We'd all spent those four years together, living together. It was awesome."
And, the 26-year-old forward always looks forward to reliving that experience on every return visit to Philly.
"I think you walk in and you get a little smirk on your face. That's what happened the last time I was there. There's that little bit of knowing what we did there," concluded Carr. "I talk to those guys every day. Everyone is so close. You talk about it being a family and it really is."