Vikings celebrate Chicago Blackhawks

Blue and yellow in a sea of red as Chicagoans celebrated its second NHL championship since 2010.  

• 

  Over two million on the June 28 parade and rally through Chicago.

• Scores of ecstatic fans were flocking to the streets of Chicago as the victorious Blackhawks—Stanley Cup Champions for the fifth time in franchise history—returned home after their 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. A group of blue and yellow Vikings were greeting the Swedish players of the Chicago team in the two million-strong sea of red Hawk hockey sweaters. The Swedish Vikings took a train to downtown Chicago around sunrise to make it to what would go down as the best-attended celebration in city history. With Viking paraphernalia and Swedish flags painted on their cheeks, the girls gave their thumbs up and quickly became favorite photo subjects in their blue and yellow, and the Swedish players of the team—Niklas Hjalmarsson, Victor Stålberg, Marcus Krüger, Johnny Oduya and Henrik Karlsson—didn’t seem to have any problem noticing the Vikings in the crowd.
  Submitted by Tina O'Malley. Photography: Lena Norberg, Tina O'Malley, Monika Wally