When reviewing a series or other climactic sporting event, the question we ask ourselves is, “What did this tell us about the sport as a whole?" What the 2011 Stanley Cup Final showed us is that hockey can be an ugly game.
Though the NHL has been gaining fans every year since the ’04-’05 lockout, this matchup between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks didn’t encourage much bandwagon jumping. Outside of a couple of masked goalies, there were no real superstars for the NHL to market. Vancouver is pretty much the opposite of an American draw: the NHL team farthest away from our East Coast bias—though warranted as 47% of America’s population lives in the Eastern time zone—and a team from north of the border. Then there are the Boston Bruins who come from a city with an overabundance of championships in recent years. Though the Bruins themselves hadn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1972, between Boston’s Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots, a Bruins win would mean seven championships for the New England metropolis since 2001.
An ugly matchup carried over to ugly play on the ice. From Alexandre Burrows biting a Bruins player’s finger, one blindside hit that led to Nathan Horton’s concussion, another hit that led to Mason Raymond’s cracked vertebra, Brad Marchand repeatedly punching a Sedin just for the hell of it, to the series’ wildly inconsistent energy level, this Stanley Cup Final was almost unwatchable.
Though something remains to be said about a championship-deciding series going to seven games, how these two teams got there was not tremendously riveting. The team that scored first won every game. The home team was undefeated until Game 7, but at that point the Bruins had demoralized the Canucks. Prior to that though, Vancouver threatened to be the first team ever with a negative goal differential to win a Stanley Cup. Through Game 6, the Bruins had outscored the Canucks 19-8.
Vancouver won Games 1 and 2 in an exciting fashion, playing to a 0-0 tie through 59:42 until Rafi Torres scored the decisive goal with just 18 seconds left in regulation. Game 2 was an overtime contest where the winner came off the finger biter Burrows’ stick just 11 seconds into the extra period.
Shifting to Boston, it seemed like the Bruins were the only team that boarded the plane. Boston won Game 3 by a score of 8-1 and shutout the Canucks in their next contest, winning 4-0.
I thought Game 5 was going to be a real statement game. After getting their asses handed to them in Games 3 and 4, Vancouver got back to business on home ice. Roberto Luongo recorded his second shutout of the Bruins, and the Canucks notched another 1-0 victory.
Game 6 back in Boston was the same old story though. The Bruins scored four goals in about five minutes during first period of action, and the Canucks gave up, just flat out quit, seemingly biding their time until they could fly back to Vancouver.
But once back to comfortable confines of home ice, Vancouver didn’t elevate their play one bit. Immediately after Boston scored the first goal, all the air went out of the stadium. If there were any thoughts of coming back, they were quickly dispelled by Tim Thomas’ play and a second Bruins goal. The B’s tacked on two more before the final horn blew, and Thomas blanked the Canucks once again for another 4-0 Boston win.
The ugliness on paper and on the ice even spilled onto the streets of Vancouver. Just like in 1994 when the Canucks lost a heart-breaking Game 7 to the New York Rangers, citizens of Vancouver rioted and tore their fair city apart.
As a franchise, the Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup, and no Canadian team has won since the Montreal Canadiens last did it in 1993. Vancouver fans, and practically the entire nation of Canada, rested their hopes on the Canucks’ cause, so when the players on the ice didn’t live up to expectations, it was a monumental letdown. Moving forward, I’d like to see a Canadian team win a championship in the sport they invented, but most of all I’d just like to see some cleaner hockey.
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| It wasn't pretty, but another Boston team claims a title. |
--from @jeuneski
(image from flickr.com)
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