How about that.

After 39 years, the Boston Bruins denied the powerhouse team from Vancouver to win the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals. Merely days after the Mavericks denied the overpowered Miami Heat to win the NBA title, it seems to me that the fat lady favors the underdogs these days.

Yes, the Boston Bruins made the big plays and had tough guys whose very presence on the ice defined greatness. They had the last days of Orr and Esposito and Bucyk, followed by O’Reilly, followed by Middleton, followed by Bourque, followed by Neely.

Yet when the Cup drought finally ended last night, the Bruins emerging from a deadly quiet Rogers Arena with a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the all-or-nothing Game 7, they were led not by great players but by players who played great.

To be sure, they benefited from the stellar goaltending of Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas, who turned the finals into a one-man video on how to man the pipes in pressure situations, and who, in doing so, reduced Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo to forever soldiering on as…

Read More » Boston Bruins are your 2011 Stanley Cup Champions!

It seems Canucks fans didn’t take the loss lightly.

Flash bangs from the riot squad echoed through the downtown core and acrid smoke from burning cars rolled down Georgia Street in Vancouver after the Canucks were shut out 4-0 by the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

The images were broadcast live on the television and they’ll live forever on YouTube much to this city’s chagrin. All this just because their Vancouver Canucks lost to Boston.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu maintained the Robson Street hockey riot of 1994 would not be repeated yet, in the dying moments of the Canucks’ heartbreaking Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins, the anarchists proved him wrong.

As the final game was winding down, angry, perhaps inebriated young men surged towards the giant screen on Georgia Street. A few bottles were hurled, there was jostling, a fistfight and an eruption outside the Canada Post building. A car was consumed in flames, the hooligans rejoiced and a mob began to run amuck.

Before police could respond, the windows of the nearby Bank of Montreal shattered, a car rental office was ransacked, port-a-potties overturned. Public order at Georgia and Homer vanished in the blink of an eye.

Police who had been high-fiving subdued fans found themselves in pitched street fights with those running riot. Shock waves of mayhem rolled between…

Read More » Vancouver riots after Boston won the Stanley Cup

The Bruins have the momentum. Are the Canucks up to it?

It’s Game 7 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals. One game for all the marbles. And for the Vancouver Canucks, a team almost everybody picked to win it all this year, they had absolutely no idea that the lowly Boston Bruins will take them this far.

It’s understandable that the Vancouver Canucks are feeling the pressure a little bit. Who wouldn’t? This is after all, a freakin’ Game 7. And if you don’t feel any pressure, you’re either not human or you know you’re gonna’ choke. Just like what LeBron James did.

Game 7′s are what it’s all about and both the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins know how big it is. How nervous are players for Game 7 of a Stanley Cup final? Trevor Linden has a story.

”I took the ice for warmup and there were pucks already sitting on the ice,” he said of the Vancouver Canucks’ final game in 1994 against the New York Rangers. ”I went to collect a puck that was stationary, just pick it up with my stick as I was skating by. I completely fanned on it. And I was thinking to myself: ‘Oh, my God, this is the biggest game of my life and I just missed a stationary puck.’ I was just so…”

Read More » Game 7 for the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup

Believe it.

A Canucks fan was robbed of $4,400 for 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals tickets after making contact with a man on Craigslist who turned out to have a weapon.

The incident occurred just after noon today in the parking lot of a movie theatre at Lougheed Highway and Schoolhouse Street in Coquitlam, police said.

The suspect immediately produced a weapon, grabbed the cash and fled on foot, but not before mentioning he planned to rob three more people with Vancouver Canucks fever.

A police dog team and the RCMP helicopter Air One were used to try to find the suspect, who eluded capture. Police said the victim made contact with the suspect through the online classified advertising site Craigslist.

The suspect was described by police as a Caucasian male, about 35 years old, who had chipped front teeth, was about six-feet to six-foot-three tall with short black hair, dark brown eyes. Too bad, they didn’t know if he was rooting for the Canucks or the Boston Bruins.

The robber was wearing blue jeans and a black hoodie with a white small design in the middle of the back, described as an “upside down pear,” police said.

Coquitlam RCMP Const. Kristina Biro said Tuesday that…

Read More » Fan was robbed of his 2011 Stanley Cup Tickets

The Bruins let everybody see how good they can be when they’re fired up.

And fired up they were alright as they managed to virtually destroy the red-hot Canucks, 8-1, in Game 3 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals and with Game 4 to be played Wednesday, still in Boston, these Bruins definitely have all kinds of momentum going for them.

You might have been hard-pressed to find a hockey expert who thought the Boston Bruins were a more skilled team than Vancouver before these Stanley Cup finals began. But hockey is also a game of emotion and, boy, did the Canucks ever stir those emotions in the B’s during Game 3 last night at the Garden.

After Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome knocked Nathan Horton out of the game with a blatant, scary shot to the head early in the first period, a shaken B’s team finally got off the mat and buried the Canucks with a second period full of figurative haymakers before landing a couple of literal ones in the third.

The B’s won, 8-1, and climbed back to within a game of the Canucks, who have a 2-1 series lead. Mark Recchi scored two goals, Michael Ryder posted 1-2-3 totals, and five other Bruins had multiple-point nights.

Tim Thomas, meanwhile, returned to his excellent form to get the…

Read More » Bruins go for tie vs. Canucks in Game 4

Can the Bruins beat the red-hot Canucks in Boston?

After falling behind 2-0 in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals over a collective span of 29.5 painful seconds, the Bruins return to the Garden for Game 3 against Vancouver with the drumbeat of “change” ringing in their ears.

Tim Thomas must change the way he plays goalie. Zdeno Chara must change how many minutes he’s on the ice. Claude Julien must change the power play, change his lines, change his hair style, just change something. Hopefully, that can help the Boston Bruins form this 2-0 hole.

Julien and the Bruins need to turn a deaf ear to all that noise. The best goalie in the NHL two of the past three years does not have to change his sometimes wandering style. The best defenseman in the NHL does not have to change how long he’s on the ice. As for Julien, maybe he might want to consider a line change or two, but in the end, which is what it could be for the Bruins if they don’t beat the Vancouver Canucks, they don’t need to change anything.

They need to play better, which is not the same thing.

After giving up the winning goals with 18.5 seconds left in Game 1’s 1-0 loss and 11 seconds into overtime in Game 2, Thomas was the subject of some odd discussions around the hockey world. Repeatedly he and Julien were asked if the soon-to-be two-time Vezina Trophy winner needs to become less aggressive and stay deeper in the crease, which would mean Tim Thomas becomes someone else.

Thomas finally answered that yesterday when he said, “I have a pretty good idea how to play goalie. I’m not going to be taking suggestions or advice at this time.”

Nor should he, especially from people who never have stopped a…

Read More » 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals shift to Boston

And then there was two.

A day after the first game in the NBA Finals was written, we’re off to the ice for Game 1 of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals. That’s right, the Boston Bruins will face off against the Vancouver Canucks this Tuesday as the Stanley Cup series kickoff in Vancouver, BC.

The Boston Bruins, back in the final for the first time since 1990 when they lost to the Oilers, have been led by a balanced attack and a top-caliber goalie who has been his best when his team needed him most. Off-season acquisition Nathan Horton has been the team’s hero on a number of occasions, the latest coming in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

The Vancouver Canucks, returning to this stage for the first time since 1994 when the New York Rangers broke British Columbia’s heart, have been the league’s best all season long. Led by the twin duo of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, the Canucks have also benefitted from Ryan Kesler’s playoff explosion and Roberto Luongo’s realization of a long-awaited potential.

Can the Bruins hold their own against the most talented team in the league today?

Arguably the leader for the Bruins have been Tim Thomas. Thomas put up excellent numbers throughout the regular season and has had a solid playoff run. Some of his playoff games have been…

Read More » Bruins – Canucks in the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Finals

Time to show some love for that ”other” set of postseason wars happening on ice.

The 2010 NHL playoffs continue to heat up as the defending champions Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators with a 2-1 win to even the series at one game apiece in their best of seven series. Kris Letang scored the game winner in the third period to give the victory to the Penguins.

Both the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored one goal each in the opening period with Peter Regin scoring for the Senators just 18 seconds into the game. Sidney Crosby tied the game at 1-1 with a goal from 8:45 of the first period.

The second period was scoreless but with two penalties for each team. The game winner came by Kris Letang at 15:48 of the third period with assists from Pittsburgh teammates Bill Guerin and Sidney Crosby. Marc-Andre Fleury saved 19 shots for Pittsburgh with Brian Elliott saving 29 for Ottawa.

Meanwhile, we have the Buffalo Sabres taking a 1-0 lead over the Boston Bruins after Ryan Miller became the proverbial savior in Game 1 for Buffalo. Miller was phenomenal, making 38 saves, including 23 in the second period, in the Sabres’ 2-1 playoff-opening victory over the Bruins.

In the West, the Detroit Red Wings shocked their rival Phoenix Coyotes by the score of 7-4 in the second game of their first round playoff matchup. The Red Wings were held scoreless in the first period but had three second period goals with four in the last period to blow out the no.3 seed Coyotes.

Keith Yandle put the Coyotes up 1-0 at the 10:23 point of…

Read More » What’s been happening in the 2010 NHL Playoffs

And we promise it’ll be a finish you shouldn’t miss.

The 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals turned out to be a fantastic one. We all thought the Red Wings would be able to finish off the Penguins in six games to win the Cup. After all, they did it last year.

But for some reason, the Pittsburgh Penguins managed to live another day this time. While they succumb to Detroit last year after six games, the Penguins made sure they will make Detroit work a little harder for the Cup this year.

The Detroit Red Wings struggled in Game 6. They went scoreless in the first two periods and their unstoppable offense that catapulted them again this deep into the postseason was nowhere to be seen.

The Penguins, of course, took advantage. They got on the board in the second period before scoring yet again in the 5th minute of the final one. The Red Wings didn’t score until the 8th minute. After that, they pretty much…

Read More » Game 7 of the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals is ON

You bet because there’s no way in hell why this series is going to a seventh game.

It’s no surprise that the Detroit Red Wings are in full control of the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals. After simply destroying the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5, there’s no way for you to think that Detroit doesn’t have the Cup in the bag.

It was an annihilation as the Detroit Red Wings got one step closer from being crowned as the 2009 Stanley Cup champions after humiliating the Penguins, 5-0 last Saturday. The win extended Detroit’s series lead to 3-2, putting them only a win away from their 12th Stanley Cup, their fifth one in 12 seasons.

Sure, every hockey fan who’ll be watching Game 6 live this Tuesday should be behind the Pittsburgh Penguins since the game will be played on their home ice but the fact of the matter is, the Red Wings know letting Pittsburgh extend this series to a Game 7 will be detrimental to their run for the title and they can’t give these Penguins any momentum whatsoever.

Sure, a Game 7 back in Detroit will be fantastic for Red Wings fans but if you’re Detroit, why would you risk extending it to another game when you can end it in Pittsburgh on Tuesday?

”The other game is three days away so I don’t know if [the shutout] has much…”

Read More » Can the Detroit Red Wings win the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup and finally get rid of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6?