The Bruins are Champions!

Well we all knew this day was coming. Last night the final game of this NHL season was played and in the end the Boston Bruins walked away with the Stanley Cup with a 4-0 victory over Vancouver. This has to be one of the toughest in closest finals we've seen in a while, as both sides iced skilled teams who were deep on defence and could put the puck in the net. On paper, Vancouver had a slight advantage in all categories but the Bruins played well with all hands on deck; a teamwork that the Canucks just couldn't contain. Both teams should be proud with how far they made it but I would understand if Vancouver feels bad after dominating all season before falling in the last game. It just goes to show that the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to earn in sports and it takes a lot of hard work to win.

The ultimate difference though was goaltending. The NHL's top offense from the regular season scored only 8 goals in the entire series, while being shut out twice. The Bruins scored 23 goals in the final including 8 goals in game 3. Of course the Bruins also got shut out in 2 games. The reason for only 8 goals was Tim Thomas. This 37 year old goalie played like he was 25 and he smiled like he was just a kid. Along with his 2 shut outs, he also had 2 games where he only gave up 1 goal and it was amazing to see him flip and flop around in the crease blocking every shot. On the other end, Roberto Luongo just couldn't make up his mind. He played great in the first 2 games of the series including getting a shutout in game 1. Then in game 3 he gave up all 8 goals and he got pulled after giving up 4 in the next game. At this point everyone was writing him off, so he came back to Vancouver and got another shutout in game 5, before getting pulled again in game 6. But you can't blame him for the loss on Wednesday. His team left him out to dry on the 3 goals he let in (the other being an empty net). Boston played better defensively all series and kept the Canucks away from Thomas. Almost all of Vancouver's shots in game 7 were from far away, giving Tim Thomas plenty of time to save them.

The other key was star power. The NHL's top point getter this past season was Daniel Sedin and his brother Henrik was the year before. Ryan Kessler scored 41 goals for the Canucks this past year too. In the cup final, their whole team only scored 8, and the twins plus Kessler combined for less than 5 points. However, on Boston's side their star players came to play with David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron providing offense, as well as a new star rookie Brad Marchand who proved to be a valuable asset to the Bruins by pestering the twins and scoring 4 goals, including two in game 7. This was what set the 2 teams apart in my mind. The star players came to play for Boston while Vancouver's just didn't provide enough offence. I'm sure Tim Thomas wouldn't have looked as heroic as he did if Vancouver tested him better throughout the series.

So as you can see, the Bruins simply wanted it more and played that way. I will be the first to admit that I thought they would get tired after playing two 7 game series already, especially 37 year old Thomas. Boy was I wrong. Even Mark Recci, the oldest player in the league and who announced his retirement after the game, was able to provide some offence. Boston played very good while Vancouver played average and that proved to be the difference. The Bruins deserved to win and so I congratulate them on their victory.

So now that the season is over, you are probably wondering what will happen to this blog during the summer. Don't worry, I'll continue to provide a weekly post every Sunday and I will do some special features for the NHL awards, NHL rookie draft and the July 1 free agency opening day. This upcoming Sunday I'll be writing a feature I think will provide an interesting take on Canadian teams and winning the cup. How long now will Canada have to wait for a team to win? The answer will be revealed Sunday. Until then, thank you for reading throughout the season and enjoy your summer. Also thank you to the NHL for entertaining me and millions of other fans throughout winter and I already can't wait until next season.