Before I delve into the Stanley Cup Finals and the Bruins winning their first Cup since 1972, I want to let you all know that if it wasn’t for me getting Mo to remove his picture of the Stanley Cup yesterday from Facebook this could have all gone to hell in a hand basket really quick! I brought it to his attention that the Stanley Cup is never touched by players who have never won it, and therefore we shouldn’t be cocky and have it even posted on a wall somewhere until the deal was sealed! It’s back up, and appropriately so!
I was on the phone with Lanz today (who I’m sure will have a lot to say about this game today) and we were talking about the last time the Bruins hoisted the Cup, I was 11 years old, sitting on the floor of our living room while the Bruins polished off the Rangers in 6 games and setting a record for points scored in an NHL final 28-8. Those were the Bobby Orr/Gerry Cheevers days, these are the Tim Thomas/Zdeno Chara days!
I had been asked by numerous people all day if the Bruins could pull out a win in Vancouver after both teams had won all their home games and I said the same thing to all of them;, if the Bruins score first on Roberto Luongo they’d get inside his head and once they did that their defense which had been smothering would take care of the rest, and it did. Luongo no doubt was the reason the Canucks faltered losing 3 games in Boston miserably and being pulled twice but let’s not forget the highest scoring team in the NHL this season was held to 8 points. After the game in Boston Monday Daniel Sedin had predicted a Canucks victory in game 7, really going out on a limb there being no one had lost a game at home in the series. I assumed when hearing that the Sedin twins had chosen to actually show up in the final game and put some shots on the net and score some goals, that didn’t happen, these two had been absent basically all series, same with Ryan Kesler.
The Bruins outscored the Canucks in the series 23-8 with Thomas getting 2 shutouts, one in Boston then tonight in game 7. And how about Tim Thomas, is this guy fucking great or what? Not just a great goaltender, but he’s a class guy, willing to give props to Roberto Luongo after the game even when Luongo said that Thomas took unnecessary risks out of the crease, yet Thomas is a shoe-in for the Vezina Trophy, won the Conn Smythe for the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP and as far as I’m concerned he’s the league MVP as well. Thomas has been a bull all season, the Bruins always playing with confidence with Thomas as the anchor.
Then there’s Brad Marchand, the pesky forward who scored 11 goals in the playoffs and who the Canucks had no answers for. Marchand’s wrist shot in game 6 gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, he picked up two last night and his future is nothing but bright for the spoke’d B’s! Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins center whose faceoffs were missed when he went down with a mild concussion in the Flyer series but was a force to be reckoned with for these last seven games scored two goals on Luongo, the second shorthanded as he crashed the net and managed to push it by the Canucks netminder. Captain Zdeno Chara, the towering acquisition from Ottawa who had brought back the BAD in the Big Bad Bruins with his aggressive, physical play and 100 mph slap shot no doubt was the defensive backbone for this team which proved to be extremely stingy when it came to goals allowed.
I’ll never be able to cover the play of all the Bruins roster, but Krejci the finesse scorer, Thornton who was a healthy scratch until Nathan Horton was drilled in game one by Aaron Rome, Recchi, the 43 year old 3 time Stanley Cup winner, who is now retiring, the trade deadline that brought Tomas Kaberle from Toronto, along with Chris Kelly from Ottawa and Rich Peverly from the now defunct Thrashers and all the rest made this a season to remember.
The city of Boston will now roll out the Duck Boats for another cruise through the city and a spin around the Charles River and join the other of the major sports franchises that have now given the The Hub it’s 7thchampionship in the last 10 seasons, and Boston will hold the title as the only city to win championships in all four major sports in a 7 year span! We’ll take it!
Hey Roberto Luong, you feel like talking anymore shit about the guy who out played the shit out of you? Let's see he's got the Cup and the Conn Smythe...What the fuck do you have, you mental case!?!
The Bruins went into Vancouver, and took it the Canucks in game seven...The Canucks started out playing well...It was looking like a great game...Hell Vancouver had to try and show up for that Sedin that said they'd win...Eventhough him and his brother had been non-existent in the finals...
But once Patrice Bergeron knocked in the first goal, off of a great pass from Brad Marchand, you could feel it happening...Luongo was going to make sure LeBron James isn't stealing his title for the King of the Choke...
In the second period, Marchand scored his first of 2 goals, the second being an empty netter...But the kill shot came when while on the penalty kill, Bergeron broke in on Luongo and was taken down by Christian Erholf, as they went crashing into the ice and net, the puck beat them across the goal-line...It was done then...Yes there was a period left, but Tim Thomas wasn't going to allow a comeback, as he stopped all 37 of Vancouver's shots...
The Canucks looked to tap out late in the third...They had been physically beaten the entire series, and it was showing...They had no offense, especially from there top two lines...
All four of the Bruins lines played great hockey...Guys like Paille, Campbell, Thornton, who don't get much credit, played excellent two-way hockey...43 year old Mark Recchi, didn't look 43 playing with Beregron and Marchand...And picking up Rich Peverly in the Blake Wheeler deal really paid off, especially how well he filled in for Nathan Horton, on the Krejci/Lucic line...This was a true team victory!
As for Vancouver, I have grown to really dislike these guys...They played like punks...And Luongo did what I said he would...He choked, just as he always does...Because he's an overrated cunt! Oh and people of Vancouver way to go...Nothing says class, like starting fires and riots after your team loses...
Didn't you do this before...Oh yeah, back in '94 when the Rangers beat you...Glad to see you're still acting like fucking children!
Congrats Boston, and the Bruins!
Wow, in the ten years I've been married to a gal from Boston, we've seen The Patriots win 3 Super Bowls, The Red Sox win the World Series twice, The Celtics won a title, and now the Bruins win the Stanley cup...Bostonians, you're lucky fucking people!
Growing up, I lived across the street from an elderly woman, Minnie. She was the stereotypical “old lady” who just didn’t like kids in a neighborhood just crawling with kids. Frankly, we were all a little afraid of this large, scary woman who really didn’t like us. My family moved to the neighborhood when I was 4, and for the next 6-years I pretty much lived in fear of this woman.
1980 saw the US Olympic Men’s Hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet team to advance to play for the gold medal – “Do you believe in miracles?” At age 10, I had no idea what had happened, but I knew it was something big. Jim Craig, the US Goalkeeper, was from Massachusetts and was a bit of a crush for Minnie. To this day, I have no idea how I came to be in her favor, but it was like a thaw had occurred. She began to share with me her significant collection of Sporting News back-issues, and fostered in me a love of the Boston Bruins. What a pair we must’ve been – the elderly shut-in and the junior high student standing together on her front porch, with nothing apparently in common, talking about the Bruins.
I don’t think I ever learned the origin of this love of hockey – whether it was simple infatuation with the hometown hero or if it went back to a childhood in the Canadian Maritime Provinces – but it was real and it was genuine.
She did not live to see the 1987-1988 Stanley Cup Finals, and perhaps it is just as well given the way her beloved Bruins fell to the Oilers, in 4 ˝ games. With the arena air-conditioning battling to control the rising temperature, the electric system in the Boston Garden became overtaxed and ultimately failed. The 3-3 game was canceled in the second period. In the next game, the Oilers won their 4th Stanley Cup on home ice.
I think about her today on the brink of Game 7 of the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup finals. I can picture her large frame in a drab housecoat and slippers cheering on Tim Thomas, Shawn Thornton, David Krejci, Zdano Chara, Milan Lucic, and Mark Recchi, although I can also imagine her sometimes ribald commentary about how to actually pronounce some of the names and asking “exactly what is a ‘Canuck’ anyway?” There might even be a play on the phonemes that the slang for “Canadian” and the slang for carnal activity share in common, although I cannot say for certain. I got to share a bond with this woman in a way that I think she had not allowed herself to share with anyone in a very long time.
So tonight, as the puck drops on Game 7, I’ll be thinking of an elderly woman, long since deceased who is doubtlessly cheering on the Black and Gold “B.” Godspeed Minnie, and God Bless.
Yeah I said it...And if you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed me tweeting that few times...I have made a habit of tweeting throughout the Stanley Cup Finals...And Luongo, and Burrows have taken most of my hate...And now it will continue...
After game 5 Luongo decided to criticize Boston goalie Tim Thomas, and how he plays...mainly talking about the game winning goal Thomas gave up in game 5...Here's what he said...
"It's not hard if you're playing in the paint. It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen. He might make some saves that I won't, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we're in a good position to bury those."
okay, not too bad...But the guy who gave up 8 goals in game 3 may want to shut his mouth...Just for the record, Thomas has given up 6 goals in 5 games...Only 6 goals from the 171 shots he has faced...In those same 5 games Luongo faced 155 shots and has given up 14 goals, and was yanked and put on the bench during the third period of game 4...So again, Luongo may want to shut the fuck up...
Then after getting a bit of heat for running his mouth, this dolt Luongo opened it again, saying, "I said he might make some saves that I don't. I was just saying, on that particular play, I would have played it different. That's the difference between me and him. I have been pumping his tires ever since the series started. I haven't heard one nice thing he had to say about me. That's the way it is."
Umm, why would Thomas have to say nice about Luongo, you overrated cunt!?! By the way, it's not that Thomas hasn't said anything nice about you...He hasn't said anything about you...That's the difference, he doesn't talk about the guy at the other end...He just goes out there and plays his game...And guess what? Thomas isn't an overrated cunt! Luong is...I'll Take Tim Thomas any day before an overrated cunt!
It’s pretty clear now that the two losses the Boston Bruins suffered in Vancouver, which weren’t even close to blowouts were merely a time to get familiar with a team they played only once during the regular season. They appear to be pretty quick learners because they dished out two beatings on the President Trophy winning Canucks outscoring them to the tune of 12-1 including last night’s 4-0 shutout. It’s been bothering me hearing, “”what’s wrong with the Canucks”? Is it possible there’s nothing wrong with them and they’ve been outplayed, outscored, man handled, throttled and not used to this type of physical play? I think so. If you’re not a hockey fan you might think it’s just a matter of home ice, but that’s not the case. Last night Vancouver clearly showed how soft they really are. At the end of the game when things got really chippy the whistle blew and Adam McQuaid found himself with helmet and gloves off and ready to go, only problem was one Canuck fell to the ice and covered his head, turtling like I’ve never seen before, the other hung around the referee begging for protection, or so it seemed. If you’re a Canuck fan you had to be embarrassed, I would be. This team has shown no heart, no grit and no desire to win. They also have put on some of the worst acting jobs I’ve ever seen when trying to get penalties called on Boston. Last night I counted 4 times where Canuck players winced, grabbed a body part or fell to the ice acting like they were boarded or tripped, and they’ve been doing this the whole series. I truly believe if this team were to play in the eastern conference they’d all be hospitalized for trauma for all they seem to go through. I won’t even talk about the constant whining and crying this team displays, it’s a joke.
For Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, he got tuned up for 8 goals in game three, refused to come out of the net after the score hit 5-1, last night he gave up 4 more and got the yank and Corey Schneider the former BC standout was put in and didn’t give up a point. Rumor has it Luongo will be in net on Friday night in Vancouver. Will home ice for the Canucks be enough for them to come out of this funk some say they’re in? My opinion is no. Boston has gotten into Luongo’s head and like Carey Price of the Montreal Canadian’s the pressure now is to go in front of the home crowd and stop Boston from getting a 3 game to 2 lead in a series that not a week ago had Vancouver up 2-0. There’s a lot of pressure put on Canadian teams to deliver and deliver big, and when it comes to a team like the lowly Bruins it’s even more so, their pride is on the line and it’s a lot for a player to have to deal with and Luongo has demonstrated in these playoffs that the closer they are to a finish the more he fails to come up big. In the first round the Canucks played the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks who entered the playoffs as the 8thseed, they were down 3-0 and forced a game seven as Luongo fell apart. If you’re on the ice for Vancouver you have to start to wonder will he be able to come up big when they need him too and it’s frustrating when a team is put in this position because they find themselves cheating more defensively to help aid a struggling goalie, they lose that confidence in him and now it frees up loads of room for an opponent, particularly one like Boston who plays physical and who has some very fast forwards to be able to keep play in the offensive zone. You can’t be worrying about defense and expect to score goals in a series like this.
With Tim Thomas playing lights out goaltending, not to mention he's not taking any shit from the Canucks forwards, having knocked Henrik Sedin on his ass the other night and then taking it to Burrows last night for slashing the stick out of his hands, the Bruins are firing on all cylinders, the defense has been smothering and they've got the Canucks chasing them all over the ice. Vancouver wasn't able to even setup in the offensive zone on the power play, at even strength they barely got to half ice before being met by 3 Bruin defenders who would break up the play and move towards Luongo for another shot.
The momentum has shifted to Boston and both teams have to make the flight 3,000 miles back to Vancouver, but one team is riding high, the other is wondering how to get back into playoff form and do so in less than 48 hours, this is no easy task. I’m expecting Boston to bring just as physical a game to Vancouver as they played in Boston and if they steal game 5 in Vancouver, this series is over on Monday night in Boston!
