The Bruins captured the championship for the first time in 39 years.
By HOWIE STALWICK
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Boston Bruins were confident they could defeat the Vancouver Canucks in a fair fight, 20-on-20.
When the battle evolved into 20 Bruins versus 34 million Canadians, the Bruins liked their chances even better.
The Bruins, playing a Vancouver team desperate to return the Stanley Cup to Canada for the first time in 18 years, instead brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston for the first time in 39 years with a 4-0 triumph Wednesday night.
“I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little kid,” a beaming Tim Thomas said while exchanging hugs and kisses with family at center ice.”
“He was the heart and soul of this team,” Boston forward Chris Kelly said of the goalie, who won the Conn Smyth Trophy as series MVP. “He couldn’t have played better in the finals.”
The game was followed with a fervor in Canada that hockey creates in no other country. Vancouver watering holes were overflowing by noon, and sidewalks were filled with fans wearing Canucks jerseys, waving banners and signs, honking horns and clanging cow bells.
The Bruins chose to ignore the insanity surrounding them. Instead, they wore down the Canucks with their standard recipe of physical play, relentless forechecking, strong defensive play and stingy net play by Thomas.
Veteran center Patrice Bergeron and rookie winger Brad Marchand each scored two goals, and Marchand tacked on an assist. Vancouver outshot Boston 37-21, but Thomas was forced to make only a handful of difficult saves.
After the traditional handshakes between teams were exchanged at center ice, Boston captain Zdeno Chara upheld another tradition by holding the Cup high above his head before teammates took turns holding the cherished prize.
“It’s an amazing moment (to hold the Cup), a very humbling honor,” Chara said.
While Vancouver fans rioted in the streets after their team lost, back in Western Massachusetts, fans were celebrating the team's first Stanley Cup in 39 years.
06.15.2011 | HOLYOKE - Bruins fans at Brennan's Place on High St. react following the team's victory in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.Boston, which trailed in the best-of-7 series 2-0 and 3-2, became the first team in NHL playoffs history to win three Game 7’s in one year. Only three other teams have won on the road in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.
“We’re best when our backs are against the wall. We’ve done it all year,” said 43-year-old winger Mark Recchi, who confirmed that he is retiring as a player after winning a third Cup.
“It means a lot to Boston. I can’t wait for the parade,” a teary-eyed Bergeron said.
Thomas, who set single-season NHL playoffs records for saves and shots faced, said the fact he is a Stanley Cup champion for the first time at the age of 37 “hasn’t set in on me yet. It’s kind of surreal.”
“You don’t even think it’s real,” defenseman Johnny Boychuk said. “Right now, it’s just a dream – only it’s real.”
Wednesday’s triumph, the only one posted by the visiting team in the finals, came before a sellout crowd of 18,860 and millions of television viewers in Canada and the United States.
Bergeron, left surprisingly open in the slot, backhanded a Marchand feed along the ice just inside the right post to beat Roberto Luongo at 14:37 of the first period.
Marchand made it 2-0 at 12:13 of the second period when he circled the net after Luongo failed to control the rebound of a wrist shot from the left point by Dennis Seidenberg.
Bergeron scored on a near breakaway with 2:25 left in the second period, sliding into Luongo after being brought down by Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. Marchand added an empty-net goal with 2:44 left in the game after Luongo was pulled for an extra skater.
The Bruins won the Stanley Cup for just the sixth time in the 87-year history of the franchise. The Canucks, established in 1970-71, have yet to hoist the Cup.
“Boston played a real strong game,” Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. “They have great goaltending. They deserved to win.”
The Canucks posted one-goal victories in the other three home games of the finals. Boston outscored Vancouver 18-3 in three dominant performances in Boston.
A series often marred by chippy play ended in cleanly played fashion. Vancouver fans rose to their feet in the final minute to salute the Canucks, the NHL’s top team during the regular season. As Boston players and coaches mobbed one another on the ice at the end of the game, fans broke out in a “Go Canucks Go!” chant, and Vancouver players lifted their sticks high in the air to salute the fans.
Extra shots: Boston forward Nathan Horton, injured in Game 3, joined his teammates on the ice in full uniform at the end of the game .¤.¤. Vancouver police were anticipating that perhaps 100,000 fans would gather downtown to watch the game on television. Streets were closed to traffic throughout the finals to enable fans to watch the game outdoors on big screens. Fires were seen burning in the streets after the game ... The Canucks have sold out 363 straight games since 2002 .... Jeff Tambellini, who grew up in suburban Vancouver when father Steve played and later worked as an executive for the Canucks, replaced injured Mason Raymond in the Vancouver lineup. The elder Tambellini, who won a Stanley Cup while playing with the New York Islanders in 1979-80, is now general manager of the Edmonton Oilers ... Raymond, who suffered a fractured vertebrae in Game 6, attended the game after spending two nights in a Boston hospital. He received a huge ovation when shown on the scoreboard video screens.