"Patrick Kane finally had in his hands the puck that had been used to score the game-winning goal and capture a championship.

No, not that puck.

The historic piece of rubber Kane used to give the Blackhawks their first Stanley Cup in 49 years, when the winger scored in overtime of Game 6 against the Flyers a year ago Thursday, still is missing. The search for that puck has been ongoing, and it intensified with the Tribune's recent discovery of unpublished photos of NHL linesman Steve Miller scooping it off the ice and skating away with it while the Hawks celebrated on the ice in Philadelphia.

Instead, Kane had what 10-year-old Matt Cannon of Tonawanda, N.Y., considers an equally important hockey artifact.

Matt sent Kane the puck he'd used to score the winning goal to give the Tonawanda Lightning a 3-1 victory over the Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles for the Western New York Amateur Hockey League squirt championship in March.

"He gave me his game-winning-goal puck just because I didn't have mine," said Kane, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. "He mailed the puck to my parents' place. It was pretty cool. (But) it would obviously be nice to have the real thing back."

The relationship between Matt and Kane began just days after the Hawks had skated away with the 2010 Cup. Matt had sent an invitation to the two-time NHL All-Star to attend his 10th birthday party at a floor hockey facility near Tonawanda."