Boston Bruins: The 2011 Stanley Cup Champions!

This was the final I’d been hoping for all season, the Vancouver Canucks vs. The Boston Bruins. And, this was the winner I’d hoped for all season. All season we watched Boston blow through the competition, winning the North East Division. On the other coast, Vancouver did the same and eventually claimed the president’s trophy having the best overall record of the season. Tim Thomas not only won his job back from Tuukka Rask, but received a nod for another Vezina and is the hands down favorite to win. Not to be outdone on the west coast, Luongo put up spectacular numbers and was nominated for the Vezina as well.


In Round 1 Boston met up against their Original 6 and most hated rival, the Montreal Canadiens. Hopes for playoff glory dimmed when the Bruins went down 2-0 on home ice and faced the monumental task of winning 2 games on hostile ice in Montreal. They clawed their way past their rivals in a series where of the 4 wins, 3 came in OT. Round 2 was no easier as the Bruins had to face the adversaries who embarrassed them and put them on the wrong side of the record books last season, the Philadelphia Flyers. Bitter memories were put behind him them when the Bruins swept the team who had caused them to blow a 3 game lead last season. In Round 3 it was battle of the old man goalies! Dwayne Roloson had been on fire since being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning and with St. Louis, Stampkos and Lecavalier playing in front of him, Boston was in for a battle. Again playing in a game 7, the Bruins shut out the Lightning in a game that had NO penalties called, something that hasn’t happened in the playoffs in 20 years.


Vancouver had its work cut out for them too. Round 1 held challenges for the Canucks. For the 3rd season in a row, Vancouver was set to play against the Chicago Blackhawks. Even after giving up a 3 game lead on the Blackhawks, the Vancouver Canucks slayed their dragons by finally beating the Hawks in over time of Game 7. In Round 2 the Canucks faced the Nashville Predators, a team that had just slain they their own dragons by making it to a Round 2 for the first time in franchise history. In the cage for the opposing Preds was another Vezina nominee, Pekka Rinne. After 6 tight games, the Canucks advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1994. Each game in this series was decided by just a single goal (with the exception of an empty net goal scored by Vancouver in Game 4). In Round 3 the Canucks had to get past the San Jose Sharks if they wanted to get to the finals. They did this pretty easily winning in 5 games.


The 2011 Stanley Cup Final has some interesting numbers and facts. All games leading to Game 7 had been won on home ice. The games played in Vancouver were tight one goal games. In Boston, the Bruins demolished the Canucks, chasing Luongo from the net twice. In the first 2 games of Boston’s home stretch, they had a plus -12 goal differential, a 2 game NHL record. The Bruins had to face THREE game 7s in their quest for the cup. Tim had 2 shutouts in the final.


So let’s get on to some fun pictures!


Being a goalie lover of course the #1 reason I wanted to see Boston win was Tim Thomas. With his amazing story from his youth to his difficult and hard journey to the NHL, it's hard not to want to see him succeed. It was so good to see Tim win his starting job back after a disappointing season last year.





He also just genuinely seems to love the game. Look at that smile!



I also love the way he plays. I love how aggressive he is, challenging skaters and guarding his crease. I love his acrobatic saves and the way he puck handles. Thomas was actually credited with a hit when he body checked one of the Sedins.





My second favorite reason to be happy that Boston won? Rich Peverley! He has a great story of his own! On the way to the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals, the Thrashers snapped him up off the waiver wire. Now two years later, he's hoisting the freaking cup, unbelievable.





Apparently I didn't take a lot of pictures when Recchi came through, this was about the only one I could find. I'm glad the old man won it and can go out in style. Maybe he can shave that horrible hair and go bald now.



I'm happy for Chara, and it was fun to see him lift the cup up into the rafters.



I love Lucic! Any guy that puts someone THROUGH glass is okay in my book. I was glad to see that his hometown of Vancouver gave him quite the ovation when he circled with the cup.



After seeing Nathan Horton get demolished in that hit by Rome, it was special to see him cheer on the team and then hoist the cup, fully dressed and on the ice.

Home Ice advantage thanks to Nathan Horton!





My fiesty little Finn, Tuukka Rask. Hopefully this cup win won't hamper his milk cart throwing abilities.



Shawn Thornton is used to fighting his way to the top, nice to see hard work rewarded.




Krejci had a pretty good playoffs.



Although former Thrasher Marc Savard only played 25 games this season, I'm sure they will have no trouble filing an exception to get him on the cup.



So now let's look at some awesome pictures that I did NOT take. Repeat, I stole these pictures and am not profiting from them, but if they are yours and their presence on this blog pisses you off, let me know and I'll take them down.

Don't throw out your back, old man! Glad Recchi can retire on top!



What's the cup good for? Picking up chicks of course!



One of my favorite pictures, he so deserves it.



Even the Green Men are good sports!



Being a bad ass is hard work, Pevs enjoys some pizza with Chara.



Timmy gets doused.



Tim and his Conn Smythe. My favorite part was when you could hear him say "Do I leave this here?"



Lucic and the cup.

Recchi points the way. Pevs watches.

Chara had to get on his knees to have someone help him drink from the cup.

Nathan Horton snuggles the cup on the plane ride home.

Chara brings the cup home to Boston.

Awesome blossom, so happy for the Bruins.

Now let's talk about some losers.


Nobody gives two shits about your gold medal now, Lu.



Even though Luongo played well at home, he got obliterated on Boston ice and couldn't stop 3 shots in Game 7. Many critics are going to see this as the inability to win the big games and come through for the team. This is going to be a hard reputation to shed. With his enormous contract, it's going to be next to impossible to move him.



Mason Raymond lost a lot more than a cup. In 24 playoff games he scored 8 points, but in game 6 he was checked into the boards by Johnny Boychuck. He hit awkwardly and broke one of his vertebrae. He will be out several months and the Canucks hope to have him back in November.



Who the hell are these guys? I haven't seen them in a few weeks. Oh wait, wasn't one of them the guy who got punched in the face 5 times by Marchand? Daniel lost his cup and his pride. Both these guys and Luongo have to shed the reputation of chokers.

Ryan Kesler was actually having a pretty good serious and was one of the front runners for the MVP if Vancouver won. He didn't have a good final series though, probably due to injury. I like Kesler, he's a good American boy. I didn't like seeing him cry.



Now for some real losers.

Mark Stuart - 31 games played as a Bruin in the 2010-11 season.

Blake Wheeler - 58 games played as a Boston Bruin in the 2010-11 season.

Both of these guys played more games as a Bruin that Marc Savard and I'm guessing neither will have their name on the cup.

Well that's it. The 2010-11 season is done. It makes me very sad that I won't be able to go to Phillips Arena several times a week for the 2011-12 season and see these great athletes.

Behind on the IIF World Championship? No Worries, I'll Catch You Up

So what to do great players do when their crappy teams don’t make the playoffs or are eliminated early? They go to the IIHF World Hockey Championships and represent their country. As the Thrashers are firmly entrenched in the culture of SUCK, we usually have several players that go. This season we had 6 players and 1 prospect head over to Bratislava, Slovakia to battle it out for the #1 spot. The preliminary rounds are ending and regulation starts tomorrow (Thursday, May 5)


First up...AMERICA...FUCK YEAH! (Some Team America World Police humor) We get to go first because 1. I'm American and 2. We just killed Osama Bin Laden. It's been a good week for us.
Team USA

The Thrashers have three players representing the red, white and blue.
Blake Wheeler



Tim Stapleton - I'm so excited for Timmy! He didn't have an NHL contract last year, now he's representing his country!



Marc Stuart - Not only is Stuie representing his country, he is the Captain of Team USA! Way to go, Marc!



Team USA is in Group C along with Sweden, Norway, and Austria. In the first preliminary game against Austria, Team USA won 5-1. Wheeler scored 1 goal, Timmy had some good looks at the net registering 4 shots on goal and Stuart got a delay of game penalty. Our next match is against Team Sweden Wednesday (May 4).





The True North strong and free! Team Canada has 2 Thrashers on it:
Evander Kane



and Thrashers captain, Andrew Ladd (someone give Laddy a brush!)



Ladd has played in all 3 games for Team Canada and is a +1. Evander Kane is off to a great start. He has played in all 3 games, is a +3 and has 2 assists. Way to go, Kaner!







Thrashers' net minder Ondrej Pavelec is well on his way to backstopping the Czech Republic team to tournament success. He has played in both games posting a GAA of 1 and a SV% of .956. He has won both games and shut Denmark out 6-0.








Thrashers prospect Arturs Kulda has done Team Latvia no favors so far. In his first game he delivered a brutal hit on Czech player and Islander Dman, Radek Martinek. Martinek suffered a severe concussion and a severe hematoma (bruise to the brain). He is NOT expected to return to the tournament. For his actions, Kulda was suspended for 3 games.

You can see the carnage here for yourself.

The NHL Network will be carrying some of these games. Be sure and check them out. It is awesome hockey. Good luck and safe play to our Thrashers in the tournament and Go USA!

All We Do Is Put Wins In The Record Book: Panthers vs Thrashers

Welcome to the Charlie Sheen edition of Getting Pucks Deep! Why? Well DUH! Charlie Sheen and hockey go together like Charlie Sheen and porn stars. Be sure and have the Cup tested!

I'm going to try hard to get it out of my system in this post. I will beat a meme to death if I'm not careful.

At the game I had my signs. In non-Sheen related news, I had a sign for Burmistrov who was finally back on the ice.






This was also on the glass during warm ups Saturday. Someone left it on the glass in club. Bad form. Make a sign saying whatever you want, you bought a ticket. If you are taking a dig at someone, have the balls to stand with the sign. It’s hard to see from here but it is a dating profile from Anthony Stewart at "Plenty of Fish." Don’t know if it’s real or not. At the bottom it says “enuff scoring on land…score on the ice!” The guys were giving him hell about it. Buff skated out, saw it and started laughing.





The guys giving Anthony shit about his sign.





Alex is checking out the sign I made him. Tim is dumbfounded by the bi-winning nature of my Sheen signs.





Stuart taking a break. Our old friend, Marty Reasoner, cruises around in the back.





Dvorak looks pretty excited about taking on his old team.





New Thrasher, Blake Wheeler. We need him and we need his wisdom and his bitchin'-ness."





Evander chewing his gum.





Nik might need a trim. The wings are little long.





I felt bad because Pavs was back after injury, too and I had no sign! Sorry Pavs! I didn't know. I wonder how he came back from that wrist injury so soon. I bet he closed his eyes and made it so with the power of his mind.





So many people hate on Johnny. I think he's an awesome Dman. When he goofs up, he's usually skilled enough to fix it. I think playing with Stuart now people will see that he is actually a good player. He wins so radically in his underwear before his first cup of coffee, it's scary.





Randy and I were originally up in our favorite spot in 303 when Thrash came and upgraded us to 113. He's a good bird!





We are up in Vokoun's grill early. Vokoun has a 10,000-year-old brain and the boogers of a 7-year-old.





This is fail on several fronts. First of all, not only is it a fake, it's a bad fake. Wanna get knock off? Fine, get one that is in the same realm of blue. This one is just awful and I've seen a lot of them around the arena. Funny enough they are all Byfuglien jerseys. Also...tucked in??? I know it's the south but damn. Don't tuck your jersey in. If you wear this once, you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.



Hainsey keeping those nasty Panthers out of our zone.



This is something you never want to see, or maybe you are sick and do want to see it. I will say in all of the games I've been to, this is the first time I've seen someone get struck in the head with a puck. It was pretty scary. The people near him were waving down the ushers and EMT. One of the trainers on the bench threw a towel over to them. He was able to walk up the stairs, so I guess that's a good thing!



Hainsey doing his customary pre 3rd period stretch. It's the first time I've been in front of him doing it. He smiled at the kids on the front and took off like a flash. You can't process Hainsey with a normal brain.



Wheeler is the man! He obviously has Adonis DNA. He hasn't been subjected to the culture of LOSE long enough. We'll suck that out of him soon.



Toby finds a place to put his helmet while fixing his hair.



Buff comes behind the net while Vokoun takes a stroll.



All manner of chaos in front of Vokoun.



This is a shitty picture of Bryan Little almost getting a goal. Everyone thought it went in. It actually rolled right down the red line. You can see Mr. Fred's amazing sequence of the events here: http://fans.thrashers.nhl.com/community/topic/16985-if-any-of-you-dont-think-that-little-is-snakebitten/



Twenty five seconds into over time, Captain Ladd sticks one in the net and Thrashers win!!



Home win with no travel = poorly lit, behind glass post game show guest! Tonight is one of the newest Thrashers and totally bitching rock star from Mars, Blake Wheeler!



Blake talked with the guys for a while and answered questions before heading out to meet the fans.



People of Blueland are not limited to the arena! This lady in front of me was getting on my nerves big time. First of all she was puffing away on one of those e-cigg things. I don't know what the tobacco ration is, but she smoked the equivalent of like 35 cigarettes with it. I think she was q bit tipsy, her speech was slurred. She took 100 pictures of Dan Kamak, John Kincade and the audio techs with her shitty camera phone. Then she got up and announced loudly "I gotta pee" and stumbled off.