TORTOISE VS HARE = BLACKHAWKS STANLEY CUP

I don’t know how many times that children’s tale of how the slow and steady turtle triumphs over the lurching jack-rabbit has applied itself in my everyday life but it popped into my mind again after watching the Chicago Blackhawks win their first championship in 50 years.

Of course, there is some irony involved. The Hawks play fast – like a rabbit on Red Bull with a Lynx breathing on it’s bobbing bunny tail. But they were constructed at a much more pedestrian pace.

Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith

Their seemingly meteoric rise to NHL prominence was in fact years in the making. Sure the last few have been accelerated - thanks to a shift in ownership, a management upgrade and a payroll that is wedged up against the salary cap like the front row of pre-pubescent girls at a Justin Bieber concert – but when you breakdown their genetic code the DNA shows that the championship was built over time, not overnight.

Captain and Playoff MVP Jonathan Toews was a draft pick – in 2006.

Cup Clinching goal scorer (and mullet-rocker) Patrick Kane was a draft pick in 2007.

Stud defense pairing Keith and Seabrook were draft picks in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

You following my drift?

Bolland, Burish, Byfuglien, Brouwer, and Hjalmarsson are all Blackhawk draft finds.

Of course, in order to get high-grade talent you have to have a hiccup or two. Chicago was a 20-30 win club in the early years of the new millennium. You pick early at the draft when that’s your success rate.

They drafted a lot of defensemen back then. Some worked out, others flamed out. (Hmmm, sounds a little familiar)

They made a few astute trades: Andrew Ladd for Tuomo Ruutu, Patrick Sharp for a pick and a prospect, Kris Versteeg for Brandon Bochenski (who?)

And when they felt their prospects were ready to win they spent some cash on July 1: Brian Campbell in 2008, Marion Hossa, John Madden and Tomas Kopecky in 2009.

The Blackhawks won it all in 2010, but the first seed of success was planted 8 years earlier at the draft table when they chose a defenseman named Duncan Keith in the second round, and they’ve been racing toward this championship like a herd of turtles ever since.

So the moral of this NHL version of the Tortoise and the Hare: Draft well. Develop slowly and steadily. Navigate intelligently. Get lucky here and there. And enjoy the journey toward the Stanley Cup.

Our Stars race is still in its infancy, but it seems to be moving at the right pace.

Cheer the turtle, boil the bunny…and Go Stars!