Where the F*ck Is The Puck?

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jun 8, 2011 4:40PM

It's been a year since the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, but the puck shot into the net by Patrick Kane to score the championship-clinching overtime goal has yet to surface. The mystery of the puck, now worth six figures, has continues as the hunk of rubber simply vanished.

Tribune photo editor Rob Kozloff and photographer Brian Cassella recently decided to research further into the story, digging through the paper's extensive digital photo archives. newly discovered shots from a remote camera controlled by Cassella have shed some light.

The pictures clearly show NHL linesman Steve Miller fishing the puck from the net. he picked it up with his right hand, shifted it to his left and skated out of range of the camera. A series of photos, stitched together to create a stop-action video, show the events pretty clearly.

Miller had been previously questioned about retrieving the puck but denied doing so. Upon further review, he changed his story to say he has picked up thousands of pucks over the course of a season and doesn't remember what he did with that one. While it's possible he pocketed the puck, the league buys his story that he simply can't remember what he did with it. "Pucks don't mean anything to me." Miller said. "So why would that puck mean anything to me?"

To a game official, it may have just been one of thousands of puck he encounters over the course of the season, but for the Blackhawks it holds tremendous significance. Team President John McDonough told the Trib, "I would certainly like to see the Blackhawks be in possession of that. If ... someone would deliver it to the Blackhawks, it would be very meaningful." Instead, it sits on Miller's mantle or in a bucket of pucks at the Wachovia Center.