Chasing History

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins will begin their quest to win a third-straight NHL championship.

They’ve scuffled through parts of this season, showing the emotional and physical toll that comes with playing as deep as possible into what is the most grueling playoffs in any of the major North American sports. They’ve sat outside the playoff picture for stretches of the season but have finished strong enough to take second place in the Metro Division, along with home-ice advantage in their first-round match-up against the Flyers.

Their place in the division, and whether or not they claimed home ice, never really mattered. For a team that has accomplished so much in the past two years, all that mattered was that they make it to this point. That point, the opportunity to win three straight championships, might be even rarer than you would guess.

I wanted to look at the groups of teams in the four major North American sports that have accomplished a three-peat. I say “groups” to include teams that have won more than three championships in a row, because that shouldn’t count as a three-peat, it’s something else entirely. Otherwise teams like the Celtics of the 60’s, who won eight straight titles, which could be considered as six three-peats, and that becomes too confusing for the purpose of the article.

In the NFL, a team has never won three-straight championships in the Super Bowl era. Since the creation of the league in 1933, the only team that has ever won three championships in a row in the NFL is the Green Bay Packers of 1965-1967. That’s 84 seasons with only one group of players ever managing the feat.

There have been 68 seasons in NBA history, and there have been five groups of teams that have ever accomplished a three-peat. The Celtics of the 60’s won eight in a row, the Lakers won three in a row in the 50’s and in the early 2000’s, and, of course, the Bulls had two separate three-peats in the 90’s with Michael Jordan.

Major League Baseball has had 112 seasons where they crowned a champion and there have been four different groups that have won three championships in a row. The Yankees have accomplished it three times, including the most recent in the sport in 1998-2000. The Oakland A’s are the only other franchise to claim a three-peat.

The NHL has had 89 seasons where a champion was crowned. There have been five different teams that have won three championships in a row. The Canadiens have done it twice, as have the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The last hockey team to win three championships in a row was the New York Islanders, who won four-straight from 1980-1983.

There wasn’t a single Penguins player on the current roster who was alive when the Islanders won the last of those championships.

Add all of it up and there have been 353 seasons across the four sports, and only 15 groups of teams that were able to accomplish a three-peat. Only nine franchises can lay claim to it. It’s truly a rarity, and the implementation of salary caps and the expansion of leagues has only made the achievement that much more infrequent.

When the puck drops on Wednesday night, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin won’t just be facing the Flyers. The will be facing the likes of  Lemieux, Gretzky and Howe.

Many would call them the three greatest players to ever skate.

They all won two in a row. None of them ever won three in a row.

And I’m guessing Sid and Geno are aware of that.