Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 Live Blog

Over 1000 regular season games. Over 100 playoff games. It has come to this. Two teams. One game. One night. One winner. Stanley Cup Cup Finals. Bruins. Canucks. Eight Eastern. Five Pacific. NBC. CBC. Let's do this.

Game 7: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG!

Blah Blah NHL Discipline Blah Blah Blah Rant Blah Blah Blah

Someone please explain to me how this is a 4-game suspension.....



But this does not even get a hearing.



Want the difference between the two in terms of how they should be treated with discipline? Last time I checked, you cannot piledrive someone into the boards like Boychuk did. And if you break down CBC's angles screen by screen (because all NBC gave was shitty angles that show nothing), you can clearly see Boychck did just that. The main crime Aaron Rome committed was he hit Horton late. Not only did Boychuk hit Raymond late, the actual check was much more vicious.

Though while I am pointing out stupid things Boston Bruins did, Patrice Bergeron, once a victim of this, elbowed a guy in the head.

And here is Brad Marchand being an ass just because he "felt like" it.



But go on, people. Keep believing the Canucks are the only team in this series that uses dirty tactics. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 6 Live Blog

If you are looking for some pre-game reading, here is a post I wrote yesterday on this series.

Game 6: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE LIVE BLOG!

The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals: Enough With The Hypocrisy And Self-Righteousness

Never before in my memory has a Stanley Cup Finals been so charged with emotion over "clean" and "dirty" play between the teams. Bruins fans see the Canucks as whiny divers. Canucks fans see the Bruins as complainers and hypocrites. It goes both ways. I could devote a whole series of posts to fan behavior and perceived fan behavior, but I will avoid the generalizations that come with that. Instead, I will focus on the hypocrisy of this whole thing.

I have said it multiple times now that both teams have players with dirty tendencies. Thanks in large part to a Twitter pal of mine (now @TheGreatDane36, though knowing him that will change very shortly) I have some videos which illustrate exactly what I am talking about. Hopefully this sheds the light on what I am talking about. This is not a pro-Canucks post. This is not a pro-Bruins post. This is not an anti-Canucks post. This is not an anti-Bruins post. This is calling it right down the middle. It's the way it is with these two teams. Love it or leave it. Follow the jump for videos and examples of members of both the Canucks and the Bruins partaking in less than clean activities.

I Wish I Got CBC On My TV

During the pre-game of yesterday's Bruins-Canucks Game 5, NBC viewers got Dan Patrick feigning excitement for 15 minutes. CBC got this bit of awesomeness.



Even more fitting considering the game that followed. For those wondering, the song used here is "Weapon" by Matthew Good.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 Live Blog

Game 5: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

Jonah Keri Should Never Write About Hockey Ever Again

I am pretty sure Jonah Keri knows little about hockey. If he does, the article he wrote for GQ today does not show it. In fact, in bashing Boston Bruins fans, he shows an utter ignorance of the sport, the culture of the sport, and an ignorance on what makes a good piece of writing, something I figured a guy who wrote a book might actually know how to do. Here is an FJM-style of take down of his article. His words are in italics, my commentary is in the normal font you see on this site.

First off the headline: The Boston Bruins vs. The World. Why everyone - yes, everyone - outside of Boston is rooting against the Bruins in this year's Stanley Cup Finals. And why the city deserves nothing less.

The crowd at TD Garden had spent the night in a state of frothy delirium, singing, chanting, double-fisting. Down 2-0 in the series, their Bruins had potted 12 goals in the ensuing two games. Two bloody massacres, filling Boston with the kind of braggadocio it'd been missing for a solid 10 minutes. Back from the brink of elimination and now just two games short of their goal, Bruins fans had a new battle cry:

"WE WANT THE CUP!"

Yes. The same battle cry that has infiltrated Edmonton, Los Angeles, Binghamton, Vancouver, Vancouver, and Vancouver. But no, those "braggadocio" Bruins fans are alone in chanting "WE WANT THE CUP!" before any Cup has been win. Keep believing that, Jonah. You are only one paragraph one and you already have a gross mischaracterization. It does not take a rocket scientist to conclude that more will be coming up.

Of course you want the Cup. Everyone wants the Cup.

Did I mention they want the Cup in Vancouver? Because they want the Cup in Vancouver.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 Live Blog

Game 4: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

The Appalling Lack Of Consistency Of The NHL's Discipline System

As I am sure you all know by now, Aaron Rome knocked out Nathan Horton in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, sending Horton to the hospital and Rome to the dressing room early. Horton's out for the series with a severe concussion. Rome is out for the series with a four-game suspension. On the surface, it may seem like a fair punishment and just desserts for Rome, who may have done permanent damage to Horton's playing career. But in Gary Bettman's NHL, unfortunately, this exposes a much deeper problem.

There is no doubt that Aaron Rome hit Nathan Horton way late. But what happens if the hit did not have that nasty result? Chances are Rome would just get a 2-minute interference penalty and it would never be spoken of again. While a counterfactual argument, it is at least worth a thought here. Remember the violent hit where Zdeno Chara sent Max Pacioretty into the stanchion? Remember how many games Chara got? Yep. Zero.

Bad hit. Awful result. Zero game suspension.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 3 Live Blog

Game 3: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

Tim Thomas Bites On Burrows's Fake; Canucks Win Game 2 In Overtime

Sorry I did not have these up last night. But anyway, here are videos of the NBC and CBC feed from last night's Bruins-Canucks overtime where the Canucks took a 2-0 series lead. In case you missed it (cough*cough*LikeMe*cough*cough*) and want to re-live everything, these YouTubers have done us a great favor by posting the overtime in its entirety. So prepare some popcorn, sit back, relax, and enjoy last night's overtime!

CBC feed (Jim Hughson, Craig Simpson, Glenn Healy)



NBC feed (Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire)



The Canucks now have a 2-0 series lead heading into tomorrow night's Game 3 in Boston. The Bruins played two close hockey games so you can't say the Bruins are out of it yet, but the Canucks on paper are arguably the best team in the league and a force to be reckoned with in these finals. Assuming they do not have a two game lapse like they did against Chicago, I do not see a scenario in these Cup Finals where the Canucks cannot beat the Boston Bruins twice in five games. If I'm a Vancouver fan right now, I'm liking those odds. If I'm a Bruins fan, I'm hoping the Bruins can get some friendly rolls and fluke goals, because they may very well need those in order to win this thing.

Lastly, while Bruins fans can argue that Burrows should have been suspended for this game and I would agree with them in principle, do not act like this is a major injustice and an NHL conspiracy theory against them. Remember Game 6 in this year's Eastern Conference Finals when Nathan Horton sprayed water on a fan? Horton did not get suspended for that. The ensuing Game 7 ended 1-0 in favor of Boston. Guess who scored that lone goal.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 Live Blog

Game 2: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

CBC's Awesome Pre-Series Montage

While American viewers had to deal with NBC cross-promoting The Green Lantern in their pre-series montage, CBC viewers got treated to something way more awesome. Instead of making hockey second fiddle to a lame movie, CBC gave their viewers a montage illustrating the passion, excitement, and awesomeness of this year's post-season to one of today's biggest international hit songs. Put another way, it is really, really awesome.



Just how lame was NBC's Green Lantern montage in comparison to that? Well, unfortunately, I cannot show you because no one felt it was worthwhile to upload to YouTube.

Raffi Torres Scores The Game 1 Winner In The Final Minute

Well that was something. After 59 minutes and 41 seconds of scoreless hockey, Raffi Torres scored the game-winning goal for the Vancouver Canucks to give them a 1-0 win in Game 1 and a 1-0 lead in the series. Follow the jump to view massive amounts of media, including final goal as seen and heard on both NBC and CBC, in addition to proof the goal was in fact onsides and a peculiar sign off from Mike Emrick.

Stanley Cup Finals Game 1 Live Blog

Game 1: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

2011 Stanley Cup Finals Schedule

Here is the schedule for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. I have very little rooting interest in this series, although if the previous rounds of these playoffs are any indication, this should still be one hell of a series to watch. (all times ET)

Stanley Cup Finals

#3 Boston Bruins vs. #1 Vancouver Canucks

Game 1: June 1: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 2: June 4: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 3: June 6: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 4: June 8: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (Versus - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 5: June 10: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 6: June 13: Canucks @ Bruins 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)
Game 7: June 15: Bruins @ Canucks 8:00 (NBC - Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, ItG: Pierre McGuire) (CBC - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, ItG: Glenn Healy, SR: Scott Oake and Elliotte Friedman)

Sergei Bobrovsky Has Learned Quite A Bit About American Culture In 8 Months

Just check out his new playoff mask.

Your eyes are not deceiving you.  The right side of Sergei Bobrovsky's playoff mask is in fact Rocky draping the American flag over his shoulders while the left side of the mask does in fact feature the face of Sideshow Bob. Bob may very well be the greatest Russian in the history of history.

Has A Philadelphia Sports Blogger Solved A Mystery The FBI Have Not Yet Solved?

I think I put this up on Twitter yesterday (I am too lazy to go back and check, especially since I tweeted so damn much yesterday), but I know I put this up on Monday's Morning Fly By at Broad Street Hockey, so any of you creepily stalk my postings on other sites, you recognize the story I am about to talk about.

It's the Mystery Of The Missing 2010 Stanley Cup Winning Puck, and the FBI have yet to solve yet, despite their best "efforts." No seriously. Looking for this hockey puck has become a matter of federal importance. Your tax dollars, ladies and gents!

I know what everyone is thinking, "why does not someone speak to Chris Pronger?" And while it is a right thought to have considering what went down last June, I can assure you that Chris Pronger does not have this puck. You can read his denial by clicking the above link, or you can watch the fantastic video compiled in the following video by Crossing Broad, who thinks he has the mystery solved. The list of prime suspects may astonish a few.



So.......has anyone ever thought about contacting Steve Miller? He may not know where it is, but I bet you can tell you who he gave it to.

Patrick Kane's Stanley Cup Clinching Goal Left Announcers Everywhere Quite Confused

I mentioned in my recap last night how every call of the goal was of initial confusion and the city of Chicago has no great call to relive. I said that after only viewing Doc Emrick and Jim Hughson call it. Well now I have heard Dave Strader on the NHL's international feed, John Wiederman on WGN Radio in Chicago, and Pierre Hourde on the French-speaking RDS, and guess what, they were all confused as well. Literally everyone initially missed it, and if they thought they saw it go in right away (which to their credit, Hourde and Wiederman actually did), they quickly backtracked because there was no whistle, no red light, and goal signal from the refs. Notably in the case of Emrick and WGN's radio PbP announcer (John Wiederman), they saw things they did not acutally see. So without further ado, here are the 5 most confused Stanley Cup clinching goal calls in the history of hockey!

First, Doc Emrick on NBC.



Secondly, Jim Hughson on CBC.



Thirdly, Pierre Hourde gives his call on the French-Canadian channel, RDS.



Next up, Dave Strader on the NHL's International feed.



Now, John Wiederman on WGN Radio imagines an odd sequence of events leading to the puck getting into the net.



So now the question of whose is the best? I can't understand everything Hourde is saying (though enough to know that he did think it was in before back-tracking for a brief seconds), Jim Hughson started imagining things, back-tracked, then went into a lame and unenthusiastic pre-scripted call, and while Wiederman had the most excitement (and why not, he is a local radio announcer), he was the most confused of the 5 at first and had the most bizarre imagination. So it's down to Doc and Strader. Mike Emrick imagined things, Strader was merely confused. Strader realized it was a goal before Kane reached the blue line, Emrick realized it after Kane passed the blue line, and both were fairly excited. On that note, I think the winner of best call goes to Dave Strader with Doc in 2nd. Make no mistake about it, though, what we have here are the 5 worst Cup clinching goal calls in NHL history.

A Great Effort Falls Just Short

Assorted thoughts because I am too scatter brained and stunned to write an essay.

• First of all, congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks. Make no mistake about it, they earned this series and their championship.
  
• While I am appreciative of everything Michael Leighton did for the Flyers this year, if I never see him in a Flyers jersey again, my life will be better for it. He is a free agent this off-season,and I hope the Flyers opt not to resign him. As much as it pains me to say it, I would take Carey Price over Leighton. He is just not the goaltender the Flyers are looking for or need.
• In a way, having such a WTF ending to that game, Chicago fans sort of lost out on that instant feeling of winning. It’s certainly not the classiest thing to say or feel, but for all the arrogance the Chicago media has shown, it is an odd schadenfreude. They have no call to relive the greatness of (both Emrick and Hughson were clueless and when they did come around, gave uninspiring calls), and while that may not matter now, when they get older, they will have no call to look back on and relive with tears of joy. Also they did not have the ability to build up that celebration yell of greatness, not even a moment as short as a 2-on-1 or a breakaway. It just happened, everyone was clueless, and instead of a celebratory fan moment, it was a WTF moment. And you know what, I'm okay with all of that.
• Jonathan Toews won the Conn Smythe trophy. I will put up a disagreement here because I thought Toews pulled a disappearing act during the Finals. Now yes, I am aware that the Conn Smythe is MVP of the whole Playoffs, but I would be inclined to believe that even if someone was as good as Toews was for the first 3 rounds that a Conn Smythe winner would have to put it all together and at least be visible in the Cup Finals. For the entirety of the playoffs, I felt that Duncan Keith would have been the most deserving, but maybe the people who voted looked down upon the number of goals a shaky Antti Niemi gave up and penalized Keith for that. He was the most consistent player of the playoffs and I am surprised he did not get it.
• I will spend the rest of my life never buying, touching, or drinking a bottle of Amstel Light.
  
• The Chicago Blackhawks no longer have the longest Cup drought. With Patrick Kane's Cup-clinching goal, they have bestowed that honor upon the Toronto Maple Leafs.
  
• The Philadelphia Flyers never gave up. They never quit. They went down fighting until the end. And sometimes that is all you can ask for. You can't always expect victory. You can't always expect the greatest outcomes. But you can expect heart. You can expect desire. You can expect to see a team that will never quit no matter how bleak the situation may look. And the Flyers delivered in spades on that front.
• Remember this: the Philadelphia Flyers will still have a permanent banner raised in the Wachovia Center this October. They are the 2010 Eastern Conference Champions. There is nothing that can take away from that amazing feat. The team that was up and down in the regular season and needed a shootout victory against the greatest shootout goalie playing in the NHL just to make the playoffs can proudly call themselves champions. Sure it is not the championship title that they wanted or truly aspired to, but they are champions. They are not losers, they are winners. Let us not forget that. Even down a goal in the dying minutes of regulation of this game, they managed to tie it up. This team is incredible.
• For all the talk about the guy who vomited on the 11-year old girl, the beer drinking toddler, Taser Boy, the J.D. Drew batteries, and booing Santa Clause, something that will be utterly forgotten about is the class Flyers fans showed after the game tonight. Nothing was thrown on the ice at any point after the game, and after the realization of what had happened, the crowd immediately burst out in a chant of "LET'S GO FLYERS!," acknowledging their awesome run. The fans did boo Gary Bettman (though in the interest of full disclosure, Bud Selig got booed after the Phillies won the World Series; and even if it had been the Flyers winning Game 5 and the Cup tonight, I am willing to take an educated guess Bettman would have received the exact same treatment), but for the most part cheered the Blackhawks and cheered the Stanley Cup, even giving Toews a rather notable standing ovation upon his first hoisting of the cup.
  
• The Flyers accomplished what only 2 other hockey teams have ever accomplished, 3 if you involve all North American professional sports. They will be the inspiration of hockey teams, baseball teams, and basketball teams for generations to come. This team will not be forgotten. I am even willing to venture a bet that the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers will be seen more frequently on sports graphics than the 2010 Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks.
  
• I can proudly boast that I claim ownership to 3 of the 4 North American broadcasts of that Game 7. I am very hopeful that one day, maybe even one day soon, I can make that 4 of 4.
  
• I am not wild and crazy about putting other fan perspectives in my recaps, but I think this quote from a Broad Street Hockey commenter sums things up and echoes my feelings better than I ever could:
  

  Fifty years from now, what the Flyers did this post-season will be still be marveled at. That can never be, and never will be, taken away from us. The 2010 Chicago Blackhawks will be on a lengthy list of Stanley Cup Champions. But for as long as professional sports are a big part of American culture and society, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers will never be forgotten, and will eternally be remembered for what they have done over the last several weeks. For as long as I live, I will never forget what I have seen over the past two months.

In case you missed it or want to relive the action, here are the highlights of Game 6.