Canucks collapse in final game of hockey's biggest stage
VANCOUVER – It wasn’t supposed to be end like this. Vancouver Sun
The President Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks with the highest scoring offense, great depth on defense and gold winning goalie were destined to win their first Stanley Cup in their 40th Anniversary season and spark a celebration in a fanatical city craving a championship.
Instead, the biggest game in the history of Vancouver hockey went up in flames long before rioter’s wreaked havoc on the city. CHOKE! The Boston Bruins came into Vancouver with all the momentum and desire and left the city with the biggest prize – The Stanley Cup – once again denying a Canadian team from reclaiming the championship trophy of their beloved sport. Final score: Boston 4, Vancouver 0.
No words can mask the frustration Canucks fans feel for the inability to score in such a critical game. Simply put it was an unacceptable performance that will sting fans for a long time. CHOKE!
Game 7 was nerve-racking for all Canuck fans to watch. Vancouver’s history has been marred with big letdowns in the past, like the 1994 Canucks who lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to Mark Messier and the New York Rangers. At least that Canucks team, led by Trevor Linden and Kirk McClain in goal, put up a good fight.
The first period was classic fast-paced adrenaline pumping playoff hockey. For the game, Vancouver out shot the Bruins 37 to 21 and out hit them 47 to 29, but the only stat that matters is that Tim Thomas saved every shot he faced and Roberto Luongo did not. CHOKE!
Patrice Bergeron put the Bruins on the board in the first period for the all important first goal of the game, which once again proved to be the game winner. Brad Marchand, the amped up rookie who repeatedly punched a defenseless Daniel Sedin in the face in Game 6, set up the first goal and scored the second goal on a wrap-around that snuck past Luongo to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead in the second period.
The next Bruins goal really put the game away and crushed the spirit of Canucks Nation. On Vancouver’s first power play of the game, Bergeron jumped on a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated in ahead of the defense. As he neared the goal, Canucks defenseman Christian Erhoff pulled him down and the referee raised his hand up to call a penalty shot, but the puck somehow slipped past Luongo for a shorthanded goal and deflated any chance of a Vancouver rally. Marchand scored an empty net goal with three minutes remaining to add insult to injury.
Luongo capped off the Stanley Cup finals with a fatal collapse. Despite posting two 1-0 shutouts at home, he gave up 20 goals in the series and was pulled twice in Boston. While the offense did not give him enough support, Bobby Luo could not match Thomas, the Conn Symthe winner.
Here are the brutal statistics for the series: ESPN
- Vancouver was outscored 23-8 in seven games.
- The Canuck’s power play was 2-for-33 and allowed 3 shorthanded goals.
- Tim Thomas saved 238 of 246 shots for a .967 save percentage.
- Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond and Chris Higgins combined for 2 points.
- Henrik and Daniel Sedin combined for 5 points.
ESPN commentator Barry Melrose said it best, “Will beats skill.” He is absolutely right. Vancouver had all the star players and the best talent on the ice, but could not match Boston’s intensity and desire. It breaks my heart to say Boston was the better team because they out willed the Canucks. When Vancouver went up 2-0 in the series, so many people declared them the winner and from there they folded. How can you quit half way through the biggest series of your life? You stop playing hard because it’s already in the bag and you think the Bruins will hand you the trophy? Where is that killer instinct and mental toughness that got you to this point? Now when you get to the game’s biggest stage, you’re going to lie down and die? Unacceptable. The City of Vancouver and Canucks Nation deserves better.
Riots erupted in downtown Vancouver after the game, with fans and hooligans setting cars on fire, throwing bottles, trashing cars and staging bonfires while riot police dispersed them with tear gas and shields. The crowd was estimated to be more than 100,000 people who watched the game on big screens. The riots raged for hours after the Bruins raised the Stanley Cup. The day started with so much anticipation and potential celebration of accomplishment and ended as an embarrassing collapse and black eye for the city. Vancouver Sun
At least the fans inside Rogers Arena voiced their frustration with NHL commissioner Gary Bettmen, who was soundly booed by Canucks fans when he presented the Cup. It makes me wonder if the league intentionally denied Vancouver from winning and did all they could to see Boston win?
At least the fans inside Rogers Arena voiced their frustration with NHL commissioner Gary Bettmen, who was soundly booed by Canucks fans when he presented the Cup. It makes me wonder if the league intentionally denied Vancouver from winning and did all they could to see Boston win?
It pains me to say that Vancouver did not deserve to hoist the Stanley Cup. Championships are not given to the best team in the regular season but must show the passion and heart and win under pressure and on the biggest stage in hostile environments. Yes Vancouver won at home, but every game was close. In Boston, they were blown out in every game. While they overcame adversity and made a tremendous Cup run, the Canucks ran out of steam and collapsed short of the finish line, only one win away from the ultimate goal. CHOKE!
As for Boston they win their first cup since 1972, a team led by Phil Espisito and Bobby Orr, two of the greatest Canadian players to ever play the game. Clearly the Bruins won behind Thomas' play but their top six forwards did outplay Vancouver's. David Krejci, the 43-year old Marc Recchi, Marchand and Vancouver native Milan Lucic combined to score 12 goals to Vancouver's top forwards Kesler, the Sedin twins and Burrows managed only four goals.
Boston, an original six hockey team has now won six Stanley Cups, while Vancouver is still searching for their first. What is more sickening is that all four professional sports teams in Boston has one a championship in the last seven years. Really? That hurts. What a spoiled bunch up in New England. Here in Cascadia if you combine the pro sports teams from Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, they have just two championships from the Seattle Sonics and Portland Trailblazers back in the 1970's and I am not counting the two WNBA titles the Seattle Storm won.
So the dream season ends in another nightmare for Vancouver and fans are left hurt and empty. I guess there is always next year. I think Daniel Sedin already guaranteed the Canucks would win the Stanley Cup next season. If that is to become a realization, Vancouver needs to play with intensity, drive and desire all the way through the playoffs and not pick and choose when to play hard. Vancouver had the opportunity of a lifetime and it went up in smoke. CHOKE!
As for Boston they win their first cup since 1972, a team led by Phil Espisito and Bobby Orr, two of the greatest Canadian players to ever play the game. Clearly the Bruins won behind Thomas' play but their top six forwards did outplay Vancouver's. David Krejci, the 43-year old Marc Recchi, Marchand and Vancouver native Milan Lucic combined to score 12 goals to Vancouver's top forwards Kesler, the Sedin twins and Burrows managed only four goals.
Boston, an original six hockey team has now won six Stanley Cups, while Vancouver is still searching for their first. What is more sickening is that all four professional sports teams in Boston has one a championship in the last seven years. Really? That hurts. What a spoiled bunch up in New England. Here in Cascadia if you combine the pro sports teams from Vancouver, Seattle and Portland, they have just two championships from the Seattle Sonics and Portland Trailblazers back in the 1970's and I am not counting the two WNBA titles the Seattle Storm won.
So the dream season ends in another nightmare for Vancouver and fans are left hurt and empty. I guess there is always next year. I think Daniel Sedin already guaranteed the Canucks would win the Stanley Cup next season. If that is to become a realization, Vancouver needs to play with intensity, drive and desire all the way through the playoffs and not pick and choose when to play hard. Vancouver had the opportunity of a lifetime and it went up in smoke. CHOKE!
That was one the biggest disappointments in my life the Canucks just looked defeated before the game even ended. I would like to congratulate Tim Thomas and the Bruins, but lets face it the bigger problem is the league and how they favor bigger markets. Mike Murphy the head of discipline even said the game is a business and that it makes for sense for big market American teams to win cause fans only care about them when they win were Canadian fans will love their teams no matter. Look at the facts the owner of teh Bruins is Bettmans boss and good friend, and Colin Campbells son plays for teh Bruins, by the way he has been involved in every final the Canucks have been in. Do you really think that Rome deserved 4 games which also happened to be how many games the seris would go, that was 2 games max and it seemed the Bruins got away with a lot more of the dirter play, i mean Chara ran into Thomas and Kes got a goltender interference. And do you remember the Calgary series when the flames scored an overtime goal to win the cup but the league deemed it a non goal and the next day the league said they made the wrong call and the Lighting won, same with the Oilers when Rolosson was clearly interfered with and injured no call, Buffalo another team with mainly Canadian fan base and the Hull goal issue clearly he was in the crease. The Canucks did play an unexusable game but lets face it the team was injured Bieska, Kesler, and Edler had groin Issues, D Sedin had a bad
ReplyDeleteknee that the Bruins kept slashing at, and losing Hamhuis and Rome did not help. I am really tired of the Bruins and teh bias toward them i mean when Chara hit Pacioretty that was a dirty hit he clearly shoved his head in the divider and if you you tube a Lucic cross check vs bruins he give Maxim L a direct cross check to the head that the league didn't even look at i mean they said the Raymond hit was clean when he was ridden to the boards, because the puck was in the area and Boychuck was finishing a hit, i mean Rome was finishing a hit and got 4 games and maybe if Horton had his head up that would have not happened.
Also a couple other things, Murphy went to former Canuck GM Brian Burke about how long the suspension is, and he is not a fan of Vancouver, and they thought it was a fair suspension because Horton was a bigger lose than Rome was and if Chara did the same thing i sure it would only be a 2 minute penatly you can't make calls based on the back of the jersey, and they did that the whole series. Did you also see Bettman rubbing it in the face of Canuck fans when he presented the cup. I probably sound like a sorry loser but for the sake of teh league that guy needs to go and with how they played the Nucks didn't deserve to win.
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Bettman deserved being booed it makes me sick thinking their are other motives involved in who should win and that the game cannot just be decided by the players. The injuries to Vancouver played a big role as they just ran out of energy at the end. Kesler was outplayed by that Marchand d-bag a rookie for crying out loud, but Keslers injury definitely impacted his play. Vancouver deserved to win based on their hard work all year and it sucks to see a spoiled sports city like Boston win another championship.