Kris Versteeg presents Blackhawks championship belt to CJ Reif

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Kris Versteeg won the 2010 Blackhawks rally for his famous rap solo at the podium.

He won the 2015 rally for an entirely different reason.

When introduced by Pat Foley during Thursday's festivities at Soldier Field, Versteeg walked on stage with C.J. Reif, the 9-year-old son of the late Clint Reif, the Blackhawks assistant equipment manager who passed away last December, just four days before Christmas. Reif was in his ninth season with the team.

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The sudden passing hit the team hard, even more so because he left behind a wife and four children, all under the age of 12. So during the Blackhawks' playoff run and ultimately on the night they hoisted their third Stanley Cup on Wednesday, the Reif family was part of it all.

That culminated Thursday, when Versteeg presented the 2015 championship belt to C.J.

"So we don't got the belt with us here right now, but I was fortunate enough to receive it from the Man Child (Brandon Saad) and we got to give it to the best player, voted on by myself, in Game 6. So I think Patrick Kane had a pretty good game," Versteeg said. "Brad Richards. Everybody showed up.

"But this is really about Clint Reif and the Reif family. We hold them really dear to our heart. And this is his son, C.J. And he gets the belt from all of us."

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