3rd time a charm for Hossa?

This situation is nothing new to Marian Hossa. In a place where great players may only get one opportunity he is playing in his third straight Stanley Cup final. For the second season in a row he is one win away from reaching his goal and winning the Stanley Cup. While most hockey fans are familiar with his recent quest for the cup he has been knocking on the door for most of his career.

Hossa debuted with the Ottawa Senator during the 97-98 season right as the Senators were becoming one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa qualified for the playoffs in each of the six seasons Hossa played there. However he was unable to lead the Senators to the Stanley Cup Finals as Ottawa found a way to underachieve in the post-season, usually at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The farthest he lead Ottawa was to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2003. Ottawa won the President's Trophy that season and had home ice throughout the post-season. They ended up losing in the Eastern Conference finals to New Jersey in seven games.

Hossa remained with the Senators until after the lockout ended in 2005. He was traded to Atlanta for Dany Heatley. During his time in Atalanta Hossa only qualified for the playoffs once in 2007, a four game sweep at the hands of  New York Rangers.

With Hossa approaching free agency at the end of the 2008 season Atlanta traded him to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline. He scored twelve goals and had twenty-six points in the post-season helping the Penguins reach their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance since 1992.

The memory most fans may remember of Hossa that post-season was almost scoring the game tying goal in game six of the Finals with the puck rolling just parallel along the goal line as time ran out.

That off-season Pittsburgh made an attempt to re-sign Hossa to a long term deal. However Hossa turned them down signing a one year deal to play for the Detroit Red Wings. His reason was that he thought Detroit gave him the best opportunity to win the Stanley Cup.

Detroit did reach the Finals for a second year in a row, facing the Pittsburgh Penguins. Whether it was karma or the hockey gods evening things up Pittsburgh defeated Detroit in seven games leaving Hossa short of the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row. After the loss Hossa was criticized for not scoring a goal and being ineffective during the finals.

This past off-season Hossa left Detroit and signed a long-term deal to play for Chicago. Once again he finds himself in the Stanley Cup Finals. He has been better this year scoring one goal and having three assists so far in the finals. a couple Blackhawks players have said that he has been the best forward for Chicago in this series even though his numbers don't reflect that.

Now Hossa finds himself again one win away from the cup. His team is talented enough to win it this year but if he wants to get his name on the cup he needs to play well tonight. I know that even if Chicago loses tonight they still will have one more chance to win it on Friday night back home. But after last season I'm sure that Hossa would rather get it done tonight.

Like last season he has a say in what happens tonight. The puck is on his stick, let's see what he does with it.