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What was in the Bruins’ “bru?”
“For the first time in 39 years, the Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup!”
The Stanley Cup Finals. It pits the two “best” teams in the league up against each other for a chance to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup. The most exciting time of the season.
When you hear Stanley Cup Finals, you think overtime hockey. You think close, exciting games. You dream of that game seven overtime goal.
At the end of game one, this is what we thought we were going to have as the audience. Raffi Torres scoring the game-winning goal for Vancouver with 18.5 seconds left in the third period. A final score of 1-0. One of the most exciting game one’s I have ever seen.
Game two was no different, with overtime being forced and Alex Burrows scoring the second quickest goal in SCF history, at 11 seconds.
Game three was do or die for the Bruins. Boston wasn’t going down without a fight as they romped the Canucks, 8-1.
Since that third game, the verdict of the series was evident. Boston was going to win. Boston was clearly outplaying the Canucks. In the games that Boston won, they outscored the Canucks 25-3. In the games the Canucks won, the difference was 5-2. Meaning, the Bruins scored 27 goals this series, while Vancouver only scored eight. Lopsided offense much?
The Bruins were also able to do something almost unheard of in the Stanley Cup Finals. They were able to chase the Canucks’ star goaltender, Roberto Luongo, from the game. You want your best players to be just that, your BEST players. Luongo was not the Canucks best player this series, on or off the ice. Karma struck Luongo after he criticized Tim Thomas’ playing style, as he gave up three goals within the first nine minutes of game six.
This Stanley Cup Final also saw the Canucks lose, even though they never trailed in any of their other playoff series.
To sum it up, congrats to the Bruins. They were clearly the best team this off-season. Their on-ice product is something other teams need to look at and try to duplicate. Claude Julien, former Devils coach, knows how to run a successful organization.
And a special congrats to Tim Thomas for becoming only the second American-born player in history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy (the other was Brian Leetch in 94, against the Canucks. I see a pattern).
PS: It doesn’t hurt to think of it this way: The Devils beat the Bruins in the final game of the regular season. Therefore the Devils beat the Stanley Cup Champions. Therefore, the Devils are the true champions.
Stanley Cup Game 7 – Get The Heart Pills Ready
Game. Seven.
Two words that you never want to hear if your team is involved in it. Tonight will be the final game of the NHL season. There is no tomorrow. At about 10:45pm EST (barring overtime, God forbid) we will know who will be raising Lord Stanley’s Cup. I, myself, have been lucky enough to have gone to two Game 7′s in my life. One on the good end, and one on the bad end. Read the rest of this entry
Stanley Cup Game 2 Viewing Party: Recap!
On Saturday night, Hell’s Kitchen Lounge opened up their doors and hosted a Stanley Cup Viewing Party during Game 2 between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. Over 25 people showed up on short notice and enjoyed the game on the big projector screen.
The Canucks took an early lead when Alexandre Burrows scored a power-play goal, making that his eighth goal of the postseason and keeping the Bruins off the scoresheet for a total of 81 minutes. However, the Bruins didn’t give up and in the second period, Milan Lucic squeezed one between Roberto Luongo’s legs to even up the game. A little over two minutes later, Mark Recchi scored a power-play goal to give the Bruins the lead and with that goal, Recchi, who turned 43 in February, became the oldest player in NHL history to score in a Stanley Cup Final.
In the third period, the Canucks evened the game, when Daniel Sedin ripped one into a wide open net while Thomas was trying to cut down the angle on Burrows. The game went back and forth and remained tied and everyone was getting ready for some great overtime hockey. Well, just as everyone was settling into their seats, they were right back up when Alexandre Burrows scored his 9th post-season goal just 11 seconds into OT. This was Burrows third overtime goal, tying only two other players in NHL history, Maurice Richard of the Canadiens in 1951 and Mel Hill of the Bruins in 1939.
The Canucks now have a 2-0 lead heading into Game 3, which is this evening in Boston at 8pm.
We would like to thank the fans that showed up to this event and we hope you enjoyed your evening. We would also like to thank Hell’s Kitchen and their staff for hosting this great event and we’re looking forward to having another viewing party there during the 2011-2012 season.
Check back soon for more pictures!
NHL Playoffs Round 3: Where do you stand now?
The Bruins were leading the poll when we asked for your Round 2 picks. But they were up against Philly, so I would hope that every Devils fan would be rooting for Boston! Since Philly was knocked out, let’s see if Boston is still in the lead. Let us know who you want to clear Round 3. Don’t forget, you can pick up to two teams.
Round 2. Where Do You Stand?
Round 1 of the playoffs is over and now we’re heading into Round 2. We as hockey fans, that is. Since the Devils are out, we have to root for (or against) other teams.
In case you weren’t paying attention – I’m sure you all were – here’s a super quick recap of Round 1.
Caps knocked out the Rangers in 5, awesome!
Tampa eliminated the Pens in 7, great!
The Flyers are still in it over Buffalo in 7, no!
Boston beat the Canadians in 7, nice! (We don’t really have a rivalry with these teams, but after a particular Habs game this season, I had no choice but to root against them!)
As for the teams we don’t have an immediate interest in: Detroit swept the Coyotes, the Preds beat the Ducks in 6, Canucks eliminated last years champ the Blackhawks in 7, and San Jose beat the Kings in 6.
The teams we root against are obvious but everyone has a different stand on who to root for. I’ll be rooting against the Flyers (duh!) and for the Canucks and Caps. I’m torn on the Detroit/San Jose series but I’m leaning towards San Jose. To be honest, I just really like their jerseys and since I have no vested interest in either team, I think that’s a decent reason to base my decision on.
Not only do we want to know who you’re rooting for, we want to see it! Send us pictures (devilsgenerals@gmail.com) of you supporting your Round 2 teams and we’ll post them here. Let us know where you stand!
(Pst, pick 4 teams!)
Tweet To The Cup | Boston/Montreal Game 5 at Cryan’s
Where did you watch Game 5 of the Boston and Montreal series? If it wasn’t at Cryan’s in South Orange, you made the wrong choice. The Generals hosted a Tweet Up to watch the game last Thursday with all the usual festivities. There was hockey. There were prizes. There was even a Stanley Cup in attendance… kind of.
Kim with the Cup!
Tweet Ups are fun, that’s a given. But each Tweet Up gets better. There are a few regular attendee’s and always a few new faces. It’s a great way to meet and hang out with other hockey fans and enjoy a game. Since the Devils season has officially ended this is how we can get our playoff hockey fix! There’s still hockey to watch and there’s plenty to talk about. All the usual topics are covered – players, teams, stats. Then there are the unusual conversations about hockey hats and beards. (Kim and I decided that the Flyers need to clean up a bit, don’t you agree?)
Hockey Talk
The majority of us were rooting for Boston so the overtime win was pretty sweet! We also had a ton of give aways and a drawing to win an autographed Elias puck that people were pretty pumped about.
Elias Puck Box
Mobbing the Give Away Table
It was another successful Tweet Up. If you missed this one don’t worry, there will be more to come! We kind of really like this Tweet Up thing.
