The Vancouver Canucks are still waiting for their first hoist. In their forty years of existence they have been to the Finals three times. The first was against the Islanders in 1982 and that was a complete blowout, 4 games to none. The second was in 1994 and that series went to seven games. That was against the New York Rangers and that was a hell of a series. Now in 2011, after the Canucks won the President's Trophy, the Bruins became the better team over the seven game series.
I was pulling for the Canucks (see an earlier blog) but you can tell that after Aaron Rome put that hit on Horton, the make-up of the series changed. It seemed that the hit woke up Boston from their stupor and it also shook Luongo's evil twin brother out of hiding. Luongo basically became a basket case after that incident. In the games at Boston, he looked like he was lost. Last night he gave up two weak goals and that was on his home ice. Luongo gave up 2 goals in the past previous three home games and 15 goals in Boston.
In the other crease, Tim Thomas, the Conn Smyth Trophy winner, and oldest goalie to play in the Stanley Cup Finals, played steady in net, no matter what Luongo thought of his style. There was a save that Thomas made in the second period last night that proved that the stars were aligned for the Bruins. Thomas was caught outside of his net and the puck was to his left with a Canuck bearing down on net. Thomas, dove to his left, extending his glove hand and as luck would have it, the puck was shot into his glove. Here is where the stars aligned, Thomas could not control the puck and it deflected up and back, tumbling towards the net. A Bruins defensemen was slidiing throgh the crease and the puck hit him in the knee and deflected wide, no goal. That is when you know, it is the Bruins' night.
The Vancouver offense, which lead the league in everything this year was shut down by good defense and superior goaltending. Daniel Sedin who lead the league in scoring this year and his brother Henrik, who was the league's MVP last year, were non-existent in the Finals. They were held to five points.
Here is another thing that some of the Canucks needed to do during this series. It was a simple adjustment called, "Shut the F*&# up." Hey, Luongo, Mr. Schizophrenic, what in the world are you thinking in trying to tell Tim Thomas that his style of goaltending is the reason that the Canucks scored. This was after game 5, not game 7, game 5. And Daniel Sedin or should I say Joe Namath Messier, do you really need to tell the media that you are guaranteeing a win. Someone probably told him that he is being a "Stooge" (thanks Sandman) and then you go back to the media and say that if Vancouver plays well, you will win. Good grief, now you're backpedaling. This is all the behind the scenes stuff that loses series and vaults other teams to the top.
And here is what surprised me the most. Vancouver played an awful game 7 and all Canadians would recognize it. They did not deserve to win. But somehow, the Vancouver fans turned ugly and poor sports and started to riot in the streets. Fans clashed with police officers, set vehicles a blaze, smashed windows and set several fires in the downtown area. After I said how nice the people in Vancouver are, I am very disappointed.
The Canucks fans need to just use this instead of rioting.....
Congratulations Boston Bruins, 2011 Stanley Cup Champions
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