Boston Snatch Stanley Cup at Seventh Attempt

It had been taken to a seventh game after stubborn play by both teams throughout the Final Series, but the Boston Bruins finally wrestled the Stanley Cup away from the Vancouver Canucks and in their direction for the first time since 1972 with a 4-0 win last night.

The game, at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, went against every trend set in the series so far as the home team had won each of the first six games.

The frustration of the Vancouver fans was made clear afterwards as the win for Boston resulted in riots across the city. Cars were overturned and fires were set off in the streets.

From the goalkeeper to the fourth line the Bruins dominated their opponents to leave them without a Stanley Cup win throughout their 40-year existence.

Boston net minder Tim Thomas was one of the stars of the night. His 37 saves provided his second shutout of the series, and his fourth of the postseason. He made 798 saves from the 849 shots he faced, giving him a .940 save percentage.

It was the conclusion of a fairytale for the 37-year-old who began his National Hockey League career as a ninth-round draft pick and had to wait a decade before making his first appearance in the competition.

The Canucks were aiming to become the first Canadian outfit since the Montreal Canadiens in 1992-93 to lift the prestigious trophy, but their offense petered out when it mattered.

Boston’s man-mountain of a captain Zdeno Chara (pictured), at 6 foot 9 inches, was one of the main reasons for the Vancouver loss as he repelled attack after attack and kept influential Canucks forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin quiet not just on the night but throughout the seven-game series.

It was also a fitting end for 43-year-old Boston native Mark Recchi who won his third Stanley Cup with his third franchise before immediately announcing his retirement from the sport.

The Bruins took the lead in the first period when Brad Marchand fed Patrice Bergeron for the opening strike before scoring a wraparound effort of his own to double the lead in the second.

Bergeron then notched his second with a shorthanded breakaway move before Marchand also doubled his tally via an empty netter to compound another poor evening in the series for Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo.

“I know the game, and I know the way that it is,” said Thomas after the match. “Winning the Stanley Cup is huge. It's the biggest accomplishment of my career thus far. But everybody knows in this game that you have to continuously prove yourself.

“I'm sure if I were to, for example, start out the season bad next year that I probably, with the Cup, would have bought myself a little bit of leeway, but it won't last forever unless I turn my game around.”

“This is it for me, I'm done,” Recchi said of his retirement. “I'm going to ride off to the sunset and enjoy myself.”

By Leigh Sanders

[Image courtesy of Bridget Samuels]